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: Inserting from the Clip Art Gallery Doesn't Work.

Inserting from the Clip Art Gallery Doesn't Work

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 21, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Have you ever tried to place clip art into your document from the Clip Art Gallery, only to have it not be visible? If you have this problem, try this solution:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the View tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.

Make sure the Picture Placeholders check box is cleared.
Make sure the Drawings check box is selected.
Click on OK.

Now you should be able to place your clip art, as desired. These settings are normally cleared and selected (respectively) by default, but another user might have changed them on your system. Also, Word can change these settings automatically if it detects that screen redrawing is slow because of hardware considerations or because of the number of graphics in the document.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8514) 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: Inserting from the Clip Art Gallery Doesn't Work.

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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Making a Cell's Contents Italics within a Macro

You can use macros to process information in your worksheets. You may want to use that macro to apply the italic ...

Discover More

Summing Every Fourth Cell in a Row

Need to sum a series of cells that fits some regular pattern? Here are several ways that you can get the summation that ...

Discover More

Converting a Table into Text

Word includes a powerful table editor that allows you to create and work with tables easily. At some point, however, you ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Faster Picture Displaying

If you have a document with many graphics, you know that Word can sometimes be slow in displaying all those graphics. ...

Discover More

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. ...

Discover More

Filling A Drawing Object

Creating a drawing object can be just the first step in putting together your masterpiece drawing. This tip explains how ...

Discover More

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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 6 - 0?

2017-02-13 11:12:27

Kristen

You can also click on the Edit toolbar, then on "Paste Special". Make sure "picture" is highlighted and not "HTML format".

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.