Word Images to Gallery · Your App Cloud
Make a photo gallery from a Word document
Upload the document, choose the sections that become albums and split each caption into date, place and credit. Then compare the photos with your originals, because Word may have shrunk them.
From pictures placed on a page to photos people can browse.
Choose the pictures that count, say what each caption holds, then hold the gallery up against the document and the original files.
01
Name the albums and the pictures to skip
Attach the Word file with the upload button above. In the prompt, name the headings that become albums, such as Main Street or The River Landing. Then list what isn't a photo of the subject: the logo in the header, icons beside headings, a chart, a signature.
02
Say what each caption holds
A document caption often packs several facts into one line, such as 'Main Street, about 1925. Lent by a local family.' Say which part is the date, the place and the credit. Say where 'about 1925' or '1950s' should sort, and whether albums follow the document's order or the dates.
03
Compare the gallery with the file and the originals
Open the preview beside the document. Count each album's photos against its section, read five captions under their photos, and open three photos at full size next to the original files. Then decide which albums are public and which need sign-in, and publish.
What each picture and caption becomes.
Read across each row: the part of the Word document, where it can go in the gallery, and how to confirm it. The quoted text is a made-up sample from a local history society's photo document in Petaluma, California.
| In your Word document | In the gallery | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Heading 1 sections, such as 'Main Street', 'The River Landing' and 'Schools' | An album for each, with the heading as its title and the section's opening paragraph as its description | Count the photos under each heading in Word and in the matching album. A photo placed just before a heading can land in the wrong album, so look at the first and last photo of every album. |
| A photo table: two pictures to a row, with a caption in the cell under each | Separate photos, each with its own caption, in the order you read the table: left to right, then down | Compare the table's first two rows with the album's first four photos. Check that no caption sits under the photo beside it, and that an empty cell at the end of the table didn't become a blank photo. |
| Captions made with References, Insert Caption, such as 'Figure 12: Main Street looking north, about 1925', and lines like 'see Figure 4' or 'the photo opposite' | The caption under its photo, without the 'Figure 12' label unless the society uses it as a catalog number. Where text says 'see Figure 4', a link to that photo instead | Figure numbers follow the document's order, so they stop making sense once an album sorts by date. Search the captions and album descriptions for 'Figure', 'opposite', 'above' and 'below', and replace each hit with a link or the photo's place and date. |
| A caption with several facts in one line: 'Petaluma Boulevard, 1948. Courtesy of the Romero family.' | Separate fields for date, place and credit, which an album can sort and filter by | Sort one album by date and see where 'about 1925', '1950s' and undated photos land. Open a credited photo at full size and check that the credit shows there too, not only on the grid. |
| A photo that text wraps around, grouped with its caption so the two move together on the page | One photo with its caption, like every other photo in the album | Find the photos in the document that have text flowing around them. Look each one up in the gallery and check that it kept its caption, since that caption isn't an ordinary line of text under the photo. |
| Alt text typed in Word's Alt Text pane, or written by 'Generate a description for me' | Alt text on each photo, which a screen reader reads aloud in place of the image | Don't assume Word's alt text came across. Open five photos and read theirs. Replace vague lines such as 'a group of people standing outside a building' with what the photo records: the school, the year, the occasion. |
| Photos Word compressed when the file was saved, or cropped with 'Delete cropped areas of pictures' selected | Photos that may hold less detail than the files you started from | In Word, right-click a photo and choose Save as Picture. Compare the saved file's pixel width with the original's. If the document's copy is smaller, upload the original in its place. |
| A photo inserted with Link to File | Nothing, unless you upload the photo itself: the document stores where the file was, not the picture | Email the document to yourself and open it on a device that has never had the photos. A picture missing there was probably linked, so add that photo to the gallery separately. |
| The society's logo in the header, divider lines and the small icons beside each heading | Left out of the gallery | Scroll every album from start to finish once. Anything that isn't a photo of the subject, including a logo repeated on every page, comes out. |
Pictures in Word are sized for the page they sit on.
A gallery can show a photo far larger than the printed page did, so whatever Word did to it shows too. Check these before you upload, and gather what the document can't supply.
Word's picture settings
In Word for Windows, open File, Options, Advanced and find Image Size and Quality. Unless 'Do not compress images in file' was selected or the default resolution set to High fidelity, Word may have reduced each photo to suit the page. Changing the setting now won't restore detail that's already gone.
Crops that removed part of a photo
Compress Pictures, on the Picture Format tab, can delete the cropped areas of pictures, and Word can't restore them afterward. If a crop cut off something the gallery should show, such as a storefront sign or a date stamped on a print, use the original file.
Captions typed as ordinary text
Captions made with Insert Caption use Word's Caption style. Captions typed as plain paragraphs can look alike on paper but carry no such mark. If your document mixes the two, say where captions sit: under the photo, above it, or in the table cell below.
Originals, named to match
Collect the original photo files from the camera, the phone or the donor's copy, and name each one after its caption number, such as Figure-12. A replacement for a soft photo can then be matched by its name rather than by eye.
An illustrative starting point
Photos to browse, not pages to scroll.
Albums from your document's sections, one photo per record with its caption, date, place and credit, and a large view with alt text.
Albums from your headings
Ask for an album for each section you pick, with a cover photo, the heading as its title and a short description. Someone looking for the river landing then opens that album, instead of scrolling past Main Street and Schools to reach it.
Captions split into fields
With date, place and credit each in a field of their own, an album can sort by year or show every photo taken on Main Street. Decide where approximate dates sort before you trust the order.
A large view for every photo
Ask for a large view: the photo at full size with its caption and credit, alt text for screen readers, and a way to step to the next one. A compressed Word copy is most visible here, so check your widest photos in this view.
Search by caption and place
Ask for a search box that looks in the caption and the place field, for words such as cannery or parade. Try words from captions you know, then one you know isn't there, and check that it finds nothing.
Together in your app cloud
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Choose the models and services that support the experience you want to create.
File storage
A home for your documents and media
Database
Keep data and context for apps and agents
Vision models
Make sense of images and documents
Authentication
Give the right people access
A little more context
Good questions.
Do I need to take the pictures out of Word first?
Try the document first. Attach it, name the sections and pictures you want, and check each album in the preview against the file. Look first at photos laid out in tables, photos with text wrapped around them and photos that may be linked. For any photo that's missing or soft, upload its original file. To save one photo out of Word, right-click it and choose Save as Picture.
Did Word lower the quality of my photos?
Possibly. Unless compression was turned off, Word may have reduced each photo toward the size it had on the page when the file was saved. A picture shrunk to a quarter-page can lose a lot of detail, and a gallery can show it far larger than the page did. Replace a soft photo with its original file, and look at your widest photos on a large screen before publishing.
Does the alt text I wrote in Word come across?
Check rather than assume: open several photos and read their alt text. For photos that have none, a Vision model inside the app can draft alt text and captions; check first that your app can use one. A person reads each draft beside its photo and corrects what a picture alone can't tell, such as the year, the street or who lent it. Model usage is metered separately.
Does a 'Courtesy of' credit mean I can put a photo online?
No. 'Courtesy of' records who lent a photo, not that they agreed to it going online. A photo in a Word file may also have been copied from a website or lent for one printed edition. Ask the owner first, and keep recognizable people, such as a class photo, out of public albums until you have permission.
Can some albums be private?
Yes. Albums that only some people may open need sign-in, with the access you describe for each collection, such as public albums and members' albums, which makes the gallery an app with data. A gallery of public albums with no sign-in can be a one-page site. Test a members' album signed out, then signed in as someone who shouldn't see it.
How do I add photos after the first upload?
The upload is a snapshot, so photos added to the Word file later won't appear in the gallery. Add new photos in Studio and publish again. You can also add an upload form for people who sign in, such as members sending donated photos; upload a test photo and check it lands in the right album. Photos take file storage, so compare the collection's size with your plan's storage on the pricing page.
Can the person who keeps the photo document look after the gallery?
Yes, as an editor of the published gallery: give the volunteer who catalogs new donations a sign-in that can add photos and fix captions. People who only browse, or sign in to see members' albums, get less. Edits made in the gallery don't change the Word file, so agree that the gallery is now the master copy.
Explore Pricing for plans, included capabilities, and usage details.
Keep exploring.
Plan a gallery with public and private albums ↗
See the outcome and the capabilities behind it.
Keep site photos in an inspection log ↗
When your report's photos record defects to fix, not things to show, give each one a status and an owner instead of a place in an album.
Understand data and context ↗
Give information the right place in your app.
Prepare to publish ↗
Check the experience you will share.
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