Knowledge Base

WD2000: Picture Displayed as Red "X" in Document

Article ID: 244202

Article Last Modified on 10/16/2006

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q244202

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word 2000, when you open a document that contains pictures and was created in an earlier version of Word, some of the pictures may be displayed as partial or whole red X's.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the Word document was created in a version of Word earlier than Microsoft Word 97 for Windows, Service Release 1 and contains inserted bitmap (.bmp) files or pasted pictures. Note, however, that this behavior may also occur with other graphics formats.

Word uses either a red X or a general picture (a circle, square, and triangle) to represent any graphic or picture it cannot display. Word cannot display corrupted or damaged pictures; also, Word may lose picture data in low-memory or low-resource situations.

RESOLUTION

After you open the document in Microsoft Word 2000, you need to manually restore the pictures in your document using the following steps and methods.

To correct this problem, follow these steps first:

On the Tools menu, click Options, and click the Save tab.
Clear the Allow fast saves check box.
On the File menu, click Save As and save the document with a new name. Restore the pictures in this new document, and use this new version of the document from now on.

Use the following methods to determine the nature of the problem and restore the pictures.

Method 1: Replace the Picture from the Original Source File

Follow these steps:

Select and then delete the red X from the document.
On the Insert menu, point to Picture, and click From File.
Select the original picture file and click OK.

Method 2: Open the Picture in Picture Editor; Paste It Back in the Document

Follow these steps:

Double-click the picture to open it in the picture editor.
On the Edit menu, click Select All.
On the Edit menu, click Copy.
On the File menu, click Close & Return to document.
In Word, click Paste on the Edit menu.

Method 3: Refresh the Field Results

If the picture is linked, refresh the field results.

For example, when you view field codes, you see a field similar to either of the following fields:

{IMPORT c:\\Clipart\\Picture.pcx}

-or-

{INCLUDEPICTURE C:\\Clipart\\Picture.pcx}

NOTE: To view field codes in your document, press ALT+F9.

Make sure that the picture file (in this example: Picture.pcx) exists in the Clipart folder. Then select the field and press F9 to update the field.

Updating the field causes the graphics filter to read the picture again. When this occurs, the picture display is refreshed and the red X is replaced with the expected picture.

MORE INFORMATION

Troubleshooting Steps If You Continue To See a Red X

In some cases, a red X is displayed in your document on purpose. An image can be displayed as a red X if any of the following conditions is true:

The image is a GIF or JPEG image that contains complex formatting options such as animations, sounds, or progressive displays.
The directory specified as a temporary directory in Windows does not exist.
The image has been corrupted, or some other aspect of the document has been corrupted.
You have insufficient free space on your hard disk.

To determine whether the nature of the picture in your document is causing the display problem, use the following methods.

'NOTE: Documents created in the pre-SR-1 release of Microsoft Word 97 for Windows will continue to display red Xs until you repair the pictures. That is, the damaged pictures are not corrected automatically when you open your document in Word 2000. In these cases, use the steps and methods in the "Resolution" section of this article to recover the missing pictures.

If the Image Is a GIF or JPEG Image

Many JPEG or GIF images downloaded from the Internet contain complex formatting options such as animations, sounds, or progressive displays. Word does not use these options. To modify the picture so that it includes only those elements that Word uses, use a picture editing program to save the picture in a simpler format:

For a GIF graphic, lower the complexity to CIS GIF 87 or 87A rather than GIF 89A.
For a JPEG picture, save it in the "simple" or "baseline" format, without any progressive redraw features.

For more information about these picture formats, see the documentation that comes with your picture editing program.

Verify That You Are Using a Valid Temp Directory

Verify that the SET TEMP and SET TMP lines in your Autoexec.bat file are pointing to valid folders. To verify the SET TEMP and SET TMP lines in the Autoexec.bat file, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Run box, type sysedit and click OK. This command opens the System Configuration Editor.
Click the Autoexec.bat window.
In the Autoexec.bat file, look for a line beginning with SET TEMP or SET TMP. These lines, if they exist, should be set equal to a valid directory. Make note of any directory referenced.

NOTE: If the Autoexec.bat file does not contain a line that starts with either of these commands, skip to the next method.

Right-click the Windows Start button and click Explore.
In the Windows Explorer, verify that the directory you noted in step 4 is a valid directory.

If you are running Windows NT, also check the following:

Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.
Click System, and click the Environment tab.
On the Environment tab, check the values for TEMP and TMP under User Variables. These values are the path to a directory. Note the directory listed.
In the Windows Explorer, verify that the directory noted in step 3 is a valid directory. If the TMP setting is using wildcards (% signs), create a directory called TMP in two places: C:\Tmp and C:\Winnt\Tmp.

NOTE: If you are running Windows NT version 4.0, ensure that you have Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later installed. This resolves a problem where the SET TMP in user variables can be accidentally reset.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

152734 How to obtain the latest Windows NT 4.0 service pack

Verify That Your Graphics File Is Not Damaged or Corrupted

If you see a partial re-draw of the picture before it becomes a red X, or if the size of your graphics image is not what you expect, the image may be corrupted.

To see the size of your graphics file, follow these steps:

Click the picture to select it.
On the Format menu, click Picture.
In the Format Picture dialog box, click the Size tab.
Verify the size of the picture using the numbers under Original Size near the bottom of the dialog box.

If the size reported is not what you expect the intact picture to be, the graphics file may be corrupted. If the size reported is 1-inch-by-1-inch, there is a different problem, and you need to try some other workarounds to resolve the problem.

To restore the picture, follow these steps:

Open the picture in a graphics editing program such as Microsoft Photo Editor.
Save the file in a different file format.
Attempt to insert the saved file back into your document.

In some cases, a red X in your document indicates that some other aspect of the document has been corrupted. If you receive an "unable to open file" error message, or if you receive an invalid page fault (IPF) when you open the file, some other aspect of your document may be damaged.

For more information about troubleshooting damaged documents and IPFs, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

236319 Part 1 of "Troubleshooting invalid page faults (IPFs) and exception errors" in Word 2000

236383 Part 2 of "Troubleshooting invalid page faults (IPFs) and exception errors" in Word 2000

236423 Part 3 of "Troubleshooting invalid page faults (IPFs) and exception errors" in Word 2000

Verify Sufficient Free Space on Your Primary Hard Disk

To check how much free disk space you have on your hard disk drive, follow these steps:

Double-click My Computer on the desktop.
Right-click your primary hard disk (for example, drive C).
Click Properties.
The amount of free disk space should be 20 megabytes (MB) or more.

There is no minimum amount of free disk space required to run Office programs. However, most computers do require a certain amount of free space (usually around 20 MB) to open, close, and save files and to print documents.

If your hard disk has less than 20 MB of free disk space available, you may consider removing unused data files or temporary files or programs. After you have freed 20 MB or more on your primary hard disk, restart Windows and re-open the file.

Microsoft Support Options

If you cannot resolve this issue, several support options are available to assist you.

Quickly Find Answers Yourself Online

Use Microsoft Online Support to search the Microsoft Knowledge Base and other technical resources for fast, accurate answers. You can also customize the site to control your search.

To begin your search, browse to the following Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/

Microsoft Product Support

Contact a Microsoft Product Support professional to assist you with troubleshooting problems.

For more information about obtaining help with troubleshooting Microsoft Windows, click Help Topics on the Help menu in Windows Explorer. On the Contents tab, double-click to open the Troubleshooting book. Then double-click to open the Contact Microsoft Technical Support book to view your support options.

For more information about obtaining help with troubleshooting Microsoft Word, click About Microsoft word on the Help menu, and then click Tech Support.

For additional information about Microsoft support services, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

102344 Microsoft Product Support Options Q&A

Microsoft Solution Providers

Microsoft Solution Providers are independent organizations that have teamed with Microsoft to use technology to solve business problems for companies of all sizes and industries.

To locate a Microsoft Solution Provider in your area in the U.S. and Canada, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. If you are outside the United States, contact your local subsidiary. To locate your subsidiary, see the Microsoft World Wide Offices Web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/worldwide/

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