Publisher: how best to flow images and captions with text?

[Dr. Bunsen]

Hello all,

First post, be gentle! I'm laying out a textbook I'm writing, combining text with a library of images I've built up on the topic. I'm at the stage where I need to bring the text and images together to finalise the sequence and the text, describing features and procedures shown in the images. Not a publishing professional, but have experience of laying out brochures, newsletters, and booklets over many years. I started with DTP in the 1980's by teaching myself Xerox Ventura in order to lay out a monthly association magazine. Really impressed by Publisher.

For the bulk of the content, I've chosen a page layout with text in a 2/3 width inner column closest to spine, with a 1/3 outer column left blank. Images are generally inserted either in the outer 1/3 (caption above/below) or inner 2/3 (caption in the outer 1/3), as shown below.

I know there are feature requests outstanding for caption handling. Currently I'm grouping the image with its caption (image wrap set to 'jump') then floating the group with the text. As text is added and sections re-ordered, I am being tormented by having to re-arrange images and captions as they are retaining their previous relative positioning as the text moves, often throwing them off the page, or putting image/caption over a facing page and disrupting text flow there, etc. Using sections for chapters is containing the re-flow issues to an extent, but still these sections are tens of pages.

Is there a better way of handling the images?

Thanks

[Old Bruce]

Hi and welcome to the forums @Dr. Bunsen,

Short answer: You have too many pictures.

You have chosen to pin a group (image and caption) that is more than half the height of the page to text. I think you just don't have enough space to have these groups pinned to text. Where is the second picture on the left page supposed to go.

[Dr. Bunsen]

Thanks Bruce. Yes, I agree that page looks cluttered as it is, but it was an example of both types of image/caption arrangements that I'm juggling. I could delete one side image but still the general 'how to handle repeated re-flow gracefully' question remains.

I've started adding image placeholders so that the text is re-flowed around them once, the idea being that I work through a section (chapter) at a time and take the hit of disrupting and fixing any current image layout now on the assumption that the use of placeholders will reduce the ongoing work.