Drawing in Microsoft Word

Word: it’s a name you can’t help but associate with text. But don’t judge this book by its cover.

If you use Microsoft’s powerful word-processing package solely for putting together text documents, you’re missing a trick. There’s more to the software than first meets the eye.

We are going to show you how to make the most of images and other graphics in Word so you can use the software to create anything from a report to a holiday picture-book. It’s easier than you think, and the key lies in getting to grips with the Picture options in the Insert menu.

We’ll take a look at each of the options listed here in turn but let’s start with the very first option: Clipart, which is a library of stock images for use in documents. Go to the Insert menu in Word and select Clipart from the Picture menu.

Users of Word 2000 will see the Insert Clipart dialogue box. Anyone using Word 2002 or 2003 will see the Clipart sidebar, but this works in much the same way. We’re using Word 2003 in this feature, so we’ll be talking about the Clipart sidebar.

Get clippy
Word’s Clipart images are sorted into categories to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. These are displayed in the sidebar pane or under the Picture tab if you’re using Word 2000. Click on one to browse its contents. It’s also possible to search for images by Keyword. Simply enter a keyword or theme in the Search: text box and press Return.

Word will show all the Clipart images it associates with the theme entered. To select a Clipart image to use in a Word document, click on the arrow that appears to the right of the image when the mouse cursor is passed over it and select Insert.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for, click on ‘Clip art on Office Online’ at the bottom of the Clipart sidebar to search the additional Clipart images available free of charge from the Microsoft website by category or keyword.

The computer will need to be connected to the internet first. When a Clipart image takes your fancy, tick the box under the image by clicking on it. The image will be added to the Selection Basket on the left hand side of the webpage. Click on the Download X items option here to transfer the selected images to the computer hard disk and follow the instructions onscreen. The downloaded Clipart will automatically be added to Word’s Clipart gallery.

To move a piece of Clipart to another location in a Word document, click on it to select it. A solid line will appear around it with eight black boxes, or sizing handles as Word calls them, in the corners and along the edges of the image. Click in the centre of the image and drag-and-drop it to a new location.

To change the size or proportions of the image, position the mouse cursor over one of the sizing handles and drag-and-drop it.

If you want to use only part of a Clipart image, it’s also possible to crop it. Select the image by clicking on it. The Picture toolbar should appear on screen. Select the cropping tool, which looks like two interlocking zigzag lines. The resizing handles we used now act as cropping tools.

Not happy with the way the image looks? Delete it from the page by clicking on it and then pressing Delete on the keyboard.