How to Add Pictures, Shapes, and Simple Tables in Word

A page of plain text is fine for a letter, but a flyer or handout works better with a picture people notice and a table they can scan in two seconds. Word makes both quick, as long as you know a few rules: keep pictures in proportion, choose how text flows around them, and use a real table instead of lining things up with spaces.

In this tutorial you will make a one-page Meet the Tutors flyer for the Tutoring Club, with a picture or icon at the top and the weekly schedule as a table.

Insert a picture

Click where you want the picture to go, at the start of a paragraph or on an empty line. Word puts the picture at the insertion point, so placing the cursor first saves moving it later.

You can also drag a picture file from a folder straight onto the page, or copy a picture and paste it with Ctrl+V.

When you click a picture, a Picture Format tab appears on the ribbon. Almost every picture command in this tutorial lives there, so if you can't find it, click the picture first.

Resize and crop a picture

A selected picture has eight small circles around it, called sizing handles, and a round arrow on top for rotating.

• Drag a corner handle to make the picture bigger or smaller. Word keeps the proportions, so faces and logos stay the right shape.
• Avoid the side handles. The handles in the middle of each edge stretch the picture in one direction only, which makes people look too thin or too wide.
• Type an exact size in Picture Format› then Size with the Height and Width boxes. Change one and Word changes the other to match.

Cropping cuts away the parts of a picture you don't need, like an empty wall or a stranger at the edge. Select the picture and click Picture Format› then Size› then Crop. Black crop handles appear on the corners and edges. Drag them inward, then click Crop again or click outside the picture to finish.

Cropping only hides the cut part. You can crop again later and drag the handles back out. The small arrow under the Crop button has more options, such as Crop to Shape (for a round photo) and Aspect Ratio (for an exact square or 4:3 shape).

Choose how text wraps around a picture

A new picture is placed In Line with Text: Word treats it like one very large letter sitting on a line of text. That is the most stable choice, since the picture moves with the words around it, but text can only sit above and below it, never beside it.

To change this, select the picture and click the Layout Options button that appears next to its top-right corner. The same choices are in Picture Format› then Arrange› then Wrap Text.

Once a picture is wrapped, you can drag it anywhere on the page, and Word ties it to a nearby paragraph with a small anchor icon. Controlling exactly where a wrapped picture stays, with anchors and position settings, is covered in the Intermediate tutorial on positioning pictures and wrapping text. For now, keep it simple: In Line for most pictures, Square for one small picture beside text.

Add alt text to every picture

Alt text (alternative text) is a short description of a picture. Screen readers read it aloud for people who are blind or have low vision, and it is used when a picture can't be shown. It is also kept when you save the document as a PDF.

Select the picture and click Picture Format› then Accessibility› then Alt Text, or right-click the picture and choose the alt text command. The Alt Text pane opens on the right. Type one or two sentences that say what matters about the picture for this document.

Word may suggest alt text automatically. Always read it and rewrite it if it is wrong or vague. If a picture is only decoration, such as a border or a divider line, tick Mark as decorative instead, so screen readers skip it.

Add shapes and icons

Shapes are simple drawings such as rectangles, circles, arrows, stars and callouts. Click Insert› then Illustrations› then Shapes, choose a shape, then click and drag on the page to draw it. Hold Shift while you drag to get a perfect circle or square.

To put words in a shape, select it and start typing. The text stays inside the shape and moves with it, which is handy for a label such as Free! or New this fall. Use the Shape Format tab to change the fill color, the outline, or pick a ready-made look from Shape Styles.

Icons are small, simple symbols, such as a book, a pencil or a clock. Click Insert› then Illustrations› then Icons, search for a word like book, tick one or more icons and click Insert. An icon behaves like a picture: drag a corner to resize it, use Layout Options to wrap text, and add alt text. Its color can be changed from the Graphics Format tab.

Insert a simple table

Whenever information has rows and columns, such as a schedule, a sign-up list or a price list, use a table. A table keeps columns lined up even when you change the font or the text gets longer, which spaces and tabs can't do.

1. Click where the table should go.
2. Click Insert› then Tables› then Table and move the pointer across the grid. For the schedule, choose 4×3 (four columns, three rows) and click.
3. For an exact size or a bigger table, choose Insert Table under the grid and type the number of columns and rows.
4. Type in the first cell. Press Tab to move to the next cell and Shift+Tab to go back.
5. In the very last cell, press Tab again. Word adds a new row, so you never have to plan the exact number of rows.

Inside a table, Enter starts a new line in the same cell. It does not move to the next cell, so use Tab for that.

Add rows and columns and style the table

When you click inside a table, two extra tabs appear: Table Design (colors and borders) and Layout (rows, columns and sizes). This Layout tab is different from the page Layout tab, and it sits at the far right of the ribbon.

Selecting a whole table and pressing Delete only empties the cells. To remove the table itself, select it with the small four-way arrow at its top-left corner and press Backspace, or use Layout› then Rows & Columns› then Delete› then Delete Table.

Pick a simple table style, keep Header Row ticked so the first row stands out, and use Banded Rows on longer tables to help eyes follow a row across. Avoid styles with many colors or very dark cells; the schedule should stay readable on a black-and-white printout.

Merging cells, repeating the header row on every page and sorting are covered in the Intermediate tutorial on building and formatting tables.

Common mistakes

Practice