Graphics

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Graphics' topic. Click the article's title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Nothing beats a screen shot when you are trying to convey information about using the computer. With just a couple of easy shortcuts, you can add screen shots to your documents.

Absolutely Positioning a Picture
Once you place a picture in your document, does it seem to have a mind of its own? If so, you'll benefit from the information in this tip. Learn how to make pictures stay exactly where you want them to stay on the page.

Adding a Background to Your Document
Document backgrounds come in handy if you plan on converting the document to a Web page. Here's how you can add a background of your choice to your document.

Adding WordArt Libraries
You can use WordArt to add some interesting effects to your documents. If you want to add to WordArt's capabilities, though, you are probably out of luck and need to look to a different solution.

Adjusting Shadow Settings
Give your graphics depth by applying a drop-shadow.

Automatically Formatting Graphics and AutoShapes
Using the Options dialog box to format graphics in a Word document automatically.

Cannot View Graphics in a Document
Got a problem where you can't view any of the graphics you insert in your document? The solution could be simple, or you could be seeing a symptom of a more complex problem. This tip explains some of the things you can check out.

Capturing a Screen
Adding screen shots (information captured from your computer screen) to a document can be very helpful. Fortunately, it is also very easy to do. This tip explains a couple of ways you can get the absolute best screen shots from your system.

Changing Compression Print Resolution
The resolution at which Word compresses graphics in a document may be bothersome. If it is, your options are very limited, and you will probably get better results by looking toward a solution other than Word.

Changing Defaults for Text Boxes and Callouts
One of the great uses to which you can put Word's AutoText feature is to provide "default" text boxes and callouts. This tip explains why you might want to do that, and how to go about doing it.

Changing the Size of a Drawing Object
Documents are often made up of more than just text. If you have drawing objects in your document, you will doubtless need to change their sizes from time to time. Here's how to easily make the changes you need.

Changing the Size of a Graphic
Word allows you to add more than text to your documents; you can also add graphics. Once added, you can modify the size of those graphics by using the techniques in this tip.

Choosing an Insert Method for Pictures
The way that you choose to add pictures to your document can have an effect on the file size of those documents. It is best not to paste pictures, but to insert them instead.

Clip Art Sizing Difficulties
A discussion of problems a reader was having resizing clip art in Word.

Clip Gallery in a Word 2002 World
How to view the Clip Gallery once you have installed Word 2002.

Creating a Drawing Object
Word documents can contain more than just words—they can also contain drawing objects such as lines and simple shapes. Word provides an easy way to add such objects to a document, but the tools differ based on the version of Word you are using.

Creating Oval Pictures
A couple of ways to create oval shaped pictures in a Word document.

Creating Usable Figure Captions
Many people add both images and figure captions within text boxes so they can be easily positioned within a document. Doing so, however, has drawbacks as the figure captions are not as easily accessible for cross referencing or for inclusion in a Table of Figures. This tip describes how you can rectify this situation so that the captions are again usable.

Cropping Graphics
Graphics placed in a document can be "cropped" so that parts of the graphic are hidden from display. This tip explains how to crop graphics and also discusses why making such croppings doesn't result in a smaller document.

Default Picture Location
When you insert pictures into a document, the first folder that Word opens up is normally the My Pictures folder. You can change the starting folder my making a change on the Files tab of the Options dialog box. This tip explains how to make the change.

Default Picture Settings
Place enough pictures, and sooner or later you start wondering if there is a way to set up some default settings for those pictures. The short answer is that you can't, but there are things you can do to make the picture-formatting process much easier.

Determining Picture Size in VBA
A VBA macro that will determine the size of all the graphic objects within your document.

Disappearing Graphics Groups
Word allows you to format graphics individually as well as collectively, in groups. If you group graphics together, you need to remember to apply any positioning or behavioral formatting necessary so that your group is handled by Word as you expect.

Displaying Thumbnails and Full-Size Images
Sometimes images can be just too big to display in a document. Instead you may want to display a smaller, thumbnail-size version of the graphic that people can click on in order to see the full-size version. Word doesn't have a built-in function to do this, but you can devise your own display method using the hyperlink capabilities of the program.

Dragging and Dropping Pictures in a Document
Do you like to add pictures to your document just by dragging and dropping? What are you to do if it appears the capability just stops one day? Here's an idea for a fix you can check.

Easily Changing Links in Documents
You may have a lot of linked images in a document, and then one day need to change the links if the location of the images changes. Here's how you can make the necessary changes quickly.

Editing Wrap Points
If you have a graphic that has text wrapping around it, you might want a way to modify the wrapping path used by Word. You can easily do that by modifying the points that define the wrapping path. This tip shows how easy it is to monkey with the wrap points around an image.

Extracting INCLUDEPICTURE File Names
If you use the INCLUDEPICTURE field to add images to your document, you may love the macro in this tip. It allows you to pull all the filenames used in the field, resulting in a handy image file list.

Extracting Pictures from a Document
Placing pictures in a document is fairly straight-forward; getting them out again is not so obvious. This tip discusses different approaches you can follow in order to get pictures back out of a document and into graphics files.

Faster Picture Displaying
If you have a document with many graphics, you know that Word can sometimes be slow in displaying all those graphics. This tip examines why this occurs and discusses some things you can try to speed up the display of those pictures.

Filling A Drawing Object
Creating a drawing object can be just the first step in putting together your masterpiece drawing. This tip explains how you can fill the object with a color of your choosing.

Fixing the Big Red X
When there are red x's in your document where graphics are supposed to be, use this tip to fix the problem.

Flipping a Drawing Object
Place a drawing object in your document, and it doesn't have to stay that way. You can flip a drawing object in either of two directions, as discussed in this tip.

Freezing Cell Size when Inserting Pictures
Insert a picture into a table cell, and you may quickly find that the table is no longer the size you expected. Here's how to make sure that the cells in your table don't resize themselves when you insert an image.

Graphics and Line Height
If the inline graphics in your document appear "chopped off," it could be directly related to the formatting within the paragraph containing the graphic. This tip explains why this chopping happens and how you can adjust formatting so that the entire graphic shows up.

Graphics in Address Labels
Learn how to add graphics to the address labels you print in Word.

Grouping Drawing Objects
Drawing objects are easily added to a document. You can group these objects so they are easier to manage by following the steps in this tip.

Hanging Indents in Wrapped Text
If you use hanging indents for some of your paragraphs, you may wonder why they don't look right when they wrap on the right side of a text box or graphic. Here's the reason and what you can do to correct the formatting.

Hiding Graphics
Do you need a printout where graphics can be turned on and off? This tip provides some concrete ways you can get just want you need in such a printout.

Horizontal Alignment Errors for Graphics
Discussion of alignment differences for graphics in Word 97 and Word 2000.

Inserting a Picture in Your Document
Word allows you to insert quite a few different types of pictures in your document. Here's a quick overview of how it works.

Inserting Multiple Clip Art Gallery Clips
How to insert multiple clip art clips in a Word document at the same time.

Merging Graphics from Access
An Access database can store all types of data, including graphic images. Merging most data from Access into Word is relatively easy, except when it comes to graphics. This tip explains why this is the case and ways you can work around the problem.

Merging Graphics into Word Documents
When creating a mail merge document, you may have a need to merge graphics. For instance, each record in the database from which you are merging may include a photo or other illustration unique to that record. Getting these to show up in a merged document can be frustrating—unless you know the proper approach to take.

Motion Clips that Automatically Play
Creating documents that have Motion Clips.

Moving Drawing Objects
When you need to move a drawing object around your document, you use the mouse after you select the object. This tip shows how you can make the move.

Moving Object Anchors
With this tip you can move an Object Anchor to another paragraph without moving it on the document itself.

Moving Objects in Word 2007 without Snapping to the Grid
When you use the mouse to move objects around, they normally "snap" to the invisible grid that overlays your document. If you don't want them to exhibit this behavior, you can hold down the Alt key as you drag the object. What if the Alt key doesn't affect how objects are dragged, as it should?

Nudging a Graphic
If you need to move a graphic just a little bit in one direction or another, you can do so by using the techniques in this tip. (Hint: Using the keyboard to nudge a graphic is easiest.)

Only Inline Figures can be Seen and Printed
Do you have graphics in your document that you cannot see and that won't print out? This tip provides some ideas as to why you may be having troubles with the pictures.

Permanent Watermarks in a Document
Need to add a graphic watermark to a document? It's not that hard to do, but making the watermark permanent can be a bit more vexing.

Pictures Move on their Own
Insert some pictures into a document, and you may be in for a surprise—they don't necessarily stay where you put them. Depending on how you add pictures and what formatting you apply, your pictures may move around a document the same way that you text can. This tip explains how to make pictures stay where you put them.

Positioning Graphics Evenly
If you have some graphics inserted in your document, you may want to adjust the horizontal space between those graphics. Here's the easiest way to make that adjustment.

Printing Graphic Borders
How to make sure that graphic borders print as you expect.

Problems Pasting Large Pictures
If you insert a large picture in your document and your text jumps all around and the picture seems to disappear, don't worry. The information in this tip will help you get matters back to normal in record time.

Resize Graphics Outside of Word
Understanding how Word uses graphics will help clear up problems with resizing them in a document. This tip explains why you should always do your resizing in a program other than Word.

Rotating a Drawing Object
You can add all sorts of drawing objects to a document. Once placed, you can then rotate them to your heart's content. This tip explains a couple of ways you can perform the rotation.

Rotating Graphics Around a Different Center Point
You use the rotation handle in Word 2002 and Word 2003 to, well, rotate graphics around a center point. But if you hold down the Ctrl key while you use the handle, you can rotate the graphic around a center point that is even lower in the graphic.

Rotating Pictures
Did you ever want to rotate artwork in Word?

Searching and Replacing Graphics
Got a bunch of graphics in a document that need replacing? (Perhaps you need to replace an old logo with a new one.) Word doesn't provide a direct way to do it, but there are ways to get what you want.

Searching for Floating Graphics
Graphics can be added to a document so that they are either inline with the text or floating over the text. You can use Word's find and replace tool to locate the inline graphics, but not the floating ones. This tip provides ways you can find the latter.

Selecting a Graphic Behind a Text Box
How to select a graphic that is obscured by a text box can be perplexing. Here's an overview of the different ways you can select just the graphic and nothing else.

Selecting a Graphic that is Behind Text
Word allows you to move a graphic behind the text in your document, but this can make selecting the graphic at a later time a bother. This tip explains how to easily select a graphic, regardless of where it is in relation to your text.

Selecting Drawing Objects
How to select one or more drawing objects in a document.

Stopping Text From Jumping Around
Place a graphic in your document, and your text can move all over the place. This tip explains how you can lock down your graphics and stop the jitters in your text.

The Default Picture Editor
Did you ever wonder why you can't set up Paint Shop Pro as your preferred Word picture editor?

Turning On Picture Placeholders
Documents with lots of graphics can slow down the editing of a document, or they can be distracting. One way to deal with lots of graphics is to turn on picture placeholders. This feature, described in this tip, shows positioning information for a graphic, but does not display the graphic itself.

Understanding Fill Effects
Want to fill a drawing shape with more than just a color? Word allows you to use all sorts of fills, as described in this tip.

Understanding Graphic Linking
Word provides a couple of different ways that graphics can be linked to your document. How you control the method used depends on the choices you make in the Insert Picture dialog box.

Understanding Grayscale Images
Word allows you to easily add images to your documents. For documents intended for monochrome printers, grayscale images are the most common type of graphic you can use. This tip explains exactly what a grayscale image is.

Understanding Object Anchors
A brief definition of Object Anchors and how to lock them into place with the paragraph they are associated with.

Understanding Page Border Art
Word allows you to place artwork around the border of a page. Here's an overview of the artwork used.

Understanding the Drawing Canvas
Need to keep your drawing shapes together in one place? The drawing canvas may be exactly what you are looking for.

Unwanted Graph Paper Effect
When you open a document or start to use Word, do you see a background that looks like graph paper? It could be because of any number of reasons, as described in this tip.

Using Callouts
How to use callouts in a Word document.

Using MPF Graphic Files
There are all sorts of file formats used to store graphics. You might think that one of those formats is the MPF format, described in this tip.

Using the Drawing Grid
One of the lesser-known drawing tools provided in Word is the drawing grid. You can easily turn this feature on and use it to help you create drawing objects that are uniformly sized and placed.

Vertical Lines in Word
Lines are a common addition to documents. Word provides several different methods by which you can add vertical lines to your document. This tip describes each of these methods so you can pick the one that best matches your needs.

Working With OLE Graphics
An explanation of the way Word imports graphics.

Wrapping Text Aound a Graphic
Word includes several different ways you can wrap text around a graphic.

Wrapping Text Around a Graphic
Place a graphic in your document, and you may want to make sure that your document text "wraps" around the edges of the graphic. There are several wrapping methods you can instruct Word to use; here's how to do it.

 

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