Problem with Word 2003 AutoShapes on 1 computer only

[AnAmericanInDublin]

Greetings,

I am having problems inserting AutoShapes in MS Word on one system running
Win2K Pro/Office 2003. The problem arises when I paste a graphic
(screenshot) into a Word document, and then create a line or arrow (or
anything else for that matter) on top of it, or outside of the image area
into it. On the affected machine, Word will move the AutoShape above or
below the graphic, but will not allow the AutoShape to be placed "on" it (I
cannot even create it elsewhere and move it onto the graphic). I am able to
do this easily on other machines running Win2K and XP Pro with Office 2003.
Have also tried creating a canvas and placing it on top of the inserted
graphic, but it is impossible to draw a line or arrow from outside the canvas
into it, and it seems an unnecessary step when it is so easily done on other
systems.

I have tried turning off "Automatically create drawing canvas when iserting
AutoShapes", and have tried adjusting hardware accelleration in the display
properties, both with no success. Have put two machines side by side and
compared Word options, and have them both set identically, and yet the one
machine simply refuses to behave.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tim
trtoles =at= hotmail dot com

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It may not be quite the same problem, but I found the solution to a
similarly perplexing one in Word 2003. If I have a graphic inserted In Line
With Text and try to draw on top of it, the part of the graphic under the
AutoShape disappears (it's like it's been cropped). I finally realized that
the reason for this was that the AutoShapes by default have Square wrapping.
When I change the wrapping to In Front of Text, they behave properly.

My suggestion, therefore, would be to check the wrapping on the screen shot
and on the AutoShape. Word 2003 allows you to select the default wrapping
style for pasted and inserted graphics, and it may be that the setting on
the affected computer is different from the setting on the others.

 

[AnAmericanInDublin]

Suzanne,

That appears to have been it precisely. I have changed the defaults on the
affected systema dn it is working perfectly now.

Thank you very much for the prompt and accurate response.

Tim Toles
Dublin, Ireland