• Office Q&A: Image wrangling in Word 2010

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    TOP STORY

    Office Q&A: Image wrangling in Word 2010

    By Katherine Murray

    We include pictures in everything — from blog posts to annual reports to letters to Grandma.

    But easy as it is to insert pictures into a doc, we’re often flummoxed by how to keep them exactly where we want them. This article explores a few of the maddening Word picture-placement issues our readers (and editors) have faced.


    The full text of this column is posted at windowssecrets.com/top-story/Office-Q-amp-A-Image-wrangling-in-Word-2010/ (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

    Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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    • #1329487

      Use Microsoft Publisher (if you can afford to buy it), and, in this regard, all your worries will be over.

      Dic

      • #1329606

        Use Microsoft Publisher (if you can afford to buy it), and, in this regard, all your worries will be over.

        Dic

        I have a friend who works in the printing industry. He says that he is often unable to work with materials presented to his company in the outputs from Microsoft Publisher. Just one reason that Publisher may not be a panacea for these sorts of issues.

        -- rc primak

        • #1329646

          I have a friend who works in the printing industry. He says that he is often unable to work with materials presented to his company in the outputs from Microsoft Publisher. Just one reason that Publisher may not be a panacea for these sorts of issues.

          I have worked extensively with Publisher for 6 years and it is so much better than Word for any kind of object work. As “Dic” says your worries will be over and I second that statement. I find Bob’s remark interesting as I never had any problems with my copy at printing establishments. The key was to print the final copy to a PDF document and email it for printing. Never a glitch or a problem. What “outputs” were a problem?

          • #1329680

            Good tips. Here are a couple more I’ve found useful over the years.

            I’ve found that using Frames works more reliably than Text Boxes for placing graphics and their captions, at least in versions of Word prior to 2010 (my company hasn’t upgraded past 2007 yet). You still can control placement and include captions. An important benefit of frames is that they are located in the text layer (not the graphics layer), so you can use cross referencing to reference the automatically generated figure number in the captions (which, at least in 2007 and earlier, you can’t do in a text box). There are at least two ways to create frames I know of. Text boxes can be converted to frames by right-clicking on the text box border and selecting Format Text Box and then selecting Layout tab and clicking on advanced then convert to frame. That’s the hard way. However, the easy way is to add the Create Frame button to the Quick Access toolbar. Then select what you want in the frame and click on the button.

            Also, when any floating object’s anchor is visible, you don’t need to cut and paste the graphic to move the anchor. Just grab the anchor itself and move it to the paragraph you want. Can sometimes be tricky if you move from one page to the next, but generally it works OK. You can also lock the anchor to a particular paragraph if you like. That’s in the format frame, format text box, format graphic layout selections. I want to stress that if you delete an entire paragraph that has a graphic anchored to it, the graphic goes as well. Move the anchor first. Also, check the anchor position if you get unexplained white space near a graphic. As noted in the article, the anchor and the graphic have to be on the same page. You may want to move the anchor to a different paragraph to let the white space fill in.

            • #1329687

              I have some key rules I follow now with my use of graphics in Word, hopefully they’ll help others:

              1) When inserting a graphic in the flow of a document, use Inline or Wrap-around placement
              2) To place a graphic in a set position on a page, go into the Advanced layout options and choose Absolute Position with respect to the Page.
              3) To arrange text alongside, above or below a graphic, use a table as suggested by Dic.

              4) In all cases, if you need to have multiple graphics and/or drawing objects and possibly text in a constant arrangement with respect to each other, use a Drawing Canvas. This is easier than positioning graphics individually on the page (unless you need the document text to wrap around and between all of them). You can combine this with the above 3 rules, e.g. put a drawing canvas inside a table. The only tricky bit with a Drawing Canvas is you can only insert floating graphics into them – if you have one that is inline in the document, you first need to change the graphic to ‘floating’, then cut it, then you can insert it into the drawing canvas.

              Marty

          • #1330082

            I have worked extensively with Publisher for 6 years and it is so much better than Word for any kind of object work. As “Dic” says your worries will be over and I second that statement. I find Bob’s remark interesting as I never had any problems with my copy at printing establishments. The key was to print the final copy to a PDF document and email it for printing. Never a glitch or a problem. What “outputs” were a problem?

            Yeah, PDF Format is just fine. But that is not the native Publisher output. The Publisher native output is .PUB. This what most folks submit, and that is where the problems in the professional printing industry come from. .PUB format does not convert properly to PDF in many cases. But if the person submitting the file does the conversion, these glitches can be corrected pre-submission.

            -- rc primak

      • #1329685

        Use Microsoft Publisher (if you can afford to buy it), and, in this regard, all your worries will be over.

        Dic

        You’re right for brochures and small documents Dic, but Publisher isn’t really suitable for larger docs where you have sections, tables of contents etc. The tips in this thread come into play where we need to use Word for its other features and still need to control the behaviour of graphics.

        Marty

    • #1329488

      Hi
      Good article, I’d like to suggest a couple of improvements:

      – The Word ‘default’ setting to insert pictures in line with text is not the default in all cases. This default has changed over different Word versions and if Word is installed as part of a corporate desktop they may also have changed the default setting. It’d be good to let people know they can control this setting under File -> Word Options -> Advanced Options -> Cut, Copy, and Paste.

      – I can see why you advise people to put a picture and its caption inside a text box, but I think it’s better to use a Drawing Canvas. In my experience users have the most trouble with diagrams or combinations of pictures on a page, maybe with arrows and text as well. A drawing canvas is the general purpose solution to this – it ensures all the related drawing items, text and pictures stay together at all times. The advice you give about in-line vs. floating items then works well for the overall ‘graphic’.

      Cheers
      Marty

    • #1329499

      For my thesis, a combination of lots of images and lack of funding made me pick OpenOffice 3 instead of Word. The functions for image placing and image captioning are far better than any version of Microsoft Word, and you can trust that what you put in your document stays put. /Mats G

      • #1329607

        For my thesis, a combination of lots of images and lack of funding made me pick OpenOffice 3 instead of Word. The functions for image placing and image captioning are far better than any version of Microsoft Word, and you can trust that what you put in your document stays put. /Mats G

        As long as you don’t need 100 percent compatibility with Office formats, this is a good tip. But be aware that if the person reading the thesis is using Office instead of OpenOffice, all that formatting work may be lost, as images in particular do not always display the same in the two office suites. The differences are not trivial in heavily formatted documents with images, tables and the likes.

        -- rc primak

    • #1329522

      I was using Word 2010 recently to print onto a sheet of labels using the built in template. Each label required an image placed behind the text but as soon as I selected the ‘behind text’ option the images would jump all over the place. I would move an image into the correct position only to find that another image would move somewhere else then when I moved that image back the first image would move. I solved this by clicking on the ‘position’ button and selecting ‘More Layout Options…’ where I discovered that the default layout options were Horizontal to the right of ‘Column’ and Vertical below ‘Paragraph’. After changing both ‘Column’ and ‘Paragraph’ to ‘Page’ I found that the images stayed where I had placed them.

    • #1329531

      I was hoping this article would tell us how to change the default image placement from inline to one of the floating options. Alas, I was disappointed, and I fear it’s not the author’s lack, but Microsoft’s. It would also be good to be able to change the default image placement from Paragraph to Page, but again, MS falls short.

      However, the good news is I picked up a great tip about placing images (and their captions if needed) into TEXT BOXES, which I believe default to floating and PAGE placement. This could solve all my issues with images, albeit with the hassle of the extra step of adding a text box. Now, if only we could get the text box add tool to default to our choice (transparent) instead of forcing us to choose it from a list each time…

      Sigh.

      • #1329573

        Word is really bad at dealing with graphics. My solution has been to put graphics in a table, which keeps them on the text layer. A 2-cell table allows insertion of a caption below or to the side, which also stays with the graphic. You can mark the caption for tables of contents without too much trouble as well. The nice thing about using table cells for graphics is that you can easily arrange two or more graphics within one figure as needed.

        By using the table formatting features you can position the graphic, arrange for text wrapping, and fix the size of the cell.

        • #1329602

          I first heard most of this article when I switched from WordPerfect to Word in the middle 1990s. Still can’t believe it!
          For informal documentation and intuitive picture handling, WordPad works well.

          • #1329608

            I first heard most of this article when I switched from WordPerfect to Word in the middle 1990s. Still can’t believe it!
            For informal documentation and intuitive picture handling, WordPad works well.

            WordPad is great for short documents (a few pages or less) with just basic formatting requirements. Anything bigger or more complex will not be suitable. That said, I use WordPad for almost all online web postings requiring formatting. I just would not use it for longer posts in my blog, or complete articles being submitted for online publication.

            -- rc primak

        • #1329682

          That’s a good tip where you want to keep text with a graphic.

          For multiple graphics plus text, arrows etc, use a drawing canvas (see FlipFlop’s tip), this works much better than a text box and allows placement either inline or floating anywhere on the page.

        • #1329683

          Word is really bad at dealing with graphics. My solution has been to put graphics in a table, which keeps them on the text layer. A 2-cell table allows insertion of a caption below or to the side, which also stays with the graphic. You can mark the caption for tables of contents without too much trouble as well. The nice thing about using table cells for graphics is that you can easily arrange two or more graphics within one figure as needed.

          By using the table formatting features you can position the graphic, arrange for text wrapping, and fix the size of the cell.

          That’s a good tip for where you want to keep a single piece of text with a graphic.

          For multiple graphics plus text, arrows etc, use a drawing canvas (see FlipFlop’s tip), this works much better than a text box and allows placement either inline or floating anywhere on the page.

      • #1329609

        I was hoping this article would tell us how to change the default image placement from inline to one of the floating options. Alas, I was disappointed, and I fear it’s not the author’s lack, but Microsoft’s. It would also be good to be able to change the default image placement from Paragraph to Page, but again, MS falls short.

        However, the good news is I picked up a great tip about placing images (and their captions if needed) into TEXT BOXES, which I believe default to floating and PAGE placement. This could solve all my issues with images, albeit with the hassle of the extra step of adding a text box. Now, if only we could get the text box add tool to default to our choice (transparent) instead of forcing us to choose it from a list each time…

        Sigh.

        Make a custom Office Template for your preferred options, and save it as your default Office Template for Word documents. The process is pretty straightforward, but it’s been awhile since I’ve used Office, so I’ll have to refer you to this article .

        -- rc primak

      • #1329684

        I was hoping this article would tell us how to change the default image placement from inline to one of the floating options. Alas, I was disappointed, and I fear it’s not the author’s lack, but Microsoft’s. It would also be good to be able to change the default image placement from Paragraph to Page, but again, MS falls short.

        However, the good news is I picked up a great tip about placing images (and their captions if needed) into TEXT BOXES, which I believe default to floating and PAGE placement. This could solve all my issues with images, albeit with the hassle of the extra step of adding a text box. Now, if only we could get the text box add tool to default to our choice (transparent) instead of forcing us to choose it from a list each time…

        Sigh.

        No problem David, go to the File menu / Office Button, choose Word Options at the bottom, go to the Advanced item on the left, then the Cut, Copy and Paste section. There’s an item there titled Insert/paste pictures as where you can choose the default for new images.

      • #1329769

        I was hoping this article would tell us how to change the default image placement from inline to one of the floating options. Alas, I was disappointed, and I fear it’s not the author’s lack, but Microsoft’s. It would also be good to be able to change the default image placement from Paragraph to Page, but again, MS falls short.

        This was addressed by Marty (post #3 in this thread): In the Options dialog, click Advanced. In the “Cut, copy, and paste” group, change the “Insert/paste pictures as” dropdown to whichever text wrapping you want. That will become the default for all pasted pictures, until you change the setting. This has been in the Options dialog at least since Word 2003.

        • #1329873

          One area that I have not seen addressed is adding a graphic to a Header or Footer. I hit two pernickity problems in particular, while making letterhead templates for a friend:

          1. After adding a 50mm high graphic in the First Page Header in MS Word, I could not see how to have a smaller header for the subsequent pages (2, 3, 4…)

          2. Attempting the same operation in Excel, I found it impossible to have a First Page Header containing a graphic that bled from the left hand side to the right hand side of the page. It would always spill over onto an adjacent sheet.

          • #1330004

            1. After adding a 50mm high graphic in the First Page Header in MS Word, I could not see how to have a smaller header for the subsequent pages (2, 3, 4…)

            I’m not sure what the problem is here David. As long as you have multiple pages in the document and you’ve selected Different first page in Page Setup -> Layout, this has always worked fine for me.

            2. Attempting the same operation in Excel, I found it impossible to have a First Page Header containing a graphic that bled from the left hand side to the right hand side of the page. It would always spill over onto an adjacent sheet.

            I can’t reproduce this in either Excel 2007 or 2010. What do you mean by ‘bled from left hand side to the right hand side’? Is this just a long graphic? I can’t get a graphic in the First Page Header to cross over onto an adjacent printed page, regardless of size of graphics or what I do or don’t have in the Headers. If you’d like to email your workbook to me I can have a look at it: domain choppies.com.au, email marty (avoiding spam bots)

            Marty

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