When you insert a drawing object in Microsoft Word, a drawing canvas is placed around it. The drawing canvas helps you arrange a drawing in your document, and it's especially helpful if your drawing consists of several shapes.

While you can easily delete the drawing canvas on a case-by-case basis (drag the drawing object off the drawing canvas, select the drawing canvas, and then delete it), you may wish to prevent it from being created to begin with.

To stop the automatic creation of the drawing canvas

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
3. Click the General tab.
4. Under General options, clear the check box for the option, Automatically create drawing canvas when inserting AutoShapes.