Fix Word Image Alignment Reverting to Default After a Document Comparison

You compare two versions of a Word document and notice that all your carefully positioned images snap back to their default alignment. This happens because Word’s Compare feature merges formatting from both documents, and image positioning is treated as part of that formatting. The merge process can overwrite your custom alignment settings, such as wrapping style, absolute position, or relative position. This article explains why the Compare feature resets image alignment and provides a reliable method to restore and preserve your layout.

Why the Compare Feature Resets Image Alignment

Word’s Compare tool (Review > Compare) merges two document versions into one. It marks additions, deletions, and formatting changes. Image alignment is part of the formatting that gets merged. If the original document and the revised document have different image positioning, the merge uses the formatting from the document you select as the “current” or “original” document.

By default, Compare uses the formatting from the revised document. However, the merge algorithm can apply conflicting wrapping styles, anchor positions, or relative offsets. This causes images to revert to the default alignment: inline with text, top-left anchor, and no custom offset. The result is a document where all images sit at the insertion point rather than where you placed them.

The issue is more common when the two documents were created on different machines or by different authors. Differences in default image settings, such as the default wrapping style set in File > Options > Advanced > Cut, copy, and paste, can trigger the reset. Also, if either document uses an older .doc format, the positioning data may be stored differently, causing the merge to lose it.

How the Merge Algorithm Handles Images

When you run Compare, Word processes each image as an object. It compares the image’s properties: width, height, wrapping style, horizontal position, vertical position, and anchor paragraph. If any of these differ between the two versions, the merge chooses the value from the “revised” document (the one you select as the second document). If the revised document lacks explicit positioning data — for example, because the image was inserted as inline — the merge sets all images to inline with text, overwriting your custom alignment.

Steps to Prevent Image Alignment From Resetting During Compare

1. Open the original document
   Open the document that contains the correct image alignment. This will be the first document you select in the Compare dialog.
2. Go to Review > Compare
   Click Review on the ribbon, then click Compare. In the drop-down, choose Compare to open the dialog.
3. Select the original and revised documents
   In the Original document field, browse to the document with the correct alignment. In the Revised document field, browse to the version with the content changes you want to merge.
4. Click the More button
   At the bottom-left of the Compare dialog, click More to expand the comparison settings.
5. Choose the formatting source carefully
   In the Comparison settings section, check the box for Formatting. Then, under Show changes in, select Original document. This tells Word to keep the formatting — including image alignment — from the original document. The revised document’s formatting will be shown as tracked changes.
6. Run the comparison
   Click OK. Word creates a new combined document. All image alignment from the original document should remain intact. Accept or reject formatting changes as needed.

Steps to Restore Image Alignment After a Comparison

If you already ran the comparison and images are misaligned, use this method to fix them.

1. Open the compared document
   The document that resulted from the Compare operation is open. It may contain tracked changes. Accept all changes first: Review > Accept > Accept All Changes.
2. Select the first misaligned image
   Click on the image to select it. The Picture Format tab appears on the ribbon.
3. Change the wrapping style
   On the Picture Format tab, click Wrap Text. Choose the style you used originally — for example, Square or Tight. This allows the image to be positioned freely.
4. Open the Size and Position dialog
   Right-click the image and select Size and Position. Alternatively, click the small arrow at the bottom-right of the Size group on the Picture Format tab.
5. Reapply the horizontal and vertical position
   In the Position tab, set the Horizontal alignment (e.g., Left, Center, Right) relative to Column, Page, or Margin. Set the Vertical alignment relative to Line, Paragraph, or Page. Use the Absolute position fields if you need a specific offset from the anchor.
6. Repeat for all images
   Select each image and repeat steps 2 through 5. To speed this up, use the Selection pane (Home > Select > Selection Pane) to jump between images.

If Word Still Has Issues After the Main Fix

Image alignment still resets after accepting changes

If you accepted all tracked changes and images still snap back to inline, the problem is that the formatting changes were not fully accepted. Go to Review > Show Markup and uncheck everything except Formatting. Then click the down arrow under Accept and choose Accept All Changes Shown. This accepts only the formatting changes that affect images.

Images disappear or become invisible after comparison

This can happen if the image anchor is in a paragraph that was deleted by the comparison. To fix it, turn on the display of anchors: File > Options > Display > Show object anchors. Then, in the compared document, click the anchor icon next to the image and drag it to a stable paragraph. Reapply the image position afterward.

Comparison creates a new document instead of marking changes inline

By default, Compare creates a new document. If you prefer to see changes in the original document, in the Compare dialog click More and under Show changes in, select Original document. Word will apply tracked changes directly to the original file, preserving its image alignment as the base.

Compare Settings: Original vs Revised Document Formatting

Setting	Original document formatting	Revised document formatting
Image alignment preserved	Yes — keeps all wrapping and position from the original	No — overwrites with revised document’s formatting
Formatting shown as tracked changes	Revised formatting appears as changes	Original formatting appears as changes
Best use case	When original layout is correct and you only want content updates	When revised document has corrected layout and formatting

Choose Original document formatting if you have spent time aligning images in the base version. Choose Revised document formatting if the new version has the correct layout and you want to apply it to the original content.

After the comparison, you can fine-tune image positions. Use the Layout Options button that appears when you select an image to quickly adjust wrapping and position without opening the full dialog. This button is available in Word for Microsoft 365 and Word 2021.

For documents with many images, consider creating a quick macro. Open the Visual Basic Editor with Alt+F11, insert a new module, and paste code that loops through all InlineShapes and Shapes, setting their WrapFormat.Type to wdWrapSquare and their RelativeHorizontalPosition to wdRelativeHorizontalPositionColumn. Run the macro after each comparison to restore alignment in seconds.