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Sometimes, the most apparent formatting option for the document layout you need isn't the best way to go! One of the most glaring examples of that is with floating graphic objects in Word documents.

Floating pictures and objects are much more complex to manage in Word than those formatted as Inline With Text, and can become a source of both document formatting and document integrity problems. So, what do I mean by 'floating' and 'inline with text'?

AutoShapes, text boxes, frames, and any picture or object that you can pick up and move independent of the document's text (including objects that you can wrap text around) is floating. But, does avoiding them in Word mean that you have to give up functionality or layout flexibility? Absolutely not!!

One of the easiest ways to keep your document easy-to-manage is to use the Layout option you'll find in either Format, Picture, Layout or Format, Object, Layout that's called Inline With Text. This layout causes the picture or object to sit on a text line and act just like a character. It can be part of a paragraph, sit inside a table cell, and you can format it with character and paragraph formatting (which is so much easier than many graphical formatting alternatives).

You can tell that an object is inline with text when it's selected, because it's handles will be black and sit on the inside of the object ... rather than the white handles that protrude outside of a floating object or the black handles that sit within a thatched border on a selected frame. Also, when you move your mouse pointer over an inline object, your insertion point will look like the 'I' you get when you hover over text ... move your mouse pointer over a floating object and it will look like a 4-pointed arrow.

To get complex layouts, such as text beside a picture or two objects side-by-side, place your objects or pictures inside table cells (simple to do when you use the Inline With Text layout)... it's much easier and faster than positioning floating objects and makes your document a cinch to edit (can also be very healthy for the document's file size). Want more help getting that done? Just post a comment or drop me an e-mail...

Note that Inline With Text is the default layout for pictures you insert through Insert, Picture, From File (to set Inline With Text as your default for Insert, Picture -- go to Tools, Options, Edit). Regardless of this setting, only some pictures or objects you place with Edit, Paste or Edit, Paste Special will automatically take on this layout (but you can always apply the layout you need through Format, Picture (or Object)).

Note also that, though the 'inline with text' layout is available for Office drawing shapes such as AutoShapes, it's not really the same. You'll see that their handles remain white and you'll still get the four-pointed arrow on your mouse pointer that you need to move floating objects (see the post below on flipping v. moving objects for an explanation of this pointer).

Your documents will be better off if you avoid using objects in Word that can't be formatted as true Inline With Text. (For example, I always create objects with AutoShapes in PowerPoint and paste them into Word as pictures formatted as Inline with Text, for best stability and ease of editing.)

Posted by Stephanie

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TITLE: Microsoft Office Document Designer and a New Blogger URL: http://blogs.officezealot.com/chris/archive/2004/09/02/2429.aspx IP: 69.44.156.225 BLOG NAME: Chris Kunicki DATE: 09/02/2004 01:43:56 [Read More]

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TITLE: Microsoft Office Document Designer and a New Blogger URL: http://blogs.officezealot.com/chris/archive/2004/09/02/2429.aspx IP: 69.44.156.225 BLOG NAME: Chris Kunicki DATE: 09/02/2004 01:45:34 [Read More]

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