Thinkabara

📝 Microsoft Word for Beginners · Lesson 6 of 9

Pictures and shapes

Google Classroom

Insert a picture, resize it, wrap text and add alt text.

Insert a picture

  1. On the Insert tab click “Pictures”
  2. Choose “This Device” for a picture on your computer, or “Stock Images” / “Online Pictures”
  3. You can also copy a picture (Ctrl+C) and paste it into the document (Ctrl+V)

Resize without stretching

Drag one of the circles in the corners of the picture, not the ones in the middle of the sides. That keeps the width and height in proportion so the picture doesn’t get squished.

Wrap text

At first a picture sits inside the line like a big letter, and it is hard to move. Click the picture, then the “Layout Options” button next to it, and choose “Square” or “Tight”. Now the text flows around the picture and you can drag it anywhere.

Shapes and icons

On the Insert tab there are “Shapes” (arrows, circles, speech bubbles) and “Icons”. Both are great for worksheets and invitations. Clicking a shape opens the “Shape Format” tab for color and outline.

Alt text

💡 Right-click a picture > “View Alt Text”. Write briefly what is in the picture, so people who use a screen reader know too.

✏️ Practice: your turn

  1. Write a paragraph about a place you visited
  2. Insert a picture of the place
  3. Make it smaller from a corner, and choose “Square” text wrapping
  4. Add a speech bubble from Shapes and write a sentence in it

✏️ No Word on this computer? Practice in our free online document editor

🧠 Quick quiz

Answer all 4 questions correctly to mark this lesson as done.

1. How do you make a picture smaller without stretching it?
2. The picture won’t move where you want. What helps?
3. Where are the shapes?
4. Why write alt text for a picture?

0 of 4 correct

All lessons in Microsoft Word for Beginners

  1. ✍️ 1. Your first documentOpen a document, type, save and undo a mistake
  2. 🎨 2. Formatting textFont, size, bold, color and the Format Painter
  3. 📐 3. Paragraphs, alignment and listsAlignment, bullets, numbering, indents and line spacing
  4. 🏷️ 4. Headings and stylesHeading 1 and Heading 2, the Navigation Pane and updating a style
  5. ▦ 5. TablesInsert a table, add rows and columns, design and merge cells
  6. 🖼️ 6. Pictures and shapesInsert a picture, resize it, wrap text and add alt text
  7. 📄 7. A neat pageMargins, orientation, page breaks, headers and page numbers
  8. 🎓 8. A paper ready to hand inTitle page, table of contents, footnotes, spell check and PDF
  9. ⚡ 9. Time-saving tricksFind and replace, paste without formatting, templates and sharing