Image Layout in Word

Changing the image layout in word can make formatting documents easier, quicker and faster to correct when a change is made somewhere else earlier in the document.

This is a very useful tip if you were creating catalogs, fliers, posters, etc using Microsoft Word.  By being able to position images where you want in relation to the text, you have more options available to you and could save time later formatting layouts to look right.

I have also gone through this with students writing up essays and thesis’s where they wanted to position charts and diagrams in their documents, but were having problems with the default Word settings.

As an example, below I have some text and then an image, this is how you might normally see it.

If, for some reason, you wanted to change the position of the image to display in the middle of the text you can drag the image up to where you want to position it.  But you will end up with a messy result like this.

A way around this is to change the layout of the image to appear either behind or in front of the text.  This leaves the text as it originally was and allows you to position the picture where you want it by dragging and dropping.

To change the image layout in word, right-click on the image and select “Size and Position”.  In the “Text Wrapping” tab you can see wrapping styles.

I usually select  “Behind text” or sometimes “In front of text”, depending on what I am trying to achieve.  Then you can drag and drop the image where you want it to appear.

In the image below, I have set my logo to wrap behind text and I dragged it up and behind my text.  You can see the text is over the image.  This allows you to type over an image – you might want to enter a caption within the image, a comment or note or speech balloon.

The image below shows my logo set to wrap in front of text.  You can barely see part of the first S and last T coming out from behind the outside of the logo.  I use this option less often than wrapping behind text.

You should try playing around with the different options in the wrapping style.  You might find one that you prefer using yourself, or it might give you some ideas of other ways to layout your documents.