Position a Picture: MS Word

When you've inserted a picture in a page and adjusted its size and so on, the next step is to position it where you want it. You can handle that in one of two ways.

• As an inline picture. This means a picture is considered merely one character on a line. As such, you can center it by clicking the Center button, indent it by pressing Tab or clicking the Increase Indent button, or even align it with a caption by including it in a table.
   
• As a floating object. This means a picture exists o n a different layer than the text itself. You can drag a floating object to move it anywhere on the page, even into the margins. You can then specify what happens with the text -- whether it will run around the picture or flow right across it or behind it.

Precise placement of a picture is part of laying out an attractive page. You want pictures to correspond to the edges of columns or other elements o n the page, because aligning elements on a page is good page design. Floating pictures allow for much more flexibility in positioning, because you can have text flow around them on one or both sides.

In my next article, I'll teach you how to delete and position graphics in your documents.

(c) Carol Bratt, all rights reserved. Used with permission. Duplication is forbidden without express consent of author. Visit Carol's web site to learn more tips like this one!