Why can't I wrap text around grouped images in Word?

Question

When I paste two images into Microsoft Word and I set Wrap Text To Square:

and then group them so they stick nicely together, I can no longer Wrap Text around this newly grouped image.

Any explanation why text wrapping is disabled for grouped images?

Note: if I don't change the Wrap Text option, I can't group them. This is for Word 2010 on Windows 7, but I've had this problem with every version of Word.

Answer 1

1. First, "float" the images by setting a wrapping option other than "in line with text".
   
   
2. Align the images where you want them, then group them.
   
   
3. Select the group and set its wrapping to "Through".
   
   
4. Still with the group selected, choose Edit Wrap Points.
   
   
5. Now the fun part: move the little black boxes around so that the red dotted line surrounds the area where you don't want text to go. Use Ctrl+Click to delete any wrap points you don't need. To add a point, just click on the red dotted line and drag the new point where you want it to go.

You may need to put parts of the "box" out into the margin. For example, if you want one image on the left and the other at the same height on the right, your wrap area will end up looking sorta like a musical note.

Answer 2

I had this problem when my grouped images were a combination of a picture (screen shot) and drawing objects (arrowed lines chosen from "Auto Shapes"). In Word 2010, when you click on the group the first time, the Drawing Tools option opens on the Ribbon. You can change layouts from here.

If you click the group twice, you will get the Picture Tools option on the Ribbon. You can't change layouts for the group from Picture Tools.

Answer 3

Make sure you only have the new grouped image selected. It shouldn't show the outlines of the two images. Once you have the big grouped image selected, then you can do text wrapping and everything else.

Answer 4

If you right click on the grouped image, and go to Format Object. Under the Layout tab, you can alter the text wrapping for the image.

Odd it can't do it with the picture toolbar, but it works nonetheless!

Answer 5

After grouping the pictures, rightclick on the grouped images, go to "paste options" and paste as "picture". Now it's simply a image that can be put in line with text.

Downside: you can't edit the seperate pictures in the group anymore.

This worked for me though.