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Guide · Site visits and photos

How to make a photo report in Word: photos, captions and a small file

By Blink Brief · Updated  · How pages are made

Insert a table with 2 columns, put one photo in each cell with its note typed underneath, and the photos stay where you put them. If the report needs numbered captions such as "Figure 1", use References › Insert Caption. Before you email it, shrink the file with Picture Format › Compress Pictures, then save it as a PDF.

Short answer

  • Layout: Insert › Table, 2 columns. One photo per cell, In Line with Text, the note under it.
  • Numbers: References › Captions › Insert Caption.
  • Smaller file: Picture Format › Adjust › Compress Pictures, with Apply only to this picture cleared.
  • Send: File › Save a Copy › PDF.

A table grid that keeps photos in place

A picture dropped straight onto a page moves when the text above it changes, and 30 of them soon pile up. A table gives each photo a fixed place. Microsoft's steps:

  1. Select Insert › Table and move the pointer over the grid until 2 columns and the rows you want are highlighted. For more rows than the grid shows, select Insert › Table › Insert Table and type the numbers. Half as many rows as photos, rounded up, gives 2 photos a row.
  2. Click in the first cell, then select Insert › Pictures › This Device, pick the photo, and select Insert.
  3. Leave the picture's wrapping at In Line with Text. Microsoft notes that any other wrapping lets you drag the picture around the page, which is what you don't want here.
  4. To make it smaller, select the picture and drag a corner handle.
  5. Click just after the picture, press Enter, and type the note for that photo under it, in the same cell.

Two columns keep each photo big enough to see damage or a meter reading on a letter or A4 page. For a report where every photo needs a long note, use one photo per row and put the note in the second column instead.

Captions: a note under each, or References › Insert Caption

A note typed under the photo is enough for most site reports. Use Word's captions when the report refers to photos by number ("see Figure 12"), because Word numbers them and can renumber them. Microsoft's steps:

  1. Select the picture.
  2. On the References tab, in the Captions group, select Insert Caption.
  3. In the Label list, choose Figure, or select New Label and type your own, such as Photo.
  4. Type the text that should follow the number, such as ": Water stain, hall ceiling", and select OK.

Word renumbers when you insert a caption, but not when you delete or move one. Then select the whole document (Ctrl+A) and press F9. If a caption shows code like {SEQ Figure \* ARABIC}, press Alt+F9. Pictures in a table cell are In Line with Text, so you don't need Microsoft's extra step for floating pictures: that one is for a picture with text wrapping, where you set the wrapping before adding the caption and then group picture and caption.

Shrink the file: Compress Pictures

A phone photo is several megabytes, so a 30-photo report can be too big to email. Compress the pictures once they are all in:

  1. Select a picture. If the Picture Format tab doesn't appear, double-click the picture.
  2. On the Picture Format tab, select Compress Pictures in the Adjust group. On a narrow window it shows as an icon without a label.
  3. Clear Apply only to this picture, so every picture in the report is compressed.
  4. Under Resolution, choose a lower one, then select OK.

Microsoft says the default picture resolution in Microsoft 365 is 220 ppi, and that compressing can lose detail, so keep the original photos in case someone asks for one. Compress Pictures is in the desktop apps only, not in Word for the web. We couldn't run Word for this guide, so we don't list the resolution names: pick the lowest that still shows what each photo has to show.

Date and place on each photo

A report is stronger when each photo says when it was taken, without the reader having to open the original files. Add it in one of two ways:

  • In the note: type the date, the time and the place, such as "Oct 28, 2026, 9:15 AM, unit 4B kitchen". To find the date a photo was taken, see how to see when a photo was taken, which has a free reader that checks the file in your browser.
  • On the photo: stamp the date on a copy before you insert it with Photo Timestamp, which uses the date saved in each photo. It stamps the date and time only, not the place.

Save as PDF and send

Send a PDF, not the Word file: it looks the same on the client's phone and is harder to change by accident. Microsoft's steps in Word for Windows:

  1. Select File › Save a Copy (or Save As, if you haven't saved the report yet).
  2. Select Browse and choose where to save it.
  3. In the drop-down list, select PDF, then select Save.

Microsoft also points out that a PDF can still be opened and edited in programs such as Word, so a PDF is not a seal. Keep your own copy of what you sent, with the date you sent it.

When Word is too slow: a report tool

Word makes sense when you already work in it at a desk. On a site visit, with photos on your phone, a tool built for photo reports skips the table, the resizing and the compressing. Our free Inspection Report tool works in the phone's browser with no sign-up:

  • Each item gets a photo, a status (OK, Needs attention or Fail) and a note, and the summary counts the three.
  • Photos are turned upright and reduced to at most 1600 pixels on the long side on your device, so the PDF stays small enough to email. They are never uploaded.
  • Your company name and logo go at the top, the client can sign on the screen, and you download a Letter or A4 PDF. It loads its PDF library from a public code server (cdnjs), and each page carries a small "Made with Blink Brief" line.

It has no Word-style captions or figure numbers, and it doesn't save the report after you close the tab, so download the PDF first. For a step-by-step on site, see how to make an inspection report with photos on your phone; for move-ins, what to photograph at move-in. If you need the report emailed automatically or shared by a team, our comparison of inspection report apps lists the paid ones.

Questions

How do I make a photo report in Word?

Insert a table with 2 columns (Insert › Table), click in a cell and add a photo with Insert › Pictures › This Device, and type the note for that photo under it in the same cell. Repeat for each photo, then compress the pictures and save the report as a PDF.

How do I add captions to pictures in Word?

For a plain note, type it under the picture. For numbered captions such as "Figure 1", select the picture, then on the References tab, in the Captions group, select Insert Caption, choose the label, type the text after it, and select OK. Word numbers them in order.

How do I reduce the size of a Word document with pictures?

Select a picture, then on the Picture Format tab select Compress Pictures in the Adjust group. Clear Apply only to this picture to compress every picture in the document, choose a resolution, and select OK. Microsoft notes this is in the desktop apps only, not in Word for the web.

Sources

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