Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Wrapping Text Around a Graphic.

Wrapping Text Around a Graphic

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 7, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


After you have inserted a picture in your document, you can control how surrounding text flows around it. You can either turn wrapping off, or you can cause Word to flow text around the image. To control text wrapping for a graphic, follow these steps:

  1. Insert your graphic as you normally would.
  2. Right-click your mouse on the graphic. Word displays a Context menu.
  3. Choose the Format Picture option from the Context menu. Word displays the Format Picture dialog box.
  4. Click on the Layout tab (or, in Word 97, the Wrapping tab). (See Figure 1.)
  5. Figure 1. The Layout tab of the Format Picture dialog box.

  6. Select a method of text wrapping in the Wrapping Style area of the dialog box.
  7. Click on OK.

Once you have selected a wrapping method, you can modify the wrapping points using the techniques described in other WordTips. (Modifying the wrapping points allows you to get text very close to your image, including on top of it, if desired.)

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3518) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Wrapping Text Around a Graphic.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Applying Bold Italics

Applying bold and italics formatting to text is easy in Word. If you want to apply bold and italics simultaneously, you ...

Discover More

Using InputBox to Get Data

Need your macro to get some input from a user? The standard way to do this is with the InputBox function, described in ...

Discover More

Understanding Auditing

Excel provides some great tools that can help you see the relationships between the formulas in your worksheets. These ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Placing Many Graphics in a Document

Word documents can contain more than just text. You can even create documents that contain almost no text at all. This ...

Discover More

Counting All Graphics

Need to know how many graphics a document contains? Getting at the true number may take a little more work than it first ...

Discover More

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 ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 + 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.