Inline/Floating Objects

[DMC]

I get the distinction between floating & inline, but how do I convert an
inline object into a floating object? (WORD 2003)

Failing that, how do I make all my autoshapes floating (unless I say
otherwise).

As things stand, WORD is unusable.

 

[DMC]

Thanks for trying to help, Dean - but the immediate issue is with Autoshapes
(arrows etc.) which seem to be automatically created as inline, and cannot
therefore be selected, and therefore cannot be converted.

And yes, my documents (created in WORD 2000) have a lot of graphics. A great
part of my work is maintaining documents - so I have to be able to control
fine detail in existing material, without having to create it from scratch.

WORD 2003 is messing up my documents, badly.

Right now, it looks easier to demand that my IT department downgrade me back
to WORD 2000.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi DMC -

I'm getting the impression you may be pursuing the wrong ghost Please
see the in line responses below;

Thanks for trying to help, Dean - but the immediate issue is with Autoshapes
(arrows etc.) which seem to be automatically created as inline, and cannot
therefore be selected, and therefore cannot be converted.

Well, formatting of the shapes themselves is determined by the Options
setting Dean described & each shape is definitely selectable to enable
reformatting *if* they are drawn as independent objects in the document. I
get the feeling, however, that your shapes have actually been drawn in
Drawing Canvasses. If they have, canvasses are always inserted as In Line
regardless of what the Paste/Insert option is set for. That will also
prevent the shapes from having either an in-line or wrapping style applied.

If the Canvas has been resized tightly around the shapes in your Word 2000
documents the Format AutoShape> Layout dialog won't include Text Wrapping
options. However, if you double-click or right-click the hash-mark border
around the selected shape you'll get into the Format Drawing Canvas dialog
where you *will* find the wrapping options.

To avoid the canvas when creating new shapes remove the check which controls
that in Tools> Options - General, or once you select the shape tool pres ESC
to dismiss the canvas before you draw the shape.

And yes, my documents (created in WORD 2000) have a lot of graphics. A great
part of my work is maintaining documents - so I have to be able to control
fine detail in existing material, without having to create it from scratch.

WORD 2003 is messing up my documents, badly.

I'm not sure what you mean by this... My guess here is that there is
something else at play such as fonts and/or printer drivers, or whatever,
because Office 2003 uses the same graphics engine as Office 2000. There's no
likely reason inherent to Word 2003 which should cause it to be "messing up"
your documents. If you can elaborate on exactly what that phrase is intended
to convey perhaps there are some explanations & solutions to be offered.

Right now, it looks easier to demand that my IT department downgrade me back
to WORD 2000.

I can't fault you for thinking that way - Word 2000 is probably one of the
most stable & reliable versions of the program ever released... But so is
2003 There should be no reason for reverting to be necessary.

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

 

[DMC]

We are talking about a whole slew of documents - graphics-heavy documents,
created in Word 2000, which, in Word 2003, behave dramatically differently.
What's more, they defy easy correction, because many of the items have
acquired a status (in-line) which means I can't easily fix their
characteristics.

In addition, Word 2003 is displaying documents wrongly (cuts off the top
couple of inches of a page) even though the printed version is normal.

Word 2003 seems to be a step backwards - Microsoft deciding, once again,
that it knows better than its customers, and requiring the customers to adapt
to MS's whim.

 

[DMC]

Personally, I don't have Autoshapes, freetext annotations, and Drawn objects
in my Word documents, I tend to use good'ol PowerPoint for such images, and
insert these as either jpg or png (depending of quality required) and I find
that this reduces the file size bloat possiblities as well as layout and
paginatiojn problems that floating items can cause.

I don't have that option. These documents have to be translated - including
the text within graphics - so they have to be available, within the document.
I dread to think how our translators will deal with these anomalies.

 

[Tony Jollans]

Right click > Format Shape > Layout tab

Change the wrapping style to anything other than "In line with text" and it
will be floating.

 

[DMC]

Thank you, Tony - but the problem was that these inline objects couldn't be
selected, and therefore couldn't have their properties changed.

Dean's F4 trick got me past that - but it's still a lousy piece of MS design.

 

[Graham Mayor]

You should be able to select floating objects that are behind text with the
Select Object tool (a white arrow) on the drawing toolbar.
For Word 2007, you can add the tool to the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar)

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Tony Jollans]

Not sure what F4 trick you're referring to and I'm a little surprised that
you couldn't select inline objects but, if you're now able to do what you
want, I'm happy.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

But note that the Select Objects tool is on the Home tab in Word 2007.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org