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Many of the available downloads at Dermatology are linked to Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) Microsoft Word (.docx) files. To open the file after download you must have the necessary program installed on your computer to view the file. Please visit www.adobe.com to locate and install a free version of Acrobat, Please visit www.microsoft.com and search .docx viewer, also go the the App Store on your computer.

Basic instructions on how to resize an image to the correct size (3MB or less) to upload to UW Health MyChart.

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE PDF VERSION OF THIS DOCUMENT (see link above) to view these instructions offline and with accompanying images.

Introduction

As of the date of this printing (April 2, 2020), image files uploaded to MyChart must be 3.0 MB or less in size.

This help sheet gives an overview of four methods you can use to reduce image size on your phone.

These methods can be used together or separately to produce a correctly sized image that also displays your medical concern in enough detail that your provider can evaluate it.

NOTE: These instructions are provided as a convenience for UW Health patients taking part in telemedicine visits via MyChart. These instructions contain general advice that will need to be adapted to whichever digital platform you use to access MyChart and/or take digital photographs. Please consult your digital platform’s official documentation for further clarification and to ensure your data privacy and security.

Method A: Crop the image.

Most “Photos,” “Camera,” or similar mobile apps allow you to ‘crop’ an image to cut out unnecessary content.

If the item of interest to your provider takes up only a small portion of the picture, you can cut out the rest of the image, save just the part that is needed, and end up with a much smaller file to send to your provider.

1. Find the image in your “Photos,” “Gallery,” “Camera,” or similar application, and open it for editing.
2. Locate the “cropping tool,” which generally resembles the tool indicated in the image below. (see PDF for images)
3. Adjust the edges and corners of the crop-tool rectangle to highlight only the portion of the image you want to keep.
4. Content outside the crop-tool rectangle will be removed.
5. Confirm or “Save” the crop.
6. Save the image. You may wish to save as a separate image in case you make a mistake and need to reuse the original.

Method B: Email the image to yourself (iPhone Users only).

This is a quick, but not fail-safe, way to reduce an image file’s size for users of the iPhone Mail email app.

Email messages in Mail have a maximum size of 20MB. If you attempt to attach images that go over that limit, Mail will give you the option to reduce the resolution of your image files to meet that maximum criteria.

1. Start an email message with your email address as the recipient.
2. Attach the image file.
3. When prompted, select an image size that is just smaller than the 3.0 MB limit required for MyChart uploads (providers need a relatively high resolution photo to evaluate your concerns).
4. Send the email.
5. Open the sent email from your inbox. Save the resized attachment.
6. Upload the resized image file to MyChart.

Method C: Use a third-party application to compress the image.

If you are comfortable downloading a third-party mobile app, you can use one to compress a file without cropping it. A few examples of mobile apps that allow you to do this:

• Image Size on Apple Store and Google Play
• Compress Photos & Pictures on Apple Store
• Photo Compress & Resize on Google Play

Use the instructions provided by the app developer to compress your image files.

NOTE: UW Health, UW-Madison, and the Department of Dermatology do not endorse any of these mobile applications. We encourage you to carefully evaluate any application before you download it onto your device.

Method D: Use a desktop application to reduce the photo’s resolution.

A photo’s resolution determines its size and its level of detail. Reducing resolution will directly reduce image file size.

Most photo editing apps on Android and Apple mobile devices do not allow you to adjust resolution, so this method requires several additional steps.

1. Transfer the photo to a device running Windows or Mac OS.
2. Open the photo in a desktop photo-editing or photo-viewing program, such as Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Photos, or Apple Preview
3. Use the image resolution tool available in your program.
   1. In Adobe Photoshop, you can press Ctrl+Alt+i or Cmd+Alt+i to open the “Image Resolution” Panel. More instructions on adobe.com.
   2. In Microsoft Photos, you can click on the “…” menu and select “Resize” to resize the image to one of several preset sizes.
   3. In Apple Preview, you can select Tools, then Adjust Size, then select “Resample Image.” More instructions on apple.com.
   4. Check the help documentation for whichever desktop application you use.
4. Save the image.
5. Upload the image to MyChart. Note that you can upload images from a desktop computer or your mobile device.

NOTE: UW Health, UW-Madison, and the Department of Dermatology do not endorse any of these desktop applications. We encourage you to carefully evaluate any application before you download it onto your computer.

UWHealth’s policies on travel and reimbursement can be found here:

https://uconnect.wisc.edu/pay/paycheck/travel-and-reimbursement/