• Overview
• Pictures
  • Overview
  • Image Properties
    • Image Data
    • Tile or Stretch Image to Fill
    • Effects
  • Non-Visual Properties
  • Shape Properties
• Shapes
  • Overview
  • Non-Visual Properties
  • Visual Properties
    • Size of Bounding Box
    • Location of Bounding Box
    • Geometry
      • Preset
      • Custom
    • Shape Fill
      • Solid Fill
      • Picture Fill
      • Gradient Fill
      • Pattern Fill
      • Group Fill
    • Effects
    • Outline Style
    • 2D Transforms
    • 3-D
      • Shape Properties
      • Scene Properties
  • Styles
  • Text
    • Text Body Properties
      • Positioning and Insets
      • Fit, Wrap, Warp and 3D
      • Columns, Vertical Text and Rotation
    • Paragraphs
      • Paragraph Properties
        • Bullets and Numbering
        • Spacing, Indent and Margins
        • Alignment, Tabs, Other
      • Run Properties
    • List Properties
• Connectors
  • Non-Visual Properties
• Text
• Charts
• Diagrams
• Tables
  • Defining Structure
  • Rows, Cells, Cell Content
  • Cell Properties
    • Alignment, Margins, Direction
    • Borders and Fill
  • Table Styles and Properties
• Placement within Docs
  • Overview
  • Inline Objects
  • Floating Objects
    • Positioning
    • Text Wrapping
• Placement within Spreadsheets
  • Overview
  • Absolute Anchoring
  • One Cell Anchoring
  • Two Cell Anchoring
• Placement within Presentations

DrawingML Object Positioning

A drawingML object within a word processing document is specified by a <w:drawing> element which is typically placed within a run (<w:r>). It can also be a background (<w:background>) or the picture for a bullet (<w:numPicBullet>).

The <w:drawing> element specifies a DrawingML object. The details of the object and its positioning are specified in the DrawingML namespaces, with prefixes in Word such as wp, pic, and a. DrawingML objects in word processing documents can be either inline or floating. Inline objects are inline with the text and affect the line height and layout of the line. They are inserted into a <w:drawing> element with a <wp:inline> element. Note the different namespaces. The <w:drawing> element is within the main wordprocessing namespace: xmlns:w="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main". The XML for placement of the picture is within the wordprocessing drawingML namespace: xmlns:wp="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/drawingml/2006/wordprocessingDrawing". And the definition of the picture itself is within the picture namespace: xmlns:pic="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/drawingml/2006/picture". See Positioning within a Word Processing Document - Inline for details on inline placement.

Below is an example of a picture that is inline.

A floating object is anchored within the text but can be absolutely positioned in the document relative to the page. Text floats around the object. They are inserted into a <w:drawing> element with an <wp:anchor> element. See Positioning within a Word Processing Document - Floating for details. Below is an example of a floating picture.