I assume that you have once wanted to insert an image from another program into your document. I am not referring to the file that contains the appropriate data, but to the appearance of the program itself, its desktop. Until now, this was only possible with the help of special programs such as Snag It, because Word did not have the corresponding function. This shortcoming has since been fixed, which means that you can directly insert an image from another program into Word. You can choose between displaying the entire screen or the part occupied by the selected program.

In this lesson, as an example, I will use the instructions for use of one of the functions that are characteristic of Excel – graph creation. This kind of document implies that, in addition to the text, appropriate illustrations, screen images that follow the course of this operation, appear in it. Since there is already enough text on the document, I will immediately move on to adding illustrations. To that end, I will open an Excel table and immediately select cells with data that should be included in the composition of the future chart. After that, if I return to Word and place the cursor in the place where I want to place the illustration, I have no choice but to click on the icon called Screenshot and select the image that originates from Excel. As you can see, Word will automatically download the entire content of the screen and insert it in the designated place. This was really efficient, but I would still like that instead of an illustration that covers the entire surface of the screen, only a smaller part of it, the part of the table that contains the corresponding data, would appear in this place. To correct this, I will first remove this image by pressing the Delete key and start the Screenshot command again from the Insert section. Now I can choose the Screen Clipping option instead of one of the offered screens and return to Excel. As you can see, the entire surface of the screen now looks like someone has draped a white blanket over it. This means that the program expects me to select the appropriate segment and thus determine the part I want to use as an illustration. I will frame the entire table because it seems to me that this will be the best solution. As soon as I release the left mouse button, Word will automatically insert the selected part of the screen into the document, which means that the entire process has been successfully completed.

I can create the following illustration in the same way. Since in the second step the user is expected to go to the Insert section first and then to start the Column function, I will check that the cursor is in the right place and immediately go to the Screen Clipping function. If I then select the appropriate part of Excel’s toolbar and transfer this image to Word, I believe that the future user of this instruction will easily understand what it is about. If you think that this will not be enough, you can always add an arrow that will point to the corresponding icon.

Since this is an ordinary picture for Word, you can freely use all the functions found in the Picture Tools section of the toolbar. This, of course, means that you can add a shadow to it or frame it so that it is more easily distinguished from its surroundings. If this is not enough for you, click on the button in the right corner and display all the options available to you.

In the same way, you can transfer the content of any website to your document. To show you how to do this, I’m going to open a new document and immediately switch to Internet Explorer. Since the appropriate Web page is already there, I can freely return to Word, start the Screenshot function and choose to display the entire screen or a specific segment. Since I prefer the second option, I will click on the Screen Clipping option and frame only one of the pictures that are there. After that, it won’t be difficult for me to apply some of the effects or use this illustration in some other way.