Addding text to a picture

[stonemonolith]

Hello

I have a question about Word. I have a screen shot of one of our apps that I would like to paste into a Word document. On the screen shot, there are a nummber of fields, buttons, etc. that I would like to point out with arrows and text. Is there a way to add these things to my screen shot? I know I could use Microsoft Paint but, I would like to find out if there's a way to add these in Word. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you

 

[xlhelp]

Directly, no. You can create little transparent Text boxes or rectangles and put text in them and then group everything together.

Member- AAAA Association Against Acronym Abusers

 

[fumei]

Yes, like xlhelp says, you COULD use arrows and little textboxes, but what a pain!

Word is not a graphics application. You can do it, but it would likely be ten times faster to do it in a graphics application.

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[xlhelp]

OT: inquiring minds (or even idle ones) want to know--- is there any other kind of monolith?

Member- AAAA Association Against Acronym Abusers

 

[TonyJollans]

As already said, Word is *not* the application for this. If you do this more than very occasionally, I would recommend an application like Snagit for taking screenshots and doing what you describe.

Enjoy,
Tony

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[Lilliabeth]

What would be the benefit of using Snagit in this case?

I'm asking because I use graphics made from screen shots all the time - I use the Print Screen key and then paste into Paint Shop Pro.

What would I gain by using Snagit? Thanks

Lilliabeth
-Why use a big word when a diminutive one will do?-

 

[Hasit]

In my opinion, Snagit would not help.

Heres the way I normally do it. I paste into Powerpoint, do what I need to in terms of adding, removing etc, and then group the items together before pasting into Word.

I have found (maybe just me) that trying to add arrows etc in Word is a royal pain in the rear, so don't!

Powerpoint never fails.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

You can edit and add effects inside SnagIt. No need to paste into another program.

http://www.techsmith.com/snagit.asp?CMP=KgoogleSgen82tm

[Cheers]

 

[fumei]

Snagit allows selected parts of the screen to be captured. PrintScreen grabs the whole thing. Other than that...shrug...I use PrintScreen as well. I paste it into PolyView to cut out the chunk I want.

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[TonyJollans]

Whatever you want *can* be done with a combination of any of a myriad applications which have a basic graphics facility (including Word). It's just that it's easier with an application dedicated to the process; it doesn't have to be Snagit, that was simply an example chosen because it's what I use. For occasional use I agree that PrintScreen and Paint will do but if you do this more than occasionally, a dedicated program, IMO, more than pays for itself.

Enjoy,
Tony

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We want to help you; help us to do it by reading this: Before you ask a question.

Professional Office Developers Association

 

[JohnOB]

I agree with TonyJollans, anyone who has an image Edit application can do the same thing in that app (such as paint shop pro) but not everyone has such applications on their office machines, as their job does not require it.

I have used Snag-It for years, most of my jobs require the creation of user manuals and guides and I insist on getting snagit whenever I start a new job.

stonemonolith, if you have no other image editing package then I would consider investing in SnagIt from TechSmith, it is extremely easy to use and the process of inserting text, highlights, shapes and arrows is extremely easy. It's cheap too. It also enables scrolling areas and screens to be captured, so you can capture images which go off of your screen. It also does lots of other nifty things like adding edge effects to the images (I am a fan of the tear effect) and batch converting images. Also you can record videos of the screen.

Ok, I will stop now, lets just say I love snagit.

"Stupid isn't not knowing the answer, it's not asking the question

 

[macropod]

Hi stonemonolith,

Getting back to your original question, have you tried using the callout autoshapes in Word? Provided you use a fine drawing grid (I use 0.1mm horizonatl and vertical), you can position them and their connectors quite accurately. If you use callouts that have connecting lines instead of wedges, you can even add arrow-heads to the lines if you want.

Cheers

[MS MVP - Word]

 

[MeGustaXL]

You can achieve fine control of the arrow/box/Clipart position in Word by holding down Alt while you move them around with the mouse.

Holding Ctrl while you use the arrow keys moves things one grid-piece at a time, too.

Chris

When his pin is pulled, Mr Grenade is not our friend - USMC Infantry Manual

 

[ck1999]

Hardcopy is another good program for capturing images from the screen. I believe it is at

http://www.hardcopy.de.

I have used it for a long time and it captures the image and allows you to paste into any document.


ck1999

 

[rosepetal]

I have done exactly what you described in many technical manuals and training manuals using the drawing toolbar in MS word. Remember also that you can format a shape to be transparent.

Drag the shape to the area you want. Right-click it and select 'Format Autoshape." On the first tab, "Colors and Lines" select "No fill" for the color. The image will appear with the shape around it.

You can also position arrows to point to an image from a text box.

Good luck.