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Insert the British 'Union Jack' flag into Word, Excel or PowerPoint

Add the British National flag “Union Jack” into Office documents, Word, Excel or PowerPoint, then use some Office picture tools to enhance the image.

The same help applies for any other national flag, just look for a different source.

Get the British Flag Image

There are many, many copies of the British flag available. We’ve opted for the Wikipedia site because it has an SVG scalable version (preferred) and PNG versions for older MS Office and other programs.

SVG graphics are supported by Microsoft 365 and Office 2021/2019. They maintain high quality regardless of resizing.

Go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg .  Below the image are a choice of images to download – right-click and choose ‘Save link as…’ (or similar depending on browser).

For Microsoft 365, Office 2021 and 2019 choose ‘Original file’ which is the SVG version.

Otherwise choose one of the ‘PNG preview’ options. Select a resolution larger than what you’ll need in your document.

An alternative source is the Office image search at Insert | Online pictures.  It gives you many variations to choose from, though not necessarily the current version of the flag.

Click the funnel icon to filter the search.

British Flag Colours

The specific colours in the flag are useful to know when designing a document, worksheet or slide.  It helps choose matching or contrasting colours

There are no legally specified colours for the British flag, but an attempt was made in 2008 to codify what was common practice in the Union Flag Bill, which specified the following RGB colour values:

Red: 207, 20, 43

Blue:  0, 36, 125

White: 255,255,255

Flag Protocol – right way up

Display the Union Jack the right way up. The wider white diagonal stripe should be above the red stripe on the side closest to the flagpole or the left side.

In the results of the Office image search above, the first result is the wrong way up!

Insert British Flag to Word, PowerPoint or Excel

Once the flag image is saved to your computer, it’s the usual process to insert into a document.  Go to Insert | Pictures, and choose the image you just downloaded.

In Office, you can resize and position the image just like any other.

Flag Effects

Once you have the image in Office, all the usual Office Graphic or Picture Format options are available. Note that if you are using an SVG file, you will have a Graphics Options tab on the ribbon, when you click on the image, whereas if you are using another image format, it will say Picture Format.

Some of the Graphics Effects like Shadow, Reflection and Bevel add a little visual interest without distorting the flag to a level that might offend.

Shadow

For a nice little shadow effect, try Graphics Effects | Shadow | Outer which adds a little ‘shadow’ to the right and bottom of the image.

Reflection

Reflection is another way to add a little effect to an image.

Beveled Edges

Beveled edges is another choice.

Beyond these choices there are many more available, especially if you’re using an SVG. Graphics Fill or Graphics Outline can change the colors of an image.

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