How to Create a Photo Collage in Publisher

It seems computers have replaced almost everything these days, including regular old glue and scissors. Now you can even make a photo collage on the computer, with just Microsoft Publisher, photo editing software, and digital photos.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Microsoft Publisher
• Computer
• Photo editing software
• Digital photos
• Patience!

1. To start, creating your collage is much easier if your pictures are pre-cropped. If you do not have such software, you can roughly crop your photos in Publisher by right clicking on it (each individually, as you go along), choosing "Format Picture," then "Picture" and "Crop From."
2. Save all the photos you wish to use in a single folder. This will make them easier to organize.
3. Open a new Publisher file. Choose "Full Page." You can change the size of the page by going to "File" then "Page Setup" if you'd like it bigger than the standard 8.5x11.
4. Set the page view (on the toolbar towards the top) to 100%.
5. Start inserting pictures by clicking on "Insert" then "Picture" then "From file." Choose the files you want to add one by one.
6. Change the background to a different color so that the white space isn't so glaring when finished. You can do this by going to "Format" then "Background" and picking a color.
7. Use the blue/gray space on your page as a clipboard and the page as your canvas. Once you insert all the pictures, you can begin resizing them and arranging them.
8. To resize a picture, right click on it and choose "Format Picture" then "Size" and either scale it down or choose dimensions. Remember to keep it proportionate!
9. Layer your pictures on the page, just like a regular collage. Sometimes pictures will appear to be "stuck" behind other pictures. To fix this, simply right click and the press "Cut" followed by "Paste." This will bring it to the front.
10. Keep adding pictures until you have a complete page!

Tips & Warnings

• Making the pictures different sizes gives your collage a more interesting look.
• If you have advanced photo editing software, you can make creative edges for your pictures.
• Add text my inserting text boxes randomly throughout your collage. It's great for adding quotes or names to your craft.
• This is very time-consuming and often frustrating.