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Insert and edit images in Writer Part 1

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Foreword in part 1

Insert and edit images in Writer consists of 3 parts. The video "Insert and edit images in Writer - LibreOffice - Part 1" links to this page here, which contains further information. The term “images” is used here as a generic term. The most common uses for inserting images in LibreOffice are digital photographs, screenshots, and vector images.

The individual topics

Topics related to inserting and editing images in Writer
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Basics for inserting images How to create a border Insert images centered in the document
Insert images Insert Images into table cells Inserting a small icon or graphic into a sentence
Check the presets Create Collages Insert a full-page image on the first page of a document
Inserting an image into a Writer table Cut an Image into a Shape ---
Examine a document --- ---

You can find more pictures at: Used images

Link to the Video

Link to the Video (in German [DE]): Bilder einfügen und bearbeiten in Writer - Teil 1

Basics for inserting images

File formats for insertion

Before inserting images, go to the View ▸ Images and Charts menu. The menu item should be marked so that you can see the images after inserting them. If the menu item is not selected, you will only see a frame with a label such as ImageX after inserting, then you should click on the menu item so that the picture becomes visible. The menu item functions as a toggle switch.

Some file types can be opened in LibreOffice. To do this, select Insert ▸ Image. The picture below contains a list of file types that can be opened or inserted into Writer.

Here as a list: BMP, DXF, EMF, EMZ, EPS, GIF, JPEG (JPG, JFIF, JIF), MET, MOV, PBM, PCT, PCX, PDF, PGM, PNG, PPM, PSD, RAS, SVG, SVM, TGA, TIFF (TIF), WMF, WMZ, XBM, XPM, SVGZ, WEBP.

Reduce (resize) images before inserting

Digital photos are so-called raster images and are usually available as .jpg files. Screenshots are usually used as .png files. The file extensions of vector graphics are usually assigned to proprietary programs. LibreOffice manages these images internally accordingly:

  • Raster images as .jpg
  • Screenshots as .png
  • Vector graphics as .svg.

For example, a WEBP file inserted into Writer becomes a PNG file.

You can find out how to find out in which file format images are created in the Writer document in the section Analysing a document.

Warning:
Be sure to ensure that the images you insert are not too large. A common mistake made when inserting images is to use image files that are much too large.

Screenshots

Screenshots are usually already the right size. For example, a screenshot of a full screen with a resolution of 1920x1080px is 379 kB and can be used as is.

Digital photos

Digital photos can be quite large in size, as modern digital cameras with full-frame sensors deliver these sizes. Therefore, digital photos should always be significantly reduced in size before being inserted into Writer. Although Writer offers some image editing functions, external programs should be used for this purpose. To reduce the size of multiple images at once, you can use the free program IrfanView, which also offers batch processing. In the example, you can see an image that previously had a size of 2.93 MB with 3000x4000px and has now been reduced to 144 kB with 500x667px. This image can still be used as a background image on a Writer page without becoming pixelated.

Graphic formats

Graphic formats can also become very large. For example, a PSD file (Adobe Photoshop document) has an original size of 5.81 MB with 1920 x 1080px. When inserted into a Writer document, this file, converted to a PNG file, is then around 1.157 MB. If you save this image from Photoshop as a PNG (1.13 MB), it should also be reduced in size afterwards. The image below now has 177 kB at 500 x 281px.

Insert an image using the insert function

Select Insert ▸ Image from the menu or click on the "Insert Image" icon in the Standard toolbar. The "Insert Image" dialog will then open, allowing you to select and insert an image, usually from a folder on your computer. This is the recommended procedure so that you can easily insert an image in your Writer document. The respective image is then inserted in the format (JPG, PNG) in which it is available. An exception is a WEBP image that has been converted into a PNG.

Insert an image by "Copy&Past" or "Drag&Drop"

If you use this type of image insertion, the source from which the images are taken plays a major role. For example, if you copy images from the Internet, you should insert them using the Edit ▸ Paste Special ▸ Paste Special menu. If you insert images directly, you must always be aware that you may introduce any unwanted formatting.

Note:
With most images on the Internet, you can save the image to your computer by right-clicking on the image and selecting Save image as from the context menu. You can then proceed according to Insert an image using the insert function.

For the following four options, compare the procedure with Analysing a document.

  1. For attachment 2: The procedure for inserting an image using "Copy&Paste" and "Drag&Drop" results in the following behaviour. A test file "Anlage 2 - Einfügen mit KopierenEinfügen und ZiehenAblegen.zip" was also created for this example. When analysing two saved images from the ODT file, only one image of the two pasted images appears in the ZIP file, as it is the same image. It is present in the document with the file name "10000000000000E1000000817455C6FE.png", i.e. a PNG file.
  2. Regarding Appendix 3: If you use the "Copy&Paste" procedure to insert an image, you will receive a PNG file ("10000000000000E100000000817455C6FE.png").
  3. Regarding Attachment 4: If you use the "Drag&Drop method to insert an image, you will receive a BMP file. In relation to the test file "Anlage 4 - Einfügen mit ZiehenAblegen.zip", this is "10000000000000E1000000817455C6FE.bmp", Figure 5.
  4. Regarding Attachment 5: If you paste an image copied from the Internet using the Edit ▸ Paste content ▸ Paste content menu, you will still receive a PNG file, Figure 6.

The ODT documents (Appendix) Anlage 1 to 5 can be downloaded here: Anlagen zu Themenbücher (in German)

Inserting Images

Open Writer and the file "Lorem ipsum.odt" (File download from - Used working documents -). Place the cursor somewhere in the middle of the text. Now select the "Insert Image" icon in the Standard toolbar. Alternatively you can use the Insert ▸ Image menu. In the dialog "Insert Image" select the image file "Bild_015k.JPG" and click Open. The image is now displayed in the document.

Note:
The "Position and Size", "Wrap" and "Anchoring" functions are important features that ensure that the images you insert into the text of your document appear exactly where you want them to.

- Used Pictures -
- What should I be aware of when inserting a picture? -

Image - Position and Size

In the sidebar under Properties, you can select "Position and Size" the "Height" and "Width" of the image. To ensure that the proportions are retained, place a check mark at "Keep Ratio". At "Width" enter 5.00 cm. The image is immediately adjusted in dimensions. The value for "Height" no longer needs to be entered, since you have set the check mark for "Keep Ratio". Left-click and hold the image and first drag it further down towards the center.

Set Wrap for the image

Right-click on the image to see the Context menu. In the Context menu, choose for the image Wrap ▸ Parallel off. Right-click on the image again and select Properties, ( F4 ). In the "Image" dialog in the "Wrap" tab, enter 0.50 cm for each "Spacing" and click OK.

Set anchorage for the image

The important concepts of anchoring and positioning.
Left-click on the image and drag it further down towards the center. Now right-click on the image. In the context menu that appears, move the cursor to Anchor. Another context menu shows the anchoring as To Paragraph. If this is not the default setting, click on it.

Anchoring and effect

Green text from this LO-Online Help
Blue text from this OO-Source

Anchoring - To Page

Anchors the selected item to the current page.
A graphic anchored "To page" is forever associated with a particular page. It does not move as you add or delete text or other graphics. This method is useful when the graphic does not need to be visually associated with a particular piece of text. It is often used when producing newsletters or other documents that are very layout intensive.

Anchoring to the page is often used, for example, on page 1 of a book. The image then usually takes up the entire page.

Example:
When anchoring images to the page, keep in mind that they can no longer "wander" other pages. So if you have an image anchored to page 5, you can insert or remove as much text want in front of that page, but the image will remain fixed to page 5. This can even mean that if you remove a lot of text in front of it, you'll only have 4 pages left, for example, but the image will still be anchored to page 5 and will probably just disappear.

Anchoring - To Paragraph

Anchors the selected item to the current paragraph.
The graphic is associated with a paragraph and moves with the paragraph. It may be placed in the margin or another location. This method is useful as an alternative to a table for placing icons beside paragraphs.

Anchoring - To Character

Anchors the selected item to a character.
The graphic is associated with a character but is not in the text sequence. It moves with the paragraph but may be placed in the margin or another location. This method is similar to anchoring to a paragraph but cannot be used with drawing objects.

Anchoring - As Character

Anchors the selected item as a character in the current text. If the height of the selected item is greater than the current font size, the height of the line containing the item is increased. To centre an image on an HTML page, insert the image, anchor it "As character", then centre the paragraph.
The graphic is placed in the document like any other character and, therefore, affects the height of the text line and the line break. The graphic moves with the paragraph as you add or delete text before the paragraph. This method is useful for keeping screenshots in sequence in a procedure or for adding a small icon in sequence in a sentence.

Inserting images - different techniques

See on page: Inserting images in Writer Part 3

Presetting the anchorage - as of version 7.1

The anchoring for inserting images can be preset from LibreOffice version 7.1. Select Tools ▸ Options ▸ LibreOffice Writer ▸ Formatting Aids from the menu. For "Image>Anchor" you can select: "To Pragraph", "To Character" or "As Character".

Move image with caption frame in text

If you insert a picture, it is treated as a frame ("Graphics" Frame style in the sidebar, Ctrl + F5). If you now add a caption, the image is given an outer caption frame ("Frame" Frame Style). You then have a frame within a frame. If you want to move the image to a different position, you must grab the outer caption frame and drag it (not the image). This also applies if you want to change the anchoring. The prerequisite is the anchorage "To Paragraph" or "To Character".

Compress the image

Compressing an image serves to reduce the file size. A file size of approx. 100 kB is normally quite sufficient. Since you have already selected the smaller version of the image Image_015_k when inserting it, no additional compression is required. Look at it anyway. Right-click on the image and choose Compress. In the appearing "Compress Image" dialog, the values for width, height and resolution are displayed. In the dialog below the centre the size of the image file is shown in "kB". Click Cancel. Remember to save your document. See also: "Compress Image", in the Online-help pages

Rotate the image

Cursor shape

With the image selected, right-click on the image and choose Rotate or Flip ▸ Rotate. Or select the "Rotate" icon on the Image toolbar. The four corners of the image now each have a colored dot. Move the cursor to one of these points. The cursor shape changes to a three-quarter circle line with end arrows. Click and hold the point and drag it clockwise or counterclockwise. When the desired angle for the image is reached, release the mouse button. Another way to rotate the image is in the sidebar under Properties. If the image is selected, you can rotate it in the sidebar in the lower area under Position and size ▸ Rotation, specify the angle in degrees. Alternatively, hold the blue dot over the rotary wheel and turn clockwise or counterclockwise. When the desired angle for the image is reached, release the mouse button. At 0 degrees, the image is back in the position it was inserted.

Caption the image

Note:
The image will be limited to the width to the Page margins when inserted, depending on the size of the image. With a page width of 21 cm and a margin of 2 cm each, the maximum width of the image is 17 cm. You should not add the caption until you have resized the image for your purposes.

Right-click on the image again and select Insert caption. In the "Insert caption" dialog enter a caption for the image at "Caption" There at "Properties/Category", you can select a term for the category, such as "Drawing" or "Figure". In "Preview", you can see how the label looks as a whole. When you are satisfied, click OK. The image has now been given an additional frame. And according to the pre-selection, the inscription is located at the bottom edge. You can also change or add to the caption later. The prerequisite is that the frame of the caption is not selected. Simply click in the caption text and edit the caption.

Crop an image

If you want to crop an image, right-click inside the image and select Crop. Some points are now colored. You can now click-hold the points with the left mouse button and drag them into the image. If the image section is as desired, then simply click somewhere next to the image so that the image is unselected. The cropped image does not need to be saved. Only the cropped image is visible, but the entire image remains in the document. The cropped image can be enlarged again using the "Crop" function.

Additional image editing options

You can select additional image options from the context menu. If you right-click on an image in the document, you will see additional commands in the context menu for the image: "Cut", "Copy", "Paste", "Edit with External Tool", "Replace", "Save", "Align Objects", "Arrange", "Properties"

Edit with external tool

Click with the right mouse button on the image and select Edit with external tool. An image editing program opens that has been defined in your operating system with the file type of the image. If you do not have a suitable image editing program, you can download a program from the Internet.

Here are a few examples of image processing programs

Paint.NET, IrfanView, Gimp, (descriptions can be found in Wikipedia) In this way, you can edit the image with an image editing program (tool) for your purposes.

Put image file in the Background

Right-click on the image and choose Wrap ▸ In Background from the context menu. The image is now in the background, which means that when you write your text now, you write it over the image.

Insert a transparent image as Watermark on all pages in Writer

Open a blank Writer document. Choose View ▸ Sidebar from the menu or press Ctrl + F5. In the sidebar under "Styles" select "Page Styles". Right-click on the "Default page style". Choose Edit Style. In the Page Style "DefaultPage Style" dialog, select the Area tab, then Image button. Select an image or import an image, button Add / Import. The "Add Image" dialog appears. Select an image and click Open. If you are importing, enter a "Name" for the new image or leave the entry. In "Options" select for example "Stretched". In the "Transparency" tab choose the Transparency: 80%, (such as). Click on OK. All pages will now have an image as a Watermark, three pages. See also: Changing Page Background - Online-Help

Customize the Frame style "Graphics" for Border and Caption

You are writing a document and want to insert graphics. The graphics shall have a border. And the graphic shall have a caption. To achieve the desired result, three things must be met:

A. The border for graphics must be adjusted.
B. The "Options" menu must be adjusted.
C. After adjusting A. and B., the document must be saved as a Document template.

_____________________________________

A.

Customizing the Frame style for "Graphics". Right click on the Frame style for Graphics and click Edit Style. In the "Graphics" Frame Style dialog, select the desired Border and click OK.

_____________________________________

B.

Choose the Tools ▸ Options ▸ LibreOffice Writer ▸ AutoCaption menu. Check the box next to “LibreOffice Writer Image” in the selection list. Select a Category, make the desired settings and click OK. You can now test by inserting an image.

_____________________________________

C.

Choose File ▸ Templates ▸ Save as Template from the menu. In the "Save As Template" dialog that opens, enter a name, select a "Template Category" and checkmark at "Set as default template".

When you restart Writer and insert an image, the result should look similar to the example above in B.

_____________________________________

What should I be aware of when inserting a picture?

See the themes in English AskLibreOffice-sites:

Image
Picture

Check Preferences

View and Print settings

To see images and diagrams in the view or to print them as well, check the following settings:

  • View ▸ Images and Charts menu.
  • Tools ▸ Options ▸ LibreOffice Writer ▸ View menu, there at View ▸ Images and objekts dialog
  • Tools ▸ Options ▸ LibreOffice Writer ▸ Print menu, there at Contents ▸ Images and Objekts dialog
  • File ▸ Print… menu, in the dialog "Print", "LibreOffice Writer" tab, there at Contents ▸ Images and other graphic objekts

Image quality settings

If you print the document or export it as PDF, pay attention to the settings for the image quality.

  • In the menu Tools ▸ Options ▸ LibreOffice ▸ Print, there at "Reduce Bitmaps".
  • The setting for PDFs in the menu File ▸ Export as ▸ Export PDF, there at "Images".

Inserting an image into a Writer table

You can also insert an image into the cell of a Writer table. Place the cursor in the cell of a Writer table. Click on the "Insert Image" icon in the Standard toolbar. In the "Insert Image" dialog, select the image you want to insert. Click the Open button. The image will be inserted into the cell. Right-click on the image and select "Anchor" and "As character". You can then adjust the size of the image. The image width should not be greater than the column width of the cell.

Examine a document

ODT documents created in Writer can be analysed. And why are LibreOffice Writer ODT documents being examined? The investigation provides information on how Writer handles internally inserted images, for example. In this example, the document "Anlage 1 - Einfügen über die Einfügefunktion.odt" was used. It is basically an empty document (and we will soon see that it does not actually exist) in which three images have been inserted (JPG, PNG and WEBP) according to the specifications of Insert an image using the insert function. To do this, change the extend of the file (but please only with a copy of the document) from ODT to ZIP. The file is then called "Anlage 1 - Einfügen über die Einfügefunktion.zip". You will receive a warning message (Figure 1). Click Yes to make the change.

Note:
The insertion of images and the examination of documents in ZIP format was carried out under Windows 10. In other operating systems, this may differ from this description here.

The ZIP file format is a compression format. To be able to examine the file, you need a programme that can open ZIP files. For example, the author uses the programme 7-ZIP. Right-click on the ZIP file in the file manager, select 7-Zip in the context menu and then Open. The 7-Zip programme window opens (Figure 2).

You will now see the contents of the file, which consists of folders and files. The three previously inserted pictures can be found in the "Pictures" folder in the programme window. Double-click on the "Pictures" folder to see the contents of the folder (Figure 3).

All three pictures are now displayed. Now simply select all the pictures, right-click on them and select Copy to from the context menu. In the "Copy" dialog, select a folder in which you want to save the images. You can now view the images individually in the file manager, for example (Figure 4).

The three pasted images are listed with the file names specified by Writer as

  • 11000000000000064000000388A173660.jpg
  • 10000001000000D4000000C74442505C.png
  • 1000000000000569000002B3C84FD685.png (before WEBP).

Even if you insert images from your computer, the existing image names are not transferred to Writer, but are given their own names by Writer, as listed above.

Further Informations

Anchorage of objects

Anchorage of objects

Inserting and editing images in Writer - Parts 2 and 3

Insert and edit images in Writer Part 2
Inserting images in Writer Part 3

Used working documents

Lorem ipsum.odt

Lorem ipsum mit Bild_015_k - ohne Beschriftung.odt

Lorem ipsum mit Bild_015_k - mit Beschriftung.odt

Li mit Bild_015_k – ohne Beschriftung mit Rahmen.odt

Bilder in Tabellen-Rahmen - mit Beschriftung.odt

Bilder in Tabellen-Rahmen - ohne Beschriftung.odt

Collagen - Bilder in Formen.odt

Collagen - Bilder in Formen mit einem GIF.odt

Used images

Bild_001_k.jpg to Bild_034_k.jpg and GIF_001_k.gif

Downloadable document for the video

in German [DE]: Themenbuch Bilder einfügen und bearbeiten.pdf

FAQs about images

Writer/FAQ

How can I anchor and position graphic elements (images, objects)?

How do I modify the link of an external picture?

How do I select several pictures?

How to rotate a picture?

Anchoring and positioning graphic elements (pictures, objects)

Calc/FAQ/Layout

How to insert a logo or a graphic into the header?

Draw/FAQ

How do I resize a picture inserted in a drawing?

How do I crop a picture?

How do I change the colors of a JPEG image before using it in a LibreOffice file?

How do I save a drawing in an image format (PNG , BMP , JPG, ...)?

How do I display an image file (PNG, EPS , GIF , JPEG, ... ) in my drawing?

I received a file containing images, but only the image link icons appear, not the images themselves. What's wrong?

Copyright and license status of media

Please be sure to note the license status of media.

The huge variety of media (images, videos and audios) on the Internet can usually be accessed by clicking on them.

However, these media are subject to copyright protection and registered licenses and possibly personality rights.

See also Photograph_copyright_(Germany)

 Warning 
 The takeover of foreign media for the purpose of publication is proven with punishment.

Documentation / Manuals

Here you will find the Documentation / Manuals:

Documentation / Manuals

Any questions?

For questions on this topic go to:

Ask.LibreOffice

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