Absolutely Positioning a Graphic

Doesn't work for me, so I am wondering if there is a wrong setting for my page? I have a document and I copy a graphic from another document and paste it in the document that I am working on. A few years ago, it would go where my cursor was positioned. Now it ALWAYS goes to the left margin. Why is that?

Great info!

You cannot fix the position of a graphic so that it cannot be moved by dragging.

If you want a graphic to be always in the same position on the page then align it relative to the page or margin. However, you can still drag it to another position but it will not move with the text.

The Lock Anchor is used when the you want the graphic to be positioned relative to a particular paragraph so that it will move with that paragraph.

Doesn't work for me. Can't "lock" the position in, easy to move afterward.

What am I doing wrong?

Larry
Mac Word 2011

This does not work properly: No space is created for the caption of the figure!

Shapes and pictures inside a text box have very limited wrapping options.

You would be better off using a single cell table in which you would have full control of shape wrapping. Compared to a textbox it is more difficult to position a single cell table where you want it on the page, but it can be done.

I'm trying to insert a picture into a Text Box. Older versions of MS Word let me position it as you've indicated above once it's inserted into the Text Box. Newest version doesn't; the text wrapping options are all grayed out. How do I absolutely position a picture within a Text Box that already has text in it?

I know exactly how to make the drawing move independently of the text in the Word document, but the controls are grayed out. I can right click on the drawing but Text Wrapping is grayed out, and that is the one I need to select something other than In line with text. Why is it grayed out? How can I access that menu item? A quick project is now impossible to even do.

If the positioning tools are grayed out go to the Page Layout Ribbon (2013). Go to spacing, indent, left, right, etc. (in my case I wanted my image to NOT be indented so I chose left), then click on the arrows even it's on zero, you can go below zero into the minus and the image will move immediately. Hit save. Voila!

I have a template created in Word 2010. I have i table in the page header to position some info and also a logo anchord some distance from page left and top side.
When I open it in Word 2013 the logo moves and anchors to the table border insted. It doent matter if I recreate the logo anchoring in Word 2013 and choose page side. It anchors to the table in anyway.
Is this a bug or I am doing some thing wrong?

Great site, Thanx
Yes it's a challenge but I think many of us do not invest enough to learn properly. Yes again it would be nice if it was easier to find, grasp all these features that are so incredibly good.
I'm using a large document 80 P, font Freestyle Script 24, not italic but just the same slant. And I found out that inserting a picture with "tight" wrap, truncates part of letters on the edges. My fix... change the wrap to "square". I'm not sure but I don't see much difference in the wrapping.
As for pictures jumping around, yes it's like a circus but I'm trying to understand Page and Paragraph anchorage and absolute value. I think the answer in there.
...Word perfect! I thought only dinosaurs use this ;)

An explanation of how Word handles shapes (graphics) might help understand what is going on.
There are 24 shape types including pictures, drawings, lines and arrows, canvases etc. However, when it comes to positioning there are just two categories, in-line and floating.
An in-line shape acts like a character in a sentence and moves horizontally when you add characters to the left, spilling over to the next line if necessary. The height of the text line is determined by the height of the largest character which will probably be the picture height unless you have a very small picture. Only pictures can be in-line shapes. You cannot specify wrapping style or position on the page except using tabs as you would for text, but you can change the picture size by dragging corners and you can rotate the picture.
Floating shapes have an anchor somewhere on the page – usually a paragraph mark – and they are offset vertically and horizontally from this anchor. You can specify the offsets or you can drag the shape which changes the offsets. The shape will move if the anchor point moves, for example by adding extra paragraphs that move the anchor paragraph mark down. To stop this happening you can anchor the shape to the page so that it is at a fixed position on the page. When writing a document it is usual to anchor each shape to a paragraph so that the shape moves with associated text, then at the revision stage fix the shapes on the page.
Floating shapes can be given wrapping styles that determine the text wrapping or set the shape to be in front or behind the text.
When you insert a picture, Word insets is as an in-line shape and in the Text Wrapping tab of the layout dialog box the wrapping style ‘In Line with text’ is highlighted. The Position tab has all the items greyed out. If you click on one of the other Text Wrapping options, then the picture is converted to a floating shape and it may jump around to meet the wrapping options. Clicking ‘In Line with text’ will convert a floating picture to an in-line shape. Note that the ‘In Line with text’ button is not available if the shape is other than a picture.
The unwitting conversion of an in-line picture to a floating shape causes much angst. What category the picture is may not be obvious from looking at the page.
Problems of shapes jumping around unexpectedly are usually due to having a mixture of in-line and floating shapes. Other problems can occur where the components of a drawing have different anchor points.

No matter how I use the Text Wrap and position, I cannot get my pictures back inline IN FRONT of the text, and displaying correctly.. Grrr, my whole doc is jacked. All pictures are behind text, not visible except for the bottom of the pics, which is where the top should be! They were all in the right place when I copied or placed them, but now - after trying to position a text box... ALL pics are displaying wrong! what is up with Word!

Pasted a "print screen" into a newly created word 2013 document. It insists on keeping the graphic to the right of the left margin, and everything in the "position" tab is greyed out. Every edition of office is more difficult to use than the last, and has more bugs.

I get this to work, once the select word wrap text around picture is selected, otherwise it can be greyed out. I'm using Word 2013.

BUT I cannot find VBA code to do the same thing. Anyone know how please? If I use InlineShapes.AddPicture filename:= etc etc I can add the picture but no absolute positioning available.

Another instance where Word is stupidly complicated. WordPerfect is the way to go!

I had already got to this Dialogue box, but everything is greyed out!

This did not work for me. I had to physically move the graphic to the position I wanted it. From there it can be moved anywhere.