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Limitations with Absolutely Positioned Textboxes in Office 2010 Compatibility Mode

caution

If your Word template was created or saved in Office 2010 Compatibility Mode, absolutely positioned textboxes may cause unexpected output or be processed incorrectly. We recommend updating affected template elements as described below.

Overview​

When a Word document is saved in Office 2010 Compatibility Mode, absolutely positioned textboxes are represented differently in the underlying OOXML than they are in current Word formats. Fluent processes templates based on the modern OOXML representation, so templates that use the legacy representation may produce incorrect results.

The most common symptom is that content inside these textboxes does not appear as expected in generated output, or Fluent tags placed inside them are not processed correctly.

How to Identify the Problem​

You can confirm that your document is in compatibility mode by checking the title bar in Word — it will display [Compatibility Mode] next to the file name. You can also check under File > Info, where a Compatibility Mode banner will be shown with an option to convert.

Absolutely positioned textboxes (textboxes where the Text Wrapping is set to anything other than In Line with Text, such as In Front of Text, Behind Text, Square, Tight, etc.) are the elements most likely to be affected.

How to Update the Template​

The recommended solution is to convert the document out of compatibility mode and update any affected textboxes. Follow these steps:

  1. Open the template in Microsoft Word.
  2. Click File > Info.
  3. Click Convert to upgrade the document to the current Word format. Word will prompt you to confirm — click OK. The file will be saved in the modern .docx format.
  4. Save the updated template and test it with Fluent to confirm the output is correct.

Workarounds​

If converting the document is not immediately possible, the following workarounds may help.

Change Text Wrapping to In Line with Text​

The most effective workaround is to change the textbox's Text Wrapping setting from In Front of Text (or any other floating wrap mode) to In Line with Text. This causes Word to store the textbox using the modern OOXML representation, which Fluent can process correctly — even while the document remains in compatibility mode.

To apply this workaround:

  1. Click on the textbox to select it.
  2. Go to the Shape Format tab.
  3. Click Wrap Text > In Line with Text.
  4. Reposition or resize the textbox within the text flow as needed.
  5. Save the template and regenerate the output to verify the result.
note

Changing to inline wrapping may shift the visual layout of the textbox in the template. You may need to adjust surrounding paragraph spacing or margins to achieve the desired appearance in the output.

Replace the Textbox with a Table​

If the textbox is used purely for layout (for example, to position a block of text or an image in a specific location on the page), replacing it with a single-cell, borderless table can be a reliable alternative. Tables support absolute and relative positioning in modern OOXML and are processed consistently by Fluent.