Originally published at: What is the anchor in Word document and how to remove it? | ONLYOFFICE Blog
If you often add images, shapes and other visual objects to your Word documents, you might notice small anchors appearing next to what you insert. If you wonder what these symbols mean and what they are used for, you have come to the right place. In this guide, you will learn what the anchor in Word documents is and how to remove it with ease.
Anchor: one word, different meanings
When it comes to text documents, the word anchor has several meanings. For example, one meaning refers to a word or phrase that leads to an external URL address or a certain place in the same document when you click it. If you want to learn more about this topic, please take a look at this article on how to create hyperlinks in Word documents and other office files.
The guide below focuses on the other meaning the notion explaining how you can anchor visual objects to the text and remove the inserted anchors if you don’t need them any longer.
What is the anchor symbol in Word documents?
The anchor symbol in Word documents appears when an object, e.g. an image or a shape, is anchored to the text at a certain point. This feature helps you keep visual objects attached to specific words and sentences in your document. When anchored, such an object moves together with the text it is tied to, always remaining in the same position relative to the text.
When you have an anchored object in your document, when you click it, you will see the black anchor icon next to the text it is tied to.
For example, imagine that you have a Word doc where there is an anchored image with a text paragraph wrapped around it. If you add some empty lines above the text, the text will be moved down the page. You will notice that the image will also move staying in the same position relative to the text.
The following visual objects can be anchored to the text in your Word files:
- Images;
- Shapes;
- SmartArt;
- Charts;
- TextArt;
- Text boxes;
- Tables.
Let’s take a look at how to add anchors and remove them in Word documents using ONLYOFFICE Document Editor as an example.
How to anchor an object to the text
Inserting an object into your Word document is not enough to tie it to the text. The anchor icon only appears when you insert something and then use the Wrap text feature. Let’s see how it works in practice by wrapping some text around an image.
Step 1. Insert an image
Open your doc with ONLYOFFICE Document Editor. It’s natively compatible with the DOCX format so it easily opens and seamlessly edits any Word file.
To add an image, go to the Insert tab and upload the required picture by choosing the Image option.
Step 2. Wrap the text around the inserted picture
Now that the image has been added, it’s time to wrap the text around it. In ONLYOFFICE Document Editor, you can easily change the wrapping style for inserted objects.
To access the text wrapping options, use one of the following methods:
- Select the inserted image, click the Layout tab and hit the Wrapping button.
- Right-click the inserted picture and select the Wrapping style option from the context menu.
- Access the Advanced image settings in the context menu and choose Text wrapping.
- Opt for one the available text wrapping styles using the corresponding option on the right-side panel.
No matter which method you prefer, just choose the Square style to make the text wrap around the image. If your image is quite big, you might need to reduce its size so that the text completely wraps around it.
After that, you will see … nothing! Don’t worry. To see the anchor symbol, you need to click the Nonprinting characters button on the Home tab. Once you press this button, you will see the anchor in your Word document. What this means is that you have done all the operations correctly, and now the image is anchored to the text wrapped around it.
If you want to learn more about wrapping text in Word docs, please refer to this guide.
How to prevent the anchor icon from showing
If you no longer want to see the anchors in your document, you can easily make them invisible. To do so, go to the Home tab and click the Nonprinting characters button. After you turn off this option, all the anchors and other non-printing characters will become invisible.
Please note that this method just stops the anchor icon from showing and doesn’t influence the anchored objects in your Word document. If you move the text, the anchored object will move accordingly.
How to remove the anchor in Word documents
In case you want an object to stop being tied to the text, you can easily get rid of the anchor in your Word document. To do so, follow the steps below:
- Access the Wrapping style menu with the help of any the methods described above in the How to anchor an object to the text section.
- Select the In line with text option among the wrapping styles.
After selecting this wrapping style, the anchor symbol will disappear. The picture is not anchored now and is considered as another section of text. If you move the text that the image was previously tied to, it will not move remaining in the same position.
To anchor the image again, you can choose any of the wrapping styles other than In line with text.
Add and remove anchors with ONLYOFFICE Document Editor
With ONLYOFFICE Document Editor, you can anchor various visual objects, not only images, and remove anchors in your Word documents both online and offline.
To get started, you can create a free ONLYOFFICE DocSpace account and edit Word documents in your browser. Also, there is a free desktop app for Windows, Linux and macOS that you can download for your PC or laptop from the official website: