PhotoDraw 2000 problems opening digital photos

[atlantis.studio]

Over the past several months, the PhotoDraw 2000 software installed on my computer has failed to recognize and open JPEGs created with my Olympus E-300. Each day, more and more photos generate the error message, "PhotoDraw cannot access this file. It may be damaged." These are photos that would open without problem in PhotoDraw up to a few months ago on my computer, and still will open on other computers with the same XP operating system and the same version of PhotoDraw installed. They also will open on my computer in Windows Explorer, ACDSee, Picasa, PhotoShop and every other photo viewer and editor.

I have reinstalled PhotoDraw from the original disk 3 of the 4-disk Office 2000 Update set, but there has been no improvement. Microsoft's help website is remarkably silent about PhotoDraw.

Has anyone out there had a similar problem and solved it? I'm baffled. PhotoDraw has a number of bells and whistles that aren't available on simpler programs, especially effects, the ability to add text and non-photo-graphics, and the variety of formats for saving finished work; and it is easier and quicker to use than PhotoShop. I really like it and want to continue using it.

What do you think? Thanks.

[cmaietta]

The same PhotoDraw problem with .jpg files started occurring last week on my PC running XP. Any insight would be welcome.

[sfriedman39]

If you installed Microsoft WEB Expressions or any of that suite, or Office 2007, it Replaced the JEPG graphics filter with a newer (and broken version). I confirmed that this is the cause of the problem because I suddenly started to get the same Damaged JPEG file message in PhotoDraw after it had been running fine. The only change was that I had installed the latest version of WEB expressions. As an afterthought I loaded an earlier backup that I had of the JPEG grapics filter located in Commom Programs>Graphics>JPG. It now works perfectly again. This problem seems only to affect PhotoDraw and not the later Digital Image Suite, but since I continie to use PhotoDraw, it was a real blow. If you have a backup of this file it should work. The file is JPEGIM32.FLT. The file date I have that works is 4/30/2007 but it is possible that the file date is worng since it might have been changed when I backed it up. I have attatched the one that works.

[nanillo3]

If you installed Microsoft WEB Expressions or any of that suite, or Office 2007, it Replaced the JEPG graphics filter with a newer (and broken version). I confirmed that this is the cause of the problem because I suddenly started to get the same Damaged JPEG file message in PhotoDraw after it had been running fine. The only change was that I had installed the latest version of WEB expressions. As an afterthought I loaded an earlier backup that I had of the JPEG grapics filter located in Commom Programs>Graphics>JPG. It now works perfectly again. This problem seems only to affect PhotoDraw and not the later Digital Image Suite, but since I continie to use PhotoDraw, it was a real blow. If you have a backup of this file it should work. The file is JPEGIM32.FLT. The file date I have that works is 4/30/2007 but it is possible that the file date is worng since it might have been changed when I backed it up. I have attatched the one that works.

hi, can you send me de backup and say me how i have to do it?? thanks, same problem with digital photos. alvarodvc@hotmail.com

Edited April 6, 2010 by nanillo3

[jaclaz]

See if these help:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Microsoft-Software-2918/Microsoft-Photo-Editor.htm

http://www.pchelpforum.com/general-software/56825-jpegim32-flt.html

You may want to check if the version in the "office conversion pack" is the "good" one or not:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/212265/en-us

(open the .exe with 7-zip and extract the graphic filter)

jaclaz

[sfriedman39]

You'll have to go back to the original Installation CD's for PhotoDraw. The file is JPEGIM32.FLT. You will have to manually copy it since simply re-installing Photodraw will not replace it. That will do the trick.

[gbumoon]

The problem is a lot of newer digital cameras take photos at 150 - 300 DPI and Photodraw won't support more than 72 DPI. It probably would but Photodraw hasn't been supported in years so don't hold your breath. What I do if I want to bring a photo into Photodraw is open the image on your computer and press PRINT SCREEN to take a screenshot, open Photodraw and hit Paste (Ctrl-V) and crop away. I know it's a pain but sometimes it's nice to work with Photodraw espeically when you're used to it.

Wish Microsoft never stopped supporting this program, I loved it. My 'major' work around was to familiarize myself with Adobe Photoshop instead, big jump from Photoshop.

[DarBroIT]

I now this is in old topic, but certainly not redundant as so many folks still use Photodraw.

I found this problem to be more a file size issue rather than a DPI issue although reducing DPI does also reduce file size. In my case, I have found that by reducing the file size by way of reducing the picture size, Photodraw is happy.

Example ...

Original Photo - Will not open in Photodraw

4000x2307 Pixels

DPI 72

File size 5.6Mb

Resized Photo - Will open in Photodraw

2401x1385 Pixels

DPI 72

File size 2.97Mb

I found that by keeping the file size below 3Mb I do not have anymore problems. My camera is a Nikon D3100.

As with gabumoon, I started using Photoshop due to this problem with Photodraw, but after finding out the problem - just use Photoshop to re-size using a fractal resizer plugin and then continue with Photodraw. Where Photoshop is far more powerful, I find Photodraw fits my requirements better.

Hope this helps someone

ADDED: Found this which I have applied and works perfectly now - no resize required. Apparently this is an Official Microsoft Fix

* Graffics Filter file JPEGIM32.FLT has been damaged, corrupted, or is missing entirely, possibly as a result of some software overwriting the correct version, which they are apparently unwilling to specify.

Their solution is to rename the filter file (in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Grphflt\ directory) with a .old extension and reinstall the correct version either from the Office CD or the OS CD.

Edited March 26, 2012 by DarBroIT

[hanoch]

I, too, have loved this old program, even tho I have Photoshop which is much clunkier and difficult to use (for me).  So I've used it with every Windows version until 8.1.  I did install it in Win 8.1 and it worked well for several months. Then, suddenly, it stopped working well and would crash when I opened one of the .mix files it creates.  So, like a damned fool, I uninstalled it --- which was extremely difficult to do, by the way --- and when I tried reinstalling it, the installation process simply hangs up in the middle every time.

 

Can anyone help me figure out how to work around this and reinstall this great old program????