Making visible the anchor point for floating drawing canvas

[Paul]

I followed http://www.ai.uga.edu/mc/FloatFigWord.pdf to create
floating figures. In Word 2003, the advanced layout options I used to
put the drawing canvas at the top of a column were:

* Text Wrapping: Top and bottom
* Picture Position:
- Horizontal: "Alignment" "Left" relative to "Column"
- Vertical: "Alignment" "Top" relative to "Margin"

I can switch between the above positioning and "In line with text" to
see where the figure is when it isn't floating. I also noted that
even when the figure was floating, deleting the text where it resides
when it is inline would also cause the floating figure to be deleted.
This means there is an "anchor" point at the place where it resides
when it is inline.

Is there a way to make this anchor visible so that I don't go deleting
it, and so that I know when the anchor is pushed to another new column
when composing/editing? Tools->Options->View allows me to activate
visibility of object anchors, but that's only when the object (the
drawing canvas in this case) is selected.

 

[Paul]

I followedhttp://www.ai.uga.edu/mc/FloatFigWord.pdfto create
floating figures.  In Word 2003, the advanced layout options I used to
put the drawing canvas at the top of a column were:

 * Text Wrapping: Top and bottom
 * Picture Position:
    - Horizontal: "Alignment" "Left" relative to "Column"
    - Vertical: "Alignment" "Top" relative to "Margin"

I can switch between the above  positioning and "In line with text" to
see where the figure is when it isn't floating.  I also noted that
even when the figure was floating, deleting the text where it resides
when it is inline would also cause the floating figure to be deleted.
This means there is an "anchor" point at the place where it resides
when it is inline.

Is there a way to make this anchor visible so that I don't go deleting
it, and so that I know when the anchor is pushed to another new column
when composing/editing?  Tools->Options->View allows me to activate
visibility of object anchors, but that's only when the object (the
drawing canvas in this case) is selected.

Actually, even a confirmation of the certain inability of Word to
persistently show anchors would be welcome. It's getting awkward
composing my document while holding off on the proper placement of the
figures to which I allude. Thanks. P.S. I'm using Word 2003 on
Windows XP.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You are correct in assuming that object anchors are displayed only when the
floating object is selected. You can move the anchor to any paragraph you
like, however (on the same page).

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

I followedhttp://www.ai.uga.edu/mc/FloatFigWord.pdfto create
floating figures. In Word 2003, the advanced layout options I used to
put the drawing canvas at the top of a column were:

* Text Wrapping: Top and bottom
* Picture Position:
- Horizontal: "Alignment" "Left" relative to "Column"
- Vertical: "Alignment" "Top" relative to "Margin"

I can switch between the above positioning and "In line with text" to
see where the figure is when it isn't floating. I also noted that
even when the figure was floating, deleting the text where it resides
when it is inline would also cause the floating figure to be deleted.
This means there is an "anchor" point at the place where it resides
when it is inline.

Is there a way to make this anchor visible so that I don't go deleting
it, and so that I know when the anchor is pushed to another new column
when composing/editing? Tools->Options->View allows me to activate
visibility of object anchors, but that's only when the object (the
drawing canvas in this case) is selected.

Actually, even a confirmation of the certain inability of Word to
persistently show anchors would be welcome. It's getting awkward
composing my document while holding off on the proper placement of the
figures to which I allude. Thanks. P.S. I'm using Word 2003 on
Windows XP.

 

[Paul]

Thanks, Suzanne. Are you aware of standard practices/tricks by Word
wizards to avoid inadvertently selecting floating figures/objects when
highlighting entire paragraphs for cutting, deletion, or dragging?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you select a paragraph to which a floating object is anchored, then it's
going to be cut or deleted or dragged along with it. I don't know any way
around that. One more argument for having images inline whenever possible.

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

Thanks, Suzanne. Are you aware of standard practices/tricks by Word
wizards to avoid inadvertently selecting floating figures/objects when
highlighting entire paragraphs for cutting, deletion, or dragging?

 

[Paul]

I admit, it's way easier to edit the document with figures inline, but
for publication-ready documents, it takes less white space to put
figures at the top or bottom of columns. For example, locating a
figure at the top of a column means you only have to allot a margin of
white space between the bottom of the figure and the text underneath.
Multi-column figures also look better at the top or bottom of a page.
I realize that this can be manually rigged up when no more revisions
are needed to an article, but it is still laborious. Also, at least
in my experience, I might think that a draft requires no more
revisions, but more often than not, I'm wrong.

I guess it's a wish-list item, for anchors to be persistently
available.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I agree with everything you say. The bottom line is that Word is not really
a page layout application.

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

I admit, it's way easier to edit the document with figures inline, but
for publication-ready documents, it takes less white space to put
figures at the top or bottom of columns. For example, locating a
figure at the top of a column means you only have to allot a margin of
white space between the bottom of the figure and the text underneath.
Multi-column figures also look better at the top or bottom of a page.
I realize that this can be manually rigged up when no more revisions
are needed to an article, but it is still laborious. Also, at least
in my experience, I might think that a draft requires no more
revisions, but more often than not, I'm wrong.

I guess it's a wish-list item, for anchors to be persistently
available.

 

[Paul]

Agreed, page layout lies more in the realm of powerpoint, perhaps to
layout promotional flyers or something.

I'm considering floating figures as a standard capability for
documentation software, and controllable persistent visibility of
anchors as being a highly desirable feature for that capability when
editting the document.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

You mean Publisher. For the second paragraph, you've already mentioned
that you know FrameMaker.

 

[Paul]

I said Powerpoint because I'm not familiar with Publisher (and in
fact, it's been a steep time getting familiar with Microsoft and M$
Office). Powerpoint is what I'd use if I had to do a flyer simply
because I wouldn't have the time to learn another tool unless it was
going to be a significant part of my work for a good chunk of time.
I'm also unfamiliar with the availability of Publisher in my
circumstances.

Now, Framemaker....that's been something I haven't had access to for
quite some time.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Publisher is included in some Office SKUs, and the freestanding version is
generally reasonably priced. It's a very user-friendly product (with many
built-in templates for fliers, brochures, etc.) with some fairly
sophisticated capabilities (you can create CMYK color separations, for
example). I think of PPT primarily for presentations, though I know that
users who are most comfortable with it use it for much wider applications
(in the same way that I do everything I can in Word because that's the
program I'm most comfortable with).

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

I said Powerpoint because I'm not familiar with Publisher (and in
fact, it's been a steep time getting familiar with Microsoft and M$
Office). Powerpoint is what I'd use if I had to do a flyer simply
because I wouldn't have the time to learn another tool unless it was
going to be a significant part of my work for a good chunk of time.
I'm also unfamiliar with the availability of Publisher in my
circumstances.

Now, Framemaker....that's been something I haven't had access to for
quite some time.