Ensuring text labels and images stay on the same page in Google Docs with Apps Script

Other Questions Google docs
1

I’m working on a project where I’m transferring data from a Google Form to a Google Doc. The form includes some images, and I want to add text labels to describe each image. Right now, I’m using a loop with this code:

docBody.addParagraph(currentIndex++, imageDescription + ': ');
docBody.addImage(currentIndex++, fetchImage(imageData[imageDescription][0]));

It’s working okay, but I’ve run into a problem. Sometimes the image and its label end up on different pages, which looks messy and confusing. Is there a way to make sure they always stay together on the same page? I’ve tried a few things, but nothing seems to work consistently. Any ideas on how to fix this would be really helpful!

2

hey, i’ve had this problem too! what worked for me was using text boxes. you can put both the label and image inside one text box, which keeps em together. just do something like:

var textBox = docBody.appendTextBox();
textBox.getText().appendText(imageDescription + ': ');
textBox.insertInlineImage(0, fetchImage(imageData[imageDescription][0]));

it’s simple and works great. good luck!

3

I’ve encountered a similar challenge in my projects. One effective solution I’ve found is to use a Paragraph object with inline images. Here’s a snippet that should work:

var paragraph = docBody.appendParagraph(imageDescription + ': ');
paragraph.appendInlineImage(fetchImage(imageData[imageDescription][0]));

This method keeps the text and image together as a single unit, preventing page breaks between them. It’s also more flexible than tables for layout purposes. You might need to adjust the image size to fit your needs, but this approach has consistently solved the page break issue for me. Remember to test with various image sizes and document lengths to ensure it works across different scenarios.

4

I’ve dealt with this exact issue before, and it can be quite frustrating! What worked for me was using a table structure instead of separate paragraphs. Here’s what I did:

Create a 1x2 table for each image-label pair. Put the label in the first cell and the image in the second. This keeps them together no matter what.

var table = docBody.appendTable([[imageDescription + ':', '']]);
var cell = table.getCell(0, 1);
cell.insertImage(0, fetchImage(imageData[imageDescription][0]));

This approach has several benefits:

  1. Label and image always stay together
  2. You can easily adjust cell widths for better layout
  3. It’s easier to style consistently

Just remember to set the table borders to transparent if you don’t want them visible. Hope this helps solve your problem!