How-To Guides: Adding a Digital Photo to a Word Document

Digital photos may be available on disks, media cards, or via email. No matter how you receive photos, you will want to store those you use regularly under MY PICTURES. Create a folder under MY PICTURES with a name that will describe what photos are stored there so you will be able to easily find them in the future. We want to include this photo in a Holiday Card for center families.  For this short lesson you may use your own stored photo (under My Documents\My Photos) or a picture included with your software. If you are using Windows 2000, you will find a sample photo under MyDocuments\My Pictures. If you are using Windows XP, your sample pictures will be found under:My Documents\My Pictures\Sample Pictures. Select any available photo.

To create the card, follow these steps:

• Open MS-Word.
• Select File, Page Setup, Margins.
• Set all of your Margins to 1”.Click OK.
• Select Insert, Picture, From File.
• Locate the correct folder under MY PICTURES or MY SAMPLES PICTURES (see above instructions)and Select a photo and Click on Insert.
• The picture may not be the size you want. Resize it by clicking anywhere on the photo, then drag any corner of the photo to make it larger or smaller. Only size at corners to keep photo proportionate.
• Right-click on photo and select Format Picture. Select Layout, Tight, and Click on OK. You will now be able to drag your photo anywhere in the document you want. Position it in the center of the page.
• At the top of the page, click to get an insertion point and then Click on Insert, Picture, and Word Art.
• Select one of the formats and create your holiday message. Ex: Happy Holidays! Click on OK.
• When you are done, right-click on your word art and select Format WordArt. Select Layout, and Tight, and Click on OK. You will now be able to drag your word art anywhere in the document you want. Position it in the top of the page.
• If you want to change the colors of your word art, right-click on your word art and select Format WordArt, and Click on OK. Select Color, and choose the colors you want. Click on OK.
• If you want to put a message under the picture, move your cursor below the picture, Click to get an insertion point, and repeat step 9 with appropriate message. EX: Happy New Year!.
• Add a holiday border. Select Format, Borders and Shading, Page Border.
• Select Art-Poinsettias, Width-Size 30,Apply to Whole Document, and Click on OK.
• You’re done. You can now print or email the card.

Photos can be added to any Office document, including emails. Have fun!

[Posted on November 29, 2005]