Complex Images in Word
Techniques for long descriptions
Several techniques are available to provide long descriptions in Word documents.
On the page
Long descriptions can be provided on the page, next to a complex image or incorporated into surrounding body text. Image captions, footnotes or endnotes may also be used to provide long descriptions. If using footnotes or endnotes, use Word's built-in functionality, available in the Reference tab.
In an appendix
Another alternative for long descriptions is to provide an appendix that contains the long description and hyperlink between the pages in the document. See Microsoft's documentation on linking between pages.
- Create an appendix page with the long description.
- On the page with the complex image, provide a link near the image to view the long description. Link to the appendix page with the long description.
- On the appendix page, create a link to return the reader to the page with the complex image.
Consider this option when providing data tables.
