Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Graphics and Line Height.

Graphics and Line Height

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 1, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365


Have you ever placed a graphic in your document, only to find that you can see only a small portion of the bottom of it? The cause of this problem, believe it or not, lies in your paragraph formatting. When you insert an in-line graphic, it inherits the style of the surrounding text. This can cause problems when the style uses fixed line spacing, (for example, "Exactly 14 pt") because the image is forced to this line height as well.

To fix this problem, follow these steps after you have the graphic inserted in your document:

  1. Either select the graphic (by clicking on it once) or position the insertion point somewhere in the same paragraph that contains the graphic.
  2. Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
  3. Click the Line Spacing tool (Word 2007) or the Line and Paragraph Spacing tool (later versions of Word) in the Paragraph group. Word displays some spacing options.
  4. Choose the 1.0 option.

When line spacing is set to Single (which is what these steps do), Word automatically uses the height of the tallest element in each line as the height of the line. In the case of your graphic, there is a very good chance that it is the tallest item. By changing to single line spacing, the line on which the graphic is located can expand to its full height.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9447) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Graphics and Line Height.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Dividing Values

When working with large numbers, you may need a way to quickly divide a range of those numbers by a specific value. ...

Discover More

Understanding Underlines

Part of the formatting you can add to your text is underlining. That simple word (underlining) represents quite a few ...

Discover More

Inserting a Watermark Behind Merged Cells

If you have a group of merged cells into which you want a user to enter information, you may want some sort of ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Vertical Lines in Word

Lines can help to organize the data on a page or make certain points clearer. Word provides several different ways you ...

Discover More

Dragging and Dropping Pictures in a Document

Do you like to add pictures to your document just by dragging and dropping? What are you to do if it appears the ...

Discover More

Printing Graphic Thumbnails

If you are doing work with a lot of graphics, it may be helpful to create a summary page that contains thumbnail ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 9 - 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.