If you use MS Word to create newsletters, marketing copy, or other printable documents that include images, there's one picture-editing tool that can make the difference between publishing an image that works and one that merely takes up space: the Crop tool.

For instance, instead of publishing an image that shows a very small person in the middle of a lot of wasted space, you can use the Crop tool to zoom in on the important part of the image.

You can practice using the Crop tool and see how it works:

1. Launch MS Word.
    
2. Copy a graphic image from a Web page and paste it into Word, or insert an image from the clip art gallery by going to Insert | Picture | Clip Art.
    
3. Next, click on the object. If the Picture toolbar doesn't automatically appear, go to View | Toolbars | Picture to display it.
    
4. Float the mouse over one of the square sizing handles on the image's corners. By default, clicking on one of those handles and dragging it inward shrinks the entire image.
    
5. To tighten the image by eliminating wasted space, find the Crop tool (the icon that looks like an upside-down letter "V" superimposed onto another "V" in the Image Toolbar) and click on it once. When you do, a copy of the Crop tool icon will appear under your mouse.
    
6. Now when you click on one of the sizing handles and drag inward, the picture shrinks (temporarily erasing that part of the image). The Crop handle also lets you expand the image and redisplay any sections you previously cropped.

Now wasn't that easy?

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