You can insert a picture into a Microsoft Word document. In fact, you can insert, edit and format as many images as you want. The app has many tools for formatting the document, but you will find that images often create problems. When you move an image, it generally upsets the format and placement of everything else in the document.
Move pictures in Microsoft Word
Moving pictures in Microsoft Word is complicated. If you don't know which layout has been applied to the image, you won't be able to move it without breaking the format of the rest of the document.
Layout of images in Microsoft Word
The layout of an image determines how the image will appear relative to text. The different layouts for an image are:
- In line with the text: the image will appear on its own line next to the text. If the image is large, for example, its height exceeds the height of the line, it will push the next line down to fit.
- Wrap text - Move with text: the image will appear in the center of the text, i.e. the text will fit around the image instead of giving it its own line. If the height of the image exceeds the height of the line, the next line will appear next to it and the image will not push the next line down to fit its height. If it is set to Move with text, the image will automatically adjust its position when you add or remove text, for example if you add a new line before the image, it will move down.
- Wrapped Text - Fix Position on Page: the image will appear in the center of the text. If the height of the image exceeds the height of the line, the text will appear around it instead of being pushed down to the next line to accommodate the image. If you set the image to a fixed position on the page, adding or removing text will not push the image up or down. Instead, it will stay where you placed it and only the text will move.
Text moving options
There are additional text movement options that you can access. They allow you to choose how text appears around an image that is set to wrap.
- Select an image in the document.
- Click the wrap tool.
- Click See More.
- In the window that opens, go to the Text Wrapping tab.
- For the Square, Tight, Through wrapping options, you can choose which side of the image the text will appear from.
- For the Behind Text option, the text will "write" the image.
- For the Before text option, the text will be written “behind” the image.
How to move pictures in Microsoft Word
Pictures in Microsoft Word can be moved by dragging and dropping them. The key is to set the correct layout for this. To change the layout and then move an image, follow these steps.
- Open a Microsoft Word document.
- Click the row to which you want to add an image.
- Go to Insert> Image.
- Select an image and add it to your document.
- Resize / crop / edit image.
- Click on the image so that it is selected.
- Click the layout icon or go to the Format Picture tab on the ribbon.
- Select a layout or wrap text option.
- Click on the image and drag it to where you want it to appear.
- The image will be moved. The text will fit around it.
Conclusion
If, when you move an image, it breaks the formatting of everything else in a document, the image layout has been set to Inline With Text. To prevent the image from breaking the format, choose the wrapping text layout. You will then be able to move the image without upsetting the other elements of the document. You may still have problems with tables as the height of the table will change to fit the image, but to get around this, you should change the properties of the table.
