Inserting Pictures from Files

Is a picture really worth a thousand words? It’s up to you. Pictures for their own sake might simply clutter up a document and make it more time consuming to send to somebody and more expensive to print. Used carefully, pictures enable you to show the reader what you mean. Yes, used the right way, pictures can save many paragraphs of explanation, so perhaps a picture is worth a thousand words—maybe more. If not, there wouldn’t be so many pictures in this book, helping to illustrate ideas.

You can insert pictures in Word in several ways, using pictures from a variety of different graphics formats. We’ll look at formats shortly.

If you have pictures on removable media—such as SD (secure digital), CF (compact flash), CD, or DVD—it’s usually best if those pictures have been copied to your hard drive before proceeding. While you can insert directly from such sources, or from a LAN or over the Internet, you have more options available to you if the files are on your own computer in a location that is always accessible.

You might also have pictures available from a webcam, other camera, or a scanner connected to your computer. Assuming the formats are supported, those also can be inserted into Word.

While it’s not necessary, computing life is usually easier when pictures, sounds, and other files are where Word and other programs expect them to be. In the case of pictures, the expected location is your My Pictures subfolder of the My Documents folder (Windows XP) or Pictures folder (Windows Vista). You’ll see why in this chapter. I’m going to assume that you’ve either copied the picture(s) you want to use to the applicable folder, or that you otherwise know where to find them.

I’m also going to assume that you’re working with Word 2007 .docx files, and not Word 97–2003 compatibility mode files. This matters because things are a bit different in compatibility mode. In compatibility mode, linking of picture files is accomplished using the INCLUDEPICTURE field. In Word 2007 mode, linking is accomplished using XML relationships.

To insert a picture at the current insertion point, choose Insert Picture, which displays the Insert Picture dialog box. Assuming the picture is listed there, select it, but don’t double-click it yet. Word displays a sometimes blurry preview (see Figure 9-31). As shown, click the drop-down arrow next to Insert to view the Insert options.

When inserting a picture this way, Word offers three options:

• Insert— The picture is embedded in the current document. If the original is ever deleted or moved, it will still exist in your document. If the original is ever updated, however, your document will not reflect the update. The document file will be larger because the original image is stored in the .docx file. If neither file size nor updates are important, this is the best option.

• Link to File— A link to the picture is inserted, and the picture is displayed in the document. The document file will be smaller—often dramatically smaller—because the image is external to the Word document. If the original file is moved or deleted, it will no longer be available for viewing in the document the next time you start Word and reopen the document, and you will see the upsetting and confusing message shown in Figure 9-32 (see the following Caution for more information). On the other hand, if the image is updated (press F9), the update will be available and displayed in Word. If file size is an issue but the availability of the image file is not, then this is the best option.

  Figure 9-32. If a linked, non-embedded picture is moved, renamed, or deleted, Word will not be able to display it the next time you start Word and open the document.

  

• Insert and Link— The image is both embedded in the document and linked to the original file. If the original file is updated, the picture in the document will be updated to reflect changes in the original. Because the file is embedded, the document will be larger than it would be if only linked. However, the document will not be larger than it would be if only inserted. If file size is not an issue but updates are, then this is the best option.

If your picture format isn’t supported

If the picture you want doesn’t appear in Word’s Insert Picture dialog box but you know that it’s really there, open the Files of Type drop-down list shown in Figure 9-33 to verify that Word supports the format. If your picture format isn’t supported, there are several possible reasons.

The most popular picture format used by most digital cameras is JPG, which stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group (so if you didn’t know before, you do now). Word 2007 comes with a converter that supports .JPG files. Other Word 2007–supported popular formats include .GIF, which is heavily used on the Internet (because of support for transparent backgrounds, which makes such images better suited for web page design), .PNG, .WMF, and .BMP. Note that the latter two are natively supported by Word and do not require special converters.

Which formats are supported by your installation of Word depends on several things. Several graphics converters are installed as part of Office 2007’s Shared Features. Other converters installed by other programs might also be available. If you had Office 2000 or Office XP installed on your computer and upgraded to Office 2007, additional converters possibly were installed as well.

If your file uses any of the formats that come with Office 2007 but they don’t show up in the Insert Picture dialog box, then it’s probable that you didn’t install all of the converters. To add the missing converters, from Windows Control Panel, run Add or Remove Programs (Windows XP) or Programs Installed Programs (Windows Vista), and locate Microsoft Office 2007. The precise name depends on which flavor of Office 2007 you have.

Click Change Add or Remove Features Continue. Expand Office Shared Features Converters and Filters Graphic Filters. Click the drop-down arrow by Graphic Filters and choose Run All from My Computer. While you’re here, you might want to install all of the text filters as well. You never know when they might come in handy. Click Continue and follow any instructions (which might or might not include inserting the original Office 2007 DVD or CD). When you’re done, go back and check whether your picture format is now supported.

If your file format isn’t supported natively by Word 2007, try searching for a “converter pack” on Microsoft’s support site for Office and see what you can find. Choose Office Word Options Resources Check for Updates. Once there, type converter pack in the Search box, and click Go. At this writing, several are listed.