You can insert many popular graphics file formats into your design. Color pictures are displayed in color and, if you are printing to a color device color pictures are printed in color. If you print a color picture to a black-and-white device, the colors are automatically mapped to grayscales during printing.
Graphics you add to a design can either be fixed (the same on each page) or variable (depending on the value of a datasource). When you insert a fixed graphic, you select a file for the picture you add to your design. When you insert a variable picture you specify a datasource that contains or that dynamically builds a file name for the picture you want to insert. In all cases you must specify a full file name, including the drive and directory.
NOTE: To reduce the size of your files, pictures are linked to a project. The picture is not actually imported. You therefore may not delete the picture from your computer or move the file to another location. Changes you make to the picture file will automatically appear in the design.
This article describes:
When you insert a fixed graphic, you select a file for the picture you add to your design.
To add a picture to your design:
On the Designer tab, in the Insert group, click Picture.
Click where you want to insert the picture.
Locate the picture that you want to insert. For example, you might have a picture file located in My Documents.
Double-click on the file name or click Open to add the picture to your design.
Variable pictures are images on a design that depend on a value of a datasource in a row on the datasheet. That datasource can already contain the file name of the picture to use or you can define a datasource that builds the file name dynamically for you. In all cases you must specify a full file name, including the drive and directory.
To add a variable picture:
On the Designer tab, in the Insert group, click Variable Picture.
Click where you want to insert the picture.
Select a datasource that contains the full file name or that dynamically builds a file name for the picture you want to insert in the Datasource list.
NOTE: If you do not yet have a datasource available with the file name, you can define a File name lookup datasource. To do so, click the More button and select Lookup in the menu that appears and select Add. The Lookup window will be shown, where you can define you File name Lookup datasource (for more information see File name lookup).
Click OK.
Pictures can be resized without any limitation by dragging its corners. Pictures can also be rotated at any angle.You can set a number of formatting options for pictures to change the color, brightness or contrast, as well as cropping the picture. For variable pictures there are some specific sizing options available. To do so, make sure the picture is selected and then make your choices on the Picture tab.
Image control. Click Automatic to use the picture's original colors. Click Grayscale to convert a color picture to black and white. Each color converts to an equivalent grayscale level. Click Black & White to convert the picture to pure black and white (also known as line art). Click Watermark to format the picture with preset brightness and contrast settings that work well for watermarks.
Brightness. The brightness (the amount of white or black added to the color), can be changed in steps of 10%. The higher the percentage, the lighter - more white - the color. The lower the percentage, the darker - more black - the color.
Contrast. The contrast (saturation or intensity) of the color can be changed in steps of 10% box. The higher the percentage, the more intense the color. The lower the percentage, the more gray the color.
When using variable pictures, the different pictures can be of different sizes. The following options are available to control the sizes of variable pictures:
Lock Aspect Ratio. Select this option if you want to maintain the ratio between the object's height and width when it is resized.
Resize object to fit picture. Select this option if you want to display each picture in its original size.
NOTE: You can control the movement of the picture when resizing by specifying an anchor point in the Size group. By default, the anchor point is top left.