How to Add Text Boxes and Images to a Word Label Template

This guide works with every Dashleigh Word template, on Word for Windows and Word for Mac (Microsoft 365, 2021 and 2019). Menu names are shown for both where they differ. You will need your template open: download it from your template page (the number is on your label pack) and choose the Word file.

Before you start: show the label outlines

Each Dashleigh Word template is a table, with one cell for each label. Some versions of Word hide the table lines when the file opens, which leaves you designing on a blank page.

1. Click anywhere inside the template.
2. Windows: go to the Table Layout tab (or Layout under Table Tools) and click View Gridlines.
   Mac: go to the Table Layout tab and click View Gridlines, or use the menu bar: Table > View Gridlines.

If Word shows a message that the file is in an older format when you add a picture, click Convert. It only updates your open copy, and the layout stays the same.

The dotted lines show on screen only. They do not print.

Step 1: Add your image and set it to In Front of Text

When you insert a picture, Word places it In Line with Text: it sits in the text like a letter and moves whenever anything around it changes. That is why images jump.

1. Click inside the first label, then go to Insert > Pictures and choose your logo or artwork.
2. With the picture selected, open the Picture Format tab and click Wrap Text.
3. Choose In Front of Text. Use Behind Text instead for a background image that text sits on top of.
4. Open Wrap Text again and click Fix Position on Page.

You can now drag the picture anywhere on the label, and it stays where you put it.

Step 2: Put your words in a text box

Typing straight into the label works for one line, but the text shifts the picture and cannot be rotated or placed freely. A text box behaves like a picture: you can move it, rotate it and layer it over artwork.

1. Go to Insert > Text Box > Draw Text Box and drag a box onto the label.
2. Type your text and set the font, size and color.
3. On the Shape Format tab, set Shape Fill to No Fill and Shape Outline to No Outline, so only the words print.
4. Set Wrap Text to In Front of Text and Fix Position on Page, the same as the picture.

Use one text box per line or block (brand name, product name, net weight), so each can be moved on its own. If a text box will not rotate, see why a text box won't rotate in Word.

Step 3: Position and size things exactly (optional)

Dragging is fine for most labels. For a logo that has to sit in exactly the same spot on every label, set the position in inches.

1. Select the picture or text box, then click Wrap Text > More Layout Options.
2. On the Position tab, set Absolute position for horizontal and vertical, measured to the right of Page and below Page.
3. Uncheck Move object with text and check Lock anchor.
4. On the Size tab, type the height or width in inches and check Lock aspect ratio, so the image does not stretch.

The top and side margins and the gap between labels for your sheet are listed on your template page, so you can work out where each label starts.

Step 4: Group the label, then copy it to every label on the sheet

Once the first label looks right, turn its pieces into one object so it copies as a unit.

1. Click the picture, then hold Shift and click each text box and image in that label.
2. On the Picture Format or Shape Format tab, click Group > Group.
3. Copy it: Ctrl+C on Windows, Cmd+C on a Mac.
4. Click inside the next label and paste: Ctrl+V or Cmd+V. Drag the copy into place.
5. Repeat for each label on the sheet.

If Shift-click will not select a piece, first check that it is not still In Line with Text. If it still won't select (common on a Mac when the label sits inside the template table), click Selection Pane on the Picture Format tab, click the first item in the list, then Shift-click the rest. Group them from there.

Adding a full-page background

For a color or pattern across the whole sheet, so it runs to the edge of every label:

1. For a solid color, go to Insert > Shape > Rectangle and drag it across the whole page. For a pattern or photo, use Insert > Pictures instead.
2. For a rectangle, set Shape Fill to your color and Shape Outline to No Outline.
3. Set Wrap Text to Behind Text.
4. Drag the corners to the edges of the page. Word may keep a picture inside the label you inserted it into at first; drag it out to the page edges.
5. Open the Selection Pane and click Send Backward until the background is the last item in the list. Last in the list means it sits behind everything, so your labels show on top.

If your text shows on white boxes over the background, those text boxes still have a fill. Select each one and set Shape Fill to No Fill (Step 2).

Home printers cannot print to the very edge, so a thin unprinted strip around the sheet is normal. It falls in the margin, outside the labels.

Stop Word from moving pictures for good

If you make labels often, change Word's default so every new picture arrives as In Front of Text:

• Windows: File > Options > Advanced. Under Cut, copy, and paste, set Insert/paste pictures as to In front of text.
• Mac: Word > Preferences (or Settings) > Edit, and set Insert/paste pictures as to In Front of Text.

Print a test page first

Before loading your label sheets, print one page on plain paper and hold it against a label sheet up to a light. In the print window, set the scale to 100% or Actual Size, never Fit to Page. If the design sits off the labels, see how to print labels that line up.

If it still isn't working

• The image won't move at all: it is still In Line with Text. Select it and change Wrap Text.
• Pasted labels land in the wrong place: click inside the target label before pasting, then drag the copy into place. Fix Position on Page keeps it there.
• The outlines print: those are the table borders, not the gridlines. Select the table, then on the Table Design tab set Borders to No Border.
• Clicks on the page don't seem to work (Mac): a writing assistant such as Grammarly can sit over Word documents. Turn it off from its menu bar icon while you design.
• The whole layout shifted: press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z) to undo, or download a fresh copy of the template from your template page.

Would you rather design in a browser? Every Dashleigh template also opens in Canva, with free ready-made designs in the free label design directory.

Still stuck? Email customerservice@dashleigh.com with your template number and a screenshot, and we will help.