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Adding Images

Images are illustrative and enliven documents to the extent that adding them is a basic skill of using Word. The most common ways are to attach an image or add one from your own computer. Word also has features that let you add images directly from the web or from Word's image bank.

Next, let's look at how you can attach an image to your document.

Download the template file

We will add an image to your document. You can use the image of your choice, or you can download the image used in the template file here:

picture.jpgJPG · picture.jpg

The Objective

At the end of the page, the beginning of your document will look like this:

Task: Add an image to your document

Add an image to your document. Make some space for it first and then add it. You can add an image of your choice that suits the topic. Alternatively, you can use the image you uploaded. If you wish, you can also add an image from an image bank or an online image.

Accessibility and images

Accessibility

Recommendation: Write an alternative text for the image or mark the image decorative

The image itself is useless to a person who cannot see it. However, you can specify an alternative text for the image, which the screen reader will display instead of the image.

When you add an image to a document, Word gives you the option to include alternative text. Word may also make a suggestion based on what it has identified in the image. Word may even attach some alternative text to the image by default, which may not be good. You can also add an alternative text to the image later.

For example, if the image is the logo of a company, i.e. a particular look and feel of its name, the alternative text is of course the name. If, on the other hand, the image contains a lot of information, a lot of text may be needed.

Decorative image

In the alternative text definition, there is also the option Mark as decorative. It should be selected if the image is, for example, just an ornament or a landscape image, or a so-called illustration image that has nothing to add to the content of the document. In this case, the screen reader will skip the image altogether.

Add an alternative text

You can add an alternative text as follows:

Right-click on the image in the document.
Select Edit Alt Text.
Examine the box that appears in the Word window to the right, Alt Text.
If the image is purely decorative, select Mark as decorative.
Otherwise, type a text option for the image in the box provided. The screen may show Word's suggested text, and sometimes it's fine as it is, more often it's fine with some editing.

In the following example, Word's suggestion is "Airplane with a flat load". Probably more appropriate would be just "Airplane" or perhaps "Flight", depending on what the image is intended to say in the context in which it appears.

Osa Wordin ikkunasta, jossa näkyy vasemmalla lentokoneen kuva ja oikealla Vaihtoehtoinen teksti -alue, jossa on ohjeita ja tekstikenttä, jossa on esitäytettynä tekstiehdotus.

Checking

In Word, on the Review tab, in the Accessibility group menu Check Accessibility, the first option allows you to ask Word to check that all images have an alternative text, unless the image is marked as decorative.

Info: Image bank photos and online images

Alternatively, you can also add images directly from an image bank or from the web.

Image bank images

This image contains images from the image bank

Online images

Kuvassa on online-kuvien etusivu, josta voi hakea kuvia

Käyttäjä on napsauttanut edellisessä näkymässä painiketta Lentokone, ja nyt kuvassa on lentokoneiden kuvia.

By default, Word only makes available images licensed under Creative Commons (CC).

Good, you can now add pictures from different sources. The next page focuses on practising the layout and styling of an image in a document.

Have you completed the tasks on the page?

Mark as complete: