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Epson Computer Tip: Using a photo as your background page in Word

A hot trend right now is to use an actual photo as the full background, or for most of your scrapbook page. This technique adds an interesting element beyond just a color or a pattern page.

One thing that’s important to note is that your photo needs to be a big enough image file so that the quality, when printed looks crisp and good. So here’s a tip! If all you have is a small 4x6 print of an image that you want to use as big as 12x12, just scan it at a high enough resolution to print at that size. If you tell your scanner how big you want your final print, it’ll figure out the print at that size. If you tell your scanner how big you want your final print, it’ll figure out the math for you. So based on the size and resolution of your original, you may need to scan it first.

If you know how to print a photo, it’s then just a matter of printing to the size of your page. You may use 12x12 pages, in which case you would need to print on a wide format printer, with 12x12 photo paper. Or, may you use letter size pages or 8x8 pages in which case, a letter size photo printer will suit you fine.

You can use any type of photo software to print your photo. But here’s a surprise – you can even use Microsoft word. To print a 12x12 page:

Set page size to print as 12x12. If you’ve not printed this page size you may need to type in the size

• Next, insert a text box, and drag it to fit the whole surface of the page
• Choose, Format Text Box
• Select Fill Effects, under the Color/Lines tab
• Select Picture, and pick the photo you want to place in there
• If you don’t want a line around your page, click on “no line”