How to Draw in Microsoft Word
Add a little personality to your project
While Microsoft Word may not be the first drawing tool you think of, its drawing tools are among its little-known features that are simple to learn and easy to use.
These drawing tools come in various shapes and forms includingarrows, banners, callouts, squares, circles, stars, and flowchart shapes you can use tocreate imagesor illustrations.
If you’re looking for the right image orclip artto add to your document, and you can’t find the exact one you want, you can draw it in Word using the drawing tools.
Whether you’re doodling, taking visual notes, or sketchnotes, here’s how to draw in Microsoft Word so you can add some personality to your project.
How to Draw in Microsoft Word
There are several types of drawings you can create in Word including basic lines and shapes, freeform shapes, and more. Let’s learn how to draw in Word using the predefined shapes and drawing tools available.
The screenshots are from Microsoft Word for macOS. Windows users can also follow the same steps.
If you want to draw simple shapes in your document, Word offers several shapes.
If you want, you can format the shape by opening theDrawing Tools Formattab. This tab offers various options that allow you to change the color, look, and style of the shape you add to your document.
If there’s a particular shape you want and you can’t find it in the predefined shapes, you can draw it yourself using the Freeform shapes. There are two ways to create freestyle shapes using a mouse or trackpad:
To create a freeform drawing using Scribbles:
To draw freestyle shapes:
Note: If you find it difficult to draw freeform shapes in Word, you can try drawing in Microsoft Paint and insert the image into Word later on.
If you need to group your shapes together, you can create a drawing canvas and add the shapes into it.
Note: While you don’t necessarily need a drawing canvas when working with drawing objects in Word, you can use it as an organizational aid to add connectors between shapes or to work with several drawing objects.
How to Draw in Word Using Pen Tools
If you want to draw more complex shapes, Microsoft Word pen tools allow you to do that instead of using the basic lines or freeform shapes.
Word offers anErasertool in its Drawing tools menu to erase any mistakes in your drawings. The eraser tool has three types:
To erase a small or large area, click, hold and drag your mouse over the area you want to delete. If you want to delete a line, select the Stroke eraser and click on the line to erase it.
If you want to enhance your Word document, you can add a drawing instead of using basic lines and shapes, or freeform shapes.
You can add SmartArt, pictures, charts, clip art or drawing objects like WordArt, flowcharts, diagrams and more. These drawing objects are part of Word, and you can enhance or change them with patterns, colors, borders and other effects.
If you have some text you’d like to wrap around your drawing, you can do so using theFormattab in the Drawing tools menu.
Change the boundary by selecting and dragging the boundary points. This also allows you to control how the text wraps around the drawing.
Another way to add drawings to a Word document is by using premium graphic images. You can access thousands of Word templates from theElements marketplaceorGraphicRiver, which are professionally designed for maximum impact.
Put Your Artistry to the Test
Whether you use a mouse, trackpad, touchscreen or digital pen, the drawing tools in Word can help you create shapes, add notes, edit text and more.
Combine your drawings withbeautiful fonts in Wordand create documents that catch the eye of readers.
Elsie is a technology writer and editor with a special focus on Windows, Android and iOS. She writes about software, electronics and other tech subjects, her ultimate goal being to help people out with useful solutions to their daily tech issues in a simple, straightforward and unbiased style. She has a BCom degree in Marketing and currently pursuing her Masters in Communications and New Media.Read Elsie’s Full Bio
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