It is useful to be able to mirror or flip an image if you are printing it on an iron-on transfer paper for transferring it to fabric, parchment, or wax paper.
Although Word does not have great photo editing features, it allows rudimentary functions like rotating images, shapes, or text you have embedded in documents.
What happens to text, images, and shapes when you rotate them, flip them horizontally, or flip them vertically?
Notice that flipping does not affect images much―you can still recognize the image. However, flipping changes the character of the text entirely―you need a mirror to read the flipped text. That is why the term mirroring for text.
Word allows flipping images and shapes directly, but for mirroring text, Word requires that you enclose the text within a Text Box, and use 3-D rotation. We will show you two ways how you can mirror or flip an object:
- Flipping images and shapes
- Mirroring text
Let us see how to do all the above.
Method #1: Mirroring/flipping images and shapes
Step #1: Open the Word document
Open the Word document containing the image and/or shape that you want to manipulate.
Step #2: Select the object
Click on the object (image or shape) you want to mirror/flip to select it.
Step #3: Open the Rotate menu
Click on the Layout tab in the top menu bar to change the ribbon. In the Arrange section, click on Rotate to open a drop-down menu.
Word offers five choices:
- Rotate Right 90°—rotate the object clockwise by 90-degrees.
- Rotate Left 90°—rotate the object anti-clockwise by 90-degrees.
- Flip Vertical—flip the object upside down.
- Flip Horizontal—flip the object from left to right (mirror the object).
- More Rotation Options—rotate the object by any angle between 0° and 359.9°.
Step #4: Flip the Object
Hover the cursor on Flip Vertical. Word will flip the object upside down. Click on Flip Vertical to make the change permanent. Click on Flip Vertical again to revert.
Step #5: Mirror the Object
Hover the cursor on Flip Horizontal. Word will mirror the object from left to right. Click on Flip Horizontal to make the change permanent. Click on Flip Horizontal again to revert.
Method #2: Mirroring text
Step #1: Open the Word document
Open the Word document in which you want to enclose text within a text box and mirror/flip it.
Step #2: Create a text box
Click on the Insert tab in the top menu bar to change the ribbon. In the Text section, click on the tiny down arrow next to Text Box to open a pop-out choice of built-in text boxes.
Step #3: Insert a text box
Click to select one of the text boxes from the choices offered by Word, or click on Draw Text Box. Word will insert a text box in the document, with instructions inside.
Step #4: Modify the text in the box
You can modify the text inside the box to your requirements and resize the box. Drag the text box to a suitable location.
Step #5: Select the text box
Click on the text box boundary to select it. Right click anywhere on the object to open a menu.
Step #6: Open Format Shape dialog
Click on Format Shape at the bottom of the menu to open the Format Shape dialog on the right.
Step #6: Open 3D-Rotation dialog
Under Shape Options, click on Effects to open the Effects dialog. Then click on 3-D Rotation to expand the menu. Word allows entering three numbers:
- X Rotation—enter a number for rotating the text along the X-axis between 0° and 359.9°
- Y Rotation—enter a number for rotating the text along the Y-axis between 0° and 359.9°
- Z Rotation—enter a number for rotating the text along the Z-axis between 0° and 359.9°
Step #6: Mirror the text
Click in the space next to X Rotation and enter 180. Word will mirror the text horizontally inside the text box. Click on Reset to revert.
Click in the space next to Y Rotation and enter 180. Word will mirror the text vertically inside the text box. Click on Reset to revert.
During mirroring/flipping, Word fills the background of the text box with grey. To remove the fill, click on Fill and Line under Shape Options. Click on Fill to open a list of choices and select No fill.
Step #7: Return to document
Close the Format Shape dialog by clicking on X in the top right-hand corner. Word will return to the document.
Conclusion
Word offers easy ways to flip or mirror an object embedded in a document. The object can be text, image, or shape.
However, the process for mirroring/flipping text is different from that for image and/or shapes. Simply follow the steps above to mirror/flip as necessary.