How to Work with Frames in Word 2011 for Mac

By Geetesh Bajaj and James Gordon from Office 2011 for Mac All-in-One For Dummies

In Office 2011 for Mac, a frame is a container that surrounds objects, such as pictures and charts. You use a frame when your text or graphic contains comments, comment marks, or note reference marks so that you can position them within a document precisely and control text flow around the frame. Frames are handy containers because you can put all sorts of stuff inside them. Here is some handy information about frames:

You can position frames anywhere on a page by dragging.
You can wrap text around a frame, although you only get two of the numerous wrapping options for frames: None and Around.
You can anchor a frame to a specific position on a page so that it doesn’t move with the text.

The Ribbon doesn’t contain an Insert Frame button. If you use frames often, consider adding the Insert Frame command to a toolbar as follows:

In Word, choose View→Toolbars→Customize Menus and Toolbars.
Select the Commands tab and in the Category list on the left, select Insert.
In the Commands list on the right, scroll down until you find the Horizontal command. Drag this command to the Standard toolbar and release the mouse button when you see the insertion cursor.
Click OK to close the Customize Menus and Toolbars dialog.

Working with a frame while it’s empty is easier. After you put something into a frame, it can be nearly impossible to select just the frame. Follow these steps:

Click the Insert Frame button.
Hold down the mouse button and then drag diagonally to make the frame.
Release the mouse button when you’re done.

An empty box with a shaded border appears; this is the frame.

Before you put something inside the frame, take a moment to size and position the frame and to set its properties. Right-click or Control-click the frame and choose Format Frame. You can control the exact size and position of the frame with each section of the Frame dialog:

Text Wrapping
Horizontal

Vertical

Size

You can use frames as placeholders. For example, you can insert a frame into a document where you plan to put a picture later. When you’re ready, you can drag a picture from the Media Browser into the frame, and the picture size adjusts to fit the frame.

Select a range of text or a picture and then click the Insert Frame button. The selection will then be contained within a frame that is easily positioned anywhere in your document.