In Word, how do I get to insert pictures without disrupting my whole document?

Question

In Word, how do I get to insert pictures without disrupting my whole document?

Vinc 25

To avoid much of the usual problems that exists in word since far far away and apparently have never been adressed, I made a table and with fixed width and height, hopeful that images would be inserted to fit in the cell... Couldn't be more wrong again! Actually, the insertion broke the table dimensions so the image would fit... wich it did not anyway. How can that be the right and user friendly way to go? Trying to get proper image size only make it worse because each time the image changes size, the table size changes too so there seems to be no way to get even images in an even table. I'm pretty sure there is no simple answer to this question except to fumble until you get it right. What an epic loss of time. I guess Word just isn't the right software for text edition that includes images.

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Answer accepted by question author

John Korchok 237K Volunteer Moderator

Picture Content Controls are a good way to create a picture placement that is a known height. They are added from the Developer tab, which may not be visible in your copy of Word. To show it, use File>Options>Customize Ribbon. In the right-hand list of Main Tabs, check Developer to add the Developer tab to your Word installation.

From that tab, you can add a Picture Content Control. A picture added to that control will display at the same height that the control has been set to. The width will vary depending on the aspect ratio of the picture.

Vinc 25 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:04:03.55+00:00

Thanks, Mr Korchok, for your answer, this is actually far better than working with the picture directly. On the other hand, it does raise the issue that I mentionned, why is the right tool hidden far away in some obscure place commun user are not even aware of? This really isn't convenient and makes me wonder how it is possible that a so big compagny as Microsoft is not able to find the correct way to be user friendly and make their tools efficient. so again: "I guess Word just isn't the right software for text edition that includes images."
Thanks for the time you have taken to answer my question. It is appreciated and I will shure use your tip. That is, in the abscence of a better solution.
Vinc 25 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:35:15.5733333+00:00

I do notice that when the image is removed from the control, the dimensions set previously are lost. Control size is reset and I have toi setup all over again...
Also, this solution worked well inside a table, but trying to setup on the page is far from easy. I was trying to position right border of image on the right margin and no option really worked, the control would just stick to the right border of the page.
Really isn't that usefull afterall.
John Korchok 237K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-12-04T16:45:58.7666667+00:00

By default Content Controls are in line with text. You would position them with text formatting. In the case you mention, select the Content Control, then use the Align Right (Ctrl + R) command in the Paragraph group of the Home tab to align it with the right margin.
Vinc 25 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:53:42.2633333+00:00

It seems my template's paragraph style is setup so the image gets cropped to the line height only showing a small strip from the bottom of the control/image. Found paragraph's style's line spacing set to exactly 12pt caused this...
John Korchok 237K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-12-04T17:08:32.6333333+00:00

I almost never use Exact line spacing because of this problem. instead, I use Multiple line spacing set to an amount that duplicates the appearance of exact spacing. Then inserted pictures display correctly. And if I change the point size, the spacing automatically changes to stay in proportion to the text size.
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3 additional answers

Your answer

Vinc 25 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:04:03.55+00:00

Thanks, Mr Korchok, for your answer, this is actually far better than working with the picture directly. On the other hand, it does raise the issue that I mentionned, why is the right tool hidden far away in some obscure place commun user are not even aware of? This really isn't convenient and makes me wonder how it is possible that a so big compagny as Microsoft is not able to find the correct way to be user friendly and make their tools efficient. so again: "I guess Word just isn't the right software for text edition that includes images."
Thanks for the time you have taken to answer my question. It is appreciated and I will shure use your tip. That is, in the abscence of a better solution.
Vinc 25 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:35:15.5733333+00:00

I do notice that when the image is removed from the control, the dimensions set previously are lost. Control size is reset and I have toi setup all over again...
Also, this solution worked well inside a table, but trying to setup on the page is far from easy. I was trying to position right border of image on the right margin and no option really worked, the control would just stick to the right border of the page.
Really isn't that usefull afterall.
John Korchok 237K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-12-04T16:45:58.7666667+00:00

By default Content Controls are in line with text. You would position them with text formatting. In the case you mention, select the Content Control, then use the Align Right (Ctrl + R) command in the Paragraph group of the Home tab to align it with the right margin.
Vinc 25 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:53:42.2633333+00:00

It seems my template's paragraph style is setup so the image gets cropped to the line height only showing a small strip from the bottom of the control/image. Found paragraph's style's line spacing set to exactly 12pt caused this...
John Korchok 237K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-12-04T17:08:32.6333333+00:00

I almost never use Exact line spacing because of this problem. instead, I use Multiple line spacing set to an amount that duplicates the appearance of exact spacing. Then inserted pictures display correctly. And if I change the point size, the spacing automatically changes to stay in proportion to the text size.
Deleted

This comment has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The comment was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.

Answer 1

As John Korchok mentioned, a Picture Content Control will restrict the height of an inserted picture but will expand the width as necessary to preserve the picture's aspect ratio.

If you want instead to restrict the width and let the height adjust as needed, you can do that with a selected table by going to the Table Layout tab, clicking the AutoFit button, and choosing Fixed Column Width in the dropdown.

Note that you can't do this through the Table Properties dialog, which lets you set a fixed row height but offers only a "preferred width" setting. That's what allows the table's cells to expand horizontally, even to extend off the page.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Stefan Blom 357.1K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Ensure that you actually set an exact row height and not just a smallest height. Choose the "Exactly" option on the Row tab of the Table Properties dialog box. See the screen shot below.

User's image

Note that inserting an image (whose Text Wrapping is set to "In line with text") will preserve the image ratio, so you won't get exactly the same dimensions as those of the table cell.

User's image

John Korchok 237K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-12-04T00:46:11.21+00:00

Not sure, but the O.P. may be referring to this phenomenon when inserting large pictures to a fixed-height row:
Stefan Blom 357.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-12-04T20:17:04.3566667+00:00

Hmm, that would be an undesirable end result, of course. In my quick testing, I haven't seen it yet. Maybe restricting just the width or the height (and not both) will improve things.
Vinc 25 Reputation points

2025-12-04T21:09:45.89+00:00

Yes actually heigh was a fixed measurment which stood, but inserted picture was bigger, this behavior was not useful. Width was set to 50% (two columns). Column width adjusted depending on inserted images size and tried to adapt when scaling one image or the other. That behavior was not useful as the goal was to get two identically sized images. The fact that 50% was broken made image adjustment quite impossible.