Images/Objects and Frames Overview

A wide variety of images and other objects can be inserted into an open Nota Bene document. This process uses the operating system's Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) capabilities. The objects inserted can be pictures, graphs, charts, spreadsheets, icons, or many other things. In each case, a file that was created in another program (the "object") is inserted in a Nota Bene document.

Images or other objects can be inserted by copying (Ctrl+C) and pasting (Ctrl+V). The image (or object) will be inserted in a frame, and large images will be automatically resized to fit in the Nota Bene document. When first inserted, the borders of the frame will be visible with white space between the image and the borders ("gutters"). There will also be white space between the frame and any text that wraps around the frame (the "inset"). The size of the gutters and/or the inset can be adjusted. The borders of the frame can set so that they are touching the edges of the image (gutters = zero), and they thickness of the borders can be changed, or the borders can be removed entirely so that there is no visible outline around the image. Even if the borders of the frame are eliminated, the frame remains in place and the settings for the frame's gutters and inset will determine how text wraps around the image.

Once an image has been inserted in a document, it can be edited in place or a dialog can be used for more complex editing. See Editing Frames Graphics in Place or Edit Frame/Graphic Dialog.

While copying/pasting a file that has already been created in another program is normally the best way to insert an image or other object, advanced options are available. The inserted object can either be a pre-existing file, or a new object that is made just for a Nota Bene document.

•	Pre-existing object: If the object is a pre-existing file (e.g. a JPG or a BMP), is can either be embedded into the document or dynamically linked to the document that was originally used to create the object.

•	New object: A new object is a document created in another program for use only as an object in a Nota Bene document. New objects can only be embedded into the Nota Bene document.

This leads us to the second distinction, between an embedded object and a linked object.

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Embedded objects actually become part of the document. If the object is a new one made just for the document, it will not have a separate location on disk. If it is a pre-existing object, after it is inserted in the document, the "copy" in the document is separate from it. The advantage of an embedded object is that if the object's original file is moved or deleted, or the Nota Bene document is moved, the object is actually part of the file, so the embedded object within the Nota Bene document will remain unchanged. The main disadvantage of embedding a document is that once the object is embedded, it cannot be edited or otherwise changed in the original program.

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Linked objects are displayed and printed as part of the document, but are actually located somewhere else on the user's system. Thus, the object on the screen will print or display as part of the Nota Bene document, but it is not technically "in" the document. It is linked to a document in a specific location on the user's system. The advantage of a linked object is that you can edit the object using the program that was originally used to create it, and the changes will be reflected in your Nota Bene document. The disadvantage of a linked document is that if you move the file or document, the object's link may be "broken" and not appear or cause other problems in your document. Keep in mind that, if you want to edit a linked object, you will need to have the appropriate software (graphic editor, spreadsheet program, chart generator) on your system.

Finally, an object can be inserted in a frame or it can be inserted directly in a Nota Bene document without a frame.

•	Frame: A frame is a window within the Nota Bene document that contains text, images or other objects. Text wraps around frames and a frame can easily be moved and resized. A frame may have a border, but it does not need to have a border.

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No frame If you want images at a particular place relative to the text (e.g., letterhead, or an image that is always after a particular paragraph or line), and don’t want text to wrap around them, it is easier to work with an object without a frame. Unlike frames, which can be positioned in all sorts of different ways, floating relative to the page and/or the text, images inserted without frames are always displayed at the precise point where they are inserted, and they automatically push all following text down past the height of the image.

Note that if you are going to export the file to another format, OLE objects will not be exported with it. Nota Bene's export filters currently do not support OLE.