I have several images I need to import into PageMaker (Version 7.0)
and I need the backgrounds of the images to be transparent.  I have
tried to create transparent backgrouns for these images in Photoshop,
but no matter what I do I get a white box around each image when
placed into PageMaker.  I need DETAILED and EXPLICIT instructions on
how to convert these images so that they have a transparent background
when placed into PageMaker.

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Request for Question Clarification by feilong-ga on 27 Oct 2003 10:28 PST

What kind of image are you going to place - colored, grayscale or black and white?

Do you have a specific format (bmp, jpeg, tif, etc.) in mind or will any format do?

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Request for Question Clarification by feilong-ga on 27 Oct 2003 10:33 PST

In addition, what operating system are you using?

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Clarification of Question by rayders-ga on 27 Oct 2003 11:00 PST

The images I received are in JPG format.  Actually, my customer
created an advertisment in PageMaker (he says) and sent me a pdf file,
but then wanted me to edit/improve his ad.  I can not edit the pdf
file -- I don't know why or how.  I can not select or copy out images
from the pdf file.  So, I asked him to email the images in his ad
separately, which he did.  When I open the images in Photoshop, some
are grayscale and some are RGB.  Some have layers, and some are
already flattened.  Quite a mess.  I am working in Windows XP
Professional.  I tried using GIF Construction Set to create
transparent backgrounds -- which usually works for me -- but in this
case it failed entirely.  HELP!!!!!

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Request for Question Clarification by feilong-ga on 27 Oct 2003 13:56 PST

Since you are going to work in PageMaker 7 and the original was
created using Pagemaker, why not get the original PageMaker file then
open it in PageMaker 7 instead of trying to edit the PDF files? It
will also save you time in relayouting the ad because with the
original file.

By the way, what's Photoshop version are you using? Do you have any
other graphics programs aside from Photoshop?

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Clarification of Question by rayders-ga on 27 Oct 2003 14:54 PST

My customer does not live close by, and the PageMaker file is way too
large to email, so I would have to drive a considerable distance to
get it on a zip drive.

I am using Photoshop version 6.0.1

I also have MSFT photo editor, but as I noted already, that did not
work for me either.

HELP . . .HELP . . .HELP . . .HELP . . .

Do you have MSFT photo editor?
It's included in Microsoft office.

It has a straighforward button for "selecting transparency color".
You click the button, click on a white part of the image, and it
becomes transparent.

snsh-ga,

Thank you for your suggestion.  I do indeed have MSFT.  I open that
program, pulled in one of the images, followed the instructions
carefully, and saved the new file as a gif.  According to the program,
the background was then transparent.  However, when I placed the image
in PageMaker, the white box was again around the image -- no white
background.  What did I do wrong??????

You didn't do anything wrong. Pagemaker simply doesn't recognize the
Microsoft Office programming conventions for transparency and it would
be miraculous if it did.
Keep in mind that many types of graphic with transparent areas removed
by clipping paths in Photoshop STILL look like they have white
backgrounds in Pagemaker - but in fact when printed the background is
transparent as intended. You can check this in Pagemaker by clicking
and activating the graphic and then dragging it a little way. If the
graphic has a successful transparent, clipped background you'll be
able to see other details of the Pagemaker document through that area.
As soon as you release the mouse button though, the opaque background
is back. But it's only what Pagemaker shows onscreen, not what will
print.
So process your images in Photoshop by carefullu drawing a clipping
path around them, save them as cmyk .eps image files and import these
into Pagemaker. If you don't have access to a printer, you can test if
the transparency is working or not despite what Pagemaker is showing
by creating a PDF file from your page. Print to a postscript file and
feed it through Acrobat Distiller to make a PDF and check it in
Acrobat reader.

I certainly appreciate your help.  I tried your suggested solution,
and achieved a transparent background when I clicked and draged the
image in PageMaker.  Unfortunately, it still prints with the white
box.  Perhaps it is my printer?  I am using a HP LaserJet 5100.  I
tried printing in both postscript and PCL modes, with the same white
box result.

Is there no way to get PageMaker to read and accept a transparant
background????????

If the image doesn't print properly, and you have the graphic set up
right, then your printer doesn't support post script (which the laser
5100 should) so the image isn't right yet... do this:

1) select the areas that you want to preserve, all unselected areas
will be transparent
2)click on the paths tab in photoshop
3) select "make path from selection" tool on the bottom
4) double click on that path to name it
5) choose the layer options arrow on the top right corner of the paths window
6) choose "clipping path" and set it to about 5 (8 is comercial printing)

save the image as a TIFF file and choose no compression, and do not
choose any other options. This should work assuming you are using
pagemaker and photoshop 7. it worked for me. after about an hour of
researching and playing with it I figured it out.

One thing I can't figure out though is how to preserve the image size
without making a massive file. I am working at 1200 DPI with everthing
and my 7K pixel wide image comes up small and takes up huge amounts of
space, I'm pretty new to pagemaker, so anyone have suggestions on that
one?

my above steps should solve your transparency problem though