Microsoft Word Formatting Tips*

(*and Excel, and Publisher, and Power Point too)

Ever have trouble positioning a picture in a Word document? Ever have trouble emailing a document because it is too large? Microsoft provides tools for compressing large documents, based upon your target media. See tips below:

I want to...

  1. Position photos in my documents
  2. Compress my documents for emailing

 

Position Photos in Documents

You can tell Word how you want your photo to appear in the document. Simply select the photo and choose your layout option. In Office 2003 it's called "Format Picture", in Word 2007 it's called "Text Wrapping".

Text wrapping examples

How to wrap text with:  Office 2003 Office 2007 Office 2016

Word 2003 Text Wrapping

Right click the image, choose Format Picture..., or on the top menu choose Format, then Picture...
Click the Layout tab and choose a Wrapping style.

Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word
Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word
Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word

Word 2007 Text Wrapping

Right click the image, choose Text Wrapping, then choose your Wrapping style, or on the top menu choose Format, then Text Wrapping, then choose a Wrapping style.

Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word
Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word

Word 2016 Text Wrapping

On the top menu, click Format, click on the Wrap Text icon, and choose a wrapping style.

Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word

Text Wrapping Examples

"Inline" layout forces the photo to display as though it were part of the document text. Using "Inline", you will have less control as to where your picture is placed on the page.
Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word
"Square" allows the text to wrap around the image. This allows much more control over where you can place your image in the document.
Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word
"Tight" allows the text to wrap around irregularly shaped images. This can be tricky to use but is sometimes rewarding. Easy to do in Office 2016 and 2007, in Office 2003, not so much.
Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word
"Front" puts your image in front of the text, allowing the text to flow behind it. This can work well in certain cases if your image is partially transparent.
Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word
"Behind" allows text to flow over the top of your image. Use this with care, it can be hard to select a "behind" image once it is hidden behind text.
Sample image demonstrates text formatting in Microsoft Word

 

Compress Documents

You can tell Word, Publisher, Excel and PowerPoint to compress your photos to reduce the file size.

Today's digital cameras produce huge picture files. When those pictures are inserted in documents, the documents themselves become very large. Using the supplied picture formatting tools you can crop, then compress your photos.

Image Compression

Image compression is a great way to reduce the file size of an image in order to send it via email. To get started, right click the image, choose Format AutoShape/Picture, click the Picture tab, click on Compress, select All pictures in document, select Web/Screen, check Compress pictures and Delete cropped areas of pictures, then click OK.

Sample image demonstrates image compression in Microsoft Word

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