Chinese callouts in wmfs created from Visio display as ???????? characters

[Donald Giroux]

I created a number of callout text balloons around a png file in Viseo. Then I entered text in various languages for localization purposes. WMF files are created by selecting all objects on the page, then using the save as option and selecting WMF as the file format. The WMFs are inserted in documentation for each language. Chinese text copied and pasted in from Excel doesn't display correctly when the WMF save as option is used. The text is all displayed as "???????". I can see the "???????" as soon as I open the file in explorer. I sent it to a colleague in Hong Kong and he got the same thing on his Chinese Windows OS computer. Any workarounds or solutions?

[Visio Guy]

I just did a quick experiment. I typed some Hebrew text into a shape (no idea what it said.)

I figured right-to-left text would be goofy enough for a basic test.

I then copied the shape, and did a Paste Special. If I selected "Picture" (wmf), then the Hebrew didn't show up. If I selected Enhanced Metafile, the Hebrew DID show up.

So you might try exporting as an EMF--an enhanced metafile.

[Donald Giroux]

Right, tried that and the results are as good as if I saved the objects to PNG, which is not very good. I should have pointed that out in the original post. It's not that you can't get "something" by saving the file to other formats like, PNG, JPG or EMF, it's just that the quality is really bad compared to a WMF. Just compare an English text WMF to any of these formats and you'll see the difference when you zoom in. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Paul Herber]

EMF files are not unicode compatible, try EMF format instead.

[geh_heim]

sry to break the topic but concerning the not showing of wapperdudes post :

as you can see one can answer anyway and i can see his posts below, maybe i will be able to see them in the normal thread too ?

[Visio Guy]

Wapperdude's posts did indeed break the thread. I have no idea why. It's probably best to attach .zips, not raw .vsd files.

Anyway, I've deleted the 'offending' posts, then reposted below:


From Wapperdude:

But, if you change the pixels/in which defaults to 96 for png, to something like 960 or slightly smaller, then save as png, you will get better resolution than wmf at ~ the same file size.  At least I did.  My test included script font, 6pt, on 8.5x11 drawing page.  All in English.  I also include circular shape and an irregular shape with a variety of segments at different slopes, plus gradient files.  PNG at higher pixel count was fine.

HTH

Wapperdude.

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From Wapperdude:

Well, looks like my last post is doing that mysterious here it is, here it isn't trick again.  Must be the attachment.

Anyway, I re-did the original Visio, added both Hebrew and Chinese characters, and then saved as png file.  The save settings had a resolution of 780pixels/in.  The PNG file was quite clear and legible.  Nothing seemed missing, and resolution for this test case was reasonable.  If desired, I can add the Visio file tomorrow.

Wapperdude

[JuneTheSecond]

I am using Japanese edition.
Can you see chinese character in my drawing?

[geh_heim]

alright now i tried Junes drawing :
at first i did not see the Kanji in EMF but was able to see them in text and wmf.
then i installed asian Language support and now i can see them in EMF too.

edit :

Win XP Pro German
Visio 2007 Pro German

[Visio Guy]

I see June's kanji characters (which say "Kanji") as text, in the wmf and in the emf.

Visio 2010 Premium
U.S. English
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