The simplest method I've found is to copy the image from Word and then paste it into an image editor. (In my version of Photoshop Elements, you use File | "New from Clipboard" rather than a paste; but you need to flatten the image (Alt-L, F) to save it as anything but .psd.)

The picture you get will be at a resolution that Word thought appropriate for printing, and likely will be fairly low resolution (usually 72 dpi).

You can just click on the image to select it and then Ctl-C to copy, or you can use the Alt-PrtScn to put the pic into the clipboard.

Either way, you'll likely get a 72 dpi image at the size at which you viewed it.

Word may "contain" the picture at some original resolution much better than what you see. When you copy it, you get the size you see and when you paste it you probably will get that size at 72 dpi.

If you can resize the picture in Word before you copy it, up to the limits of the image originally inserted, you may get an effectively higher resolution. If you can get it at a larger size and 72 dpi you can often resize it in your graphics program without resampling, back to some smaller size at more pixels per inch to effectively "improve" the resolution. If the image in Word "pixilates" you'll copy all the pixels available, and the pixilation will disappear when you resize back to a decent pixel density.

You also can zoom the view and use a screen capture (Alt-PrtScn), but with that method you can only get what fits on the screen. You can resize the picture in Word before you copy, so that it doesn't fit on the screen in view, and the copy should still get the whole picture if you use the click-to-select and Ctl-C (or right-click Copy).

If the original image that was inserted into Word was very high resolution and hasn't been "simplified" you may want to change the page size to enlarge it in Word, but you'll be able to see (in Word) when the picture starts to "fall apart."

Just be sure to close the Word doc without saving if you don't want your twiddling with the pic to be part of the doc.

For most purposes, the copy and paste to a decent graphics program should be good enough. The image you capture will only come undone if you try to make significantly enlarged prints, or if you project it for people sitting too close to the screen.

John