Center Pictures and Other Objects in Office 2007 & 2010

Sometimes it can be difficult to center a picture in a document just by dragging it dragging it around. Today we show you how to center pictures, images, and other objects perfectly in Word and PowerPoint.

Note: For this tutorial we’re using Office 2010, but the steps are nearly identical in 2007.

Centering a Picture in Word

First let’s insert a picture into our document.  Click the Insert tab, and then click Picture.

Once you select the picture you want, it will be added to your document.  Usually, pictures are added wherever your curser was in the document, so in a blank document it will be added at the top left. Also notice Picture Tools show up in the Ribbon after inserting an image.

Note: The following menu items are available in Picture Tools Format tab which is displayed when you select the object or image you’re working with.

How do we align the picture just like we want?  Click Position to get some quick placement options, including centered in the middle of the document or on the top. 

 

However, for more advanced placement, we can use the Align tool.  If Word isn’t maximized, you may only see the icon without the “Align” label.

Notice the tools were grayed out in the menu by default.  To be able to change the Alignment, we need to first change the text wrap settings. Click the Wrap Text button, and any option other than “In Line with Text”.  Your choice will depend on the document you’re writing, just choose the option that works best in the document.

 

Now, select the Align tools again.  You can now position your image precisely with these options.

Align Center will position your picture in the center of the page widthwise.

Align Middle will put the picture in the middle of the page height-wise.

This works the same with textboxes.  Simply click the Align button in the Format tab, and you can center it in the page.

And if you’d like to align several objects together, simply select them all, click Group, and then select Group from the menu.

 

Now, in the align tools, you can center the whole group on your page for a heading, or whatever you want to use the pictures for.

These steps also work the same with Office 2007.

Center objects in PowerPoint

This works similar in PowerPoint, except that pictures are automatically set for square wrapping automatically, so you don’t have to change anything.  Simply insert the picture or other object of your choice, click Align, and choose the option you want.

Additionally, if one object is already aligned like you want, drag another object near it and you will see a Smart Guide to help you align or center the second object with the first.  This only works with shapes in PowerPoint 2010 beta, but will work with pictures, textboxes, and media in the final release this summer.

Conclusion

These are good methods for centering images and objects in Word and PowerPoint.  From designing perfect headers to emphasizing your message in a PowerPoint presentation, this is something we’ve found useful and hope you will too.

Since we’re talking about Office here, it’s worth mentioning that Microsoft has announced theTechnology Guarantee Program for Office 2010. Essentially what this means is, if you purchase a version of Office 2007 between March 5th and September 30th of this year, when Office 2010 is released you’ll be able to upgrade to it for free!