The Floating Graphic
Google Docs offers several ways to handle images inserted into a text document. By default, when you paste an image, Docs often sets it to “In line” (meaning it acts like a giant letter character) or “Wrap text” (meaning the text flows around it). However, if an image is set to “Wrap text” or “Break text,” it is anchored to a specific paragraph. If you add five lines of text at the very top of page one, every subsequent paragraph on the page shifts downward, and your carefully positioned image automatically moves down the page with it, destroying your meticulously crafted layout.
Anchoring the Image
To lock an image precisely where you put it and stop Google Docs from automatically moving it when you type or edit surrounding text, you must change its positioning property to an absolute page anchor.
First, click directly on the image you want to lock in place. A small floating toolbar will appear immediately beneath the image. This toolbar shows the text wrapping options (In line, Wrap text, Break text, Behind text, In front of text). You must select either Wrap text or Break text for the anchoring options to appear. Once you select one of those, look for a new dropdown menu that appears in the toolbar, usually defaulting to “Move with text.” Click this dropdown and change it to Fix position on page. Once this is selected, the image is divorced from the paragraph flow; you can type above it, and the image will remain frozen in its exact coordinate location on the page.