Table of Contents
Inserting files in an Office document or presentation
27. March 2025
Table of Contents
The FotoWeb Desktop plugin for Microsoft Office allows you to place files from a FotoWeb archive directly in a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation. Since the plugins work the same way in both Word and PowerPoint, the topic deals with both varieties and explains differences in operation where necessary.
Note: FotoWeb Desktop is a suite of utilities that are installed on the local computer. If you cannot access the FotoWeb Desktop Office plugin as described below, you may have to enable it on your computer.
Accessing the plugin from PowerPoint or Word
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To access the FotoWeb Desktop plugin from Word or PowerPoint, click on the Insert menu and then click on the From FotoWeb icon. The FotoWeb search panel opens and lets you perform a search across all the FotoWeb archives that you have access to.
Searching for files
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To perform a search, type in the search word(s) in the search field at the top and press Enter or click on the magnifying glass. The search results are shown below the search field, where the 25 first hits are displayed. By scrolling to the bottom of the hits you can load another 25 hits, and so it continues.
Note: The search uses Index Manager search syntax.
Tip: The top hits are the ones that are rated highest in the archive. Use the rating feature in FotoWeb to make sure your most used assets are listed at the top!
Inserting pictures in the Office document
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When you have found a file that you want to insert in the document, you can drag and drop that file directly onto the page. This will insert the smallest available version of the image rescaled to 220 dpi. If you would like to insert another size, click on the arrow on the right side of the thumbnail (it will appear when your mouse closes in on it) and then choose a size to insert. You can choose between small, medium and large, which translates to a quarter, a half or the full width of the open document. You can also double-click on the image you want to place on the page - this will insert the medium size image on the page.
Note that Word handles graphics differently from PowerPoint. In PowerPoint you can drag files in and position them freely. Word, however, relies on the position of the cursor when the file is inserted. Changing the text layout may move the graphics, so it will often be a good idea to enable text wrapping around the graphic object to allow the text to flow around it rather than move it when the text is edited.
Cropping a picture
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The plugin lets you crop and resize a picture before placing it in the document. To do so, click on the arrow on the right side of the thumbnail you want to insert and choose Crop...
The white background space in the crop window resembles the size of your document. This will help you see how big the image will be when it's finally placed in the document. The little picture in the top right corner previews the final result with cropping and rotation applied.
Adjusting the crop frame
The crop frame can be adjusted by clicking and dragging the white dots on the sides and in the corners of the crop frame. By placing the mouse pointer outside the crop frame you can click and drag to rotate the image. You may find the white guidelines helpful in lining up the picture. If you would like to set the pixel size and rotation angle manually you can do so by entering values or dragging the sliders in the panel to the right.
Inserting the cropped picture in the document
When you are happy with the crop frame and rotation angle you can resize the picture by clicking and dragging the Size slider. Then, to insert the picture in the document, click on the OK button.
Cropping pictures to fit a text box
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If you would like to place a picture inside a text box and crop it to precisely fit the proportions of the text box, you can do so by first creating the text box and then highlighting it before choosing to crop the picture you plan to insert in the text box. Note that the text box may have padding that will affect the placement of the picture inside the text box.
Embedding other media types in the document
You can also embed other media types on the document. For instance, you may want to add a sound file or a video clip to your PowerPoint presentation. When you perform a search that returns these media types, you can use the dropdown menu on the file thumbnail to insert the object into your document. The screenshot above shows how this looks when you insert a movie clip into PowerPoint.
Depending on the type of file you insert, you may be able to play back or edit the file natively in PowerPoint or Word, or you may be able to double-click it to edit it in another application.