[Solved] Images in document need to be rotated

[gabby362]

Some of my pictures in my document are landscape instead of portrait. Can I rotate the pictures? When I right click on the image, the corners do turn green. A YouTube video says to make the green points turn red and then drag it around with the mouse. But the directions to do this aren't on my version of OpenOffice. If there is no rotation solution, can I delete the picture and reinsert it right side up? I just started using OpenOffice with a document I started in WPS, but that WPS ruined. It is so important to me (documenting my husband's last two months in Hospice dying from pancreatic cancer) that I sent copies to myself by e-mail each time I worked on it so it does open in OpenOffice the right way with the latest revisions on it. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[MrProgrammer]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Can I rotate the pictures?

One cannot rotate pictures in Writer, however one can put them in a Draw document (File → New → Drawing), rotate them there (Modify → Rotate), and then copy them to the Writer document.

It is so important to me … that I sent copies to myself by e-mail each time I worked on it …

You are wise to make multiple backups of an important document. Sending copies to an online email system also protects you against hardware problems with your computer, or physical damage to the room it is in, since one can just acquire a new computer and access the email system from it, assuming one knows the ID/password for the system. Some people put copies of important documents (say, list of online passwords) on external devices (USB drive or CD/DVD) then store the device in one's safety deposit box at the bank. Or one could just print the list and put the piece of paper in the box. Any backup is better than no backup. When keeping multiple backups, it is helpful to date them to facilitate finding the right one. For example one would put the DVD in an envelope with the date outside.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[gabby362]

Thank you. I wonder why they don't make an easy rotation feature in OpenOffice. Other Office software has it. That suggestion on dating the newest copy is worthwhile. Of course, when I e-mail myself a copy, the date is on the e-mail but I also have lots of thumb drives and bigger external hard drives so the dating thing will be helpful.

[RoryOF]

There is an extension to make timed and dated backups.

You can download it from
https://extensions.libreoffice.org/exte ... amp-backup

Note that you must invoke it separately using its button; it does not replace the standard save mechanism.

[gabby362]

Interesting. I just downloaded Libreoffice today and when I opened my document the pictures were all appropriately turned in the right direction. I haven't had a chance to explore it but it probably has the backup feature you mention. I like my backup system better by e-mailing latest rendition to myself though because I can open - and save - my file from anywhere on any computer, even the library, and download it to any device.

[John_Ha]

See [Tutorial] Some useful hints on using images for a discussion on how best to handle images in Writer.

[gabby362]

Thanks for everyone's replies to my problem. I think I am able to finish my document now and get it printed and bound for my kids. I worked on my document yesterday afternoon in LibreOffice and added more images to it. I was amazed that one of the images got a message that it needed to be rotated and did I want the LibreOffice to rotate it for me! I clicked yes, and there it was in my document upright and appropriate. So user friendly. More user friendly than even Word which I used for years before they became so out of reach. I started my document in WPS Write which messed it up with double columns of my pages after two months of work. In desperation I tried OpenOffice which is so user unfriendly, it is a complicated and exaggerated effort to simply rotate a picture. Again, in desperation, I downloaded my last hope, LibreOffice. Wow! I have restored thousands of old faded, torn family pictures over the last 20 years in a lot of different editing programs so I am used to working with images. It is a simple operation to rotate a picture. In this day and age, it is really strange that OpenOffice does not address this problem.

[John_Ha]

I was amazed that one of the images got a message that it needed to be rotated and did I want the LibreOffice to rotate it for me!

Some images contain rotation information but others don't.

I downloaded my last hope, LibreOffice

It's not your last hope. It is always much better to process images in an image editor before inserting them into a document as you can then control them. See the Tutorial for an explanation.

[gabby362]

I always process my pictures in my image editor before I use them in a document or post them to genealogy sites. When I opened my WPS document in OpenOffice, it was OpenOffice that flipped some of them on their side. I did read the tutorial the first day I began struggling with this. Makes no common sense for OpenOffice to be so difficult to use. The creators need to work on a solution. It should be as simple as a click to rotate an image. Thanks.

[bobaroni]

Thanks for the above it helps. I used Modify --> Rotate and couldn't get 90 degrees. Is there a Snap To feature, that I didn't see?

Thanks in advance

[Hagar Delest]

Have you done that in Draw as said in the first reply?
Pressing the Shift key should rotate by predefined angle, it should be possible to get the 90° easily.

[bobaroni]

Ah, the way to do it is to press the Shift key.
Thank you.