TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: adjustable drawing container in Word 98? From:Geoff Lane <geoff -at- GJCTECH -dot- FORCE9 -dot- NET> Date:Wed, 14 Apr 1999 17:42:32 +0100
FWIW, I find Corel Draw 6 excellent for this sort of work. However, you can
use just about any vector drawing package (saving the drawing as WMF if
necessary). To ensure that the drawing stays with its preceding paragraph,
ensure that the picture is not formatted 'float over text' and format the
preceding paragraph "Keep with Next".
HTH,
Geoff Lane
Cornwall, UK
geoff -at- gjctech -dot- force9 -dot- net
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Technical Writers List; for all Technical Communication issues
> [mailto:TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU]On Behalf Of William Courington
> Sent: 14 April 1999 16:32
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: adjustable drawing container in Word 98?
>
>
> I am writing a report in Word98 (Mac version of Word97).
> I want to embellish it with a few simple block diagrams--
> boxes with centered labels, connecting lines
> or arrows, adjacent text labels, that sort of thing.
>
> Word's drawing tools seem up to the job. My problem is creating a
> suitable "container" to draw in. I want a container that:
> - is anchored to a paragraph so it maintains position relative to
> that paragraph as text before it is added and deleted.
> - has boundaries that can be adjusted to make room for additional
> drawing objects, or tightened up when objects are deleted.
> In short, I want a FrameMaker "anchored frame."
>
> I tried a text box; it was clipped when it got pushed to the bottom of the
> page.
>
> I have tried a Word picture. It will move to the next page if there's no
> room on the current one. However, I see no way to resize it in the picture
> editor. Resizing by dragging the handles in the main window scales the
> objects inside. That's not what I want; I want a bigger or
> smaller container.
>
> I have tried drawing in PowerPoint, but Word imports the whole page,
> rather than just the part with the drawing.
>
> There must be a simple way to accomplish this simple task in Word.
> Otherwise, how would people write technical reports or books in Word?
>
> Bill Courington
