MS Word for Mac and graphics problem

[David]

If anyone is familiar with this program, I'd like some advice on controlling graphics imported into a Word document please.

FYI:  A retired teacher, I tutor high school and junior school mathematics students to raise a few funds form their parents for the Ottawa hospital.  That is why I have so many different requests, being new to the Mac from many years with the PC.  I basically use the word processor along with a math editor, then the bundled Graph for function graphing [not much documentation there!], and a CAD program for geometric drawings.  I also have some worksheets developed using the spreadsheet.  A resulting PDF is textbook quality, or as close as I can make it to send by email.  So please excuse me if I have so many questions at the start.  I am far more used to being on the other end of the stick, giving advice from years of experience.  I presently find imported graphics jump around all over the document, everywhere except where I want to place it, and that is very annoying and time consuming.

David.

[ben schmidt]

David, Would it be possible to post an example 1-page MS Word document with an example graphic on it, where you could then indicate where it is you'd like the graphic to be, as opposed to where you were able to place it?

[Dan Millar]

Depending on which version of Word you are using, the basic thing to keep in mind is that graphics in Word can be one of two types - floating or anchored. Anchored graphics can "lock" to a page position or page element - with options to run text around the item in different ways, while floating graphics move with the text they are inserted into. Double-clicking a graphic will open the properties editor where you can choose where and how to anchor a graphic. Give it a try and get back to us with more specific info if you need more help.

Happy Mac'ing

Dan

[David]

I will post if it becomes necessary, a page out of the text, but I think Dan is on track.  I just don't see where to set the anchor to a paragraph, or otherwise, or how to make that the default for inserted graphics.  I was looking for the "angle" symbol for geometry, and used the math editor.  The jumping around occurred when I copied from one location to the clipboard, then tried to paste low down in the page.  It appeared way up in the page instead.

A second and related problem occurring at the same time is that ANY graphic, when moved around, does so in not-so-small finite jumps [quantum leaps?]  I can not seem to make small adjustments to line up the math editor results with text.  Sorry if this is basic.  I abandoned MS Office years and years ago for a similar reason.  I just want to get on with writing the darned book and not fuss so much about typsetting.  At my age I'll forget what I was trying to write about.

David.

[David]

I am still having difficulty, and wish to get on with the textbook.  I have submitted an attachment, a sample page.  If you look about half way down you'll see an angle symbol appearing alone, and just before "...and we can then have...".  That was inserted using the Math editor that is bundled in with the MS Office package.  First of all, this is too far to the right, and any movement to the left moves it too far.  Secondly, if you copy this symbol to the clipboard, then try to paste it at the bottom of the sheet, it appears [for me] much higher in the sheet, not at all anywhere near where I expected it to appear.  These are major concerns that I would like to overcome as quickly as possible so that I can concentrate on the text and not on typesetting difficulties.  Frankly, that is one reason I abandoned MS software in the past.  I don't know why, aside from age, I can't seem to find options for anchoring an image in different fashions, [Page, Paragraph, Character...].  That brings up another problem that I will address a little later on, in using the Apple Help menu option effectively.

Thank you in advance for any advice/assistance.  Do note, please, if I have not made it clear, that this is MS Office for the Apple, not for their own operating system.

David.

[ben schmidt]

If you look about half way down you'll see an angle symbol appearing alone, and just before "...and we can then have...".  That was inserted using the Math editor that is bundled in with the MS Office package.  First of all, this is too far to the right, and any movement to the left moves it too far.

David, thank you for posting this example.

Here is a preliminary response and only to the first part of your post. You can move the 'angle symbol' above in smaller, pixel increments by (1) selecting it, and then (2) holding down the the Option key and repeatedly pressing the arrows on your keyboard.

...b

[David]

Thanks, Ben.  Exceptionally useful advice which I will heed; also useful for vertical alignment.

Still a PIA to have to resort to that, and which is necessary after having to move the paste from where it apparently arbitrarily appears to where it should be.  My questions are from an academic interest as much as anything; that is, as to why it should happen in the first place.  God Bless anyone who invents a word processor that really works toward making it dead simple to use to advantage.  I'll look forward to any instruction on how to avoid the initial misplacement of graphics by this software.

I have been in forums for a very long time now, and this is one of those very few that I classify as awesome.

David.

[ben schmidt]

If you look about half way down you'll see an angle symbol appearing alone, and just before "...and we can then have...".  That was inserted using the Math editor that is bundled in with the MS Office package.  First of all, this is too far to the right, and any movement to the left moves it too far.

David, thank you for posting this example.

Here is a preliminary response and only to the first part of your post. You can move the 'angle symbol' above in smaller, pixel increments by (1) selecting it, and then (2) holding down the the Option key and repeatedly pressing the arrows on your keyboard.

David, here is a follow-up response, still only to the first part of your post. With regards to the 'angle symbol', it appears to be that you need it as a text character, and not as a graphic, which is the way you have it now.

To have the 'angle' symbol readily available as a text character when you are typing in MS Word, first enable the menubar item for the International Preference pane, viz:

• Open System Preferences...
• Open the Preference Pane: International
• Select the button: Input Menu
• Check the checkbox labeled: Show Character Palette
• Check the checkbox labeled: Show Keyboard Viewer  <-- optional
• Check the checkbox labeled: Show input menu in menu bar
• Close the Preference Pane
• A new menubar item will appear at the top of your display. It will look like a country flag, most likely a Canadian flag.

Now, when you are in MS Word, and you need to enter the 'angle' symbol, just:

• Select the International menubar item. It will be the Canadian (or American) flag in your mac's menubar.
• Select the menu item: Show Character Palette
• Double-click on the desired character, in this case the 'angle' symbol which is part of the 'Math' category
• The 'angle' symbol will show up wherever you had the Insertion Point in your MS Word doc

[Dan Millar]

I will address your MS Word issues in another message, but as far as your last request for a word processor that "just works", I can honestly say the Pages component of iWork is the closest thing yet. Pages gives you a word processor/page layout program in one simple package. It will not replace InDesign or Quark, but it really raises the bar as far as word processing goes, so much so that MicroSoft has significantly changed their Office programs to look and work more like iWork. Now, I'll go have a look at your Word file - thanks for uploading!

Happy Mac'ing!

Dan

ps I see Ben is posting another helpful reply as well!

[David]

Thanks again, Ben and Dan.  I will get to those suggestions ASAP, and reply when done, but it may take a little while.  I have some chores now, then my wife gets her turn at the computer after that.

Just one comment aside, since the suite was suggested:  I had introduced myself with a problem to do with the iWork spreadsheet.  It simply gave false results and lacked features that were not reconcilable.  So, I abandoned that for the MS Office.  The company, Carbon Computing in Ottawa, actually gave me the option for a direct exchange, but I insisted on paying the difference.  Otherwise I'd heed that advice as well.  I might have hung onto the offending spreadsheet, or not.  It did work in the same format and logic in Quattro Pro, Excel, and OpenOffice, and again in Excel for the Mac, but not at all in the iWork spreadsheet.

David.

[David]

I have a moment on the computer:

I do not see an International option in the Preferences window [pane?]

David.

[ben schmidt]

I have a moment on the computer:
I do not see an International option in the Preferences window [pane?]

Sorry. I was on a Leopard machine (10.5) for my previous post.

In the Preferences window, you can type "international" and it will identify in Snow Leopard (10.6) that the International preferences pane is now called Languages & Text. And that does seem a better name.

...ben

[David]

Got it!  I suspected the title was different but didn't want to proceed unknowingly.  Thank you so much.  I will try it with the word processor tomorrow.  I have ot get a life and get away form this machine more often.  Time to prepare for a long Canadian winter.

David.

[ben schmidt]

Got it!  I suspected the title was different

Yeah, it had not even occurred to me that the International preference pane had disappeared in Snow Leopard! Indeed now that I am on a Snow Leopard machine, I see that its functions have been spread across two preference panes: Languages & Text and Keyboard.

So at the risk of confusing you more, here is a:

Newer, simpler, alternative, Snow Leopard-specific approach to enable the character viewer menubar, so you can easily insert the 'angle' symbol as a character:

N.B.: If you've already enabled the Language & Text preference pane's "Show input in the menu bar" menubar item, please uncheck it now before continuing, so we can start from scratch, and we're both in the same state!

Step 1. Enable the Keyboard menubar item

• Open System Preferences...
• Open the Preference Pane: Keyboard
• Check the checkbox labeled: Show Keyboard & Character Viewer in menu bar
• Close the Preference Pane
• A new menubar item will appear at the top of your display. It will look like a tiny black rectangle with an asterix in it and some dots. (I assume it's supposed to represent a keyboard!?). It will have just three menu items when you click on it: Show Character Viewer, Show Keyboard Viewer, Open Keyboard...

Step 2. Use the Keyboard Menubar item
Now, when you are in MS Word, and you need to enter the 'angle' symbol, just:

• Select the Keyboard menubar item.
• Select the menu item: Show Character Viewer
• In the left-hand column of the Character Viewer window, select category: Math
• Double-click on the desired character, in this case the 'angle' symbol
• The 'angle' symbol will show up wherever you had the Insertion Point in your MS Word doc

[David]

Thank you once more.  I will be implementing the character in this instance as you describe.  However, the problem remains in general on how to prevent an imported graphic of any sort from appearing elsewhere other than expected, and perhaps in knowing how to preset the size?  I am not one to compare different software, complaining about one vs the other, but have seen one where there has been an option to preset position and size by dragging over that area in the document and the import appearing in exactly that spot.  It might have been WordPerfect, but I'm not sure.  It's worth another thread on that perhaps.  I'll try to reword it there later on.  It is a pity that I could not stay with iWork, but the spreadsheet was the problem there, and you can own only so many word processors and cars.

David.