Using Word is very useful and allows us to make all kinds of documents without complications. We all know how to write in the Office tool, underline or change colors but there are some very useful tools with which we can make the most of it. For example, you can crop an image in Word with the format you want, with a shape or choosing an aspect ratio that you need. We explain how.
Cropping a photograph in Word is very useful to insert it and fit it into the document you want or to make an album using all the editing advantages that it allows you. Be that as it may, the process is simple and we explain all the options to do it.
Insert the image
The first thing we have to do is insert an image into Word. The process may vary slightly depending on the version you have but they all allow it, no matter how old it is. In our case, the instructions will be from a current version but they will serve as a guide.
- Open Word on your computer
- Choose “Blank document” if you do not already have a document open
- Go to the top of the menu and search for “Insert”
Once you have selected “Insert” look for “Images” in the menu and two available options will appear: from file or online images. Choose the first one and look for the photograph you want on your computer to upload it to your Word document and be able to edit it.
When you have selected it, it will automatically appear in the hole where you had the cursor when you have followed the previous steps. But you may not want the image as it appears but you want to crop it. In that case, we explain how to do it.
Crop the image in Word
Once we have inserted the image, as you can see in the screenshot attached to this paragraph, we have to cut it out. It does not matter if it is in the center, at the beginning of the page, between two paragraphs or there is no other text or file in the document itself because the steps will be the same in all the above cases.
- Go to the site where the photo is
- Right click on the image
- A pop-up menu with two buttons will appear above the menu: Style and Crop.
- Choose the second option: the Crop button
Once you have chosen this button you will see that the edges of the image have changed and it becomes outlined with crop handles on the sides and corners, these drivers are the ones that will allow us to crop the image in Word at will.
You have several options: crop on one side or resize the image. To trim on one side, simply tap on the controller on the side you want. This way you can make it more rectangular or make a part of the photo disappear at the top, bottom, left or right. If you touch the corners, you will keep the same design or shape but make it smaller in the document. You can choose any of the options and they both work the same: click with the mouse on the black controller and drag until it is as you want or need it to be. Once you have it in the format you want, hit the “enter” key on your keyboard and it will adjust to the new format.
There are a few tricks you can follow. For example, hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard while dragging the side trim handle to the center and you’ll be able to trim the same piece on both sides, in parallel, without warping.
Trim with shape
Another option that we can use to crop in Word is crop with shape. You can make the cutout a circle or a star or any other available shape. It will take a little longer but it can be useful depending on what type of document you are going to do.
The first steps are identical: you must open Word and insert the image following the steps that we have explained in previous sections. But now we won’t have to right-click and tap on “trim”, the path is a different one.
- Click on the image with the mouse
- In the top menu, look for the “Format” section and open it
- Once here, look for the button that says “Crop”
Tap on the arrow to open the crop drop-down and several options will appear. The one that interests us is “Cut to shape”. Do not release the mouse or move the cursor because all the shapes with which you can crop the image will automatically appear:
- Rectangles
- Basic shapes
- Block arrows
- Equation forms
- Flowchart
- Ribbons and stars
- Calls
With the mouse, choose the design you want from all the available ones and it will be automatically applied to the photo you have in the document. Once you have done it, you can resize it to your liking making it bigger or smaller, placing it in the space you want.
Once you have it, we can continue to shape it: go back to the Format menu at the top and tap on the “crop” drop-down. Now, choose the “Fill ” option . By tapping on this tool you will have power over your shape and you can make it take the part of the image you want. You will avoid showing outside edges and there will be no gaps.
Crop with common aspect ratio
If you want to crop a photo in Word to fit a common photo format, it also allows you to do so. It does not make sense for a document or file but it does if you want to crop in Word to select a series of images that then take to print, for example.
Insert the image as we have explained before. Once you have it, click on it and go to “Format” at the top. Select the “Crop” menu arrow and open the drop-down. A number of different options will appear:
- Trim
- Trim to shape
- Aspect ratio
Choose the last one: Aspect ratio. By hovering the mouse over the drop-down you will find different options:
- Square (1: 1)
- Vertical (2: 3, 3: 4…)
- Horizontal (3: 2, 4: 3, 5: 3…)
Choose the one you want and it will automatically appear on the photo so you can adjust this aspect ratio to the original image. Square the resulting square or rectangle and you would have the image ready to leave it in the document or move it as you want.
Place the image
When you have your photograph ready with the shape you want or cropped, we can reposition it where we need it. Just right click on the image and choose “Size and position” from the options menu. In the new pop-up window you can choose “Adjustment style” and Word will allow you to choose what to do with the cropped photo:
- In line with the text
- Square
- Close
- Transparent
- Up and down
- Behind the text
- In front of the text
You can configure the size, the distance with the text, adjust the text to both sides or only to one or neither … You can place it as you want. Once you have it, you can follow the process again to cut another image in Word and do it with all the images in the document.
