Troubleshoot importing text, pictures, and smart objects

Not all of my text appears in the text box

If there is more text than the text frame can hold, Microsoft Publisher stores the extra text in the overflow area, where you can't see it. If there is text in the overflow area a Text In Overflow indicator appears at the lower-right corner of the text box.

Here are some ways to get your text out of the overflow area and back into your publication.

Turn automatic copyfitting on or off

You can have Microsoft Publisher automatically resize your text to fit in a text box.

Turn copyfitting on

  1. Click the text box.
  2. On the Format menu, point to AutoFit Text.
  3. Do one of the following:

After this, whenever you resize the text frame, the font size remains the same.

Turn copyfitting off

If your text is changing size as you type or when you resize a text box, you have AutoFit Text turned on. Here's how to turn it off so that the text stays the same size.

  1. Click the text box.
  2. On the Format menu, point to AutoFit Text, and then click None.

With automatic copyfitting turned off, the font size remains the same whenever you resize the text frame.

Enlarge the text box

After selecting an object, you can resize it in a number of ways.

Drag it

Keep the center in the same place

  1. Hold down CTRL.
  2. Position the mouse pointer over one of the handles, and then drag the mouse.
  3. Release the mouse button before you release CTRL.

Maintain the object's proportions

  1. Hold down SHIFT.

  2. Position the mouse pointer over one of the corner handles, and then drag the mouse.

  3. Release the mouse button before you release SHIFT.

Maintain the proportions and keep the center in the same place

  1. Hold down CTRL+ SHIFT.
  2. Position the mouse pointer over one of the corner handles, and then drag the mouse.
  3. Release the mouse before you release CTRL+ SHIFT.

To a specific height and width

  1. Right-click the picture or AutoShape.
  2. On the shortcut menu, click Format Item.
  3. In the dialog box, click the Size tab.
  4. Under Size and Rotate, enter measurements for the height and width of the object.

By a specific proportion

  1. Right-click the picture or AutoShape.
  2. On the shortcut menu, click Format Item.
  3. In the dialog box, click the Size tab.
  4. Under Size and Rotate, enter the percentage of the original height or width you want the object resized to.

Note   You can override the settings for grids and guides by holding down the ALT button while you drag the mouse.

Reduce the margins in the text box

  1. Right-click the picture that the text wraps around.
  2. On the shortcut menu, click Format Picture.
  3. In the Format Picture dialog, click the Layout tab.
  4. Under Distance from text, clear the Automatic check box, and then enter the amounts you want.

Connect the filled text box to another box so any extra text is displayed in the other box

When you connect text boxes, text that won't fit into the first text box flows into the next text box. A chain of connected text boxes, also known as a story, can span multiple pages.

Use connected boxes to:

  1. If needed, create a new text box.

    How?

    1. On the Objects toolbar, click Text Box or Vertical Text Box .
    2. In your publication, point to where you want one corner of the text to appear, and then drag diagonally until you have the box size you want.
  2. Click in the text box you want as the first text box in the story.
  3. On the Connect Boxes toolbar, click Create Text Box Link .

    The mouse pointer changes to a pitcher .

  4. Click in the text box you want as the next in the story.

    This text box is now connected to the first box and any text in the overflow area now appears in the next box.

  5. To connect more text boxes to the story, repeat steps 3 and 4.

Imported tables lose their formatting

If the information that you copied is from a program that supports Rich Text Format (RTF), then the text will retain its original formatting. Otherwise, it will take on the formatting of the Publisher table that you copied it to.

To paste your text with formatting, click Paste Special on the Edit menu, and then click Create new table.

Programs that support RTF include Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Works for Windows, Microsoft Word for Windows, and other Windows-based word-processing programs.

I get an ''Out of memory'' message when I try to import a bitmap

There's a difference between the size of a bitmap on disk and the amount of memory needed to import it into a publication. This is because many programs that create bitmap-type graphics compress them to save disk space. The actual size of the bitmap, therefore, is larger than its apparent size on disk.

When you import a bitmap into Publisher, it is first converted to an uncompressed bitmap in memory. If your computer doesn't have enough memory available for the uncompressed bitmap, Publisher cannot import it.

To give you an idea of how much memory you need to import a bitmap: The uncompressed size of a simple black and white 3-by-3-inch bitmap (1 bit per pixel), with 300 dpi, is about 100 KB; about 790 KB for a 256-color bitmap (8 bits per pixel); and about 2.3 MB for a 16-million-color bitmap (24 bits per pixel).

A WordArt, clip art, or OLE object changes when I paste it into the other program

On the Edit menu, click Paste Special instead of Paste. Under As, click Picture, and then click OK. This will keep any formatting, cropping, or rotation you applied to the object in Publisher.

The Paste Special command is not available

You may not have chosen the Copy command in the source program (the program in which you created the object), or the program you copied from doesn’t support OLE for this type of object.