Can't Select and Edit Graphics Elements

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 28, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Felicity noted that until yesterday, when inserting graphics, text boxes, WordArt, and etc. into her documents she was able to view, select, and manipulate them in Print Layout view. Now the only view in which they show is in print preview, and when I select one of the items, all the editing and formatting tools are grayed out. Felicity is wondering why she can't work with these items as she previously did.

It sounds like the problem is that the Picture Placeholders setting has been turned on. You can control this setting in this manner:

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.
Click on OK.

Your pictures should now again be accessible as you are editing your 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 (10355) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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

Restarting a Numbered List Easily

Word provides tools that allow you to add numbered lists to your documents. Sometimes the quirks built into these tools ...

Discover More

Watermarks in Excel

Excel is great at printing numbers on a piece of paper, but terrible at printing watermarks. This is apparently by ...

Discover More

Adding Spaces in Front of Capital Letters

Got some text that is "run together" and needs spaces inserted to improve readability? There are a variety of approaches ...

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)

Merging Graphics from Access

An Access database can store all types of data, including graphic images. Merging most data from Access into Word is ...

Discover More

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

Keeping a Picture Title with the Picture

Pictures and their titles go together like peanut butter and jelly. (Wow, did I just say that?) Seriously, pictures and ...

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 one less than 8?

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.