How do I put photographs in my memoir?

4 replies

1. MMargaret Holloway1 wk ago

   Good morning Ruth, and welcome. I'm fairly new here too, so I'm afraid I can't give you a proper answer. In Word I used to go to Insert and then Picture, but I haven't needed to do it in ChapterMuse yet. I've just been looking along the top of my chapter and I can't see an obvious button for it, so I'll leave this one to the cleverer people!

   The Porthcawl trips sound lovely. We did Whitby.

   Maggie

2. HHal Brennan1 wk ago

   Evening Ruth. I've a box of family photographs for my own book, so I've been a little way down this road.

   What I do: open Research from the app menu (click the ChapterMuse name at the top), use Import files to bring the scans in, then "Pin to…" and choose the chapter each one belongs to. That keeps every photo sitting beside the right part of the draft.

   Honest caveat, though: I don't think that puts them in the book. It's a filing cabinet, not the page. Someone who has actually exported a book with pictures will know better than me.

3. SSophie Tremayne1 wk ago

   Morning Ruth! I do all my own print files, so I can help with this one. You add the pictures when you export, not while you're writing. Roughly:

   1. Open Export from the app menu.

   2. Choose your memoir, then Word as the file type.

   3. Find the page in the preview where you want the wedding photo and drag the picture file from your computer straight onto it.

   4. Choose how the words sit around it. For a memoir I'd have the text above and below the photo rather than wrapping round it.

   The preview shows you the result before you save anything. Hal's tip is still a good one for keeping the scans organised while you write.

4. PPaul1 wk ago

   Sophie's steps are right. A few additions, since this is a Word file going to a publisher:

   • Pictures are added in Export, not in the chapter itself. Open Export, choose the memoir, then choose Word.

   • Drag the photo from your computer onto the page where you want it. It belongs to the chapter on that page.

   • For a photo on its own, set the text to sit above and below it, and fit it to the text column so it stays inside the margins.

   • Word works out its own page breaks when the publisher opens the file, so a photo may land on a slightly different page from the one in the preview. That is normal for Word files. If the publisher needs to see exactly how you laid it out, export a PDF as well and send both.

   • The Format chooser in Export has an artwork guide you can open if you get stuck.

   What you set is remembered for the book, so you can close Export and carry on writing without losing your photos.

5. RRuth Pritchard1 wk ago

   Diolch yn fawr, all of you. I sat down with a cup of tea yesterday afternoon and followed Sophie's list with the extra notes beside it, and there is Gareth on the chapel steps in 1976, with the words sitting nicely above and below him. I had a little cry. A good one.

   I shall send the PDF as well, as suggested.

   Maggie, Whitby! We went once, in 1981, and it rained the whole week.

   God bless,
   Ruth

6. MMargaret Holloway1 wk ago

   Oh Ruth, that's lovely. It always rains in Whitby, it's part of the charm. I've saved this thread in case I ever need it myself.

   Maggie