Drawing capabilities unusable in Word 2008

[clyne]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

I'm having an awfully difficult time doing very basic drawing (using shapes) in 2008. In previous versions of Word there was a notion of a "drawing canvas" that allowed you to define a rectangular region on the page in which you could draw. The drawing canvas does not appear to exist in 2008. I'm finding it virtually impossible to construct a drawing with more than a couple of shapes. The problems are all related to positioning shapes relative to each other and relative to the text on the page: I simply can't put things where i want them without Word repositioning everything. Grouping is particularly problematic: I finally to construct a drawing consisting of 20 or more simple shapes. I grouped all the shapes together, hoping that would prevent Word from moving the shapes relative to each other. Later I made the mistake of ungrouping and all of my individual shapes aligned themselves at the top of the page.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[John McGhie]

If you use Insert>Object>Microsoft Word Picture you will get an OLE Object
that behaves a lot like a Drawing Canvas. I tend to use it in preference to
the Drawing Canvas, because it's more robust and reliable.

The "trick" is to get a new Word Picture resized large enough to work within
it. When it first comes in, the picture reveals a toolbar with two
controls: "Resize Picture Boundary" and "Close Picture".

To begin, draw a square a bit larger than you estimate the finished picture
will be. Then click Resize Picture Boundary. Then remove the square.

When you have finished your drawing, click Resize Picture Boundary again to
shrink the boundary to the finished size of the picture.

I think you will find this mechanism preferable to the Drawing Canvas: it's
certainly more robust and more compatible across versions.

Hope this helps

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

I'm having an awfully difficult time doing very basic drawing (using shapes)
in 2008. In previous versions of Word there was a notion of a "drawing canvas"
that allowed you to define a rectangular region on the page in which you could
draw. The drawing canvas does not appear to exist in 2008. I'm finding it
virtually impossible to construct a drawing with more than a couple of shapes.
The problems are all related to positioning shapes relative to each other and
relative to the text on the page: I simply can't put things where i want them
without Word repositioning everything. Grouping is particularly problematic: I
finally to construct a drawing consisting of 20 or more simple shapes. I
grouped all the shapes together, hoping that would prevent Word from moving
the shapes relative to each other. Later I made the mistake of ungrouping and
all of my individual shapes aligned themselves at the top of the page.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[clyne]

Hi John,

This sounds like exactly what i want. However, "Microsoft Word Picture" isn't available as an object type in my installation of Word 2008. I see Equation, Graph Chart, Excel Chart, etc. but no Word Picture (or anything that looks close) Is this an optional component that our IT people may have neglected to install?

Thanks for your help.

cheers - jc

 

[CyberTaz]

I think John was misled because your lead version info in the original post
specified Office *2004* even though you mention *2008* in the body content.

Office 2008 does not support the Microsoft Word Picture editor due to
changes in OS X. Further, the Drawing Canvas is a Win Office gizmo that has
never been adopted in the Mac versions of Office. But your primary
difficulty is that -- despite what MS allows us to believe -- Word is simply
*not* a drawing program... Especially for what you indicate trying to do.

Graphic objects in Word are always linked to the flow of text in one way or
another -- either as In Line with Text as a character in a paragraph or with
Text Wrapping applied [floating] in which case they're still anchored to a
paragraph. They can't be fixed in a specific location on a "page" because
there is no page structure in a Word document. Because of how the program is
structured, controlling placement of floating objects has always been &
continues to be a seriously challenging task.

Candidly, I'd suggest you create your drawings in PPt, group them [or not]
there, then copy into your doc. If you need to make any further adjustment
to them copy back to PPt where you can then Ungroup if necessary then paste
back into Word after making your changes. [Alternatively you may prefer to
save the PPt file containing the drawing(s) for further reuse.]

If you want more detailed info on the matter you'll find tomes here:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/PagesInWord.html

Follow the links at the bottom of that page -- especially the topics having
to do with:

About the draw layer (or floating image mailbox)

About floating graphics

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie]

{Phew} Thanks Bob!!

I haven't had the first cup of coffee for the morning yet, so I was thinking
to myself "How could I have made that mistake!!"

Yes, you're quite right, I answered for 2004. Proper pictures is yet
another of the things Word 2008 can't do...

Sorry about that. Bob's solution of pasting PowerPoint pictures into Word
will get you some of the way there, although PowerPoint is rather crippled
in this version too...

Cheers

I think John was misled because your lead version info in the original post
specified Office *2004* even though you mention *2008* in the body content.

Office 2008 does not support the Microsoft Word Picture editor due to
changes in OS X. Further, the Drawing Canvas is a Win Office gizmo that has
never been adopted in the Mac versions of Office. But your primary
difficulty is that -- despite what MS allows us to believe -- Word is simply
*not* a drawing program... Especially for what you indicate trying to do.

Graphic objects in Word are always linked to the flow of text in one way or
another -- either as In Line with Text as a character in a paragraph or with
Text Wrapping applied [floating] in which case they're still anchored to a
paragraph. They can't be fixed in a specific location on a "page" because
there is no page structure in a Word document. Because of how the program is
structured, controlling placement of floating objects has always been &
continues to be a seriously challenging task.

Candidly, I'd suggest you create your drawings in PPt, group them [or not]
there, then copy into your doc. If you need to make any further adjustment
to them copy back to PPt where you can then Ungroup if necessary then paste
back into Word after making your changes. [Alternatively you may prefer to
save the PPt file containing the drawing(s) for further reuse.]

If you want more detailed info on the matter you'll find tomes here:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/PagesInWord.html

Follow the links at the bottom of that page -- especially the topics having
to do with:

About the draw layer (or floating image mailbox)

About floating graphics

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Hi John,

This sounds like exactly what i want. However, "Microsoft Word Picture" isn't
available as an object type in my installation of Word 2008. I see Equation,
Graph Chart, Excel Chart, etc. but no Word Picture (or anything that looks
close) Is this an optional component that our IT people may have neglected to
install?

Thanks for your help.

cheers - jc

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]