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Jezebel
 
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1. Word has two 'modes' for inserted graphics: inline and floating. Inline
graphics are handled like text, within the body of a paragraph. Floating
graphics may be anywhere on the page, and may have text flow around, under,
or over.

2. Every floating graphic is anchored to a paragraph. You see the anchor if
a) the graphic is selected and b) you have checked 'Object anchors' on the
Tools Objects : View dialog. The graphic is always on the same page as the
paragraph to which it is anchored.

3. By default, the graphic is anchored to the nearest paragraph, and the
anchor is moved if you drag the graphic around. You can manually selected
the anchor paragraph by dragging the anchor itself. You can also lock the
graphic to a specific paragraph.

4. To control the exact positioning of the graphic, and the flow of text
around it, select the graphic then either right click its edge and select
Format [graphic] from the popup menu, or select Format [graphic] from the
Format menu. (In place of [graphic] you'll see the actual type of object --
picture, textbox, shape, etc.)


Spend a bit of time experimenting with options on the Format graphic dialog,
in particular the Layout and Advanced tabs.




"Colin Higbie" wrote in message
. bl...
I don't understand how Word places graphic objects. It seems random, but

I'm
sure there's a pattern to the madness. If anyone could explain it to me in

a
way I could use, I'd really appreciate it. I'm going crazy trying to work
with it.

Sometimes, I see the anchor for an object when I select it, so I can drag
that to assign it to other paragraphs. Other times, there is no anchor.
Sometimes when I drag an object to a location, it bounces to another page.
It rarely goes where I put it.

This is made worse by the fact that when I drag the object, the dotted
outline suggests it will go in a certain place, but then when I release

the
mouse, it disappears and I have to scroll around through the pages to find
where it went. I think it's always within a page of where I put it.

Objects in the middle of a paragraph also seem to break the No

Widow/Orphan
feature. A paragraph with an object in the middle may well have a single
isolated line at the bottom of a page (right above the graphic) or the top
of the following page (widow or orphan). It doesn't seem to matter how I

set
the Advanced Layout options are for Text Wrapping.

Is there a way to predict or stabilize this behavior? What is the logic
behind this chaotic and annoying behavior? If there are no good answers to
these questions, can we expect that these bugs (as far as I'm concerned
that's what these are) will be fixed in the next version of Word? I guess

if
MS hasn't gotten it right in 10 years of making Word for Windows, they
aren't likely to start now.

It seems like Word isn't really meant to work with anything but text. I

know
it's not a real layout program like Quark or InDesign, but embedding a

basic
Excel table or Visio diagram should work. WordPerfect has no problem
performing these basic functions.

Thanks for any help,
Colin