How-To

Here’s What I Do If a Picture Can’t be Displayed in Word

By Adam Davidson

Published July 10, 2024

Are your images not displaying correctly in your Word document? Here’s what do try if a picture can’t be displayed in Word.

Word is much more than just a word processor. You can add all sorts of visual elements to create engaging documents for all manner of purposes. You can add charts to your business documents, or a photo to your resume. It’s even possible to create entire illustrated booklets in Word if you wish. Sometimes, however, you may find that your images aren’t displaying as expected. Images may not display at all, or you may find that you’re getting error messages relating to your images. If this sounds like what you’re experiencing, then here’s what you can try if a picture can’t be displayed in Word.

Try Using In-Line Text Wrapping

If your picture won’t display, changing the text wrapping style may solve the problem. You’ll need to select the In Line With Text option. This will cause the text to wrap around your image, which should display as expected. Other text wrapping options may cause issues with the picture displaying correctly.

1. Right-click the image that you want to change the text wrapping for.
2. Select Wrap Text.
   
3. Choose In Line With Text from the list of text wrapping options.
   
4. Your text should now wrap around your image.

Don’t Use Draft or Outline View

Word offers several different ways to view your document. In some of these view options, your images may not be visible. If you’re using the Draft view, images aren’t displayed so that you can focus on the text content. If you’re using Outline view, your picture will not be displayed in Word to help you more easily organize the layout of your document. You’ll need to select one of the other view options to see your images.

1. Open the Word document that contains your images.
2. Click the View menu at the top of the screen.
   
3. Select the Read Mode, Print Layout, or Web Layout options.
   
4. Any images in your document should be visible in these views.

Disable Picture Placeholders

Word has a feature called picture placeholders that allows you to insert placeholders in your document instead of images. This might be useful if you’re working on the layout but don’t have the image you need yet, or if you want to work on your document without the distraction of using the real image at this point. You can turn off picture placeholders in settings to stop these from displaying. If you’re using the most up-to-date version of Word, picture placeholders are no longer available as Microsoft has removed the feature.

1. Click the File menu.
   
2. At the bottom of the left-hand menu, click Options.
   
3. Select the Advanced settings.
   
4. Uncheck Show Picture Placeholders.
5. Any picture placeholders in your document should now be removed.

Enable Show Drawings and Textboxes on Screen

If you’re using drawings in your document, and these aren’t displaying, it may be that you have the Show Drawings setting turned off. If this is the case, you can turn it back on again in the Word settings, and your drawings should be visible in your document again.

1. Open the document you want to edit and click the File menu.
   
2. Click Options at the bottom of the left-hand menu.
   
3. Select Advanced from the left-hand Word Options menu.
   
4. Scroll down to the Show Document Content section.
5. Ensure that Show Drawings and Text Boxes On Screen is checked.
   
6. Your drawings should now be visible.

Disable Draft Quality

If your images are showing in your document, but aren’t showing up when you print, then you may have the draft quality setting turned on. This setting allows you to print a quick draft of your document without the complex fonts and images that can slow down the print process. It’s also a useful way to cut down printing costs. In this mode, any images in your document won’t be printed. You can it off in the advanced Print settings.

1. Click the File menu.
   
2. Select Options at the bottom of the left-hand menu.
   
3. Click Advanced.
   
4. Under the Print settings, ensure that Use Draft Quality is not checked.
   
5. Try printing your document again.

Repair the Word File

If you’re still having issues with your images not displaying, then it may be that your Word file is corrupt. If the file gets corrupted, it can cause a range of problems, including problems with your images. You can try repairing the Word file to see if this fixes the issue.

1. Open the Word app.
2. Click Open in the left-hand menu.
   
3. Click Browse and locate the file you want to repair.
   
4. Click the drop-down next to the Open button.
   
5. Select Open and Repair.
   
6. Word will try to repair the selected file.
7. Try the file again to see if the images are now displaying correctly.

Run the Office Repair Tool

The problem may not be limited to a single file; you may find that images aren’t displaying correctly across all of your Word files. If this is the case, then it may be because the Word app itself is corrupted. You can try running the Office Repair Tool to try to fix the Word app so that your files start working as intended again.

1. Press Windows+R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type appwiz.cpl and press Enter.
   
3. Select the Microsoft 365 app.
   
4. Click Change.
   
5. Select the Quick Repair option and click Repair.
   
6. When the process has finished, try your Word document again.
7. If the images still don’t display properly, repeat the steps above, but select Online Repair You’ll need a network connection for this to work.
   
8. Click Repair.
9. Once the process is complete, try your Word document again.

What to Do When a Picture Can’t be Displayed in Word

It can be very frustrating when a picture can’t be displayed in Word, particularly if you’ve spent a long time working on your document. Hopefully, one of the fixes above has helped. If you find any other effective solutions, then please let us know in the comments so that we can add them to the list.

Despite being a word processor application, you can create some impressive documents using images in Word. It’s even possible to overlay images in Word to create some really impressive designs. If you’ve explored all the possibilities of images in Word, then it’s worth experimenting.