Graphics Location Uncontrollable

[Mike H.]

I often insert partial screen captures into documents. They often are not in
the right place that I would like them to be. But it is nearly impossible to
move them around. Also, if I am in the middle of a bulleted sequence and I
insert a graphic in the middle, I'll either have to have bulleted items with
no text or have to reset the start # for a new sequence so the graphic is in
the right place. Is there an easy way to move graphics around in a document?

 

[Jim]

Mike,

I feel your pain. I do instruction manuals with lots of screen captures,
drawings, etc. that have to go in with the text, and this has had me tearing
my hair out for a long time. It can be done, however, so don't give up.

Most of my 'pictorial inserts' want to go into the text with text flowing
around them. If you just put a picture inline with the text, that's usually
no problem. But fitting a photo or illustration smack-dab in the middle of a
block of text sometimes has the picture flying off the page onto another, or
disappearing entirely.

Once you've done your Insert/Picture/From File (or just a 'paste'), you of
course have to double-click the elusive photo (or Format/Picture) and mark it
for Layout/Square. Yeah, right. (It's usually at that point that it whips
around the page!) What's worked for me is more black magic than science. If
you can go in under Advanced and specify a definite location for the
picture... so many tenths of an inch below the paragraph, or with respect to
the margins, etc., it then will hold still. Resist the temptation to grab
the picture and nudge it around afterward, however; go back and change the
dimension you put in instead.

Play around with this and you will eventually get an intuitive feel for what
to do. To start, just make it flush with the margin(s) or paragraph. Then
start entering dimensions into the boxes and see where the picture goes.

And... if you have any revelations in this area, don't forget to post them
back here for the rest of us. Good luck!