Cannot paste images from Hotmail into Word 2013

What I do is open the email, Save as HTML. Then Open the HTML file in Word...

However, it the image is a link to an Internet site, you may not be able to get the image in Word without clicking on the link.

And often you can even get those images into Word using SnippingTool.exe from your system32 folder.  It is a Windows Accessory item for taking screen grabs.  Or simply click Start, Run, and type snippingtool.

Hi BillDL

Many thanks for your detailed and fascinating solution. Has it always been so complicated to copy and paste images from email into Word? I have been using computers for a long time but have only had this problems recently, a year or two at most. Would the problem still exist using earlier versions of Word? I guess it would.

Thanks again

Matthew
Points to follow.

Hi Matthew

Don't be too hasty with the points, because I'm noticing some behaviour that has taken me a little by surprise.

If you want to skip down to a suggestion to test immediately, just scroll down to my "EUREKA!" heading below.  You'll get to it just the same if you have time to read my notes before reaching it.

In Word if you press the Alt and F9 keys, it will show you the form field code that makes things display the way they do.  For example, when you insert page numbers in the format
Page # of #
it is actually inserting this code which is populated dynamically
{ PAGE } of { NUMPAGES }
The Alt + F9 keys toggle the text to code and back again.

I always assumed that copying some text, a hyperlink, and an image from a web page and pasting into Word would paste the text roughly as seen on the page, and that it would embed the hyperlink and image as form fields.  For example, copying the top part of my previous question and pasting into Word creates the following:
As you can see, the code that fetches the little avatar image is:
{ INCLUDEPICTURE "full_URL_here" \* MERGEFORMATINET }
The "full URL" can be the full path to a locally stored image, to one on a network drive, or to an internet location.

The { INCLUDEPICTURE } field name supports the switches:
\c  - Identifies the filter for the format of inserted graphic.
\d  - Graphic data is not stored in the document, reducing the file size.

Adding   \* MERGEFORMAT  tells Word to preserve the formatting of the image during updates to the document.

Because I never paste from Websites into Word I have never previously been aware of the sparsely documented variation to this named  MERGEFORMATINET.  This apparently is the result of using the Edit > Paste Special > HTML Format option rather than just the plain old Ctrl + V, Edit > Paste, or the Paste toolbar button.  What it seems to do is preserve the Internet derived formatting of the image.

If you copy the URL for the image on the source web page and use the ordinary Paste options, or the Insert > Picture > From Filename option where you paste the URL to the image, it just adds   MERGEFORMAT.   The same happens if you insert a new form field, choose "INCLUDEPICTURE", and tick the box entitled "Preserve formatting during updates".

OK, so the little avatar image alongside my user name in a posted comment pastes into Word as a Form Field, as do the Hyperlinks ..... however, when I scroll over one of the screenshot images that I embedded in my previous comment, copy that, and then paste into Word, here is the field code that is generated:
There seems to be no mention of the actual image location, just the target file of the hyperlink from the displayed image and the "alt text" tooltip.  The { HYPERLINK } field name supports 5 switches:
\l  - Specifies bookmark location in document to jump to
\m  - Link is to an HTML 2.0 image map
\n  - Hyperlink opens target in new window
\o  - Screen tip (the alt text) text
\t  - Specifies frame target for hyperlink

Translated into HTML the field code above would be:

<a href="http://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2014/01_w05/t831890/Right-Click-IE-Properties.jpg" target="_blank">
<img alt="Again this is the code that will be pasted into Word." src="http://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2014/01_w05/t831890/Right-Click-IE-Properties.jpg"></a>

Select allOpen in new window

This specifies the name of the image that is showing, the image that is the target of the hyperlink, the "alt text" that will show in some browsers on mouseover, the target frame, and the URL to the target (in this case just the same image in a new window or tab).

For some reason Word doesn't specify the name of the pasted image in the field code, only that there is a hyperlink, and this puzzled me.

OK, so maybe it's just the quirky way that Experts-Exchange embeds the images.

EUREKA !!

Now here's something I didn't know, but discovered while messing around with the field codes.  If you do an Alt + F9 to show the field codes and then click on the actual field code (for example the {INCLUDEPICTURE} one shown in my previous screenshot, the F9 key seems to refresh the code, and more interestingly the key combination Ctrl + Shift + F9 converts the field code into a fixed image.  The image is now embedded in the page and is part of the document rather than being fetched in dynamically from an Internet resource.

Here is what I started with after I clicked the {INCLUDEPICTURE} field to select it:
  and here is the result of then pressing Ctrl + Shift + F9:
There are probably Microsoft Office MVPs reading this and saying "I thought that was common knowledge", but to me this is a new discovery.

Now, if that works with the email messages you copied and pasted from Microsoft webmail, then maybe someone can write a Macro to automatically select all {INCLUDEPICTURE} form fields and simulate a Ctrl + Shift + F9 key combination to fix all the non-appearing images and make them show.

If this doesn't work for you, then there are two other possibilitoes that you can look at.  I am only using Word 2003 at the moment, so I am unable to translate the instructions to later versions.  Hopefully you will be able to locate the options and experiment by enabling or disabling them.

Tools > Options > General tab:

"Update automatic links at Open"
(Automatically updates any information that is linked to other files each time you open a document)

I can't see any other options that might be remotely associated with the issue.

"Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting AutoShapes"
(Determines whether Word places a drawing canvas around drawing objects or ink drawing and writing when you insert them into your document. A drawing canvas helps you to arrange drawing objects and pictures and to move them as a unit.)
Not sure if this also affects pasted images.

Tools > Options > General tab > Web Options button > Files tab:
"Update links on Save"
(probably only applicable if saving as HTML file)

Hi everyone
Apologies for delay in posting.
Thanks in particular to BillDL for interesting and comprehensive posting and equally Chris_top_he_r whose suggestion to use Outlook works well.
Thank you
Matthew

Thank you Matthew