Word: Text and graphics alignment from hell

[RickChapman]

First, I have to admit to being nonplussed at having to even post this
cry for help. I was once both the WordStar 2000 and WordStar product
manager, am the author of several books on software and high-tech
marketing (latest book, In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 Years of High
Tech Marketing Disasters) and thought what I wanted to know would be a
no brainer. And I'm fairly sure that earlier versions of Word allowed
this.

What I want to do is insert a graphic, a gif or jpg in a text book and
have the text wrap around the picture. The image would be in the left
hand corner and the text would wrap around from the top of the image
along the right margin of the picture. This SHOULD be simple, and yes,
I've read my manual, but Word seems unable to do this. I insert a
picture and the graphic appears and pushes the text to the right. Text
appears at the bottom right corner of the picture. I pick the various
format options and nothing works. The graphic can put on a layer below
the text, above the test, etc., but that's it.

I put the picture in a text book and attempt to format text around the
text box in a text box. No joy. Attempt to get the program to format
wrap around two text boxes side by side. No joy. Using frames doesn't
work. Interestingly enough, when inserting a jpg or gif into a text
box, you can't seem to manipulate layout options; the choices are
grayed out.

I'm sure there is a way to do this, but for the operation to be so
difficult does not say much for the design of a product that is over 20
years old.

Any help on this much much appreciated!

Oh, this situation seems to be common to both Word 2000 and 2003.

rick

 

[Graham Mayor]

I still have WordStar 7 on one of my machines, but the keyboard shortcuts
don't come to mind as readily as they once did

By default Word inserts images in-line ie as a large font character. Word
2003 additionally provides the option to choose the default insertion mode
via tools > options > edit.

For an in-line image, right click the image, select format picture > layout

square and the text will wrap around the picture, which will have moved

from the text layer to the graphics layer of the document.

From the 'advanced' control in the layout dialog you can more finely control
positioning etc.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP
E-mail (e-mail address removed)
Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Note that Word 2002 also provides the option to choose the default wrapping
style for inserted/pasted objects.

I still have WordStar 7 on one of my machines, but the keyboard shortcuts
don't come to mind as readily as they once did

By default Word inserts images in-line ie as a large font character. Word
2003 additionally provides the option to choose the default insertion mode
via tools > options > edit.

For an in-line image, right click the image, select format picture > layout

square and the text will wrap around the picture, which will have moved

from the text layer to the graphics layer of the document.

From the 'advanced' control in the layout dialog you can more finely control
positioning etc.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP
E-mail (e-mail address removed)
Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>

 

[RickChapman]

I still have WordStar 7 on one of my machines, but the keyboard
shortcuts
don't come to mind as readily as they once did

How could ANY person forget the two greatest commands ever created in
word proccessing, Ctl-T and Ctl-Y!?!

OK, I see the problem here. Graphics wrap works if you insert the
graphic into a regular stream of text. However, attempting to insert
a picture into a text book doesn't seem to allow graphics wrap.

Am I missing something here? or is the state of affairs?

rick

 

[Graham Mayor]

How could ANY person forget the two greatest commands ever created in
word proccessing, Ctl-T and Ctl-Y!?!

How indeed?

OK, I see the problem here. Graphics wrap works if you insert the
graphic into a regular stream of text. However, attempting to insert
a picture into a text book doesn't seem to allow graphics wrap.

I take it you meant text box? Why do you want the image in a text box? You
can't have a floating image in a text box.

Am I missing something here? or is the state of affairs?

If you merely want the image on the page, wrapped by text, then put the
image directly on the page and set its layout. The text box is superfluous -
unless there's something you are not explaining.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP
E-mail (e-mail address removed)
Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>

 

[RickChapman]

Note that Word 2002 also provides the option to choose the defaul
wrapping
style for inserted/pasted objects.

As I noted, graphics wrap works if you insert the graphic into
regular stream of text. However, attempting to insert a picture int
a text box doesn't seem to allow graphics wrap. I imagine this ha
something to do with Word's internal "layer" logic.

Amazingly enough, the documentation, both printed and online doesn'
seem to mention this. Well, there was several hours of productivit
blown!

BTW, thanks for your reply. Much appreciated.

ric

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

A text box is already in the drawing layer, so there is no way to put any of
its contents further in the drawing layer.

Note that Word 2002 also provides the option to choose the default
wrapping
style for inserted/pasted objects.

As I noted, graphics wrap works if you insert the graphic into a
regular stream of text. However, attempting to insert a picture into
a text box doesn't seem to allow graphics wrap. I imagine this has
something to do with Word's internal "layer" logic.

Amazingly enough, the documentation, both printed and online doesn't
seem to mention this. Well, there was several hours of productivity
blown!

BTW, thanks for your reply. Much appreciated.

rick

 

[RickChapman]

How could ANY person forget the two greatest commands ever create in
word proccessing, Ctl-T and Ctl-Y!?!

How indeed?

OK, I see the problem here. Graphics wrap works if you insert the
graphic into a regular stream of text. However, attempting t insert
a picture into a text book doesn't seem to allow graphics wrap.

I take it you meant text box? Why do you want the image in a tex
box? You
can't have a floating image in a text box.

Am I missing something here? or is the state of affairs?

Yes, I can see that. However, the help system should tell you that.
I'm sure I'm not the only person who has had their time wasted b
this. It is entirely logical to create a text box and then attemp
to insert an image into it. However, the entire graphics/imag
subsystem is a major design kludge. Unintuitive and clumsy.

Why would I want it? To create some mildly sophisticated effects o
the page.

However, I can't, and that's that.

Thanks much for your help!

ric

 

[perian]

As a plain reader I´m chocked to see your unreasonable postings here. Even
I´m able to, from the advices given here, perform the task´s wanted. Why
don´t you forget about your old knowledge and start learning Word. Your
2003 edition offer plenty ways.
BTW. Don´t reply. I´m not interested to discuss the matter.
pre

Graham Mayor wrote:
I still have WordStar 7 on one of my machines, but the keyboard
shortcuts don't come to mind as readily as they once did

How could ANY person forget the two greatest commands ever created in
word proccessing, Ctl-T and Ctl-Y!?!

How indeed?

OK, I see the problem here. Graphics wrap works if you insert the
graphic into a regular stream of text. However, attempting to insert
a picture into a text book doesn't seem to allow graphics wrap.

I take it you meant text box? Why do you want the image in a text
box? You
can't have a floating image in a text box.

Am I missing something here? or is the state of affairs?

Yes, I can see that. However, the help system should tell you that.
I'm sure I'm not the only person who has had their time wasted by
this. It is entirely logical to create a text box and then attempt
to insert an image into it. However, the entire graphics/image
subsystem is a major design kludge. Unintuitive and clumsy.

Why would I want it? To create some mildly sophisticated effects on
the page.

However, I can't, and that's that.

Thanks much for your help!

rick

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Is there a new message here? All I see is quoted material.

Graham Mayor wrote:
I still have WordStar 7 on one of my machines, but the keyboard
shortcuts don't come to mind as readily as they once did

How could ANY person forget the two greatest commands ever created in
word proccessing, Ctl-T and Ctl-Y!?!

How indeed?

OK, I see the problem here. Graphics wrap works if you insert the
graphic into a regular stream of text. However, attempting to insert
a picture into a text book doesn't seem to allow graphics wrap.

I take it you meant text box? Why do you want the image in a text
box? You
can't have a floating image in a text box.

Am I missing something here? or is the state of affairs?

Yes, I can see that. However, the help system should tell you that.
I'm sure I'm not the only person who has had their time wasted by
this. It is entirely logical to create a text box and then attempt
to insert an image into it. However, the entire graphics/image
subsystem is a major design kludge. Unintuitive and clumsy.

Why would I want it? To create some mildly sophisticated effects on
the page.

However, I can't, and that's that.

Thanks much for your help!

rick

 

[Barbara]

Rick,

Under Tools>Options>View, if Picture Placeholders is
checked, you lose all ability to manipulate the graphic.
Uncheck it. To uncheck Picture Placeholders permanently,
you must edit your Normal.dot. Locate it by searching
your drive, make the change, and save it. To be certain,
I went to File>Page Setup before exiting, and hit DEFAULT.

Barbara

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The "Picture placeholders" setting is not stored in Normal.dot, nor should
it affect your ability to place graphics. What *is* true is that "Picture
placeholders" applies only to inline graphics, whose position is limited to
text formatting options. In order to move a graphic freely on the page, you
must change the text wrapping from "In Line with Text" to some other style.

 

[Sharon]

I found that inserting a one column, one row table instead of a text box works for this problem. Insert your graphic into the table and the text inside the table will wrap around it. It doesn't give much flexibility for larger publications or for flashier text and graphics integration, but it does get the job done for smaller projects

Good luck!

 

[MichaelMuller]

A text box is already in the drawing layer, so there is no way to put
any of
its contents further in the drawing layer.

So -- and not to beat a dead horse, but I'm now trying to do the same
thing -- there is no way to insert an image into the text flow of a
text box and have the text flow around the image? Not even in the
regular fashion of dropping the image directly into the text and
aligning it.

I know this is just a word processor and not a desktop publishing
application. I was just hoping MS would have figured this out. I don't
want to use Quark just so I can add a graphic to an existing text box.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can certainly insert the picture In Line With Text and fudge the
wrapping. Or you can insert a table in the text box and creatively
split/merge cells to make the text appear to wrap around a graphic in a
corner cell. But you can't wrap text around a graphic the way you can in
ordinary document text.