Fancy Display of Pix with Table or Otherwise?

[W. eWatson]

I'd like to display pictures in my Word 2007 document in maybe somewhat
artistic or possibly unconventional way. First, let's suppose I have
four images and I want to display then 2x2. All pics are 300byX, where X
varies a bit, maybe by 3 or 4 pixels. A possible solution is to create a
2x2 table and put each pic in a cell. This sort of works, but the pix
aren't exactly snug inside the cells. Space appears around the pics.
Maybe Supposed I want to put a caption on each, will they align
properly, uniformly, in each cell.

Suppose instead I have a 5x5 box for say 10 pix. I may want to scatter
the 10 pix somewhat randomly in the cells, and not show the borders of
the empty cells, except where they bump up against a cell that has a pic
in it. I think this might be somewhat easy, since I think each cell
border line can be made invisible.

Are there other possibilities for displaying groups of pix in some
artistic way?

I might be interested in a mosaic, but probably not for this project.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To eliminate the white space around the pictures, go to the Table tab of
Table Properties, click Options, and change all the cell margins to zero. As
for borders, I would suggest removing all of them to start with and then
applying them to specific cells as required. Note that you can have table
gridlines displayed even if you don't have borders; to remove all borders
from a table, click anywhere in it and press Ctrl+Alt+U. Then select a given
cell and use the buttons on the Borders menu (on the Table Tools | Design
tab) to apply borders as desired.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[W. eWatson]

To eliminate the white space around the pictures, go to the Table tab of
Table Properties, click Options, and change all the cell margins to
zero. As for borders, I would suggest removing all of them to start with
and then applying them to specific cells as required. Note that you can
have table gridlines displayed even if you don't have borders; to remove
all borders from a table, click anywhere in it and press Ctrl+Alt+U.
Then select a given cell and use the buttons on the Borders menu (on the
Table Tools | Design tab) to apply borders as desired.

Thanks, that worked fairly well, but I cannot put a border around a
single cell. I'm working with Border and Shading. I tried using the cell
selection. How do I select a single cell?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you just click in the cell, usually the cell will be the selection, but
you can certainly select it by moving the mouse below the lower left corner
of the cell, where it will become a diagonal arrow pointing to the cell.
Click to select the cell. (See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/TableBasicsContent.htm#SelectingTables
for more.)

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[W. eWatson]

Thanks, that worked fairly well, but I cannot put a border around a
single cell. I'm working with Border and Shading. I tried using the cell
selection. How do I select a single cell?

Well, I have more of less of a solution. I right-clicked on a picture,
then use the Line width choice to thicken the line. That'll probably
work for all. However, there's sort of a problem if I put a caption
under the picture. The border on the picture does not include the caption.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you put the picture and caption in the same cell and apply the border to
the cell, you will get what you want. It should not that difficult to apply
a border to a single cell, as this is the default option: if the selection
is in a single cell, and you click on the Outside Border button, you will
get a border around just that cell. Note that you must not have the picture
selected; if you do, the picture will be the default selection. If the
picture is selected (you see sizing handles), press the right arrow to
unselect it and stay within the cell. If you open the Borders and Shading
dialog, you will have more options for border weight, color, and placement,
in addition to which you can change the selection type. For example, when a
picture is selected, your "Apply to" choices will be Text, Paragraph,
Picture (selected), Cell, and Table.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[W. eWatson]

If you just click in the cell, usually the cell will be the selection,
but you can certainly select it by moving the mouse below the lower left
corner of the cell, where it will become a diagonal arrow pointing to
the cell. Click to select the cell. (See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/TableBasicsContent.htm#SelectingTables
for more.)

Ah, the reason it wasn't working with me is because I had put the pic in
the cell, so all I could possible get is the cross. If I take the pic
out, then the little arrow appears, and I can make a border out of the cell.

Is there anyway I can change the size of a shell, so that say a two cell
horizontal table can have two cells that are not the same size?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Did you read the referenced article? You can certainly adjust the widths of
the cells (and these can be different in various rows). You can't have
different cell heights except by merging/splitting. Also, as noted, it is
not necessary to remove the picture to access the cell; just press the right
arrow key to deselect the picture and place the insert point in the cell
itself.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[W. eWatson]

Ah, the reason it wasn't working with me is because I had put the pic in
the cell, so all I could possible get is the cross. If I take the pic
out, then the little arrow appears, and I can make a border out of the
cell.

Is there anyway I can change the size of a shell, so that say a two cell
horizontal table can have two cells that are not the same size?

I guess the best way is to make a simple one cell table for one size and
another for another size pic, then push then together. If dealing with
several or many different size, one would make table accordingly,
multiple or single, and then push them together.

 

[W. eWatson]

Did you read the referenced article? You can certainly adjust the widths
of the cells (and these can be different in various rows). You can't
have different cell heights except by merging/splitting. Also, as noted,
it is not necessary to remove the picture to access the cell; just press
the right arrow key to deselect the picture and place the insert point
in the cell itself.

Well, I thought I read what needed I needed at the time of the post, but
I'll go back and look again.

Basically, what I'm trying to determine is if I have say 3 images that
are, for example, 1x1.5", 2x1.2", and 3x2.4", can I put them in a 2x2
table in such a way that their three cells are as needed space wise to
accommodate those sizes?

I'm trying to get around the notion that if I have 20 pix for a page
that I need to organize them in a 4x5 table with each cell occupying the
same size.

For "artistic" purposes I want to put the pix in different cell sizes so
it looks like a bunch of different size rectangular puzzle piece sizes.
They need not fit exactly like a puzzle. There may be empty spaces.

The table needs to something of a holder,so the individual cells don't
"slide" around as I construct it. My 3 piece example above, I don't want
the pieces repositioning themselves as I construct a pattern that looks
pleasing. If I did that on a blank document page without something to
contain them, I suspect each move to assemble them might send one
somewhere else on the page. I guess I'm looking at a table as providing
some sort of anchoring ability for the pix. I guess this might be akin
to moving magnetic pix of different sizes into a given area on a
refrigerator door--all places horizontally.

 

[W. eWatson]

Well, I thought I read what needed I needed at the time of the post, but
I'll go back and look again.

Basically, what I'm trying to determine is if I have say 3 images that
are, for example, 1x1.5", 2x1.2", and 3x2.4", can I put them in a 2x2
table in such a way that their three cells are as needed space wise to
accommodate those sizes?

I'm trying to get around the notion that if I have 20 pix for a page
that I need to organize them in a 4x5 table with each cell occupying the
same size.

For "artistic" purposes I want to put the pix in different cell sizes so
it looks like a bunch of different size rectangular puzzle piece sizes.
They need not fit exactly like a puzzle. There may be empty spaces.

The table needs to something of a holder,so the individual cells don't
"slide" around as I construct it. My 3 piece example above, I don't want
the pieces repositioning themselves as I construct a pattern that looks
pleasing. If I did that on a blank document page without something to
contain them, I suspect each move to assemble them might send one
somewhere else on the page. I guess I'm looking at a table as providing
some sort of anchoring ability for the pix. I guess this might be akin
to moving magnetic pix of different sizes into a given area on a
refrigerator door--all places horizontally.

After seriously looking at the pix I've got, I just went straight for
the simple table. In the end, I didn't have as many pics as I thought,
so I could do it straight away. Well, I'll ponder this for a future task.

Thanks for your help.