"Format Object" button is greyed out in Print Layout

[Robert W.]

Hi everyone, I've crossed over to Word 2007 and a very annoying thing
happened to my old documents. In print layout, where we all probably work
mostm embedded objects like pictures and other objects(editable Chemdraw obj.
for example) are invisible...just a thin outline can be seen where the
objects are supposed to be. This only happens to objects which are formatted
to be as "in line with text". Even if I want to convert them to "Square" or
"Tight" I can't because the Format Object button is greyed out. The weird
thing is if I go into full screen reading I can both see the object and
change its formatting. Can anyone help...it's really annoying and some
objects have to be in a "in line with text" formatting?! Thanks a lot!!!

 

[CyberTaz]

One thing I'd suggest you check: Click the Office Button, then the Word
Options button. In the Advanced options remove the check for Show Picture
Placeholders (Show Document Content section).

What I find to be most curious is the second part of your post - How have
you managed to be able to change the object's formatting in Full Screen
Reading view? My installation allows reading *only* in that view (other than
Highlighting & Inserting Comments). I can _select_ images, but can do
nothing to change them or their position.

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

 

[Robert W.]

Hey Cybertaz.......I just wanted to thank you so much!!! It worked....I feel
like such a computer noob right now even though I went through all of the
options and tired checking or removing different options but to no avail.
Eveyrthing works fine now and I don't have to switch to Full screan to change
formatting....
No idea why i can even change the formatting in full screen mode...probably
has something to do with the options which are not at all intuitive

 

[CyberTaz]

Good to know - thanks for posting back. Office 2007 is still a "new
frontier" for most of us, so there are still a considerable amount of
incongruence to figure out

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

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Bob,

While in Reading Layout view in Word 2007 you can click on the 'View Options' choice in the top right of the screen and turn on the
'Allow Typing' setting.

That will also enable the ability to edit/format objects that are inline with text, but not ones that are in front of text. The
Reading Layout view doesn't honor the 'picture placeholder' setting from Print Layout view


============
Good to know - thanks for posting back. Office 2007 is still a "new
frontier" for most of us, so there are still a considerable amount of
incongruence to figure out

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*