Adding Pictures to Word Documents

Pictures can be easily added to word documents. To start choose InsertPicture and the select an option from the submenu!

the Picture Sub menu

The Picture Sub Menu

We will explore most these options!

Clip Art From File Setting Text Wrap Options AutoShapes
WordArt New Drawing Chart  

Clip Art

You can insert clip art that is part of the Microsoft Clip Gallery. The Gallery, of course, is available to any program in Microsoft Office.

Insert Clip Art Dialog Box

The Insert ClipArt Dialog Box


From File

You may have used your digital camera to take some pictures, or you may have scanned some pictures, or you may have purchased a collection of clip art. In either case, these pictures will be saved to a disk or to your hard drive or on a CD, and you can insert them “from file”.


Setting Text Wrap Options

When you insert a picture into a Word document by either method described above, the picture is placed in the text at the location of the cursor as an In Line Picture. What does this mean? It means that the picture is inserted in the line of text as a character and cannot be manipulated (resized, set the text to wrap around the object, etc.). The picture can only be moved to a new location.

You can always tell if a picture has been inserted as an In line Picture by how it looks when it is selected. Click on it once. If you see this, you picture is an In Line Picture! Rose In Line
A picture that looks like this is an Object Rose Object

Although this may be what you want in some cases, often what you really want is a picture that is an Object that “floats” that is treated as an object and the text either wraps around it, or is in front of the picture, or the text is behind the picture.

Format Picture Dialog Box

the Format Picture Dialog Box with the Layout Tab Selected

Other Format Picture Options

the Colors and Lines Tab
the Size Tab
the Picture Tab

AutoShapes

Word comes with a variety of commonly used pictures and shapes known as AutoShapes. These items are clip art images that you insert just as you would any other clip art:

  • InsertPictureAutoShapes 
    • AutoShapes is also accessible via the Drawing Toolbar
  • the AutoShapes dialog box will open
  • click on one of the buttons on the tool bar to open one of its submenus
    • the buttons are in order from left to right
      • Lines
      • Basic Shapes
      • Block Arrows
      • Flow Chart
      • Stars and Banners
      • Call Outs
      • More AutoShapes
    • clicking on a button opens a submenu with a collection of shapes related to the “theme” of the button name
    • EXCEPTION: clicking on More AutoShapes opens the Clip Gallery and gives you access to even more AutoShapes

     

 

AutoShapes Toolbar

the AutoShapes Toolbar
AutoShapes Toolbar with Popup
the AutoShapes Toolbar with
the Basic Shapes submenu open

WordArt

Using WordArt you can transform ordinary text into graphic objects. The text can then be fashioned into a variety of shapes, the letters can be flipped or stretched, the words rotated or angled, and so forth.

Edit WordArt Text

the Edit WordArt Text dialog box

  • position the WordArt object where you like by “dragging” it
  • use the toolbar buttons to further enhance the WordArt

WordArt Toolbar

the WordArt Toolbar

the WordArt toolbar buttons
  • Insert WordArt
    • clicking on this button opens the WordArt gallery
    • you can select a gallery item to insert a new WordArt object
  • Edit Text
    • clicking on this buttons opens the Edit WordArt Text dialog box
    • you can now edit the text of your WordArt object, change the font, etc.
  • WordArt Gallery
    • clicking on this button opens the WordArt gallery
    • you can select a different gallery item to change your existing WordArt object
  • Format WordArt
    • opens the Format WordArt dialog box which allows you to modify or enhance the WordArt object
    • the choices here are essentially the same as those the Format Picture dialog box discussed above

Format WordArt Dialog

the Format WordArt Dialog Box with the Colors and Lines tab selected

  • Format WordArt
    • allows you to change the shape of the WordArt object
    • select the desired shape from the pop-up submenu
  • Free Rotate
    • click on this to allow you to freely rotate the WordArt object clockwise or counter clockwise up to a full 360°
      • click once to switch on “rotate mode”
      • grab one of the “handles” on the object and rotate
      • click again on the Free Rotate button to switch off “rotate mode”
  • Text Wrapping
    • click this to open a submenu for text wrap options
    • the options are the same as those offered under the Layout tab of the Format WordArt and Format Picture dialog boxes
    • plus you also have the option of editing the “Wrap Points”
      • this allows you to control precisely where the wrapping of text occurs relative to the object
  • WordArt Same Letter Heights
    • this button is acts like a toggle switch:
      • click once to make all of the letters the same height
      • click again to change back
  • WordArt Vertical Text
    • this button is acts like a toggle switch:
      • click once to give the WordArt object a vertical orientation
      • click again to change back
  • WordArt Alignment
    • click to open a submenu to adjust the text alignment
  • WordArt Character Spacing
    • click to open a submenu to adjust the spacing between individual characters

New Drawing


Chart


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Copyright©2003
last updated August 12, 2003