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Can't Move Picture in MS Word 2010 - Position Options Locked Out

Anonymous
2015-01-29T20:48:40+00:00

I am trying to layout some pictures in MS Word 2010.

Most of them I can move fine but there is one that is locked in the centre of the page. I have tried to change the layout to 'in front of text' which normally works, but that option is greyed out. In fact both the 'position' and 'layout' options are locked and cannot be edited for this one picture.

What is causing this and how do I unlock these options?

The image is a PNG file that I added using "Insert >> Picture"

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Stefan Blom 341.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2015-02-01T23:30:42+00:00

If you right-click the image and choose Wrap Text (on the context menu), which option has been selected? Anything but "In line with text" should let you position the image as you wish.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-02-02T02:54:24+00:00

    The problem is I can't select 'Wrap Text' for this image - that option is disabled.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-01-30T14:18:03+00:00

    Hello Francis,

    Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Office Community.

    Before we proceed, I need more information to help you better.

    1. Did you insert text box in the Word document?
    2. If yes, is the image inserted inside the text box?

    Let's delete the image, re-insert it, then try moving it in the Word document and verify the result.

    Keep us posted on the status of the issue and I'll be glad to assist you further.

    Thank you.

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  3. Stefan Blom 341.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-03-15T19:51:52+00:00

    Here is a clumsy work-around that worked for me. 

    I had the same problem today in Word 2010 on a recently installed Windows 10 computer. When I inserted a picture into a paragraph the Position Object and Wrap Text options were greyed out and I could not affect any changes to the image position/wrapping. After several attempts to re-insert, cut/paste, close and reopen the document, I finally opened the document on another computer running Word 2007 on Windows 7 and was able to insert the picture and edit positioning. Saved then opened again in Word 2010 and am able to move the image and insert new images with  no problem. 

    Make sure that you haven't pasted the picture into a drawing canvas or into a text box as that would disable all (or most) Text Wrapping options.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-03-15T15:48:28+00:00

    Here is a clumsy work-around that worked for me. 

    I had the same problem today in Word 2010 on a recently installed Windows 10 computer. When I inserted a picture into a paragraph the Position Object and Wrap Text options were greyed out and I could not affect any changes to the image position/wrapping. After several attempts to re-insert, cut/paste, close and reopen the document, I finally opened the document on another computer running Word 2007 on Windows 7 and was able to insert the picture and edit positioning. Saved then opened again in Word 2010 and am able to move the image and insert new images with  no problem. 

    The file was originally emailed to me as a .docx file. I don't know what version of Word created it. 

    Has anyone found a way to fix this?

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