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Microsoft Word image rotation problem

Anonymous
2016-05-06T15:18:16+00:00

I use Microsoft Word to print various photo layouts.  I created several tables in Word with vertical photo layouts and have always dragged photos directly from Windows Explorer into the layouts.  In recent months, although the images display properly in Windows Explorer (Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10), when they are dragged into Word, they automatically rotate horizontally in the table instead of displaying properly in their vertical format.  When that happens I must manually rotate each image.

Is there any way to have Word recognize these as vertical images so that this doesn't happen?  Once I rotate them manually, I am not able to anchor them properly in the table (in line with text) - I seem to lose that option and my layouts are messed up.

Thanks,

Amanda A.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-05-16T03:34:53+00:00

    Either there's new functionality in Windows 10 or the iPhone does something to code the orientation into the photo because the photos I take with my camera are all displayed as landscape in Windows Explorer in Windows 7. When I open them with Office Picture Manager, I can rotate them and save them rotated, and then they display rotated but not before.

    9 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2016-05-15T23:39:42+00:00

    I realize this is a tricky problem to explain. I've taken a bunch of pictures with an iphone in jpg format.  When I look at them in Windows Explorer as "Large Images", the vertical ones are displaying vertical and the horizontal ones appear horizontal.

    I have several "Photo Layout" tables saved in a word document. They are regular tables, and I place my cursor in the cell in the word document.  Then I click the mouse on the photo in Windows Explorer and drag the photo in to the cell.  Then I size the image to the cell size. 

    When I drag in horizontal photos from Windows Explorer, there is no problem.  When I drag vertical photos, instead of appearing as vertical, they show up as horizontal (wrong orientation) once dragged into the Word table.  At that point, I have to manually rotate the photos back to their vertical orientation, and doing that changes their format to no longer in line with text and I lose the ability to apply some formatting options.

    I'm trying to figure out why some of my vertical photos drag in this way (with the wrong rotation for vertical photos) and whether there's a way to prevent that in Word so that I don't have to manually rotate each one.

    "Insert Picture" in the Illustrations group has the same problem as dragging and dropping with rotation.

    8 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-05-07T13:16:05+00:00

    If I recall correctly, other users have reported that photos inserted using Insert | Illustrations | Picture behave more reliably than those dragged in from Windows Explorer. You might try that.

    You say that the images "display properly in Windows Explorer." How have they been rotated? Have you actually rotated them in an external program and saved that orientation?

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  4. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-05-07T13:14:13+00:00

    Please be informed that there is no option in Word to rotate images. And when you click on picture, make sure you get the Picture tools option. Under Format tab of Picture tools click on Wrap text and you can choose the In-line text option.

    Of course images can be rotated, but not when they are In Line with Text, as the OP understands. And a picture that has already been rotated (with Microsoft Office Picture Manager or third-party photo editing software) should come into Word in the format in which it was saved.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2016-05-07T10:33:55+00:00

    Hi Amanda,

    Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Office Community.

    A quick question before we proceed.

    Are you facing this issue with all images or a specific image or format with?

    Please be informed that there is no option in Word to rotate images. And when you click on picture, make sure you get the Picture tools option. Under Format tab of Picture tools click on Wrap text and you can choose the In-line text option.

    Hope this information helps. Please post to us if you need any further information with Office.

    Thank you.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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