Picture inserts

Question

Hello,

Before an update i used to be able to click on a photo and then drag over a photo from File explorer and instantly replace the initial photo. now i need to either delete the photo or right click, change photo, and browse for the replacement. is there any setting that would allow us to revert back to the original process?

Answer 1

Hi @Nick Fenn, 

Good day. Thank you very much for sharing the details of your experience in Microsoft Publisher.  

I truly appreciate you taking the time to explain how this feature worked for you previously and how it has changed after the update. 

As a workaround, if this change started only after a recent Office update, you may revert Office to an earlier version to restore the previous behavior you were used to. 

Please try the steps below in order: 

1/ Disable automatic updates 

• Open any Office application. 
• Go to File > Account > Update Options > Disable Updates. 
• 
• On the same Account page, note the current Version and Build number shown under About. 
• 

2/ Find the previous Office build 

• Review Microsoft’s Office update history and identify the version/build that was released just before the one currently installed. 

3/ Download the Office Deployment Tool 

• Download the official Microsoft Office Deployment Tool and extract it to a local folder. 

4/ Create a configuration file 

• Open Notepad and paste the following: 

<Configuration> 

<Updates Enabled="TRUE" TargetVersion="16.0.xxxxx.yyyyy" /> 

</Configuration> 

• Replace 16.0.xxxxx.yyyyy with the full build number you want to revert to. 
• Save the file as Config.xml in the same folder as setup.exe. 

5/ Run the rollback command 

• Open Command Prompt as an administrator. 
• Navigate to the folder where setup.exe and Config.xml are saved. 
• Run the following command: 

setup.exe /configure config.xml 
6/ Complete the process 

• Once the process is finished, open any Office application again. 
• Go to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now if prompted. 
• Then confirm that the Office build has changed to the selected earlier version. 

Please note that this rollback method applies to Click-to-Run installations of Microsoft 365 / Office 2019 / Office 2016. If your Office installation is MSI-based, the steps would be different. 

Also, because newer Office builds include security, reliability, and performance improvements, I recommend re-enabling updates once Microsoft releases a newer version that no longer shows this issue. 

For detailed guidance, you can refer to this article: How to revert to an earlier version of Office - Microsoft Support 

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please feel free to share them in the comment below. I'm very happy to help.  

Thank you again for your understanding and cooperation. 

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Answer 2

Publisher no longer supports replacing an existing picture by dragging a new file from File Explorer directly onto it. The current supported methods are:

1. Use Change Picture:
   1. Select the picture to replace.
   2. On the Picture Format (or Format) tab, select Change Picture.
   3. Choose the source (e.g., from a file), navigate to the new image, and select Insert.
2. Delete and reinsert:
   1. Select the picture and press Delete.
   2. Insert the new picture as usual.

There is no documented setting to restore the previous drag-and-drop replacement behavior; the workflow now relies on the Change Picture command or manual deletion and reinsertion.

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References:

• Replace or delete a picture in Microsoft Office
• Picture is missing