Word 2007: The Missing Manual

Chapter 11. Adding Graphics, Video, and Sound to Your Documents

A striking graphic helps you capture your readers’ attention and cement your message in their memories. A chart or graph helps clarify complex topics better than words can say. Even in text-heavy documents, graphic elements like pull quotes and drop caps help lure readers into your words.

Word’s here to help. It lets you embellish your documents with photos, drawings, charts, clip art, and a new Word 2007 graphic type called SmartArt that combines text with graphic shapes. (See the box on the next page for a full rundown on all the graphic types.) Word gives you a whole range of tools to place graphics in your document. You can use a slew of options for positioning them, applying borders and special 3-D effects. This chapter shows you the whole gamut of tools and techniques you can use with photos, drawings, and other graphics. It also shows you how to add video and audio files, so you can give your readers a multimedia presentation right there in your Word document.

Tip

Although graphics and other objects add pizzazz, it’s important to understand your audience and keep the graphics appropriate. For example, you don’t want to get too cutesy if you’re presenting a budget to the Board of Directors.

Drop Caps, Text Boxes, and WordArt

Drop caps, text boxes, and WordArt let you turn text into a design element. Although these elements lose their impact if you overdo them, putting a little pizzazz in your text can direct your ...