Think of layers as like a series of clear plastic sheets on top of each other. They aren’t as complex or powerful as layers in image programs like Photoshop but Word has layers all the same. In short: Insert a picture into a Word document and send it to the back of the document layers. The solution is to forget about Word’s Page Background feature and use another method that gives you more control. Note that the ‘sample’ in the Insert Picture dialog above bears no relation to what happens in the document, Unless the picture is exactly the same size as the page, it’ll probably look wrong. There’s no provision to resize or reposition the page background image within Word. If the image is too small for the page, the image is repeated. What you see on the Word page is the top left corner of the image. It’s mostly used for a small repeating pattern image like this: Then we’ll show you the way that actually works ? The Approved Methodįor a long time, Microsoft Word has the ability to put in a picture as the background to a page. The advantage of a background image in a Word document is that, once setup and locked ‘behind text’, the image won’t conflict with any text, shape or images you put in the document.įirstly we’ll show you the Microsoft approved method for putting an image in the page background and why it’s not very useful. But there are times in more creative work where you want the page fully or partly backgrounded. Most of the time a page background image is distracting to the main document text or you can use the Watermark feature. We’ll show you other Word features that work better (or at all). Using a picture as the background for Word page isn’t as straight forward because the official or approved method doesn’t work very well. You can place the image behind text, in front of text, in line with text, etc.ĭo note that this guide applies to MS Word 2007 versions or higher.Add a background image to any page in a Word document instead of a solid color or pattern. Now, it’s totally up to you to set your preferred image Wrapping Style. You can even drag and resize it in any way that you want. That’s it! As you can notice, your image has become transparent.After setting the transparency level of your image, click “OK”.The best transparency setting lies within the range of 70% to 90%. Note that if you choose the 100% image transparency setting, then your image will be completely transparent. Set the Line Color to “No Color” and once you’re done, you can start dragging the Fill Transparency bar to fit the transparency percentage that you want. Make sure to keep the Fill Color to its default setting. Under the “Format AutoShape” dialog, go to the “Color and Lines” tab.Once the image is inside the shape, you may right-click on the shape and then select “Format AutoShape”.Select the photo that you like and then click “Insert” to confirm.Click the drop-down menu for “Shape Fill” and then select “Picture”. After which, go to the “Drawing Tools/Format” tab and then fill the shape with a picture instead of a color.
First, go to the “Insert” tab and then insert a shape ( preferably, a rectangle).
How to adjust image transparency in Word documents Now, what if your task really requires you to adjust the transparency of the image that you have inserted in Word? Well, if that is the case, then you can refer to this simple guide. The closest thing that you can do is to change the color mode of the image from dark to light or vice versa. As you can notice, there’s no adjust transparency option under the “Picture Tools” tab. In Word, it can be difficult to figure out how to adjust the transparency or opacity of an image.