Cannot get "picture" & "auto-shape" to stay together

[stargazer7]

I am working with an MS Word document containing mostly my own
work, but it also contains parts from another contributor (whom I can
no longer contact).
There are some locations in the document at which a picture (screen
shot image) has been inserted, and then also had a line frame 'auto-
shape' to fit *around* it (simple, black-lined frame).
In some instances, when I have shifted content within the document,
the "line-frame" auto-shapes have become orphaned from the inserted
pictures.
When I try to move one over the other, they refuse to "coincide"
and "co-exist" with one another, and they insist on 'trading places.'
I have tried changing the Format>Layout settings but nothing I do
seems to get them to stay together. Any ideas?
Thank you in advance . . .
- Dave G.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Dave,

Your description is missing several very important details that
determine what steps you'll have to take:

- What version of Word are you using?

- What text-wrapping setting is applied to the picture?

- Do you want the final result to be "floating" or "in line with
text"?

- Would it be possible to recreate the screen shots or re-import them
from external graphics files, or do you have them only in the Word
document?

In general, the solution involves drawing the frame around the picture
(deleting the existing one and drawing a new one, if necessary),
selecting both at the same time, and grouping them. In some versions
of Word this may require working on a "drawing canvas". It's also
possible to draw the frame and then import an external graphics file
as the fill for the shape.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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[stargazer7]

Jay,

Thank you very much for your reply! Yes, I did indeed leave out
some important things, sorry.

To quote the info following a "Help>About MS Word" inquiry, my
version is MS Word 2002 (10.4219.4219) SP-2.
As for the text-wrapping, I had tried every setting *except* "In Line
With Text." I just tried that, and it looks like I'm making progress.

The frame now *almost* coincides properly around the picture.
However, I need to adjust the picture position, and ALL settings on
the Position tab are greyed out. I guess now my question is: Is it
greyed out due to permissions issues? Or how can I access the
Position tab settings?

Thanks again,
Dave

 

[stargazer7]

Jay,

I'm in such a rush, I forgot to address a couple other things you
mentioned.

The result I want is to have the picture at the very left edge (at the
left margin), and have the main body text positioned to the right of
it (with a slight space in between).

As for the screen-shot image (the picture in question), it is one I
*can* re-create, as it is a shot of the "New Style" window within MS
Word (I am creating a documentation style guide).

I haven't had a problem with pictures before, but this one is being
very 'uncooperative.'

Thanks yet again,
Dave

 

[Jay Freedman]

Dave, I've fiddled with this in Word 2003, trying to duplicate your
troubles. I don't have 2002 installed, but I don't think anything is
different... My conclusion is that you've been trying to do it the
hardest possible way.

I took a screen capture of a Word dialog and saved it to disk as a
..jpg or .bmp file (I tried both). I used SnagIt, a superb
screen-capture utility (http://www.techsmith.com.snagit.asp), but you
can use Alt+PrintScreen and paste the clipboard contents into Windows
Paint to save it in either format.

I used Insert > Picture > From File to bring the picture into Word. I
right-clicked it and chose Format Picture. On the Colors & Lines tab,
I set the Line Color dropdown to black and chose a solid 0.5 pt line.
In other words, there is no need to fool around with drawing
rectangles and grouping them -- the line is just the outer border of
the picture.

On the Layout tab of the same dialog, I chose Square wrapping and Left
alignment. That's all it should take!

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.