Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Determining Picture Size in a Macro.

Determining Picture Size in a Macro

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 2, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


Word keeps quite a bit of information together about the images that you insert in your documents. This information is necessary so that Word knows how to size, position, and display images. If you want to find out more information about the images in your document, then you need to know something about how Word stores the information.

Images are stored as either of two types of graphic objects: regular shapes or inline shapes. Regular shapes are those that reside on the drawing layer, as opposed to inline shapes, which reside in the text layer. Both types of objects are stored with different object collections. Regular shapes are in the Shapes collection, and inline shapes are stored in the InlineShapes collection. To access information about the objects, you just need to use a little VBA.

The following VBA macro creates a document that displays the size of all the graphics objects within a document, in both points and pixels:

Sub FigureInfo()
    Dim iShapeCount As Integer
    Dim iILShapeCount As Integer
    Dim DocThis As Document
    Dim J As Integer
    Dim sTemp As String

    Set DocThis = ActiveDocument
    Documents.Add

    iShapeCount = DocThis.Shapes.Count
    If iShapeCount > 0 Then
        Selection.TypeText Text:="Regular Shapes"
        Selection.TypeParagraph
    End If
    For J = 1 To iShapeCount
        Selection.TypeText Text:=DocThis.Shapes(J).Name
        Selection.TypeParagraph
        sTemp = "     Height (points): "
        sTemp = sTemp & DocThis.Shapes(J).Height
        Selection.TypeText Text:=sTemp
        Selection.TypeParagraph
        sTemp = "     Width (points): "
        sTemp = sTemp & DocThis.Shapes(J).Width
        Selection.TypeText Text:=sTemp
        Selection.TypeParagraph
        sTemp = "     Height (pixels): "
        sTemp = sTemp & PointsToPixels(DocThis.Shapes(J).Height, True)
        Selection.TypeText Text:=sTemp
        Selection.TypeParagraph
        sTemp = "     Width (pixels): "
        sTemp = sTemp & PointsToPixels(DocThis.Shapes(J).Width, False)
        Selection.TypeText Text:=sTemp
        Selection.TypeParagraph
        Selection.TypeParagraph
    Next J

    iILShapeCount = DocThis.InlineShapes.Count
    If iILShapeCount > 0 Then
        Selection.TypeText Text:="Inline Shapes"
        Selection.TypeParagraph
    End If
    For J = 1 To iILShapeCount
        Selection.TypeText Text:="Shape " & J
        Selection.TypeParagraph
        sTemp = "     Height (points): "
        sTemp = sTemp & DocThis.InlineShapes(J).Height
        Selection.TypeText Text:=sTemp
        Selection.TypeParagraph
        sTemp = "     Width (points): "
        sTemp = sTemp & DocThis.InlineShapes(J).Width
        Selection.TypeText Text:=sTemp
        Selection.TypeParagraph
        sTemp = "     Height (pixels): "
        sTemp = sTemp & PointsToPixels(DocThis.InlineShapes(J).Height, True)
        Selection.TypeText Text:=sTemp
        Selection.TypeParagraph
        sTemp = "     Width (pixels): "
        sTemp = sTemp & PointsToPixels(DocThis.InlineShapes(J).Width, False)
        Selection.TypeText Text:=sTemp
        Selection.TypeParagraph
        Selection.TypeParagraph
    Next J
End Sub

Note that the macro returns the names of regular shapes, but not the names of inline shapes. The reason for this is that Word doesn't maintain the names of inline shapes. When you insert a regular shape in your document (again, on the drawing layer), then Word assigns a name to the shape, such as Rectangle 2 or Oval 3.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8343) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Determining Picture Size in a Macro.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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