Get Shift Done: Tips and Tricks
Wrap Text Around a Photo in Google Docs (Without Ripping Your Hair Out)
Google Docs is a text-driven environment, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spruce up your favorite document with an eye catching image.
However, if you just stick a picture into the text, it interrupts the visual flow. That stops the reader, who might not bother to pick up the narrative again. (Plus, it looks pretty lame.)
Google Docs text wrap feature is the easy solution. The text flows attractively around a picture, giving the page a unified look that appeals to readers.
Here are step-by-step directions for putting a text-wrapped picture into a Google Doc.
Step 1: Put your cursor in the text where you want the picture to appear. From the menu at the top of the screen, choose insert, then click on image.
Step 2: Select the source of your picture in the window that opens up, and choose the image. For instance, I chose “Your albums” (which accessed my Google Photos account) and navigated to my picture of the blacksmith’s hands. (I could upload a picture from my computer or Google Drive just as easily.)
Clicking on the photo in the Insert window places it in your document where your cursor was.
Step 3: Click once on the picture, and a small menu of options opens up under it.
Step 4: From that menu, click on wrap text. The text automatically wraps around the picture. At the same time, the menu under the image changes slightly, adding an option to set the distance between the picture and the text. Here it’s a 1/8" margin.
Step 5: The 1/8" margin looks pretty good, but if you want to change it, click on the arrowhead next to the margin option to select another incremental margin.
Step 6: You can easily move the picture elsewhere in the document. Just click on it and drag. As it moves about the text automatically wraps around it, maintaining the margin you set.
Voila! Your document is now more alive, more interesting and more likely to be read.
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