Word 2007 inserting multiple pictures causes them to move

[gjbeck11]

Hello,

I am trying to insert pictures into a document. I have word wrap set to square. After I insert and position 4 or 5 pictures, everything is fine. Then when I insert the next picture it moves from my insertion point and causes multiple blank lines to me inserted. Has anyone run into this? Thank you in advance for any help.

[Gary Frieder]

Welcome to the Lounge!

This might have to do with an inserted picture interacting with another existing picture, that's near to it. Would it be possible to post a document here with an example of the problem (minus any private or confidential information)?

Gary

[gjbeck11]

Thank you Gary,

It would probably be a problem to post the document. It is my daughter's for a graduate school class. We think we may have found the problem. It appears to be an issue when adding text to the document and a picture gets near a page change. Sometimes it moves to the bottom of the page and "hangs", and when more text is entered above it finally moves to the next page in the correct position. In other cases, as it nears a page change, it moves randomly. She worked around it by leaving all the pictures out until she had the entire text done and then she added all the pictures. I'm still hoping there is a better way to handle this.

[PamCaswell]

It is generally best to worry about layout after the content is set.That's the traditional publishing order of things. For my formatting jobs, I usually recommend that writers insert the figures in line with text. I text wrap them, as need, during formatting. Your daughter is doing both (writing and formatting), but I still recommend that she concentrate on the text and getting the all the elements into the doc and then go back and lay the piece out.

BTW, the movement you are experiencing results from Word's attempt to keep picture and its anchor on the same page. If it can fit them on the page but with the picture in a different position (the top of the page or lower, sometimes into the margin), Word will do that. If it cannot, Word will move the picture and its paragraph to the next page--sometimes leaving empty space on the previous page.

Pam

[Chuck Tucker]

I couldn't agree more with Pam. Enter/Edit all of your text first (perhaps adding comments to remind you where to add inserts). Then insert pictures or other entities (text boxes, etc.) starting at the top of the document and working your way down, moving and adjusting inserts as necessary to fit the pages. If you don't start at the top then inserting a picture above other inserts can result in re-pagination which can really mess up your formatting.

[EricFletcher]

You can minimize this behavior by turning off the "Move object with text" option in the Layout | Position dialog (right click the picture and choose "Size and position"). The option is not visible if the text wrapping is set to "In line with text". Note too that by default, the "Allow overlap" option is turned on to allow pictures to overlap one another; if you turn this off, Word will move text and other pictures to prevent the overlap.

The Position options are useful for controlling where to place pictures on a page: to set a picture at the bottom of the page, you could use horizontal alignment = "Centered" relative to = "Column" and vertical alignment = Bottom" relative to = "Margin". This works for other objects as well: to be able to set a picture with its caption at the bottom of a page, set the picture and caption within a 1x1 table, then use the Table Properties to manage the positioning (choose Text wrapping=Around to be able to access the "Positioning" dialog controls).