How to insert graphics in OpenOffice Writer that are reasonably manageable

I sat down a few weeks ago to figure out the best way to anchor pictures.  Specifically, how to do it in a standard context like this. You have a paragraph or line of text describing something, and you might then say "....as shown in the following illustration." Then you have a picture on a line by itself. No wrapping or anything, very simple. Like this.

The horses at the Kalispell Dude Ranch are well-trained and gentle.

A very reliable way to do it is by anchoring  As Character.

Anchor As Character treats the graphic like a letter. Which means you can't drag it around, but that you can position it using the text alignment and indent features. And the less dragging, the less it is likely to be a little Skittery.

How to Use Anchor as Character

Step 1: Insert the Picture.

Create a blank line for the picture by pressing Return after the text. Choose Insert > Picture > From File and find the file (or just drag the picture in from the Gallery).

Step 2: Anchor the Picture As Character.

Right-click on the picture and choose Anchor > As Character.

Step 3: Position the Graphic Horizontally

Click NOT on the graphic but in the empty line NEXT to the graphic. Then just use the Left, Center, or Right alignment icon on the toolbar.

Troubleshooting: If the picture shows up about a quarter inch high, that's because the paragraph style applied has a height max on it. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not suitable for a style that's applied to the line a picture is on.

Either:

* Click in the paragraph marker next to the picture and choose Default from the dropdown style list

* Or click in the paragraph next to the picture, choose Format > Paragraph, Indents&Spacing tab, and select Single as shown.

Step 4: Position the Graphic Vertically

To control whether the graphic is vertically at the top, middle, or bottom of the blank line, right-click on it again and choose Align > Base At Top, Middle, or Bottom. You don't have to do this if you think the way it looks is fine.

Optional 1: If you want to make sure that the graphic automatically stays with the previous line of text describing it, here's what to do. Select the text above the graphic, choose Format > Paragraph, Text Flow tab, and select Keep With Next Paragraph.  Be sure to do this only with the paragraphs that precede graphics or you’ll end up with unusual pagination.

You might decide to create a specific style that you use for paragraphs that precede graphics, and define that style with the Keep With Next Paragraph attribute.

Optional 2: Click on the line, on the same line as the picture, and choose Format > Paragraph, Indents&Spacing tab. In the Spacing section in the middle, you can set spacing above and below the picture to space it so that it looks good and not too crowded up against the text.

Optional 3: Click on the picture and choose Insert > Caption to create a caption that stays with the picture.

The text, with a numbered field, will be inserted next to the picture, and the picture AND the new caption will be encased in a frame. That's how the caption stays with the picture.

Other Tips

A Setting You Probably Really, Really Don't Want

Here's what not to do. Right-click on the picture, choose the Type tab, and unmark the Follow Text Flow setting.

That will give you this result, with the picture going outside the margin. Yuck.

What About Anchor to Paragraph?

Anchor to paragraph is OK, as long as you don't unmark the Follow Text Flow option above. (I.e. keep that option marked.) You can drag the picture around with Anchor to Paragraph. But anytime you have that amount of freedom, it's possible to accidentally put the graphic where it shouldn't be. So I recommend trying Anchor as Character for solid graphics that stay where you put them.

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Comments

[Andrew Prough]

Hi Solveig,

Wonderful - you solved an ages old problem for me! My graphics were always jumping around in the document. I would print to PDF just to keep them nailed down in one spot. I love the option to automatically number the graphics in the caption dialogue box also (Illustration 1, Illustration 2, etc...)

[Yuval]

Nice post.

Here is a related problem I frequently meet:
I sometimes add illustration on top of an image in Writer, similar to the callouts in your post: http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2009/01/making-illustrated-callouts-with-clip-art-from-the-gallery-and-the-openoffice-callout-drawing-tools.html

I noticed that the additional illustrations (the call out) moves with respect to the image (the parrot) once you change view from Web Layout to Print Layout and vice-versa. This completely mess the over picture, of course.

I suspect it is related to the anchors, but I'm not sure.

Maybe a post about that?

[jeffrey]

Any method for inserting graphic images into a mail merge? When I insert the image into the main document it is not reproduced in the merged document.

Thanks

[Brook]

I cannot figure out how to type multiple lines to the right of the picture. I have gotten as far as right click, alignment, then base in middle, but at the point I only get one line of text. Any suggestions?

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[dave]

thanks - helped me

[leo]

it would be *a lot* more useful if pictures were inserted 'anchored as character' as default; there is no way to set this :(

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it would be *a lot* more useful if pictures were inserted 'anchored as character' as default

[Dan]

This was very helpful. I've been fighting 'rogue' images that drop outside the page margins... Anchoring as character put them in their place.