Have you tried just copying in Excel the using Edit> Paste Special — PDF in Word?
The methods you mentioned all create raster images but the text content is vector. Conversion causes pixelation which translates as blurriness to the human eye
Why are my Mac Excel tables always blurry when pasted as a picture in Mac Word?
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(44.800000000000004, 81%, 14%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EM%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
MFish9085
0
Reputation points
In the above image, the pasted tables are from Word on a Mac (Left) and Word on a PC (Right). I have tried numerous methods to make Excel tables paste nicely into Word as a picture, e.g., Paste as PNG, Copy as Picture from Excel (all methods), don't compress images in Word, paste as object, camera tool in Excel, etcetera, etcetera. This is a constant issue in Mac Office and perennially makes it onto these forums, and yet, it remains an issue. It is not an update issue. Can Microsoft and Apple find a work around that makes an Excel table paste as crisply into a Word document on MacOS as it does on Office for Windows when I paste as "Picture (Enhanced Metafile)". I know this partly due to how Windows and Mac copy pixels, but it is frustrating that after 10+ years of using Mac and Windows versions of Office, this continues to be a problem with no real solution (that I can find) to date.
Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | MacOS
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(41.6, 25%, 14%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EGN%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Gabriel-N 3,860 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator2025-08-14T03:26:04+00:00 Hi MFish9085
Thank you for reaching out to the Q&A Forum. I understand how disruptive this issue can be to your workflow, and I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
Regarding the behavior you're experiencing when pasting Excel tables into Word on macOS: When a table is pasted as a picture, macOS typically uses a raster image format such as PNG. Unlike Windows, which supports Enhanced Metafile (EMF), a vector-based format, macOS lacks native support for EMF. As a result, the pasted image is stored at a fixed pixel resolution, and any scaling within Word can degrade its clarity. Additionally, Word for Mac may apply default image compression, which further reduces sharpness.
We appreciate Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP’s helpful workaround using Paste Special > PDF, which often preserves vector quality. I’d also like to suggest another method that may yield the same results that simply paste the table from Excel into Word using Command + V > Right-click the pasted table and choose Paste as Picture.
In practice, this approach frequently produces a higher-resolution image compared to directly pasting as a picture or using Paste Special with PNG or TIFF formats. It’s worth trying both methods to see which best suits your needs.
Thank you again for your engagement. I hope the insights shared by both Bob Jones and myself prove helpful in resolving this issue.
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