The Scratch Area in Publisher – Instructions
The Scratch Area in Publisher: Video Lesson
This video lesson, titled “Publisher for Microsoft 365 Tutorial: How to Use the Scratch Area in Publisher,” shows how to use the scratch area in Publisher. This video is from our complete Publisher tutorial, titled Mastering Publisher Made Easy™.
Overview:
The scratch area in Publisher is the space surrounding your publication. You use the scratch area in Publisher to store pictures or shapes. If you insert multiple pictures at the same time using either the “Insert Picture” dialog box or the “Online Pictures” window in Publisher, it adds the selected pictures into a column within the scratch area to the right of the publication page.
To add pictures from the scratch area to a page in Publisher, click and drag the pictures from the scratch area into the publication pages. Conversely, to remove a picture and add it to the scratch area in Publisher, click and drag a picture off a publication page and then drop it into the scratch area.
To swap pictures in the scratch area with existing pictures in the publication pages, click to select a picture in the scratch area. Then hover your mouse pointer over the picture until an icon of a mountain appears in the center of the picture. Then click and drag the picture’s mountain icon to move the selected picture onto the location of the existing picture in the page. When the border of the picture in the page turns pink and the selected picture appears within it, release the mouse button to swap the images.
To set a picture in Publisher as the background of a publication page, right-click a picture in either the scratch area or content area of a publication page. Then roll over the “Apply to Background” command in the popup menu that appears. From the side menu that appears, click either the “Fill” command to fill the background of the page with the image or click the “Tile” command to tile the selected image over the page.
A picture of a user setting a picture in the scratch area in Publisher as the page background.
Instructions on How to Use the Scratch Area in Publisher:
- The scratch area in Publisher is the space surrounding your publication.
- If you insert multiple pictures at the same time using either the “Insert Picture” dialog box or the “Online Pictures” window in Publisher, it adds the selected pictures into a column within the scratch area to the right of the publication page.
- To add pictures from the scratch area to a page in Publisher, click and drag the pictures from the scratch area into the publication pages.
- Conversely, to remove a picture and add it to the scratch area in Publisher, click and drag a picture off a publication page and then drop it into the scratch area.
- To swap pictures in the scratch area with existing pictures in the publication pages, click to select a picture in the scratch area.
- Then hover your mouse pointer over the picture until an icon of a mountain appears in the center of the picture.
- Then click and drag the picture’s mountain icon to move the selected picture onto the location of the existing picture in the page.
- When the border of the picture in the page turns pink and the selected picture appears within it, release the mouse button to swap the images.
- To set a picture in Publisher as the background of a publication page, right-click a picture in either the scratch area or content area of a publication page.
- Then roll over the “Apply to Background” command in the popup menu that appears.
- From the side menu that appears, click either the “Fill” command to fill the background of the page with the image or click the “Tile” command to tile the selected image over the page.