Graphic Objects - Please Help

[Colin Higbie]

I don't understand how Word places graphic objects. It seems random, but I'm
sure there's a pattern to the madness. If anyone could explain it to me in a
way I could use, I'd really appreciate it. I'm going crazy trying to work
with it.

Sometimes, I see the anchor for an object when I select it, so I can drag
that to assign it to other paragraphs. Other times, there is no anchor.
Sometimes when I drag an object to a location, it bounces to another page.
It rarely goes where I put it.

This is made worse by the fact that when I drag the object, the dotted
outline suggests it will go in a certain place, but then when I release the
mouse, it disappears and I have to scroll around through the pages to find
where it went. I think it's always within a page of where I put it.

Objects in the middle of a paragraph also seem to break the No Widow/Orphan
feature. A paragraph with an object in the middle may well have a single
isolated line at the bottom of a page (right above the graphic) or the top
of the following page (widow or orphan). It doesn't seem to matter how I set
the Advanced Layout options are for Text Wrapping.

Is there a way to predict or stabilize this behavior? What is the logic
behind this chaotic and annoying behavior? If there are no good answers to
these questions, can we expect that these bugs (as far as I'm concerned
that's what these are) will be fixed in the next version of Word? I guess if
MS hasn't gotten it right in 10 years of making Word for Windows, they
aren't likely to start now.

It seems like Word isn't really meant to work with anything but text. I know
it's not a real layout program like Quark or InDesign, but embedding a basic
Excel table or Visio diagram should work. WordPerfect has no problem
performing these basic functions.

Thanks for any help,
Colin

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Colin

I share much of your frustration. But the more I understand what's going on
behind the scenes, the more I can control at least some of it.

First, a graphic can be either floating (meaning it has an anchor, and you
can drag it easily) or it can be in-line (so it behaves like one big
character). For more on this, see
The draw layer: a metaphysical space
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/DrwGrphcs/DrawLayer.htm

In-line graphics are always easier to handle. They don't slip and slide
around the place quite like floating ones do. So unless you explicitly need
to wrap text around a graphic, use in-line graphics.

Second, different versions of Word paste graphics, by default, in different
ways. In Word 2000 they're all pasted, by default, as floating. So every
time I paste in a graphic in Word 2000, I double-click the graphic, click
the Layout tab, and change it to In Line with Text. In Word 2002 and 2003
you have some control over the default pasting at Tools > Options > Edit.

Finally, for floating graphics, the anchors are the key. Always make sure
you can see them by doing Tools > Options > View and ticking Object Anchors.
And always make sure the anchors are attached to an appropriate paragraph.
Word will try anything it can to get a picture and its anchor on the same
page. So there is, in effect, a two-step process. (1) Anchor the graphic to
the right paragraph by dragging the anchor. (2) Positon the graphic
appropriately. If dragging isn't achieving what you need, double-click the
graphic, choose the Layout tab and click Advanced.

Objects in the middle of a paragraph also seem to break the No
Widow/Orphan feature.

Yes, I've seen that before. I think it was fixed in Word 2003.

There are other articles listed at
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/DrwGrphcs/index.htm that might also help.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[Jezebel]

1. Word has two 'modes' for inserted graphics: inline and floating. Inline
graphics are handled like text, within the body of a paragraph. Floating
graphics may be anywhere on the page, and may have text flow around, under,
or over.

2. Every floating graphic is anchored to a paragraph. You see the anchor if
a) the graphic is selected and b) you have checked 'Object anchors' on the
Tools > Objects : View dialog. The graphic is always on the same page as the
paragraph to which it is anchored.

3. By default, the graphic is anchored to the nearest paragraph, and the
anchor is moved if you drag the graphic around. You can manually selected
the anchor paragraph by dragging the anchor itself. You can also lock the
graphic to a specific paragraph.

4. To control the exact positioning of the graphic, and the flow of text
around it, select the graphic then either right click its edge and select
Format [graphic] from the popup menu, or select Format [graphic] from the
Format menu. (In place of [graphic] you'll see the actual type of object --
picture, textbox, shape, etc.)


Spend a bit of time experimenting with options on the Format graphic dialog,
in particular the Layout and Advanced tabs.

 

[Colin Higbie]

Thanks, I'm learning that the inline is the best solution, or maybe better
to say, the one with the most minor problems.

Word 2003 has not fixed the problem with breaking widow and orphan control,
so that's still an issue, although it may not affect inline graphics - don't
know yet.

I decided to create a style for paragraphs that hold my graphics. Many of
them are full page width, meaning in the Normal style, they are positioned
against the left margin and then fall off the right edge of the page. I
think it was to avoid that issue that I originally changed from the inline
default in Word 2003 to forcing the text to only above and below the
graphic.

- Colin