PSP 2018 Color Shift, Resize, clipboard and MS Office

[Tanquen]

Is there a cheat sheet to get PSP to work better with Windows, MS Office and the Windows clipboard?

When I use the Windows screen snip tool and paste into MS Paint or Office the size is correct and the colors are the same.

When I paste the same clipboard bitmap into PSP the colors change and if I then use the PSP copy and then paste it into Office the image is soft and about twice the size.

The color keeps getting a little darker each time. So if I use the Windows screen snip tool again on the image while it's in PSP and then paste it right back in it changes again.

So, 186,186,0 becomes 184,184,0 and so on.

colorShift.jpg

[Jean-Luc]

I don't notice any change in color or brightness when doing multiple screen capture and pasting.
I use Ashampoo Snap 12.

Screen capture testing.png

[LeviFiction]

Color differences might originate with the color management. But that's just a guess. You can try seeing if turning off color management fixes the problem. Of course, if it's already off then I've got nothing.

The size difference comes from the resolution (PPI) of the image. Because Word works on physical dimensions, the PPI tells it how big on the page it should be. The smaller the PPI the larger the image as a single pixel takes up more physical space. The bigger the PPI the smaller the image as it's more condensed. In the past setting my resolution to 112.5 got me pretty close. I'm at work and need to re-install PSP so I can't play with it right now. Have you tried one of the Special Copy modes? Edit -> Copy Special -> Copy for Desktop Printing or similar to see if those change the resolution to the correct value for you?

[Tanquen]

Removing the color profile for the display worked. I did not even know it had one.

I guess asking PSP to have the same image info when using it as Office dose is asking too much. Is there a way to make them match?

"In the past setting my resolution to 112.5 got me pretty close."
Is that a default setting in PSP?

When I cut and paste using the Windows tool and paste into Office looking at the image properties it says its 1.51"X1.48" and the scaling is at 100%
When it's pasted into PSP and then into Office\Word it's 2.89x2.83 and set to %143 scale. Not sure why Office takes it at 100% and then %143. If it's just the included PPI.
Even if I manually change it to !00% it's still bigger than the original.

All the copy special options look the same, more compressed maybe but same size.

[LeviFiction]

Quick answer: Use my Advanced Paste script found here - https://forum.corel.com/viewtopic.php?p=380270
It'll paste the image with the appropriate resolution and should transfer over relatively well.

Long answer -

Alright, I'm on lunch break and I've re-installed PSP here is what I've found. Without getting too far into the weeds, the snipping tool puts both a BITMAP version and a PNG version of the screen shot into the clipboard. Apps that can use PNG will, apps that can't will use the Bitmap. The PNG version includes a resolution of 37.790 Pixels Per Centimeter or roughly 96ppi. The bitmap version gives a resolution of 0. It doesn't give one. PSP is supposed to use a default resolution defined in the general preferences but in my copy of 2023 that doesn't seem to be working. Instead, it defaults to 72ppi. Not sure why.

To change this you can use the Resize dialog. Depending on the version of PSP you're using it should work something like this:
1) Image -> Resize
2) Select "By Print Size" at the top - change the resolution to "pixels per cm" and 37.790.
3) Select "By Percentage" at the top
4) Set the percent to 100% for width and height
5) Hit the Ok button.
This technically changes the resolution without actually resizing the image. It's convoluted, so many will just record a script to do it.

If you want to use a Pre-made script I recommend my Advanced Paste Script - https://forum.corel.com/viewtopic.php?p=380270

This script will look at your clipboard and try to find the best option for pasting into the image. If there is a PNG on the clipboard (as snipping tool does) it'll save a temporary copy to your harddrive, then open it as a new image. Great if your image includes transparency, but also, in this case, if your image has a default resolution.

I will note that PSP when it copies to the clipboard will copy a bitmap version that might not look nearly as good. So text might still might not look quite as clear after being copied from PSP but it should be pretty close.