Picture background in word 2007

I'm trying to use a picture as a background for a word document. This is done
by selecting "Page Layout, Page Color, Fill Effects, Picture" on this tab you
can select the image to set as background. Unfortunately both options "Lock
picture aspect ratio" and "Rotate fill effect with shape" are both grayed
out. Consequence is that picture isn't displayed propperly if you zoom
document. Furthermore the document isn't printed like it should. The
background image is printed either very small or very large.

Is there anyone who knows why these options are grayed out???
I can't seem to find any sollution for this problem.....

Did you try inserting the picture into the header and formatting the
picture with "behind text" wrapping?

This seems to work, but there is still one problem.....
The background picture faded because it is in a header, tried to adjust color,
contrast en brightness. This doesn’t help.....

This is also a workaround, and I want to know why the "Lock picture aspect
ratio" and "Rotate fill effect with shape" are grayed out. Installed office
2007 several times in different environments and different options and still
those two options are grayed out.

I need this option for a template (*.dotx)

Any other sollutions for this problem???

Can you provide more information on the background picture and how you need to use it? Is it a 1 page form, or ??? Additional
details may help lead to a different approach.

'Page backgrounds' (a form of repeated patterns) are in a separate layer of the Word document, that aren't generally available
through the user interface.

Unchanged from prior versions, the Fill Effects dialog is shared by a number of different graphic types/processes. The options for
Rotate and aspect ratio are not available when inserting a page/background fill as they weren't considered to be
controllable/accessible (i.e. the aspect ratio and fill and tiling are determined by the document page settings and document type
[switch back and forth between page layout and web layout view for an example]), i.e. you've asked to 'fill' a given space/object
with a selected picture. Resize the picture you want to use in this way to a specific page size.

Using the texture tab instead of the Picture may produce a different tiling effect, depending on the dimensions of the picture you
use.

If you fill a shape with the same picture you can resize, and rotate and the aspect ratio is changed by changing the dimensions of
the shape you've filled. If you lock the aspect ratio on a filled shape then changing the shape ratio may act more like a cropping
tool then a sizing one as far as the fill goes.

Picture Watermark fills, placed in the header and footer are shown as 'watered down' backgrounds (i.e. Word always masks the header
footer content except when printing).

I tried printing with the picture in the header. The print looks good.
So the work around is good for me.
But the thing I was trying to do was make a template for a customer
as a default invoice with his logo and his company address. I wanted to use
this as a background. The background is made in A4 format gif.
If you use the fill effect method I just won't scale.

[Clubveg]

Try reducing the Picture size to 550x778 pixles, that should scale to an A4 size page.

Check out this option in Word 2007: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/wo...970321033.aspx
It covers setting a picture as a watermark, which can be a custom picture & you can set the washout feature on this. The only issue is in sizing. You can choose different preselected sizes, but not custom sizes. (image set to 50%, 100%, 200% of original size)

Select PAGE LAYOUT, then in the PAGE BACKGROUND tab select WATERMARK. Down at the bottom of the new window click CUSTOM WATERMARK.
Select the PICTURE WATERMARK option, click WASHOUT tab, & set the image RATIO.
Then you will have your washed out image set as a watermark on your template.

[teacher63]

Thanks for this post. I've had been trying to do the same thing using the "fill effects" and had gotten the same problem. The watermark option worked much better.

[truckmafster]

Hi guys had a play with this and the correct size that you want to make your picture (in Photoshop) is 620 x 798. that is for the page fill. Much better than watermark. good luck