Absolute position graphics jump around in two column text

[Nigel Davies]

I am trying to lay out a book in Word 2003 (no service packs). The layout is
landscape, two column with several odd page section breaks separating the
chapters. There are about 100 x 6Mb .tif pictures that I am attempting to
place by Insert/Linking. There are two problems:
1. The pictures are given an absolute position at the top of a column or
page, not linked to the text with full Word wrap. They keep re-setting
themselves to some other position on the same or next / previous page.
2. I would like any column or page that contains a picture to contain no
other text (ie to force the remaining text on the page / column to the next
page). I seem to remember in an earlier version of Word (or was it
PageMaker?) a next page text wrap option - but it doesn't seem to be in Word
2003.
Help appreciated!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In no version of Word has it ever been possible to have wrapped objects
alone on a page. Any wrapped object must be anchored to a text paragraph on
the same page.

 

[Nigel Davies]

Thanks for the reply - so its not possible to have a full page picture in an
absolute position (page 2, say) with text flowing from page 1 to page 3?
I uncheck the 'Move object with text' check box because I want the picture
to remain fixed in place. Do I still need to anchor the picture to a
paragraph, or am I missing something?
I can force remaining text on a column or page onto the next page by
increasing the bottom margin of the picture - but this seems to be a bit of a
kludge and is not always successful.

 

[Jezebel]

Every graphic is anchored to a paragraph. To get a graphic on its own on a
page, you'll need to cheat and put an empty paragraph in there. For some
purposes, a good approach is to insert a pair of next-page section breaks,
then insert the graphic on the resulting blank page.

The problem of graphics jumping around can be caused by the wrapping setting
plus the 'Allow overlap' checkbox. If allow overlap is not checked and you
have more than one graphic on the page, they may jump around trying to keep
out of each other's way.

 

[Nigel Davies]

I picked up on the 'Allow overlap' check box from a previous post. I just
tried the pair of next page section breaks suggestion (nice idea, thanks!)
but when text is added or deleted earlier in the document it behaves like a
hard page break and you get either a blank page or a page with a couple of
lines on it.
Looks like I should switch to a page layout program for this job.

 

[Jezebel]

A page layout program would be easier for what you describe, yes.
Conceptually, the difference is that Word starts with the text, then applies
page formatting; a page layout program starts with the pages, then applies
content to them.

Next best, with Word, is to do all the text first. Then insert the graphics
and such as the final step.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You don't need section breaks--just page breaks--and you don't really even
need those if the graphic actually fills the page. There's no point in
wrapping the graphic if it's going to be on a page by itself. Make it In
Line With Text and don't insert it (or at least don't worry about placement)
till text editing is complete. Then break off your text at the last line on
a page, insert the graphic on the next page, and let the text continue
naturally on the following page. If the text is broken in the middle of a
paragraph and you have either justification or a first-line indent, you'll
need a couple of other kludges, but it can be done.