Importing Image Files into PowerPoint

Most of the choices you make regarding a raster image's resolution, color depth, and file type are done outside of PowerPoint. Consequently, by the time you're ready to put them into PowerPoint, the hard part is over.

Assuming you have already acquired the image, use the following steps to insert it into PowerPoint.

1. Display the slide on which you want to place the image.

2. If the slide has a content placeholder for Insert Picture from File, as in Figure 13.4, click it. Otherwise, click Picture on the Insert tab. The Insert Picture dialog box opens.

   
   Figure 13.4: You can insert a picture by using the Insert Picture from File content placeholder icon.

3. Select the picture to import. See Figure 13.5. You can switch the view by using the View (or Views) button in the dialog box to see thumbnails or details if either is effective in helping you determine which file is which.

   
   Figure 13.5: Select the picture to be inserted.

4. Click Insert. The picture is inserted.

EXPERT TIP 

If you have a lot of graphics in different formats, consider narrowing down the list that appears by selecting a specific file type from the file type list. By default it is set to All Pictures, as in Figure 13.5.

Linking to a Graphic File

If you have a sharp eye, you may have noticed that the Insert button in Figure 13.5 has a drop-down list associated with it. That list has these choices:

• Insert: The default, inserts the graphic but maintains no connection.

• Link to File: Creates an OLE link to the file, but does not maintain a local copy of it in PowerPoint.

• Insert and Link: Creates a link to the file, and also inserts a local copy of its current state, so if the linked copy is not available in the future, the local copy will still appear.

Use Link to File whenever you want to insert a pointer rather than the original. When the presentation opens, it pulls in the graphic from the disk. If the graphic is not available, it displays an empty frame with a red X in the corner in the graphic's place. Using Link to File keeps the size of the original PowerPoint file very small because it doesn't actually contain the graphics-only links to them. However, if you move or delete the graphic, PowerPoint won't be able to find it anymore.

The important thing to know about this link in the Link to File feature is that it is not the same thing as an OLE link. This is not a dynamic link that you can manage. It is a much simpler link and much less flexible. You can't change the file location to which it is linked, for example; if the location of the graphic changes, you must delete it from PowerPoint and reinsert it.

EXPERT TIP 

If you are building a graphic-heavy presentation on an older computer, you might find that it takes a long time to move between slides and for each graphic to appear. You can take some of the hassle away by using Link to File instead of inserting the graphics. Then temporarily move the graphic files to a subfolder so PowerPoint can't find them. It displays the placeholders for the graphics on the appropriate slides, and the presentation file is much faster to page through and edit. Then when you are ready to finish up, close PowerPoint and move the graphics files back to their original locations so PowerPoint can find them again when you reopen the presentation file.

Acquiring Images from a Scanner

If you have a compatible scanner attached to your PC, you can scan a picture directly into the Clip Organizer (which you learned about in Chapter 12), and from there import it into PowerPoint. You can also use the scanner's interface from outside of PowerPoint (and outside of the Clip Organizer).

Note 

Earlier versions of PowerPoint had direct access to the Scanner and Camera Wizard in Windows from the Insert menu, but PowerPoint 2007 does not have this. The only way to access the Scanner and Camera Wizard in Office 2007 applications is via the Clip Organizer.

To scan an image from the Clip Organizer, follow these steps:

1. On the Insert tab, click Clip Art. The Clip Art task pane opens.

2. Click Organize Clips. The Clip Organizer window opens.

3. Choose File Add Clips to Organizer From Scanner or Camera. The Insert Picture from Scanner or Camera dialog box opens.

4. Choose the scanner from the Device list, as shown in Figure 13.6.

   
   Figure 13.6: Select the device and the basic properties.

5. Choose a resolution: Web (low) or Print (high). Lower resolution means smaller file size and fewer pixels overall comprising the image. Low resolution is the best choice for on-screen presentations.

6. Click Insert to scan with the default settings, or click Custom Insert, make changes to the settings, and click Scan.

The Custom Insert option opens the full controls for the scanner. They vary a bit depending on the model; the box for an HP scanner is shown in Figure 13.7.

Figure 13.7: Custom insert options are available when scanning into the Clip Organizer.

Here are some of the things you can do here:

• Choose a scanning mode: Color Picture, Grayscale Picture, or Black and White Picture or Text. This option determines the color depth. Color is full 24-bit color. Grayscale is 256 shades of gray (8-bit, single color). Black and white is single-bit scanning that produces an extremely small file similar to a fax.

• Preview the scan: Click the Preview button to do a test scan and then drag the black squares in the preview area to adjust what portion of the image is saved when you do the "real scan" by clicking the Scan button.

• Choose a paper source: If your scanner has a document feeder, you have that choice on the Paper Source drop-down list in addition to Flatbed (the default).

• Adjust the resolution, brightness, and contrast: Click the Adjust the Quality of the Scanned Picture hyperlink to open an Advanced Properties dialog box. From there you can drag the Brightness and Contrast sliders and choose a resolution setting (dots per inch). The default is 150 dpi.

EXPERT TIP 

The default setting of 150 dpi is appropriate in most cases where you are using the image at approximately the same size as the original, but if you are concerned about file size, you can reduce this to 100 dpi without a noticeable loss of image quality on-screen. If you plan on using the image at a large size, like full screen, and the image was originally a very small hard copy, then scan at a higher resolution.

Acquiring Images from a Digital Camera

There are a lot of ways to transfer images from a digital camera in Windows XP or Windows Vista. You can connect most cameras to the PC via a USB port and treat them as a removable drive, from which you can drag and drop pictures into a folder on your hard disk. You can also remove the memory card from the camera and use a card reader, and in some cases you can even insert a memory card into a printer and print the images directly.

With all of these methods available, inserting directly from the camera into the Clip Organizer is probably not your first choice. However, if you want to try it, use the same method as with the scanner. Then just follow the prompts to select and insert the picture.

Note 

When you hear digital cameras referred to in megapixel that means a million pixels in total-the height multiplied by the width. For example, a 1,152 by 864-pixel image is approximately 1 megapixel (995,328 pixels, to be exact). High-end cameras are in the 8-megapixel or more range these days, which is overkill for use in a PowerPoint show. Such cameras have settings you can change that control the image size, though, so you can reduce the image size on the camera itself.