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5
Understanding anchors
Even though an image is floating, Word will still ‘anchor’ it to an object. This object is normally the
nearest paragraph. When you click on the image, an anchor icon appears to the right of the first
line of the paragraph.
As you drag the image, the anchor will move and will
connect itself to another paragraph. You will also see
green alignment guides. Word will snap the image to the
alignment guide when it gets close, although you can
keep on dragging if you wish. (If you can’t see the
guides, click Align Objects
on the Picture Tools
Format tab and check that Use Alignment Guides is
ticked.)
If you move the paragraph it is anchored to, by inserting or deleting content, the image will also
move.
The most important thing to understand is that the image and its anchor must be on the same
page. This is why sometimes if you insert or delete text, an image will jump to another page – the
text containing the anchor has moved so the image goes with it.
It is possible to lock an image to a specific paragraph so that it will only move when that paragraph
moves. To do this, click on Layout Options and See more. On the Position tab, click Lock anchor.
The anchor icon appears with a padlock . However, this can cause problems if you subsequently
drag the image to a different position. It will still be locked to the original paragraph and its
positioning will be relative to that one, not the one it is now beside. Remember to unlock the
anchor before moving the image.
You can also fix an image in a specific position on a page. On the Position tab, deselect Move
object with text. The Vertical setting changes to Page. If you want, you can use the Absolute
position options to set it precisely. Note that the image will not necessarily stay on the same page
– it will just be in the same position on a page. It is still anchored to a paragraph, and if that
paragraph moves to another page, the image will move too.
Aligning floating images
If you need to line up images on a page vertically or horizontally, the quickest way is to use the
alignment guides. For more choices, you can use the alignment tools on the Picture Tools Format
tab. Select the images, then click on Align
. Make sure Align Selected Objects is ticked and
choose an option.
You can also align an image relative to the margins or to the page. Click on Align and select Align
to Margin or Align to Page. Click Align again and select an option.
Another way to align images is by using Word’s gridlines. To display them, click on the View tab
and select Gridlines. When the grid is displayed, objects will automatically snap to it. To override
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the snap, so that you can move an object in smaller increments than the grid measurements, hold
down the [Alt] key and then drag. When the grid is not displayed, snap is not activated.
To change the grid settings, you must first click on a picture to display the Picture Tools Format
tab. Click on Align in the Arrange group and select Grid Settings. From here you can change the
grid spacing. You can also choose to activate the snap feature even when the grid is not displayed.
Changing the image insertion default
Although Word’s default setting for inserting images is In line with text, you can change this.
Click on the File tab and on Options. Select Advanced and scroll to the Cut, copy, and paste
section. Click on the down arrow at Insert/paste pictures as and choose an option.
Note that this will apply to all your documents. Since inline images are generally easier to work
with if you don’t need text wrapping, you might only want to change to a floating image setting
while editing a specific document, and then change back again.
Positioning with tables
Positioning floating images can be a tricky business – it is in their nature to move around.
Sometimes the easiest way to get images to stay where you want them is to use a table. A table is
simply a container – you can put anything you like in the cells.
Format your table to remove the borders, and insert the images as inline with text. (If you are
copying and pasting a floating image, click on the down arrow at Paste and select Picture in the
Paste Options gallery to convert it to inline.) You can control positioning of both text and
images in the cells through the table’s Alignment options on the Layout tab.
Organising and grouping
You can organise and group images and shapes using the options in the Arrange group on the
Picture Tools Format tab.
If you have placed images or shapes on top of each other,
you can use the Bring Forward and Send Backward options
to layer them. You can Group objects together, and also
Align them on the page and with each other.
Note: You cannot arrange, group or align inline images with other
images or shapes. Use Layout Options to turn inline images into floating
objects (use the same wrap setting for all), hold down [Shift], select all the
objects and click on Group Objects
. You can then make the grouped
object inline if you wish.
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Setting transparency
If you have overlapping images and shapes, you can make some of them semi-transparent so that
objects underneath show through. Although it is possible to adjust the transparency of a shape
(click on the Format Shape dialog box launcher in the Shape Styles group and click Fill), you can’t
do the same with a picture. There is a workaround, however.
First, on the Insert tab, select Shapes and draw a rectangle the same size as the image. Then click
on the image and copy it.
Select the rectangle, and on the Drawing Tools Format tab, click on the Format Shape dialog box
launcher in the Shape Styles group. Click on Fill & Line
if you are not already there, and on
Fill. Select Picture or texture fill and click Clipboard. (You can also insert from file or search for an
image online.) Adjust the Transparency slider to fade out the picture. To remove the outline, click
on Line and select No line.
Finally, delete the original image and move the rectangle into position.
Editing images
Applying picture styles
You can give your pictures a professional look by applying styles and special effects from the
Picture Styles group on the Picture Tools Format tab.
The gallery displays a range of
styles.
To add a simple border, choose Picture Border. You can select a colour, the line weight and line
style (solid, dots, dashes, etc.). Choose Picture Effects to apply an effect such as a shadow,
reflection or glow. Picture Layout inserts the image into a SmartArt graphic.
Note: For some images, the resolution and colour of the copy may not
be as good as the original.
Tip: To apply a style quickly, right-click and select Style
yle
.
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Using the Adjust group
Word incorporates a range of image editing tools in the Adjust group to help you get the effect
you’re looking for.
Corrections allows you to sharpen and soften the image, or
change the brightness and contrast. Use Color to change tone
and saturation, and Artistic Effects to add effects such as Glass
or Blur.
Removing the background of an image can sometimes make it look better on the page. Note that
this only works effectively where there is a strong definition between foreground and background.
When you click on Remove Background, the area to be removed displays in magenta. Drag the
handles on the box to include or exclude more of the image. For more precise control, you can use
the options on the Background Removal tab.
You can mark specific areas of the image to keep or
discard. Click on the command, move to one edge of the
area, hold down the mouse button and drag your cursor
across it.
Creating your own effects
If you want something original, you can edit the pre-set effects. This includes the Picture Effects in
the Picture Styles group, as well as the Corrections, Color and Artistic Effects options from the
Adjust group.
Click on the dialog box launcher in the Picture Styles group to display the Format Picture callout.
Select Picture for corrections and colour, or Effects for picture and artistic effects, then
click on an option.
Tip: If you are trying to fade out an image, but can’t get the effect you
want with the Adjust tools, try inserting the image into a shape and
adjusting the transparency, as described in the section Setting transparency
on page 7.
Tip: for an image with a solid background colour, try using Set
Transparent Color under Color. Note that this won’t work well with a
shaded background, and will also remove the colour everywhere in the
image, not just in the background.
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Use the sliders to adjust the effects.
To return the image to its original appearance, click on Presets and
choose the no effect option, or click on Reset if it is present.
Changing and resetting images
If you need to use a different file to the one you originally inserted (an updated version, for
example), click on Change Picture in the Adjust group. This allows you to insert another file
while keeping any effects or positioning you have applied. If the new image looks distorted, click
on the dialog box launcher in the Size group and click Reset.
If you change your mind about the changes you have made, you can return your image to its
original condition.
Click on the image and on the down arrow at Reset Picture
in the Adjust group and select
Reset Picture. This will remove any colour corrections, styles or effects you have applied. It will
not reset the size, position or wrap.
To remove effects and resizing, select Reset Picture & Size. The image’s position and wrap settings
are not changed.
If you have applied several effects, but don’t want to reset all of them, click on the dialog box
launcher in the Picture Styles group to open the Format Picture callout. Click on Picture or Effects
and on the effect you want to remove. Click Reset if it is there, or on Presets and then select the
no effect option. (Note that Bevel and 3-D Rotation are both 3-D effects; therefore resetting one
will also reset any others that have been applied.)
Compressing images
If you have a document containing lots of images, you can reduce the size of the file by using the
Compress Pictures option in the Adjust group. You may need to do this if you are sending the
file as an email attachment.
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To apply compression to all the images in the document,
deselect Apply only to this picture. If you have cropped
images, select Delete cropped areas of pictures.
Choose the Target output. The options available will
depend on the image format. If you are using a low
resolution format image such as gif or png, the Print and
Screen options will be disabled. With a tif image, on the
other hand, you can choose any option.
The Use document resolution option will compress the image to the resolution set through Word
Options. You can set this before you begin inserting images. Click on the File tab and Options,
select Advanced then at Image Size and Quality choose a resolution from Set default target
output to. Note that the setting is for the current document only.
If you have applied artistic effects or changed the brightness or contrast, the information to
reverse the changes is held in your file. Deleting this editing data will also help reduce the size of
your file. To do this, at Image Size and Quality, select Discard editing data.
Adding captions to images
For some documents, you might need to include a description of your image in a caption – a
thesis, for example. For this, you should always use the Insert Caption command on the
References tab.
Captions behave differently depending on whether your image is inline or floating.
For inline images, click on the image first, then when you insert the caption, Word automatically
applies a keep with next attribute to the paragraph the image is in. This means that the image and
the caption will stay on the same page. (To see this setting, click on the image, then on the Home
tab, click the Paragraph dialog box launcher and the Line and Page Breaks tab.)
For floating images, the caption is inserted into a text box which is itself a floating object. This
means that if you move the image, the caption will not move with it. The simplest way to deal with
this is to group the image and the text box together. Change the wrap setting on the text box to
match the image setting, then select both and click Group.
Note: Your images may look different after compression. You can
change the compression settings even after you have saved the file – as long
as you have not closed Word.
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