Using linked images in the Drawing Canvas

[Guest]

I am using linked images in the Drawing Canvas, which allows me to add Word
graphics over the images. It's an excellent way of keeping multiple graphic
types together in a very tidy manner.

The problem is, the standard "links" information is non-existent. There is
no "INCLUDEIMAGE" field, the links don't show up in the "Links" window. And
yet, I know they are linked to external images, because if I edit the image
in another application and re-open the Word document, the edited image
appears.

Can anyone provide any insight into "where" Word is putting the linked
information, and how I might access it?

Thank you.

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?Qm9zdG9uRG9jdW1lbnRhdGlvbg==?=,

The "Drawing layer" Word uses for textflow layout is not really part of Word,
but something that's been added on. Word's core, internal functionality
doesn't work with it very well; for example, a Table of Figures can't pick up
captions in textboxes.

Links in a Drawing Canvas suffer the same limitation. As far as I know, the
only way you can gain access to the linked information is over the object
model (using a macro). The following bit of code, for example, will display
the full link path for a picture inserted into a Drawing Canvas, where the
Drawing Canvas is the first "Shape" (graphic with textflow formatting) in the
document:

?ActiveDocument.Shapes(1).CanvasItems(1).LinkFormat.SourceFullName

Other than that, the only suggestion I can make would be to use Word's
internal Picture Editor to "group" multiple images. When you're in the picture
editor, they can be worked with individually, but when the Picture Editor is
closed, they behave in the document like a single graphic.

I am using linked images in the Drawing Canvas, which allows me to add Word
graphics over the images. It's an excellent way of keeping multiple graphic
types together in a very tidy manner.

The problem is, the standard "links" information is non-existent. There is
no "INCLUDEIMAGE" field, the links don't show up in the "Links" window. And
yet, I know they are linked to external images, because if I edit the image
in another application and re-open the Word document, the edited image
appears.

Can anyone provide any insight into "where" Word is putting the linked
information, and how I might access it?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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