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: Freezing Cell Size when Inserting Pictures.

Freezing Cell Size when Inserting Pictures

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated June 1, 2018)

Al wrote about a problem he was having with inserting graphics into a table. He created a table that had four rows and four columns, and then merged the center four cells. He ended up with one large cell surrounded by twelve smaller cells. When he tried to place a picture into the center cell, his table was thrown all out of whack as the table rows and columns would adjust to accommodate the inserted picture.

This is normal behavior for Word. According to Word's online help system, if you insert a graphic into a table cell, the cell is adjusted to fit the dimensional needs of the graphic. If you don't want Word to do that, then you must format the table so that it won't. This requires two passes through the Table Properties dialog box. Follow these steps:

Right-click on the table and choose Table Properties from the Context menu. Word displays the Table Properties dialog box.
Make sure the Table tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Table tab of the Table Properties dialog box.

Clear the Automatically Resize to Fit Contents check box. (In Word 2003 you need to click the Options button to display the Automatically Resize to Fit Contents check box.)
Click OK.
Select the row or rows that will contain pictures.
Right-click on the selected rows and choose Table Properties from the Context menu. Word again displays the Table Properties dialog box.
Make sure the Row tab is displayed. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Row tab of the Table Properties dialog box.

Select the Specify Height check box, and indicate right next to it the height you want used for the rows that will contain graphics.
Using the Row Height Is drop-down list, choose Exactly.
Clear the Allow Row to Break Across Pages check box.
Click OK.

Now, insert your picture as you normally would. The table will not resize. If the graphic is larger than the available space in the cell, then it is cropped to fit within the cell.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3839) 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: Freezing Cell Size when Inserting Pictures.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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What is 5 - 4?

2019-09-27 13:42:13

Afzaal

Hi! This is very easy that your picture will automatically fix in cell by using the Table Properties as showing in above given pic but only when you set the row height from At least to Exactly..........Thanks

2019-02-24 20:44:47

Felicity

Your website is really great - very clear and better than the Microsoft help forums. Thanks so much for all the useful tips!

2019-01-04 05:05:17

Kris

Thank you, very helpful.

2018-10-21 12:15:01

A. K. M. Ziaul Haque

Very helpful suggestion.

2017-10-09 02:46:26

JB Shaik

It is a good tip. By the way let me know when I am copying a table which contains pasted images in a cell to another application like Powerpoint , the images are not being copied. Let me know how to properly merge the pasted image in a cell. Thanks in advance.

2017-07-27 23:10:17

Thane

This's very helpful, however when i insert (copy and paste) a picture already in a word page but bigger size, the picture will not auto resize to fit the table cell, do you have any solutions?
Thanks a lot

2016-06-12 21:17:41

rovo

This saved me a lot of headache. Thank you very much indeed!

2016-02-11 04:03:33

Renu

Very very useful and in very easy words. Thanks.

2015-10-05 21:48:21

Jim Spears

So far I have not solved my problem for inserting jpegs in a Word 2007 table with several cells.

I have a table with 50 cells each 1.1 inch high x 1.58 inch wide, 5 across and 10 down on a single A4 size paper.

When I insert the same JPEG with those exact measurements in each cell they all have a small gap to the left and overlap to the right of the adjoining cell.

I have no text involved only the jpegs.

I have followed your posted instructions but cannot figure out the reason for my problem.

I have 0 settings for all cell margins.
No "allow break across pages" setting.
Exact same settings for all the cell sizes.
No table size entered.
No auto fit setting for the jpegs.

Thanks for any help.

2015-09-08 17:03:49

Heidi

I'm having issues where I drag a picture over from my computer window and it doesn't go to the spot I pick or it goes behind another picture. Any ideas as to why this is happening? Thanks, Heidi

2015-08-19 12:21:37

Raj

Thank you. Its very helpful

2015-07-22 20:06:25

les

This works perfectly...except that i don;t want the picture to be cropped, rather i want it to be resized so you still see the entire image just smaller.

Is this possible? using word 2013 for windows.

2015-06-21 22:52:30

Kate

Thxs, this really helped!

2015-05-27 05:53:40

bill

Thank you

2014-12-16 12:29:27

Steve

Allen,

Thanks for taking the time to post this - you solved my problem... I was trying to paste a small, square image and have it be centered in a cell that I had set to a specific column width and row height...but Word kept making the row taller. Your fix was "exactly" what I needed!

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