Anchoring Objects by Default

Cal has problems with text boxes and arrows wandering all over the page. He wonders if there is a way to have anchors locked as the default, rather than having to lock the anchor for each text box and drawing shape he adds.

The short answer is that there is no way. The reason is that it doesn't make much sense to lock an anchor when most people don't leave objects anchored at the first place they are placed in a document. For instance, while you may be able to judge placement of a text box properly (and therefore have it be anchored from the get-go), chances are good that your arrows will need to be moved and adjusted after they are added. It doesn't do much good to anchor them until after that movement and adjustment has occurred.

The next best thing you can do is to create a macro that will anchor or un-anchor objects for you. The macro can then be added to the Quick Access Toolbar or a shortcut key so that you can select an object and simply toggle whether it is anchored or not. This saves tremendous time when you have lots of objects, as you won't need to go through the hassle of displaying dialog boxes and changing the anchor setting.

Sub ToggleShapeAnchor()
 If Selection.Type = wdSelectionShape Then
 For Each Shape In Selection.ShapeRange
  Shape.LockAnchor = Not Shape.LockAnchor
 Next
 End If
End Sub

Note that this is a true "toggle," meaning if the selected shape (or shapes) were previously anchored, running the macro will un-anchor them. If you want the macro to only anchor and not un-anchor, then use this macro, instead.

Sub AnchorShapes()
 If Selection.Type = wdSelectionShape Then
 For Each Shape In Selection.ShapeRange
  Shape.LockAnchor = True
 Next
 End If
End Sub

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7749) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Anchoring Objects by Default.