Floating Objects

• May 22, 2020
• 3 minutes to read

The object in a document can be anchored in one of two ways: either inline, which means that the object is displayed within the text stream, or floating. Floating means that the object is strictly positioned, absolutely or relatively within the document, disregarding the text flow. To specify how text flows around the object, the text wrapping type is used.

To insert a floating picture into the document, use the InsertFloatingObjectPictureCommand command accessible at the Insert -> Illustrations command button group in in bar or Ribbon UI. Note that a different command is used to insert inline pictures.

To insert a floating text box, use the InsertFloatingObjectPictureCommand command accessible at the Insert -> Text command button group in bar or Ribbon UI.

A floating object is anchored to a document range, but can be positioned anywhere on the page that contains the anchor. When you insert a floating object in a certain document position, the anchor is located at the beginning of the first paragraph that contains the specified position.

End-users can drag, resize and rotate floating objects using selection handles. The Floating Object Layout Dialog enables end-users to change the position of an object, to specify how the text is wrapped around the object and rotate the object to a certain degree.

A number of commands is available on the Picture Tools Ribbon page or a command bar of the same name. The commands enable you to modify the fill and outline of floating objects and to specify how they are positioned in the document.

Ribbon Page Group	Commands
	ChangeFloatingObjectFillColorCommand ChangeFloatingObjectOutlineColorCommand ChangeFloatingObjectOutlineWidthCommand
	Wrap Type: SetFloatingObjectBehindTextWrapTypeCommand SetFloatingObjectInFrontOfTextWrapTypeCommand SetFloatingObjectSquareTextWrapTypeCommand SetFloatingObjectThroughTextWrapTypeCommand SetFloatingObjectTightTextWrapTypeCommand SetFloatingObjectTopAndBottomTextWrapTypeCommand Position: SetFloatingObjectBottomCenterAlignmentCommand SetFloatingObjectBottomLeftAlignmentCommand SetFloatingObjectBottomRightAlignmentCommand SetFloatingObjectMiddleCenterAlignmentCommand SetFloatingObjectMiddleLeftAlignmentCommand SetFloatingObjectMiddleRightAlignmentCommand SetFloatingObjectTopCenterAlignmentCommand SetFloatingObjectTopLeftAlignmentCommand SetFloatingObjectTopRightAlignmentCommand Bring Forward: FloatingObjectBringForwardCommand FloatingObjectBringInFrontOfTextCommand FloatingObjectBringToFrontCommand Send Backward: FloatingObjectSendBackwardCommand FloatingObjectSendBehindTextCommand FloatingObjectSendToBackCommand

You can access and manipulate floating objects in code via the corresponding API. Classes relevant to floating objects are listed in the following table.

Object	Description	Exposed by
Shape	An object that can be placed above and below the text layer of the document, as well as within the document, with text surrounding it.	SubDocument.InsertPicture SubDocument.InsertTextBox ShapeCollection.Item
ShapeCollection	A collection of shapes in a document.	SubDocument.GetShapes
ShapeRelativeHorizontalPosition	Specifies to what the horizontal position of a shape is relative.	Shape.RelativeHorizontalPosition
ShapeRelativeVerticalPosition	Specifies to what the vertical position of a shape is relative.	Shape.RelativeVerticalPosition
ShapeHorizontalAlignment	Specifies the horizontal alignment of a shape.	Shape.HorizontalAlignment
ShapeVerticalAlignment	Specifies the type of vertical alignment to apply.	Shape.VerticalAlignment
ShapeLine	Contains formatting information for the shape's border.	Shape.Line
ShapeFill	Fill formatting for a shape.	Shape.Fill
OfficeImage	Gets a picture residing in the floating object.	Shape.Picture
SubDocument	Provides access to content of the text box.	TextBox.Document