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What is the most efficient way to add annotations (arrows, etc.) to screenshots in Word?

Anonymous
2024-09-25T05:41:41+00:00

I am preparing an exercise workbook for students learning Power BI (software).

The Word document has step-by-step instructions on what to click and I want to add several screenshots.

I also want to add some arrows, rectangles and circles to the screenshot images.

What is the most efficient way to do it is I want it to look professional?

I work with Win 10 and tried the Snip and Sketch, but couldn't find arrows, etc...

When I paste into Word, the Image sometimes messes up the text.

Also, when I add shapes to the image inside the Word, and later move the image, the annotations do not follow image, couldn't find an option to group.

I googled this but few useful results.

Please help - what is the most efficient way to do it is I want it to look professional without buying an additional software?

Thanks!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-09-25T07:30:43+00:00

    The most successful method is to annotate the images outside Word. SnagIt works particularly well

    https://www.techsmith.com and is simple to use both for the screen capture and the editing.

    I have used it extensively to illustrate my web site. If you have a lot of such work to do, it is well worth the outlay. I believe there is still a working trial version available.

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  1. Jay Freedman 207.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-09-25T12:12:53+00:00

    One more vote for Snagit. I used it to create more than 400 screenshots for my book on Word 2013, and have used it ever since for the ones I post here.

    One bit of advice: Don't use Word's drawing tools to add anything to the screenshots, because of precisely the trouble you've already seen. Word has difficulty keeping parts from different source together on the page, even if you use grouping or drawing canvases. If you're using Snagit, you can reopen a saved picture in the excellent editor, add or modify the parts, and reinsert the picture in Word -- that's much safer.

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  2. Charles Kenyon 166.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-09-25T18:24:27+00:00

    Yet another vote for SnagIt.

    It makes it very easy to annotate screenshots. https://www.techsmith.com/snagit/

    I have created/edited pictures/diagrams using Word. It is much more complicated and the results do not look as good.

    Word is a word processor, not a drawing program.

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-09-25T11:08:26+00:00

    Like Graham, I recommend Snagit for this purpose. It offers a wide variety of annotation tools and makes it very easy to take screen shots and mark them up.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-09-25T06:42:58+00:00

    Dear שפרבר,

    Generally, you can open the screenshots with Paint and then add the arrows, rectangles and circles as you like and copy and paste the screenshots to the Word file.

    To make shapes in Word stay in its place within the image if you move or resize the image, you can refer to the suggestions Jay mentioned in the thread How do I make shapes in Word stay in its place within the image if I - Microsoft Community to see if it helps in your scenario if you haven't tried that.

    I recommend you edit the screenshots with Paint which may be better than editing the screenshots in Word directly.

    Your effort and time are greatly appreciated!

    Sincerely

    Cliff | Microsoft Community Moderator

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