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Problem photo's disapear in Word

Haitem B 0 Reputation points
2026-01-05T18:00:08.85+00:00

Hi,

In several of my Microsoft Word documents, some images are no longer displayed. Instead of the image, I see a black frame with a small red cross and the message “De afbeelding kan niet worden weergegeven” (which means “The picture cannot be displayed”). For a clearer understanding I put an example in the attachment file.

This issue does not happen with every picture or every document, but over time more and more images in affected documents turn into these black frames.

Could you please help me with this isue.

I would like help understanding why this happens and how to restore the missing pictures.

Best regards,
Haitem

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | Windows
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  1. Stefan Blom 340.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-01-05T19:25:50.0266667+00:00

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  2. John Korchok 232.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-01-05T18:08:54.2833333+00:00

    None of the bot's suggestions apply to your situation.

    The most common cause of this form of document corruption are:

    • editing Office files while they are stored on a USB/flash drive, or
    • editing Office file while they are on an unsupported cloud service, like Google Docs or iCloud.

    The solution to the first is to edit file on your local hard disk, then copy the final files to the flash drive for storage or transport. For the second use a supported cloud service like OneDrive or Dropbox set as a place in Office.

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  3. AI answer

    2026-01-05T18:00:20.39+00:00

    The issue you're experiencing with images not displaying in Microsoft Word documents, showing instead a black frame with a red cross, can occur for several reasons. Here are some potential causes and solutions:

    1. Wrapping Style: If the images are set to a wrapping style other than "In line with text," they may not display correctly in certain views. You can change the wrapping style to "In line with text" by selecting the image, going to the Format tab, clicking Text Wrapping, and selecting In line with text.
    2. View Settings: This issue may also arise if you're viewing the document in Draft or Outline view. Switch to Print Layout, Full Screen Reading, or Web Layout view to see if the images appear.
    3. Picture Placeholders: If the Picture Placeholders option is enabled, images will not display. You can turn this off by going to File > Options > Advanced, and then under Show document content, clear the Show Picture Placeholders checkbox.
    4. Field Codes: If the option to show field codes instead of their values is enabled, it can prevent images from displaying. Ensure this option is turned off in the same Advanced settings menu.
    5. Video Driver Issues: Sometimes, problems with the video driver can cause display issues in Word. Updating your video drivers or changing the color quality and screen resolution settings may help.

    If these steps do not resolve the issue, you may want to delete the affected images and reinsert them into the document.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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