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Technology Tip of the Week - October 23, 2006

Moving Clipart in Microsoft Word

Did you ever insert a piece of clipart or a picture into a Microsoft Word document and then decide to move it....and it wouldn't budge? You tried to drag it but it just wouldn't move. How frustrating! There are several ways to get that graphic where you want it on your page:

  1. If your clipart is hugging the left margin and you just want to center it on the same line, click once on the graphic to select it
  2. Click on the same Center button from the menu bar that you use to center text. Your graphic will be perfectly centered. (Click on the right-align button to move it to the far right of the document.)

If you want a graphic in a different location on your page that is not on the same line:

  1. Double-click (or right-click) the graphic and select Format Picture
  2. Click on the Layout tab
  3. Select Tight and OK.  Now you should be able to move your clipart around. Easy, huh!

When a picture is inserted into your Word document, its default placement is in line with your text. That is, Word inserts the picture where your cursor is, even though it may not be aligned properly with the text around it. If you want to get fancy and wrap text around a graphic:

  1. Click once on the graphic to select it
  2. On the Format menu, click Picture, and then click the Layout tab
  3. Click the Advanced button
  4. On the Text Wrapping tab, click the Top and bottom wrapping style or another style of your choice.
  5. If you want to specify the picture's Distance from text, specify the distance in the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right boxes. Some elements on the tab may be dimmed, depending on the selections you make
  6. Click the Picture Position tab to select the picture's horizontal and vertical placement, as well as other options. Some elements on the tab may be dimmed, depending on the selections you make.
  7. To close the Advanced Layout dialog box and save your selections, click OK.
  8. To close the Format Picture dialog box and reposition your picture, click OK.

For more help with these features, please contact one of the IT Instructional Support team (Norm Grant, Gene Grande or Linda Beith) or faculty mentors Tony Basilico or Kathy Beauchene.

Website of the Week

Visit the Virtual Narragansett Bay Classroom

Check out the Narragansett Bay classroom at: http://omp.gso.uri.edu/omp/nbc.htm. Sponsored by the Office of Marine Programs at URI's Bay campus, this website details a variety of marine and environmental short courses, lectures, tours, field trips, interpretive programs, camps, and training opportunities for people of all ages. Many of these are offered free to the public. What a wonderful resource right in our own backyard!

Feel free to post your thoughts or opinions of this site in the Teaching Forum message board.

These tips are provided by the Department of Information Technology instructional support team. If you have any questions on these tips, or wish to offer your own, please feel free to contact Linda Beith at lbeith@ccri.edu. View an archive of past technology tips at http://it.ccri.edu/Training/Tips/tip_week.shtml.

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