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11 Dos and Don'ts of Using Images in Presentations

Anuj Malhotra

Many presenters are using images horribly in their presentations!

From pixelated visuals to copyright images with watermarks clearly visible on them to many other disasters, presenters are coming up with unique ways to kill all the fun. Are you guilty of poor selection of visuals? Are your experiments at creating visual slides turning into disasters?

Lucky for you, we have put together a complete list of dos and don’ts for adding images to slides. You won’t believe how a little care while handling images can make your presentation a visual success. Ready for some introspection? Compare yourself with these 11 yardsticks to determine your visual literacy:

Visuals in Presentations: Best and Worst Practices

Sin 1: Using pixelated or blurry images

It’s not that presenters do not see that the image in their slide is of poor quality but that is the last desperate move they make when they can’t find any better visual in its place. Sorry folks, you have to search harder for that high quality image. If you have to shell out a few dollars, then do. But a blurry image casts a very poor impression.

Sin 2: Tiny Images

Don’t use tiny images that require audience to carry binoculars. A high quality image lets you play up that visual on your slide, so go for it. For instance, in the Don’t slide below, the presenter has killed the action picture of football by using it up in such small space.

WHAT TO DO: If you have lots of text to incorporate, allocate half the slide to text and half to the image as you can see in the Do slide below:

Sin 3: Overuse of visuals

These presenters are the ones who have taken the use-image-advice a bit too seriously. They collect as many images as can be fit into a slide and squeeze their content into the space left. Why do they do this? They find several relevant visuals for a single slide. For instance, in the Don’t slide below, the presenter has a slide on business goals and objectives of a start-up. All visuals used in the slide are pretty relevant and the slide would have been great if the presenter went with a single, big image.

WHAT TO DO: Choose one high quality image that sums up the main theme of the slide. Choose any visual that represents Goals and Objectives; it’s not necessary to pick an image for each of those goals. If you want to show each goal visually, dedicate a complete slide to each. Check out the difference:

Sin 4: Multiple pictures arranged poorly

Yes, there are times when the slide warrants multiple pictures. A campus view, various benefits of a product, trip collage, etc. require you to arrange multiple visuals aesthetically. This, however, requires basic design knowledge such as giving frames or borders to each image. The Don’t slide below is a bad way to arrange your images.

WHAT TO DO: Place your image along grids using the Gridlines feature ( View tab) in PowerPoint. Or give them a frame using the default frames in PowerPoint ( Format tab). The Do slide below is a good way to arranged multiple pictures in a single slide.

Sin 5: Cliparts that add no value, except shock value

If you haven’t heard so many presentation experts screaming their heads off calling clipart crappy and tacky, hear us now. These cartoonish characters add absolutely no value to your slide and make you look a tacky presenter too. An exception is always there, say designing a cartoonish slide is your purpose, but they don’t stand a chance in a corporate presentation. In the Don’t slide below, the clipart of suited professionals can still be forgiven but why not show your awesomeness like the Do slide shows.

WHAT TO DO: Nothing, just forget about clipart. Any visual would look better than it.

Sin 6: Watermark Images

This is the worst sin of all. Even if you make the image small enough to hide the watermark, many in the audience would be quick to spot it and trust us, it’s the worst thing that can mar the reputation of a presenter.

WHAT TO DO: Need we say anything here? Please buy the image; don’t attempt to blur or remove the watermark even if you know how to do it.

Sin 7: Pictures with headache-inducing backgrounds

Unless your objective is to perform a hypnosis session or cause excruciating pain to audience’s eyes, never choose a visual that has swirls, rainbows and other distracting elements in the background. Moreover, the content fails to stand apart from the background making it very difficult (practically impossible) for the audience to read the content. The Don’t slide below is a perfect example of what not to do.

WHAT TO DO: Choose an impressive visual that covers the whole slide. If you want to show growth, there are hundred options you can choose from- towering building, bar diagram, growth of a plant from sapling to tree, ladder steps, etc. If you have lots of text to accommodate within the slide, add a transparent layer over the complete image and then place your content. As you can see in the Do slide below, the image and content complement each other to create a professional, sophisticated presentation slide.

Sin 8: Amputating people while cropping images

Don’t be merciless while cropping images. Place yourself in the shoes of the person you are cropping. Would you like to see your photo with one arm missing? Obviously not. But yes, cropping an image to make it fit within the slide and to accommodate text at the same time is indeed tricky. As a presenter, you have to cut off portion of an image without making it look awkward. How do you that?  

One tip that all professional photographers give, while composing an image or cropping it post production, is to “never crop at joints”. Don’t cut off the person’s feet, fingers, and at the points dissecting any body part. See the Don’t slide below; the image composition doesn’t give due respect to the CEO.

WHAT TO DO: If the image itself is poorly composed, you need to take it again or choose a different picture. In the Do slide below, a different image has been taken and it’s taking up the same area without any need for cropping.

But what do you if you have a large-sized image that covers the complete slide space? Chop off all body parts left and right so that you can show the faces? Let’s take another example. Check out the Don’t slide below which has been brutally cropped to fit the content. Even the head and the crucial handshake signifying partnership has been hacked for convenience.

Now, check the Do slide- you only need to minimise the photo, crop the unnecessary portions (not the limbs, please), give it a nice frame (Go to the Format tab and check out the default Picture Styles) and tilt the photo to make it stand out and relevant to the slide. Not bad, uh?

Sin 9- Badly stretched photos

This sin is unforgivable and makes your slide an eyesore of the worst kind. Even if the stretched photo is of a high quality! What was the presenter thinking? We know. The presenter has a picture of a certain dimension, say in a portrait style, but wants to display it in the landscape format. So he stretches it to accomplish his mission knowing the damage he is doing to the image and the complete slide.

The Don’t slide below is an adaptation of a similar slide I came across on a presentation sharing platform. This also happens when a presenter chooses a shape and uses the Picture fill option in PowerPoint to fill the area with an image. If the image has a different aspect ratio than the area of the shape, PowerPoint will stretch the photo to fill the area, distorting the image in this process.

WHAT TO DO: If you use the Picture Fill option in PowerPoint and the image gets stretched, follow these simple steps:

• Click the stretched photo
• Go to the Format tab on PowerPoint ribbon
• Under the Crop dropdown menu, choose the Fill option (see the screenshot below)

PowerPoint will resize the image while maintaining the original aspect ratio of the image:

You can now drag the photo to adjust the required portion within the area. This might not work in your favor because you can’t have the teacher, student as well as the book within the small rectangular shape.

Check out what we did in the Do slide again. We cropped the photo and removed the white space in the image, chose a white background so that the image gels in smoothly, drew a circular outline around the image and placed our content alongside the image. You can try this or some other design trick, but stretching won’t do. Even a slight stretching distorts the image and is easily noticeable casting a bad impression on the presenter.

Sin 10: Using irrelevant silhouettes or other images

Silhouettes aren’t all that bad. They can be used if you want a visual element in your presentation but don’t want the audience to be distracted by the details. But adding silhouette just for the sake of it distracts the audience even more.

In the Don’t slide, the silhouette of a businesswoman doesn’t say anything. In a slide already having one visual element- a line chart- adding the silhouette is unnecessary and makes it difficult for the audience to read the chart values.

WHAT TO DO: Choose an image that adds value to your content. If it doesn’t, simply scrap it. The Do slide looks much better and cleaner with simply the graph:

Sin 11: Image with a thick outline

Creativity sometimes misfires and gives an unpleasant look and feel to your slide. One such creative effort is giving very thick border line to an image. The frame becomes as heavy as the image itself making one wonder what is more important- the image or the frame. Even if you picked the same from PowerPoint’s default Picture Styles, it doesn’t mean it is suitable for your presentation. In the Don’t slide below, the frame seems to be jumping from the slide and is too harsh on the eyes.

WHAT TO DO: If you wish to give it an outline, don’t keep the width of the line more than 1 point. Pick a light color for the outline if the background is dark. In the Do slide below, we encapsulated the image within a circle so that it doesn’t look jutting out of the slide. The outline was also chosen white and the width was kept at 1 point. The color of the text was picked as white to have a soothing contrast and not as jarring as black and red.

BONUS TIP 1: Characters in the image should look within the slide

Now this is a small error that dilutes the impact of a slide. It’s a basic human behavior to look where others are looking. This knowledge of eye movement should guide you while choosing images for your PowerPoint presentation too.

If you have an image looking out of the slide, the audience tends to look there too and returns to the slide to read the content. For a brief second or so, you disconnect with the audience. If the image, instead, looks into the slide towards the content, the audience first looks at the image and then reads the content, their attention focused within the slide. This is exactly what you want. The Don’t slide below is an example how you should not be placing your image.

WHAT TO DO: You can move the image to the other side of the slide like we did in the Do slide below. Else, you can flip the image within PowerPoint using the Rotate feature. Select the image, go to the Format tab, locate the Rotate dropdown menu and click Flip Horizontal . That solves the problem too!

BONUS TIP 2: Maintain consistency of images throughout the presentation

You should not be using a clipart on one slide, an image on another and an illustration in a different slide. Avoid too much variation as it breaks the smooth flow of a presentation. It makes you look like an amateur presenter.

There can be countless other ways to screw your slides. To save your skin, show your presentation to your family member or close friend before putting it online or broadcasting it before an audience. Trust us, you’ll be saved from many embarrassing mistakes with this exercise. If you have come across any other visual disasters, share with us in the comments below.

Spread the visual literacy by sharing this article with your friends and followers. Here’s a pre-populated tweet to get you started!

Related posts:

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• 6 Easy Steps to Create a “Stand Out” Slide and Beat the Background Noise
• How to Quickly Find the Best Content for Your Presentation on SlideTeam
• How To Create an Awesome PowerPoint Presentation in 3 Steps

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How to Work With Images in PowerPoint (Complete PPT Picture Guide)

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PowerPoint presentations contain all types of content: text, video, audio, and images. Learning to work with presentation images for PowerPoint makes your slide much more interesting.

Slides that are simply text need some variety to hold your audience's attention. Whether it's a photo, illustration, or graphic, PowerPoint has editing tools to import and edit your image files.

Images often need cropping, resizing , and more tweaks to fit in a presentation. Apps like Photoshop have image editing tools, but they're difficult to learn.

The good news is that PowerPoint has image editing essentials inside the app. You can add images to your presentation and edit them without even opening a separate photo editor.

Here are the PowerPoint image tools you'll learn to use in this tutorial:

• Resizing.  Scale an image in PowerPoint to the correct size for your slide.
• Rotating. Flip an image to face the correct direction, including mirroring it horizontally or vertically.
• Cropping. Select a part of an image in PowerPoint to remove.
• Removing picture backgrounds. If your image has a white background and you want to remove it, PowerPoint has a tool to remove backgrounds. This creates transparent images in PowerPoint. 
• Image effects. Add color tints and adjust image saturation (including black & white) inside your PowerPoint presentation.

How to Quickly Work With Images in PowerPoint (Watch & Learn)

This video shows you the complete set of PowerPoint's image editing tools. I'll teach you the steps from importing a picture onto your slide to correcting and editing it.

Read on for more tips on how to edit and work with images in PPT.

Why Use Images In PowerPoint? (The Power of Pictures) 

According to many statistics, a significant percentage of the population are  visual learners.  That means information is easier to understand when presented visually for these learners.

That statistic alone should be enough to convince you of the importance of using Microsoft PowerPoint images. Giving a great presentation is all about sharing information in intuitive, easy-to-understand formats.

Let's look at three ways that pictures can help improve your presentation:

1. Pictures Transform Boring Slides

As you can see in the example below, a single photo is enough to transform a slide. 

Think of a great photo as the bait to grab a viewer's attention. Text alone might not be enough to entice an audience to read the content. But when you pair it with an exciting image, a viewer's eye flows to the content.

Basically : Microsoft PowerPoint images increase the odds that your viewer will absorb the content. As a presenter, learning how to make and edit PPTs with pictures is crucial.

2. Pictures Are Powerful Storytelling Tools

The old adage " a picture is worth a thousand words " is a classic saying for a reason.

Sometimes, text alone isn't enough to convey a message. PowerPoint photos give visual learners a new way to understand information.

Maybe there's a concept that you can't explain perfectly in words. But when you show a few carefully selected images, the idea comes to life. Think of pictures as  more  than complementary. Sometimes, they're a must.

3. Pictures Help Viewers Relate

What if we viewed a photo as a tool to inspire empathy? Sometimes, a well-placed photo of people can help your audience put themselves in others' shoes.

Let's say that you're giving a presentation that's designed to inspire your audience to action. Showing buildings and landscapes doesn't necessarily help your viewer understand their role. But show a people-centric photo, and suddenly, the mind empathizes. 

Where to Find Great Microsoft PowerPoint Images (With Unlimited Downloads)

Maybe you've come around to see the importance of photos in PowerPoint. They're crucial to creating an attractive presentation.

But now, where do you find them? The most important part of learning how to put pictures in PowerPoint is finding the perfect source. Envato Elements  gives you an all-you-can-download library for PowerPoint stock images .

It's important that your photos are properly licensed. It's risky to simply hit Google Images and source images. Those photos are usually copyrighted and may lack the quality you need for a professional presentation.

Plus, Envato Elements includes so much more. You can download PowerPoint presentation templates that help you create your best slide deck ever. Those are all included at no extra cost.

Envato Elements is your best bet when you need to build an image PowerPoint presentation. There are thousands of image PPT templates to choose from. And it’s easy to find the perfect photos, with over six million and counting to choose from.

PowerPoint Picture Dos and Don’ts

Before we start learning how to put pictures in PowerPoint, let's review a few more guiding principles. These three tips for working with PowerPoint pictures can improve your presentation.

1. Number of PowerPoint Images

• Do:  Add images to the extent it  enhances  your slide.
• Don't:  Add images in a way that obscures content or distracts the audience.

There's a balance to be found when you start adding PowerPoint photos. You don't want to obscure your slide content with too many photos.

2. PowerPoint Photo Licensing

• Do:  Use an approved source for adding images.
• Don't:  hit Google Images and download liberally.

As we mentioned above, copyright matters! You don't want to be caught using a photo that isn't approved and put yourself at legal risk.

Remember : Envato Elements is the best source for licensed PowerPoint images . It's all-you-can-download, and all covered as part of the license, no matter how many images you choose.

3. PowerPoint Image Quality

• Do:  Edit pictures in PowerPoint with the built-in tools.
• Don't:  Stretch images so that you distort the original.

There's nothing worse than pixelated, grainy images. It's sure to draw the viewer's eye in a disproportionate way.

Learn how to set the perfect dimensions for your PowerPoint presentation with the help of this tutorial:

How to Insert Images in PowerPoint

Let's get started by adding images to our PowerPoint presentation. There are two main ways to insert images into your PowerPoint. Paste an image from your clipboard or import a picture from a file on your computer.

Let's look at both ways to work with images in PPT.

1. Paste Images

It’s amazingly easy to paste images in PowerPoint. Begin by copying an image to your clipboard by right-clicking on it and choosing Copy or Copy Image.

Then, navigate to the PowerPoint slide where you want to paste your photo. Then, right-click and choose Picture from the Paste Options section. PowerPoint instantly pastes your image onto the slide!

2. Insert Images From Your Computer

My favorite way to add pictures in PowerPoint is to first save them to my computer. There are key advantages here. It’s easier to keep track of all the photos in your slide deck. Plus, you can add more than one image at one time. This way, you can streamline the process of inserting images in PowerPoint.

To use this method, find the Insert tab on PowerPoint’s ribbon. Then, click on the Pictures drop-down arrow. From the list of options, choose This Device.

A file browser opens. You can find photos that you've stored on your computer. Click to select them, and then click Insert to add them to your slide.

There are other options on the file browser to insert PowerPoint images. Next to Insert , you can click on the drop-down arrow to explore them. These are more advanced ways to work with images:

• Insert. This is the standard option for inserting pictures, which puts the image file inside your PowerPoint. It increases the size of your presentation file but works even when you send it to others.
• Link to File. This links to the original file, so you'll need to keep it on your computer for the PowerPoint to display it correctly.
• Insert and Link. If the original file changes, the version on your PowerPoint slide updates as well.  

  Now that you've got your image inserted into the presentation, it's time to check out the picture editing tools.

How to Resize and Tilt Images in PowerPoint

When you select an image in PowerPoint, white circles appear on the corners of the picture. Resize an image by grabbing one of these circles and pulling it until the image is the desired size.

By default, PowerPoint  locks the aspect ratio when resizing an image. This means that it'll prevent stretching when you resize it. 

To turn this off right-click on the image and choose Size and Position.  A menu opens on the right side of PowerPoint. Untick the Lock aspect ratio  box.

Notice in the screenshot above that you can also type in an exact size for your image on the new menu. If you know the exact dimensions you need for an image, this feature comes in handy.

Also, tilt an image by grabbing the circular arrow icon above an image and pulling it left to right.

How to Rotate an Image in PowerPoint

It’s often useful to rotate images in PowerPoint. They may import facing the wrong way. O, you might just want to mix up your style! You can rotate images in 90-degree increments using the Rotate menu on the Picture Format tab.

With an image selected, click on Picture Format , found on PowerPoint’s ribbon. You’ll find the Rotate option in the Arrange group. Select Rotate Right 90 or Rotate Left 90 to begin rotating your photos in PowerPoint fast.

Also, on this menu, you can flip an image. Choose Flip Vertical or Flip Horizontal to do this. These work to mirror images. For example, you can use these options if the text in your photos appears “backwards .” The Flip commands correct this.

How to Crop a Picture in PowerPoint

It’s easy to crop images right inside PowerPoint. It’s how to edit a picture in PowerPoint to show only the parts of the image you need. 

Once again, to get started, you’ll want to be sure your image PPT is selected. Then, return to the Picture Format tab on the ribbon. Click on Crop , which you’ll find on the right side of the menu in the Size group.

Black handles appear on the sides and corners of your image. You can click and pull on these to crop your photo. Areas to be cropped away become shaded, showing that they’ll be removed. When you’ve made your crop area selection, click Crop again. PowerPoint crops the image.

Accidentally crop too much? No worries! Click on Crop again, and you’ll see the original image reappear, with the cropped areas still shaded. You can select a new crop area to change the look and feel.  

How to Remove Image Backgrounds in PowerPoint

One of the handiest picture tools in PowerPoint is the ability to remove an image background. You've probably run into a situation like this before. You've got a graphic, like a logo or an icon, with a solid color background.

Take the screenshot below, for example. If I want to use the Envato logo graphic with no white background, I can use the Remove Background feature.

With an image selected, click on the Remove Background button on the Picture Format tab.

PowerPoint shows a new view where you can set the points to remove and keep in the image. The pink area shows the part of the image that PowerPoint will remove as the background.

PowerPoint takes a first guess at which areas to remove. Refine the selection by using the Mark Areas to Keep and Mark Areas to Remove option on the ribbon. 

Click on those options, then set the points on the image that you want to keep and remove. PowerPoint adapts to remove the areas you show it. Use the two options to show PowerPoint exactly what to remove and what to keep.

In the screenshot above, you can see how I used this tool. I set "Keep" areas for the logo text and icon. Once you press Keep Changes , PowerPoint removes the background from your image.  

More Tools to Work with Images in PowerPoint

Finally, let’s look at more great ways to work with pictures in PowerPoint. These help you make images look stunning right inside the app! You don’t need other editing tools.

To get started, click on one of your PowerPoint images and return to the Picture Format tab. Here, we’ll explore several tools:

1. Corrections

Click on  Corrections  on the left side of the ribbon to access two key tools:  Sharpen / Soften and  Brightness / Contrast. If you've worked with any image editing app, these terms and effects are already familiar to you. Sharpening can enhance the detail of an image.

Hover over any of the preview thumbnails to see the effect on the image and click to apply it.

Brightness and contrast adjusts the exposure and impact of an image. Try these out if you need to brighten up a dim image.

The  Color  drop-down lets you adjust the appearance of color in your image. Use the Color Saturation  options to reduce or increase the intensity of the color (including converting an image to black and white.)

Click on any of these thumbnails to apply the selected effect. The image adjusts to the selected color style.

Learn More About Using PowerPoint

This tutorial gave you the skills to work confidently with images in PowerPoint. There are plenty of other presentation tips and tools that can help you level up as a presenter.

On Envato Tuts+, we've built a deep library of PowerPoint tutorials. There are many learning resources that help you learn how to put pictures in PowerPoint and so much more. 

In our guide, How to Use PowerPoint (Ultimate Tutorial Guide) , you can learn the app completely! Make sure to check out a few of our favorite tutorials from the guide:

Outstanding Options for Templates Focused on PowerPoint Images

Here's a secret: professional presenters love to use the work of others. But don't worry. It's not theft, thanks to an impressive creative library called Envato Elements.

On Envato Elements , you can download an unlimited number of templates and PowerPoint pictures . These are usually focused on PowerPoint photos. Instead of creating a presentation from scratch, use a template with impressive PowerPoint designs.

Here are some of our best articles with top PowerPoint photo-focused templates. Check them out to kickstart your design work!

Create a Picture-Perfect PowerPoint Presentation Today

In this tutorial, you learned about PowerPoint's built-in options for modifying and working with images. There are enough features to bypass opening Photoshop or Pixelmator to edit pictures right inside of PowerPoint.

The best pairing with PowerPoint pictures is templates focused on imagery. With the help of Envato Elements, don't forget that you can source unlimited templates focused on PowerPoint photos .

Before you step on stage with your presentation, ask yourself: did you include enough PowerPoint photos? Audiences love visuals. You learned how to make and edit a PPT with pictures to grab and hold their attention in this tutorial. So, put the knowledge to use now!

Note : This article was originally published on August 2, 2017. It's been comprehensively and the video has been updated with help from Andrew Childress .

Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How To Insert Many Pictures into Individual Slides in PowerPoint

How To Insert Many Pictures into Individual Slides in PowerPoint

There are many reasons why you may be interested to insert many pictures into individual slides at once using PowerPoint . For example, if you’d like to protect your PowerPoint presentations by avoiding users to change editable fields or data values, then importing the slides as pictures into a new presentation could be a possible approach.

If you want to import hundreds of pictures into PowerPoint slides then it can be really tedious to add each picture file as as an individual slide. However, here we propose a method that let you easily import multiple photos or picture files into PowerPoint as individual slides . The best of this is that you just need to select which files to import from your hard disk (doesn’t matter if it is only one file or 100’s of files) and then PowerPoint will insert all the pictures into individual slides.

Using Photo Album to Batch Import Many Pictures into PowerPoint

Photo Album is a feature available in Microsoft PowerPoint that let you create a photo album from picture files easily. This can be very handy for people who want to create a family photo album but it is also a very powerful tool for professional presenters that need to import many pictures as slides. You can also use this approach to insert multiple pictures into PowerPoint on different slides.

1. Go to Insert > New Photo Album in PowerPoint

Let’s start creating a New Photo Album. Go to Insert -> Photo Album -> New Photo Album and then a new dialog box will appear.

2. Choose the Picture Files to Insert as PowerPoint Slides

Below is an example of the Photo Album dialog box where you can setup how to build a photo album, select the pictures to include in the album, choose the layout and see a preview. If you need help creating the images you can use an AI Image Generator .

Now, click File/Disk to pick picture files from your computer. This new file dialog let you select which files will be inserted in the album. As soon as you pick the files and accept the changes the pictures will be displayed under Pictures in album check list.

For this example we have exported all the slides from Metro Dashboard template to JPG images and saved them in our local hard disk. Then, we chose all these JPG images in order to make a new photo album following this approach.

You can use the File Dialog to save multiple files at once (keep Shift key pressed and then select all the files) and then the file names will appear in the file name text box. Then click All Pictures and these files will be selected for the photo album.

3. Choose Fit to Slide Option in Picture Layout

Unless you want to import many pictures in the same slide, make sure to choose Fit to slide option under the Album Layout section in the Edit Photo Album dialog. This will make the pictures to fit the whole slides making them look as the original presentation file but using a background image instead.

Tip: If you want to protect your presentations from edit then you can use this method proposed here to include pictures as PowerPoint slides removing any editable field from the PowerPoint presentation. This can be good while sharing a PowerPoint presentation with colleagues and co-workers for review or sharing a PowerPoint online and at the same time prevent the original file to be copied or edited. Interestingly, this method can be safer than other methods which involve protecting presentation files with password or converting the presentation to slideshow (.ppsx).

The method proposed here let you convert multiple images you have in your hard disk to PowerPoint slides without losing too much time (only a few clicks are required if you have the picture files already saved in your hard disk). Also, this method can be used if you need to add multiple images to an existing PowerPoint presentation .

Protect a PowerPoint Presentation by Inserting Pictures as Individual Slides

If you want to protect PowerPoint presentations by inserting slide pictures as individual slides without editable elements then you can follow the instructions below:

• Open the original presentation (the presentation file you want to protect).
• Go to File -> Save As and save PowerPoint Slides as Images.
• Choose the output folder where presentation files will be saved.
• Open a Blank Presentation in PowerPoint
• Go to Insert -> Photo Album -> New Photo Album
• Using the method proposed in this article, insert all the images previously saved in your hard disk.
• Save the new presentation with a new file name by going to File -> Save As and now choose the .pptx file format. We recommend you to identify the file name with a suffix my-presentation-noedit.pptx or something like that, in order to recognize easily that it is the modified version.

Now you can safely share the presentation with any colleague, co-worker or classmate or even publish the PowerPoint online.

Protecting the images using this approach does not guarantee someone won’t be able to edit the images. It is not the same as protecting the document with advanced protection mechanisms, for example, the ones that you could get by using digital signature protection. The protection mechanism we describe here is a high-level solution to prevent images from accidentally moving among the slide canvas.

The screenshot below shows an example we have created following the steps above. As you can see, the final result looks very close to the original template. The only difference for the end user is that the slides appear as images and there are no editable fields. Shapes nor pictures inside the dashboard can not be copied neither.

Alternatively, if you are looking for an additional layer of protection for your presentation, you may consider adding a watermark picture on top of each slide. This can be easily accomplished with the use of an AI picture generator or other graphic design tools. Be sure to add the watermark before exporting the slides as JPG images to ensure that the watermark cannot be edited along with the background pictures.

This feature is only available on Windows versions of Microsoft PowerPoint but if you are a Mac user then there is a workaround. You can use the Batch Image Importer tool provided by Andrea Frank from Boston College or a batch import images add-in for PowerPoint on Mac.

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Batch, Bulk, Import, Photo Album, Slides, Watermark Filed under PowerPoint Tutorials

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11 Responses to “How To Insert Many Pictures into Individual Slides in PowerPoint”

How can i do this in Powerpoint 2016 mac, that does not have the PhotoAlbum button

Use Keynote which is included Free when you install OS X then export as pptx if you wish

Thanks! This is the best suggestion yet for mac users!

What is the 2016 version of this? I have no album option anywhere. I only have Photo Browser and Picture from File.

This works fine to load a100 images into separate slides in seconds, and fit them to the frames. However many of the images then show as very coarse, as though only a thumbprint had been expanded. I can get the full detail of the images back by “changing” the image to the same file.

Second try. This works fine, except that many slides show the images as very coarse, as if a thumbprint had been expanded. How can I get the full details of the images into the slides? I can get around this by “changing” the image for the original file, when all comes right, but this is a nuisance! Thanks Sean Karley

3/17/2018 Sean: i am having the same problem. i loaded 200 slides and about 30% of them were very coarse. i think this occurs because the default setting in Power Point 2016 is to “compress pics” to 220kb? I couldn’t figure out how to prevent this in advance of creating the new photo album, because when you hit the “create” tab, it automatically creates a “new” presentation, with the auto-compress feature as the default. so i had to use your work-around (“change picture” option) to correct all the coarse photos. definitely a nuisance.

I am able to create ppt but in black and white. How to change this into colour photos and what is the options.

I do believe all of the ideas you have presented to your post. They’re really convincing and will definitely work. Nonetheless, thhe posts are very quick for starters. Could you please lengthen them a little from subsequent time?

Thanks for tthe post.

This is great, a big timesaver – thanks so much!

Nope. I have PP 2020 and there NO “photo album” button. I taught MS Office back in the 90s – Powerpoint, Word, Excel, Access, Outlook. It was brilliant and worked effortlessly. It’s got progressively worse since then. I find it surprising MS even still in business, appalling.

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How To Work With Multiple Images In PowerPoint

Images and pictures can spice up your presentation in a way that text cannot. Nowhere is this more accurately depicted than in the idiomatic expression, “ A picture paints a thousand words .” You can only put so many words on a single slide. The best course of action would then be to use images or videos that will help you get your message across far more effectively than plain text can. With that said, in today’s article, I’m going to show you how to work with multiple images in PowerPoint.

5 Different Ways To Quickly Insert Multiple Images In PowerPoint

There are a couple of different ways you can use to quickly add multiple images to your PowerPoint slide. Note, however, that if some of the options don’t seem to be available on your end, then you may need to update your copy of PowerPoint. An Office 365 subscription would also be ideal, so you get all the latest updates to all Microsoft Office apps (including PowerPoint, of course).

1. Copy and paste images into your slide

You can quickly copy a photo from your image gallery, web browser, or any other compatible app on your computer. All you have to do is hit CTRL+C on your keyboard to save the image to your clipboard. Take note, however, that some apps do not support copying multiple images which means you can only copy and paste one image at a time to PowerPoint. To paste the image(s) to PowerPoint, hit CTRL+V on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can go to Home > Paste if you want to see other Paste Options.

2. Use the Insert menu in PowerPoint

The Insert tab is where you go to add various elements or objects on your slides. In the Images section of the Insert tab, you’ll notice you can insert different types of photos. You can add pictures saved in your computer as well as online pictures, screenshots and even an entire photo album for your slideshow.

Let’s go through these different image types you can insert on your slides:

• Pictures . Use this option if you want to insert 1 or more images that are saved on your computer. You can CTRL+click on the images you want to add. Likewise, you can also hold down the SHIFT key if you want to add images that are saved right next to each other.

• Online Pictures. Use this option if you want to search for images on Bing (Microsoft’s search engine) or access your photos on OneDrive. Note that you will need to be signed in to your personal OneDrive account to access the photos saved there.

• Screenshot . You do not need to open up a separate app to take screenshots and add it to your PowerPoint slide. You can now insert a screenshot or screen clipping straight from PowerPoint. Note, however, that you can only take full screenshots of open PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, and Excel files. If you want to take a screenshot of other apps, you will need to select the Screen Clipping option.

• Photo Album. If you want to show off your latest product photos (or your travel photos to a white-sand beach somewhere), then this is the option for you. Imagine if you’ve got 100 photos on your photo album and you’d need to insert one photo for each slide. That’s going to eat up a lot of your time! Fortunately, the Photo Album option will help make your life easier.

You can add as many pictures as you want to your photo album. You can reorder the pictures, add captions and even turn all your colored pictures into black and white. For album layout, you can have up to a maximum of 4 pictures in a slide, and you’ve got several frame shapes to choose from as well.

3. Use the layout option in PowerPoint

When inserting a new slide, you can choose a layout option that allows you to add images with just a single click. To view the available layouts, you can double click on the slide you want to edit and then click on Layout .

In the screenshot above, you can see that only the Two Content and Comparison layouts have picture placeholders. If you want to add layouts with even more picture placeholders, you will need to edit the Slide Master.

To edit the Slide Master, go to View > Slide Master > Insert Layout . A new slide will appear on your screen. Click on Insert Placeholder and select either Picture (to add an image stored on your computer) or Online Image (to add an image from the web).

Once you have added the placeholders on the slide, you can then close the Master View.

For this example, I created a new layout with two pictures and one online image. I’ve also formatted the shapes of the placeholders, so it’s not the usual rectangle used in most placeholders. Here’s what it looks like:

When I closed the Slide Master view and went back to Normal View, the new custom layout I just made is now shown as an option in the Layout menu. Here’s a screenshot:

So, I clicked on Custom Layout and added images to the placeholders. This is what the slide looks like now:

4. Use the ‘Shape Fill with Pictures’ option

Use this method if you want to use various shapes for your images. Say, for example, you want a circular image, a heart-shaped image, a square image, etc. Sure, you can use the Picture Layout or Picture Styles menu to change the look of the image. But the ‘Shape Fill with Pictures’ method opens up a lot more possibilities (and shapes) for your images.

Here’s how you do this:

• Click on Insert > Shapes and select the shape you want to use.
• Draw the shape on the slide.
• Click on the shape to open up the Drawing Tools
• In the Format tab in Drawing Tools , click on Shape Fill then select Picture on the dropdown list.
• In the dialog box, choose whether you want to insert pictures from a file (on your computer) or from the web.

Here’s an example slide I made just for you:

5. Use the SmartArt option

SmartArt has a lot of practical uses in real-world presentations. They not only look good, but they also help save a lot of time. The good news is SmartArt isn’t limited to adding text; you can also quickly insert images in many SmartArt graphics.

To add a SmartArt graphic, go to Insert > SmartArt . Browse the different categories and click on the graphic you want to use. Alternatively, you can just go directly to the Picture category to see the graphics with built-in image placeholders.

Once you’ve added the SmartArt graphic to your slide, you can then click on the placeholder to quickly add a picture from file or from the web. You can also easily change the layout, colors, add more shapes, etc. by accessing the SmartArt Tools menu. You can quickly access this hidden menu by clicking on the graphic you want to edit. That’s it!

How To Quickly Transform Multiple Images in PowerPoint

In this section of the article, I will show you a few tricks you can use to quickly transform the look of multiple images in PowerPoint – all at once!

· How to resize multiple photos

Resizing multiple images one by one is no fun. Fortunately, PowerPoint makes it easy for you to resize multiple images all at once. There are a couple of techniques you can use to make your images smaller or larger.

Method 1: Manual method

To select multiple images, press CTRL on your keyboard and click on the images you’d like to resize. Drag a sizing handle on any of the images and move it towards the center (to make the images smaller). If you want to scale or make the images bigger, then drag the sizing handle away from the center.

Here are a few more tips to consider:

Press and hold the OPTION key while simultaneously dragging the sizing handle. This will keep the images’ center in the same place. If you want to maintain the image proportions, you’d need to press and hold the SHIFT key on your keyboard.

Method 2: Set exact height and width in Picture Tools

If you want more precise measurements for your images, instead of just eyeballing the size, then you’ll find your answer in the Picture Tools menu. First, click on the images you’d like to resize. The sizing handles will appear and a new tab (Picture Tools) will appear on the Menu Bar. Click on Format and go to the Size group on the far-right side of your screen. Type in your desired height and width, or click on the up/down arrows.

Method 3: Use SmartArt graphics

This is probably the least commonly used method when resizing images. You can quickly change the look of your entire slide by simply converting the images to SmartArt graphic. Here’s how you do this:

• Click on the images you want to convert to SmartArt. This will open up the Picture Tools
• Go to the Format tab and click on Picture Layout . You’ll then see a bunch of different picture layouts. Hover your mouse over the layouts to see the real-time changes taking place on your slide. Your images will magically transform right before your eyes!

• Click on the picture layout you want to use. The SmartArt Tools menu will appear on screen. Go through the different options to customize your new SmartArt graphic.

What’s really awesome about this method is that SmartArt is pretty intuitive. Whether you’re resizing two or ten images, the resulting SmartArt graphic is always perfectly sized and will have no problems fitting on the slide.

However, you may notice that some of the photos may be cropped. Let’s say you’ve resized your family pictures, but in a couple of those photos your face has been cropped out. To solve this problem, go back to Picture Tools and click on the Crop button. When you do this, you’ll see the full image and you can then move the image around until your face appears within the resized photo.

Also, if you’re looking to make a photo collage for your PowerPoint slideshow, this is the technique you should be using. SmartArt will perfectly resize your images in just a few clicks and you’ll have your photo collage in no time!

· How to blend 2 or more pictures

Depending on the effect you want to achieve, you can easily blend 2 or more pictures in PowerPoint in just a few clicks. Here are a few tricks you can use:

• Make a picture transparent by going to Picture Tools and adjusting the transparency levels. Doing so will allow the image behind it to be seen.
• Apply Soft Edges to the photos by going to Picture Tools and selecting Picture Effects . Click on Soft Edges and select the preset variation you want to use. Alternatively, you can always specify the soft edge size if you want a more custom look.

So, I made an example slide where I applied the two techniques above. I put the goat picture on top of the whiteboard and set the transparency to 20%. I also set the soft edge to 50%. Here’s the final result:

· How to use animation effects to make images appear one after another

There may be times when you don’t want all your images to appear all at once. Instead, you want them to appear one by one. Fortunately, doing this isn’t all that hard. If you’ve already got an animation order in mind, all you have to do is go to the Animations tab. Then select the animations for the various elements on your slide.

There are plenty of animations you can choose from. You can choose from various Entrance, Emphasis, Exit and Motion Paths animations. Just remember, however, that animations are meant to be used sparingly. If you overdo your animations, your audience is in danger of becoming ill with motion sickness!

Check out the best practices when adding transitions and animations to your slides if you don’t want your audience to hate you.

· How to crop multiple images

When you’re working with 2 or more images, your crop options are limited. You can’t do a normal image crop or crop it to a certain aspect ratio. You can only use the Crop to Shape option. Here’s how it works:

Click on the images you want to crop. Then go to Picture Tools > Format . As you can see in the screenshot below, only the Crop to Shape option is clickable. The other options are greyed out:

The good thing about this cropping option is that you can convert your images into fun-looking shapes. You’re no longer limited to working with a rectangular or square shape. You have plenty of different shapes to choose from and make your pictures look even more exciting!

· How to adjust the color of your pictures

If you want to give your images a uniform look, you can apply a filter. Fortunately, you don’t need a separate photo app to apply filters . You can do it directly on PowerPoint. Here’s how:

Click on the images you want to re-color. Then go to Picture Tools > Format . Look for the Color button and select from the preset variations or use a custom color by clicking on More Variations .

If you want to get creative, you can click on Set Transparent Color to make a single color transparent. If you choose to make the color red transparent, then all instances of red in your selected images will become transparent.

The Power of Using The Right Image in Presentations

Your PowerPoint slides are your presentation’s visual aid. It’s supposed to help your audience understand what you’re telling them. You may think your speech is enough to get people to pay attention. Maybe, maybe not. For the most part, however, we are visual learners and a visually-attractive slideshow will win over a text-based one.

There’s nothing wrong with text-based presentations per se. With typography and a bit of graphic design knowledge, you can certainly transform your plain-looking slides into something more eye-catching. But in some cases, great typography simply isn’t enough to get people’s eyeballs glued to your presentation.

Let me give you an example. Look at the two slides below and tell me which one looks better:

Slide 1 (text-based slide):

Slide 2 (image slide + caption):

Both of these slides refer to the same thing – feeding the goats. However, if you’re trying to convince people to go check out your farm, they probably won’t be too interested if you just show them Slide #1.

Why? Because it’s boring! With a text-based slide, you’re basically asking people to imagine what feeding a goat looks like. You’re letting their brains do the extra work. What if they don’t know what goats look like? There are plenty of goat breeds out there. What kind of goat are they going to feed? There are so many questions that can’t be answered with a text-based slide.

With Slide #2, however, you’re showing people exactly what they’re going to do at the farm. They no longer need to imagine what the goats look like. They can easily see themselves feeding the goat. The image speaks volumes and will help you do your job more effectively.

Imagine listening to a 20-minute presentation where all the slides look like Slide #1. How do you think you’re going to feel? Do you think you’ll enjoy the presentation? Or will you tune out and scroll through your Instagram feed instead?

When designing your presentation slides, it’s important to place yourself in your audience’s shoes. You can’t win their trust and get them to engage in your presentation if they’re not paying any attention to you. With the right images, however, you’ll have your audience awake, attentive, and eating from the palm of your hand!

Ready To Work With Multiple Images In PowerPoint?

Your presentation is so much more than a bunch of slides with text, graphics, and other objects in it. It’s supposed to support your presentation’s message, not take away from it. With that said, the right images can capture your audience’s attention and help drive your message home. Apply the various tips and tricks for working with multiple images in PowerPoint and drive your presentation message home!

You might also find this interesting: How To Work With Tables, Graphs And Charts In PowerPoint

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How to Add Images to a PowerPoint Presentation

Last Updated: June 5, 2023

Inserting Saved Images

Inserting copied images, inserting clip art.

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 13 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 137,424 times. Learn more...

Even if you've never used PowerPoint before, adding images to PowerPoint is fairly straightforward with a little explanation. Whether you have your image saved to your computer or you need to search the Internet for the perfect picture for a presentation, have no fear. Soon, you'll be a master when it comes to adding images to your PowerPoint slides.

Things You Should Know

• Insert a saved image into your PowerPoint by clicking "Pictures" within the "Insert" tab atop your screen.
• You can also find an image online to copy and paste it into a PowerPoint presentation.
• Also look for the "Clip Art" or "Online Pictures" section within the "Insert" tab.

• Many times, due to formatting issues, this method can be unreliable. Don't give up; there are other options available.

• You can also double click your image from the "Insert Picture" directory to insert it.

• Mac users can perform the same function by holding ⌘ Command while clicking.
• Content that you've selected with your cursor can also usually be copied by pressing Ctrl + C or, for Apple users, ⌘ Command + C . [1] X Research source [2] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source

• You can also paste items from your clipboard by pressing Ctrl + V

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• ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236
• ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/126449

About This Article

To insert an image on a PowerPoint slide, start by clicking the slide in the left panel of PowerPoint. Next, click the ""Insert"" tab at the top of PowerPoint. If the picture you want to insert is on your computer, click ""Pictures"" in the toolbar and then select ""This Device."" Select the image you want to insert and click ""Insert"" to place it on the slide. You can then drag it anywhere on the slide. To resize the image without warping it, click and drag the circles at any of the corners (not the edges) inward or outward. As long as the picture is selected, you can use the tools on the Format tab to add artistic effects, color filters, lighting corrections, borders, and more. If you'd rather insert a picture from the web, return to the ""Insert"" tab—if you see the option for ""Online Pictures,"" click it—if not, click the ""Pictures"" icon first and then select ""Online Pictures"" from the menu. You can then choose a photo from your OneDrive or search for one using Bing Image Search. After inserting an online picture, you can edit it using the tools on the format tab. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Create a photo slideshow in PowerPoint

Bryan Jones

• eLearning Development , Posts , PowerPoint

I recently created a photo slideshow (using PowerPoint) of my dad’s life-sized chess set sculpture that’s at Facebook (Go Dad!).

I found that PowerPoint was a surprisingly powerful slideshow creation tool.

And once I learned the basics, I was able to create my next slideshow in under 1 minute!

Below is what I learned, as well as some bonus lessons such as adding music, creating a custom title slide, saving the slideshow as YouTube video, and more.

Let’s go ahead and get started!

Video Tutorial

Here is a video that shows the entire process:

And if you want to watch the published version of the slideshow, you can watch it here:

Sculptures are by my dad,  Hardy Jones , and sculpture photos in the source files are courtesy of my good friend Erin Bibeau .

Screenshot and Text Tutorial

The screenshot version of the lessons are below and are organized into these sections:

• Create slideshow in under 1 minute
• Create a custom title slide
• Set slide transitions
• Improve image quality
• Scale images to the edge of the slides
• Add pan and zoom “Ken Burns” effect
• Create scrolling credits
• Save the PowerPoint slideshow as a video that you can upload to YouTube

Create a PowerPoint Slideshow in Under 1 Minute

To watch this section as a YouTube video, click here .

0. Start with a new presentation open in MS Powerpoint.

Note: I’m working in PowerPoint 2016, but the steps are similar for 2013 and 2011.

1. Insert a photo album to your presentation

Go to “insert” → “photo album” → “new photo album”., click on “file disk”., select the photos from your computer.

Note: You can hold down Ctrl while clicking several photos to select them individually

Click “Insert”

Click “create”, 2. add transitions to your slideshow.

Next you want to add transitions to your new photo album.

Click the first slide, then hold Shift while clicking the last slide to select the whole range of slides.

Go to “transitions” → click on the arrow to open up more choices., click on “random”., 3.  set the slides to advance automatically, from the “transitions” tab, check the “advance slide” “after” box., set it to 2 seconds (or whatever you want)., 4.  set the slideshow to loop continuously, go to “slide show” → “set up show”., turn on “loop continuously until ‘esc’”, then click “ok”., 5.  that’s it boom done in under 1 minute.

You’ve created a photo slideshow in PowerPoint in under 1 minute!

You can preview your slideshow with the preview button.

Advanced PowerPoint photo slideshow tips

The lesson above shows you how easy it is to create a photo slideshow in PowerPoint in under a minute.

But if you want to take it to the next level, you should continue reading below.

Advanced Tip 1: Create Custom Title Slide

The default title slide for a slideshow in PowerPoint is just a black slide with a text box.

I’d rather delete it than use the default view.

Or better yet, why not use an image from the slideshow with a text overlay? That’s what I’ll show you how to do below!

To watch this part of the lesson as a YouTube video, click here .

0. Start with the slideshow you created previously.

1. copy and paste a the template slide.

Note: You can download our free template here

The click the slide and using Ctrl + C to copy.

Then go to your own slide show, click on where you want to insert it, and hit Ctrl + V.

2.  Click on the new slide to select it and customize it.

You can change the text as you please.

You can also change the image by right-clicking on the image → “Change Picture”.

Click on “Work offline”.

Then select a photo and click “Open”.

Click on the eye icons next to “text” in the “Selection” pane to hide the text.

Click on the box to select it → right-click → “Format Shape”.

Adjust the transparency depending on how bright or dark your background photo is.

Click on the eye icons for “text” again to show the text and see the effect.

Advanced Tip 2: Add Music

0. start with the slideshow you created in ms powerpoint., 1. insert the music.

Go to “Insert” → “Audio” → “Audio on My PC”.

Select a music file and click “Insert”.

2. Adjust the playback settings

Go to “Playback” → select “Automatically” for “Start” so that the music plays on its own.

Check the box for “Play Across Slides”.

To hide the audio icon on the slide during the show, click on it to select it, then go to “Playback” → “Hide During Show”.

You can loop the music if you want by checking the box for “Loop until Stopped”.  This is optional.

3. Preview what it sounds like by clicking the preview button.

Advanced tip 3: transitions.

To watch the part of the tutorial as a YouTube video, click here.

0. Start with the slide show you created in MS Powerpoint.

1. select a slide to control the transition to  it (from the slide before it)..

Go to “Transitions” → click the arrow for more choices.

Click on the transition style you want (this also previews them so you can see what they look like).

Advanced Tip 4: Image Quality

To watch this part of the tutorial as a YouTube video, click here.

1. Turn off the compression of images

Go to “File” →  “Options”.

Then click on the “Advanced” tab and check the box for “Do not compress images in file”.  (Directly beneath it, leave the “Default resolution” at “High fidelity” for good quality.)  Turning off image compression helps a lot with zoom transitions of photos and when you enlarge photos, so that they don’t look pixelated.

Advanced Tip 5: Scaling Images

To watch this part of the tutorial as a YouTube video, click here .

Scaling photos will allow you to get rid of the empty spaces to the sides, like in the photo beneath.

1. Increase the size of the image to fill the workspace

Drag the image to the left (hold down left click on it) and align its left side with the edge.

Note: You may want to zoom out a little to make the next step easier.

Hold down shift and drag the lower right corner to resize it until it completely covers the empty space on the right.  (Holding down shift keeps the image in proportion when resizing it.)

Click on the image and drag it up a bit to position it as you like.

Note: I like to use the thumbnails on the left pane to see what the positioning looks like.

If you’re a perfectionist, you can optionally also crop the overhanging part of the image if you wish by going to “Format” → “Crop”.  It’s not really necessary, though.

2. Consider adding multiple photos for portrait oriented images

The image scaling method above is best suited to landscape pictures.  If you have a portrait picture, you might wish to try using 2 or more pictures instead to cover up the empty spaces.

Advanced Tip 6: Add “Ken Burns” Pan Zoom Effect

A “Ken Burns” effect is adding some motion to the photos in a storytelling slide show.  It’s an in-slide effect, unlike a transition.  In this example, the slide starts zoomed in, then zooms out.

1. Create both a “grow/shrink” and a motion path effect to the image

Go to “Animations” → “Animation Pane”

In the Animation Pane, there are 2 things that need to be set up:  a grow-shrink animation and a motion path.  You then start them at the same time so they both move and grow. (See video linked in show notes on how to do this in detail as this takes some tweaking.)

The image will actually need to be much larger than the viewable area.

To compare the image size to viewable area, go to the Selection Pane and click the eye icon for the picture.  This hides it.

You can now see the viewable area, which is quite small in comparison.

Advanced Tip 7: Add Scrolling Credits

Scrolling credits are the credits you list at the end of the video, auto-scrolling up.

1. Add a background color and a text box

Draw a black rectangle (or any color you wish) using the “Insert”->”Shape”->”Rectangle”

Create a text box with a contrasting color and insert your credits using “Insert”-> “Shape” -> “Textbox”

Move the text box below the entire slide

3. Add a line motion path animation to the text box

Note: Powerpoint actually has its own functionality for setting up credits, but it tends to stop in the middle if the credits are long.  So it’s more reliable just using a the line motion path described below.

Click on the text box to select it.  Then go to “Animations” → click on the arrow to expand the selection of animations.

Select “Lines” under “Motion Paths”.

3. Adjust the animation settings

The line will appear as a small vertical line with a green dot (where it starts) and red dot (where it ends).

You want it to travel up off the screen (scrolling up), so click on the red dot and drag it up above the slide.

Set the duration by going to “Animations” → “Duration”.  The duration will depend on how long your credits are.

Remove the “smooth start” and “smooth end” by going to “Animations” → “Animation Pane”.

In the Animation Pane, click on the arrow for the text box → “Effect Options”.

Set “Smooth start” and “Smooth end” to 0 seconds.  Click OK.

Advanced Tip 8: Save Slideshow As Video

One of the hidden features of PowerPoint is that you can save it out as a video. In my case, I wanted to save it as a video and upload it to YouTube. But you can also use it for other purposes as well.

1. Save your Powerpoint slideshow as a video

Go to “File” → “Save As” → “Browse”.

Under “Save as type”, change it from the default “PowerPoint Presentation” to “MPEG-4 Video”.  (MP4 is a video format that’s compatible with Youtube.)  Click “Save”.

You can track the progress for video conversion at the bottom.  It usually takes a few minutes, but can take longer depending on the length of your video and the speed of your computer.

Once your video is complete, navigate back to the folder where you saved it.

Bonus Templates and Files

If you’ve made it this far, you’re a rockstar and you deserve something special. 🙂

Get 3 free slideshow templates:

Get your free download.

10 Free PowerPoint Templates to Present Your Photos With Style

The most common use of PowerPoint with photos is their use as photo albums. Create your own...or use the hundreds of free templates in the Office template gallery. We pick ten attractive ones.

You might think Photoshop is the best tool for putting together a photo collage, but actually PowerPoint offers plenty of free templates for you to use instead. Here's how to use a template in PowerPoint along with all the best PowerPoint photo collage templates you have to choose from.

Why Use PowerPoint Photo Collage Templates?

Share your photos: For our most popular preoccupation with photos—sharing.

Show off photos with style: A professional photo collage template can add gravity and enhance your photos.

Save time: Microsoft PowerPoint templates for photos are molds for standard layouts. Why reinvent the wheel? Save time with pre-made photography templates so you can focus on other things instead.

Showcase creativity: Turn a long-term photography project into a creative PowerPoint photo album presented as a slideshow.

How to Search for Free PowerPoint Photo Collage Templates

The most common use of Microsoft PowerPoint with photos is to use it as a photo album. PowerPoint ships with some default photo templates, but you can also use free templates in the Office Online Template & Themes gallery.

Follow these steps in Office 365. It should be similar for other versions of Microsoft Office as well.

• You can tweak your slides further by applying Themes from the Design tab with just a click. A theme is a predefined combination of colors, fonts, and effects. Different themes are suitable for different slide layouts.

Tip: You can pin your favorite templates to the New screen.

The 10 Best PowerPoint Photo Templates

Good presenters know not only what to present but also how to present. These 10 professional photo collage templates do some of the handholding for you.

1. Stay Minimal With the Classic Photo Album

The Classic Photo Album PowerPoint template is a minimal theme suitable for black and white street photography. Use this to create a personal portfolio. Limited to two colors, it doesn't distract from the photos you use the template for.

If you want to go with color, customize the default theme background, colors, number of images, alignment of thumbnails, and more by using the Ribbon.

2. Make a Baby Photo Collage

This PowerPoint photo slideshow template presents your cute baby pictures in a vertical style. You can use a different number of photos in the slides and write down memories associated with the photos.

3. A PowerPoint Collage for Wedding Photos

The elegant Wedding Photo Album is a compilation of 17 slides in different layouts. You will find other wedding album templates in the gallery, but this is an understated photo collage. You can add up to five wedding photos to create a collage. For more choices, search with a "wedding photo album" keyword.

4. Birthday Photo Album Template for Any Age

A common use of collages is to put together a birthday photo album. This PowerPoint template for birthday photos is easy to adapt to your needs. The 15 deck template also comes with editing instructions if you are a beginner on PowerPoint and need some help.

5. A Stylish Biography Template for Class

Studying the biographies of achievers is required reading in many grade levels. This is not for your photos but for profiling the life of famous men and women in the class. The Biography Presentation template is a well-designed template with space for photos and biographical information. Use each slide to focus on a single aspect of the achiever's life.

6. Escape With a Road Trip Photo Album Template

Just looking at the collage of placeholders for your road trip photos might make you want to take one. This beautiful PowerPoint template has eight slides, so you might need more of them if you bring back lots of memories.

7. Have Fun With a Party Photo Album Template

A fun party can throw up a lot of little moments. Capture them all in a slideshow with this 21-slide PowerPoint template. This photo collage template is colorful to match any fun theme for your party.

8. Remember Someone With a Memorial Album

Use the Floral memorial album template to pay tribute with a PowerPoint slideshow. The eight slides in the template are designed for different photos and one of the slides can even hold eight photos. This presentation design is somber but stylish at the same time.

9. Send a Reunion Reminder With a Family Photo Album

Present a few loving family photos to inspire everyone to start preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The theme of these PowerPoint slides is simple, and you can easily add a few more slides to the default five this deck comes with.

10. Create a Stunning Photo Book

You might feel overwhelmed if someone asked you to put together a quick photo book. But use this subtle yet stylish PowerPoint photo book template to get the job done in no time. The name and the placeholder images might suggest a fashion theme, but you can easily repurpose it for any photos.

Let's Not Forget Office Online

You might not use PowerPoint Online for crafting that killer presentation, but it's still a free alternative to Microsoft Office with plenty of templates.

While most of the online photo templates are crossovers from the Office suite gallery, there are still some exceptions. For example, the Animated picture collection template.

You can always download a template from the online gallery to your desktop. And you can save your presentation to a web location just as easily with OneDrive, then access it from there with Office 365.

Other Sources of Free PowerPoint Templates

There also lots of non-Microsoft sources of free Microsoft PowerPoint templates and backgrounds. Search with a keyword like "photos" or "photo album" to find them. Here are a few suggestions:

• SlideHunter
• PPTtemplate.net
• PresenterMedia
• Powered Template
• Graphic River (paid)

Templates can help you take shortcuts through the time-consuming task of designing a presentation. That way you can save more time for perfecting the look of your presentation with a few profession design tips.

A Guide to Using Images and Photos For Powerpoint

No matter what industry you’re in, you’ll likely be tasked with creating PowerPoint presentations to use in meetings, for marketing, or as a standalone piece of sales collateral to hand off to a client. Whatever the context, a PowerPoint presentation allows you to share information in an easily digestible, visual format that informs the reader and brings your story to life. Presenting images alongside your text is a surefire way to make your slides more eye-catching, but it takes some finesse to give your audience information without the overload.

Creating an aesthetically pleasing PowerPoint can be a make-or-break deal, and the photos you use – along with the the right combination of colors, fonts and other graphic elements – can either convey professional credibility and inspiration, or be a jumbled mess that your audience won’t know how to decipher. In this guide, we’ll go over the best practices for using images in PowerPoint (or the slide deck program of your choice).

Tips for Presenting Images

Text, colors, and icons can’t always do the heavy lifting of a presentation on their own — using photos in PowerPoint will make your ideas feel more immediate, human, and relatable. Think about your key messages and your brand identity before adding images to your presentation. What story are you trying to tell? What audience are you trying to speak to?

Visuals are essential to creating an engaging presentation. Audiences will tune out if they see nothing but text.

Generally, you should focus on adding photos to your PowerPoint that support and emphasize your key statements, rather than overshadow or distract from them. Selecting more muted background images for presentation slides can also maintain the look, feel, and texture you desire without attracting too much focus.

Here, we’ve compiled a handy guide to the Do’s and Don’ts of PowerPoint presentation design and selecting the right images:

1. Use High Quality Photos

Nothing can tarnish your professional credibility quicker than seeing a blurry, pixelated image in your presentation. This is why adding high-resolution stock photography to your presentation is a must, and drawing from the wealth of professional photos available on a site like Noun Project will lend your slides an immediate air of professionalism.

Go to NounProject.com/photos and search for keywords related to your main idea. You can view specific collections like Diversity in Tech , Empowered Women , Students , and Hiking , and explore additional images by photographer as well.

When you’ve found a stock photo you like, be sure to download it in the resolution you want. Noun Project offers many photos for free in a lower resolution, but depending on how large your final presentation will be, you’ll want the highest resolution that can be expanded to fit your screen without pixelation. Always double check to make sure that the picture still looks crisp at full screen size.

Tip: Standard screen resolutions are 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high (and most default PowerPoint templates have these dimensions). Be sure your photo is at least the same dimension if you’re doing a full screen size to avoid pixelation.

2. Practice Consistency

Chances are, your entire presentation focuses on a single overarching idea and the photos you use should reflect that. In addition to finding the right subjects, pay attention to the other aesthetic qualities of the photos you bring in. Are they in a similar, complementary color scheme? Are they shot in similar environments for a consistent tone (e.g., sleek and corporate, rugged and outdoorsy, urban and gritty, or light and playful)?

Use images in PowerPoint that support and accentuate your theme and overall tone. The images you use throughout should complement each other without repeating or looking too dissimilar.

The most fail-proof way to ensure consistency is to draw from an individual photographer or a particular photo shoot. Stock photographers will often shoot several different angles, poses and variations from a single scene, so you can find just the right shot for each slide and remind your audience that this is all part of one cohesive message.

Noun Project organizes stock photos in collections from individual shoots, so almost any image you click on will have similar ones from the series available. Bear in mind, though, that you don’t want to use too many similar images — the more you can change scenes without shifting the tone, the better.

Adding photos to a presentation from the same photographer is the easiest way to keep it visually consistent. If you insert photos from the same shoot, just make sure you add enough variety so it doesn’t become repetitive. Pictured: Fitness photo collection by Jacob Lund.

Once you have your desired photos downloaded (and ideally put in the same folder in your hard drive), here’s how to add pictures to PowerPoint:

• Simply click and drag the picture file (as .JPG or .PNG) from your file finder window into the PowerPoint pane. You may see the “Design Ideas” toolbar pop up on the side of your pane, with different options you can try out to arrange visual elements.
• Alternatively, go to Insert > Pictures > Picture from file , and select the photo you want from your finder.

3. Avoid Photo Clutter

The photos you add to your PowerPoint should be presented one at a time, or minimally enough to maintain focus — too many photos can cause clutter and become distracting. You don’t want the photo to be the sole star of the show — you want it to support your statements and add emotional resonance to your messages.

There may, however, be occasions when you want to use multiple images that support a unifying topic: for example, steps in a process or different ways that customers can purchase your product.

If you ever want to add one or more smaller photos, rather than a large background image, here are a few rules of thumb:

• Crop the photos to the same size or shape: Having mixed dimensions makes the overall composition feel unbalanced. Whether you choose a square, rectangle, or circle shape for your photos, making them all the same size and shape will boost the scannability of your page.
• Group and align: Again, scannability is key. When you group the elements of your page together in an even and consistent way, people will visually register the pattern and can digest the content more quickly. For example, you may have three groupings that consist of an image, headline, and descriptive body text. Make sure that these elements are (1) clustered together so they form one unified thought, (2) grouped to match each other so they form a visual “rhythm” across the page with equal text sizes, line weights, and image dimensions, and (3) aligned and justified along the X or Y axis for legibility (in PowerPoint, select multiple objects and go to Arrange > Align to line them up along the same axis).
• If using different sized photos, fit them together into a cohesive shape . A binding element like a grid with solid lines will help the photos appear on the page like neatly fitted puzzle pieces. Again, keep overall alignment in mind — the more your content stays organized in tidy rows and columns, the more scannable it will be.

If you must use multiple photos, PowerPoint’s Design Ideas toolbar will give you options to array them in a neatly aligned grid. Focus on creating a tidy overarching shape to avoid the cluttered “collage” effect.

4. Choose Photos Over Clipart

Clipart has been nearly synonymous with PowerPoint and other programs since the ’90s, but unfortunately hasn’t evolved much with the times. While a piece of clipart from the web may encapsulate or accentuate your key themes, keep in mind these aesthetic considerations:

• Professional credibility is lost when your design looks “dated” or “cartoonish,” but gained when your presentation is sleek and modern.
• While aiming for visual consistency, also bear in mind that more muted and subtle visuals — from the photos you choose to the icons that illustrate your key points — help keep the focus on your words and ideas, rather than your visual aids
• If you want to add a more sleek, modernized look, browse Noun Project’s collection of over 3 million icons to find a corresponding set to include.

For a more polished and modern look, go for minimalist and visually consistent icons to accentuate key messages, rather than clipart.

Tip: The PowerPoint Add-In for Noun Project lets you search and pull in icons right there in the software without having to leave your workflow. Go to Insert > Add-Ins > Get Add-Ins and search for Noun Project. Once you open the Noun Project Add-In window and log in to your account, choose icons from the same collection to ensure that they’re visually consistent.

Find the Noun Project PowerPoint Add-In on NounProject.com or, from PowerPoint, go to Insert > Add-Ins > Get Add-Ins to search for Noun Project icons.

5. Don’t Use Watermarked Images

Even if it is small, a watermark can be distracting and, once spotted, can negatively impact your credibility. Be sure to use free photos and credit the photographer, or pay for the photos you use in your presentations to avoid the loss of credibility and trust that can occur when you use watermarked images.

Not sure what usage rights you have with an image? Let’s cover the basics of how to cite images in a presentation: Questions about fees, licenses, and usage rights are common, and citing images in a presentation is the standard expectation for free photos so that the photographer gets credit. Fortunately, Noun Project Photos provides a transparent model for photo usage and licensing — any free photo download is licensed under Creative Commons, which allows you to use the photo for noncommercial purposes, without creating derivatives, as long as you provide attribution to the photographer.

The “Basic Download” option will not only give you a free, CC-licensed image, but tell you exactly what attribution information you should include when you cite it. Once you click “Get This Photo,” you’ll see the image title and photographer name listed in a text box — simply copy the text and include it on your slide to properly cite the image.

Noun Project Photos provides a transparent licensing model in which photos are free to use with attribution under Creative Commons.

Your presentation may have a footer for notes, where such a citation could easily fit. If not, many presentations will have all the attributions listed on a final page. Under Creative Commons, both methods are acceptable.

6. Maintain Diversity in Photos

The truth is incontrovertible: representation matters. Stock photography — like much of the broader media and marketing landscape — has faced a chronic issue with only representing a particular sub-sect of the population, and more and more consumers have started to notice. At Noun Project, we’re dedicated to ensuring that the visual resources we share are inclusive, free from outdated stereotypes, and more accurately reflect the world we live in . Through initiatives like our Diversity in Tech and Empowered Women photo collections, we’re championing more equal and accurate representation in the world of stock photography.

Double-check the photos you’ve added to your presentation and ask yourself: Does this speak to the widest possible audience, or does it leave certain groups out of the picture?

Noun Project offers diverse, inclusive photos, so you can finally leave the stuffy corporate photo shoot in the past. Audiences want to see natural, non-posed, high-quality photos that better resemble day-to-day life.

7. Keep it Simple.

Finally, slides should be readable. The visual elements you choose should bolster the core message of each slide, rather than overshadowing it. Key things to watch out for are:

• Less text, more talk . Unless you’re handing off a comprehensive sales deck, you as the presenter should be doing the talking — not the words on the page. Focus on using short bullet points to extract main ideas and keywords, rather than numerous full sentences.
• Check your text size. Bigger is better (and with less text on the page, it should have more room to breathe). But don’t forget about hierarchy: there should be a clear distinction between headlines and supporting text.
• Check legibility . Are you using simple, legible text for body copy? Does the text appear clearly against the background? Up the contrast or find a more suitable background that doesn’t strain the eye.

Search for “Copy Space” photos to add to your presentation. The best background photos to add are those that have plenty of white space for you to add your own content. While bold, busy photographs might be the most visually striking, bear in mind that your text needs room to breathe. A quick Noun Project search for “Copy Space” will lead you to more minimal photographs that include this built-in space for text.

Search for photos with copy space to give your text legibility. Tip: If you need to set text against a more visually busy background, add a semi-transparent color block. Add a rectangle (Insert > Shapes > Rectangle) underneath your text, give it a black fill, but adjust the transparency until the text becomes clearer while leaving the photo visible.

Explore More Stock Photos for PowerPoint at Noun Project

Noun Project Photos features professionally-selected, inclusive, beautiful and affordable images created by a global community of photographers. We’ve curated our collection to put visual clichés and tired, outdated stereotypes to rest — so you can find stunning images for any project. With worry-free licenses, you’ll support photographers and have peace of mind with clear image usage rights, including model and property releases.

Explore the collection at thenounproject.com/photos/ and follow our blog for more tutorials about visual communication.

Marketing Communications Manager at Noun Project, Designer and Illustrator.

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PowerPoint  - Inserting Pictures

Powerpoint  -, inserting pictures, powerpoint inserting pictures.

PowerPoint: Inserting Pictures

Lesson 15: inserting pictures.

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Introduction

Adding pictures can make your presentations more interesting and engaging. You can insert a picture from a file on your computer onto any slide. PowerPoint even includes tools for finding online pictures and adding screenshots to your presentation.

Optional: Download our practice presentation .

Watch the video below to learn more about inserting pictures in PowerPoint.

To insert a picture from a file:

You can also click the Pictures command in a placeholder to insert images.

Inserting online pictures

If you don't have the picture you want on your computer, you can find a picture online to add to your presentation. PowerPoint offers two options for finding online pictures.

To insert an online picture:

• The Insert Pictures dialog box will appear.

• Press the Enter key. Your search results will appear in the dialog box.

You can also click the Online Pictures command in a placeholder to insert online images.

When adding images, videos, and music to your own projects, it's important to make sure you have the legal right to use them. Most things you buy or download online are protected by copyright , which means you may not be allowed to use them. For more information, visit our Copyright and Fair Use lesson.

Moving and resizing pictures

Once you've inserted a picture, you may want to move it to a different location on the slide or change its size . PowerPoint makes it easy to arrange pictures in your presentation.

To select a picture:

Before you can modify a picture, you'll need to select it.

To resize a picture:

The corner sizing handles will resize a picture while preserving its original aspect ratio . If you use the side sizing handles, the image will become distorted .

To rotate a picture:

Hold the Shift key on your keyboard when rotating an image to snap it to angles in 15-degree increments.

To move a picture:

To delete a picture:

• Select the picture you want to delete, then press the Backspace or Delete key on your keyboard.

You can access even more picture formatting options from the Format tab. We'll talk more about these options in our lesson on Formatting Pictures .

Inserting screenshots

Screenshots are basically snapshots of your computer screen. You can take a screenshot of almost any program, website, or open window. PowerPoint makes it easy to insert a screenshot of an entire window or a screen clipping of part of a window in your presentation.

To insert screenshots of a window:

• Select the Insert tab, then click the Screenshot command in the Images group.

To insert a screen clipping:

• Open our practice presentation .
• Select the last slide.
• Use the Online Pictures command to insert a picture of your favorite form of exercise.
• Resize your picture so it takes up a majority of the slide without covering the title.

• Insert a new slide with a Title Only layout.
• In the Title placeholder, type Learn More at Fitness.gov.
• Open http://www.fitness.gov in your browser, then insert a screen clipping of the website onto the slide you just created.

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How to Make a Slideshow on PowerPoint

Whether for work or private, use slideshows to get your message across

• Central Washington University

In This Article

Jump to a Section

Before You Begin

• Step-by-Step: Make a Slideshow on PowerPoint
• Play Music During the Slideshow
• Set up the Slideshow
• Add Timings to Each Slide
• Edit Timings on a Slide
• Create a Video Slideshow
• Save a Slideshow to a CD or Other Removeable Media

When you're ready to present your PowerPoint slides to others, look no further than PowerPoint's slideshow feature. Use this tool for all kinds of slides, but those containing photos work best for most viewers.

Instructions in this article apply to PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 , PowerPoint 2019, PowerPoint 2016, PowerPoint 2013, PowerPoint 2010, and PowerPoint for Mac.

Before you create slides for your slideshow presentation, decide how long to make the slideshow, how it should flow, and the pictures you’ll use.

• Length : A slideshow can be as long or as short as you need. The length of the slideshow should be appropriate for the topic and for your audience’s attention span.
• Outline : It’s always smart to start with an outline; it helps you visualize your slideshow. An outline can be as simple as the list of topics you want to cover.
• Pictures : Choose photos that are clear and tell a story.

With PowerPoint's Photo Album , select the pictures and PowerPoint creates the basic slideshow. Fill your slides with informative text and harmonizing background music, then turn your collection of slides into a self-running photo slideshow with music that can play as a video or be stored on a CD.

When you’re ready to make a photo slideshow with music, PowerPoint gets you up and running quickly. To get started, select Insert > Photo Album > New Photo Album .

Here’s how to add and format pictures for the slideshow using the Photo Album:

Add pictures

Select File/Disk and select the images you want in the picture slideshow.

Enhance photos

Place a checkmark next to the picture you want to enhance and change the orientation, contrast, and brightness. You’ll see the changes in the Preview window.

Add text boxes

To add a slide for text, select the image in the album list you want the text to follow and select New Text Box .

Rearrange slides

 Place a checkmark next to the picture you want to move and select the Move Up or Move Down arrows.

Choose a picture layout

 Select the Picture layout down arrow and choose how you want the pictures to appear in the slideshow.

Frame the pictures

 Select the Frame shape down arrow and choose a frame style. You’ll see a preview in the Album Layout area. This option will not be selectable if the picture layout Fit to slide is enabled.

Select Create when you’re finished.

Your photo slideshow is created in a new file. Add text to the slides and change the look of each slide.

How to Play Music During the Slideshow

Play music in the background during your slideshow to offer an audio counterpoint to all the visuals. The background music starts automatically with the slideshow and plays during all the slides.

To add background music to your presentation, select Insert > Audio > Audio on My PC , choose a music file, then select OK .

The audio icon appears in the middle of the current slide. To move it, drag it to a different place on the slide. When the audio icon is selected, the Playback tab appears. Select Play in Background and make changes to the audio file . Here are some suggestions.

• Preview the music : Select Play to hear what the music will sound like during your slideshow.
• Shorten the duration : Select Trim Audio to remove parts of the beginning and end of the music file.
• Adjust the volume : Select Volume to make the background music louder or softer.

How to Set up the Slideshow

Once your slides are finished, it’s time to set up the slideshow. Start by deciding whether to show the slideshow in a window or full screen.

To set up the slideshow, select Slide Show > Set Up Slide Show and choose one of the following:

• Browsed by an individual (window) : Run the slideshow automatically and inside a window. This option works best when you save the slideshow to a CD.
• Browsed at a kiosk (full screen) : Run the slideshow automatically and at full-screen size. This option works best when you convert the slideshow to a video.

Select OK when you’re finished.

How to Add Timings to Each Slide in the Slideshow

Now it’s time to decide how long each slide will appear in the slideshow. To begin, select Slide Show > Rehearse Timings . The slideshow displays in full screen with a Recording toolbar and a timer.

While timing your presentation, use the Recording toolbar to advance through the presentation.

Select Next (arrow pointing to the right) to go to the next slide when the desired timing has been reached.

Select Pause to start and stop the timing.

Select Repeat to restart recording the time for the selected slide.

When you’re finished and have set the time for the last slide, close the Recording toolbar.

Select Yes to keep the recorded slide timings.

How to Edit Timings on a Slide

If you need to increase or decrease the time for your slideshow, change how long slides appear during the slideshow.

To change the timing for a slide:

Select View > Slide Sorter .

Select Transitions .

Select a slide.

In the Advance Slide After text box, enter how long the slide should appear in the slideshow before proceeding to the next slide, then press Enter .

The new timing applies to the slide.

How to Create a PowerPoint Video Slideshow

The easiest way to distribute and play your slideshow is in video format. This way, anyone can view your slideshow no matter what computer or device they use.

To convert a slideshow into a video:

Save the file.

Select File > Export .

Select Create a Video .

To force a smaller file size, select the Full HD drop-down list and choose a lower quality.

Select Create Video .

Select the destination folder and give the video a descriptive file name.

Select Save . It may take a few minutes to process the file and create the video.

How to Save a Slideshow to a CD or Other Removeable Media

To create a presentation that can be watched on any computer and can be stored on a CD or other removable media:

Select Package Presentation for CD > Package for CD .

Type a name for the CD.

Select Copy to Folder or Copy to CD and follow the on-screen directions.

When you’re finished, select Close .

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How to Insert, Crop or Mask Images in PowerPoint

Learn with Slidesgo School, step by step, how to add images to your PowerPoint presentations . You’ll also find out how to crop pictures and how to mask them . 

Inserting an Image or GIF from Your Computer

Inserting an online image, taking and inserting a screenshot, cropping an image, masking an image.

• Open your presentation in PowerPoint.
• Select the slide where you want to add the image or GIF.
• On the Insert tab, in the Images group, click Pictures.
• A new window will open, where you can locate and select the image that you want to add to the slide. By default, it will be inserted directly into the presentation.
• Instead of clicking Insert, you can also click its drop-down arrow. You’ll see three different options:
• Insert. This is the one set by default.
• Link to File. With this one, the image will be linked and the size of the PowerPoint file won’t increase. However, you’ll need to link the image again if you open this presentation in a different computer. Otherwise, it won’t be displayed.
• Insert and Link. This option combines the other two.
• Choose the desired option from this drop-down list to add the image to your presentation.
• Select the slide where you want to add the image.
• On the Insert tab, in the Images group, click Online Pictures (if you have Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 or a newer version, you’ll be able to choose the source of the image, such as Bing or Onedrive).
• If you choose Bing Image Search, you can set it to display only images that are licensed under Creative Commons. You can also filter the results by size, type, color or design. Once you’ve selected the image that you want to add, click Insert.
• If you have an older PowerPoint version, this option won’t be available. Instead, you’ll find the Clip Art option, where you can choose an image from a preset gallery.
• This is not available either if you’re using older versions of PowerPoint for Mac (pre-2019).
• On the Insert tab, in the Images group, click the Screenshot drop-down arrow.  You’ll see all the windows currently open in your computer.
• If you want to take a screenshot to a portion of any window, click Screen Clipping. PowerPoint will minimize itself and you’ll be able to take a screenshot of what’s on the background. We suggest that you prepare beforehand whatever you want to capture prior to clicking Screen Clipping. Once you’ve taken the screenshot, it will be inserted into the slide.
• Select the image you want to crop.
• A new tab will appear at the top, called Picture Format.
• On this tab, in the Size group, click Crop. Use the black handles to adjust the cropping.
• Use the Fill and Fit options to further adjust the cropping. If you want to manually set the height or width of the cropping, you can enter the values in the boxes next to Height or Width.
• To adjust the cropping to a specific aspect ratio, click the Crop drop-down arrow → Aspect Ratio. Then choose the desired option.
• To reset the image and remove the cropping, select the image, go to the Format Options tab and, in the Adjust group, click the Reset Picture drop-down arrow and select Reset Picture & Size.
• Select the image you want to mask.
• On the Picture Format tab, in the Size group, click the Crop drop-down arrow.
• Click Crop to Shape and choose the shape that best fits your needs. Once done, it will be applied to the image.
• To reset the image and remove the mask, select the image, go to the Picture Format tab and, in the Adjust group, click Reset Picture.

Do you find this article useful?

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The uses that a banner has are almost endless: from ads to sections for websites, or even signatures for certain types of emails. The purpose is up to you, but the thing is: how to design one? If you think that you need expensive software to make banners, think again. Here at Slidesgo, we know a lot about presentations and, thus, about programs such as PowerPoint. The truth is that PowerPoint is all you need to create your own design! Keep reading to learn how!

How to Create a Banner in Google Slides

Banners have been around us (at least, when it comes to browsing the net or participating in forums, among other things) for a long time. Creating one is by no means a difficult task, and you can do it with free software such as Google Slides. The steps that you’ll need to follow are very simple, so we’re sure you’ll start creating banners one after another in a few minutes. Let’s see how to proceed!

Storyset by Freepik: Awesome illustrations for creative presentations

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How to Add a Watermark in Google Slides

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How-To Geek

How to control when a picture appears in powerpoint.

Animating objects in your PowerPoint presentation, when done properly, lets you help control the pace at which you give your audience information.

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Animate your objects, setting the animation start time and speed.

Animating objects in your PowerPoint presentation, when done properly, lets you help control the pace at which you give your audience information. We’ve shown you how to hide an object in PowerPoint . Now, let's look at the various ways to make an object appear.

In a bit, we’re going to go through how to set the start time and speed of an animation, but first, we need to decide which type of animation we want to give our objects.

If you haven’t already inserted an image in your presentation, go ahead and do that now by heading to the "Insert" tab and clicking the “Pictures” button.

Go ahead and position the image where you want it and apply any formatting you want. Then, with your picture selected, switch over to the "Animations" tab.

You’ll the most common animations displayed right on the ribbon; click one to use it.

If you don't see one you like, click the little down arrow at the bottom right of the animations to see the full list.

In the drop-down menu, you'll see a lot more animations you can use, and you can find even more by clicking any of the "More..." options at the bottom of the menu. PowerPoint offers a lot of animations.

We're going to go with a simple Fade animation for our example here, but the same techniques apply no matter what you choose. Once you select your animation, a number will appear at the top-left of the object. This number indicates the order in which the object will appear on the slide if you have more than one animation. In this example, we have only one object with an animation, so we’ll only see the number “1.”

Now, if we play our presentation, the image will appear after you click your mouse (that's the default method for initiating an animation, but more on that later).

If we throw in another image into the mix and give it an animation, we’ll see the number “2” appear next to it, meaning it will be the second object to appear on the slide. Let’s try it out. On the second image, we’re going to select the “Float In” animation.

Now you’ll see the number 2 appear next to the object.

And here’s what it would look like in the actual presentation.

Pretty neat, right? As you can see, you can control which image appears first and how it appears in the presentation.

You can also apply multiple animations to a single object. This is handy for all kinds of things. You could use multiple animations for extra emphasis, or you make an object appear on and then disappear from the slide before moving on.

In this example, we’re going to make an object appear, then give it a little extra emphasis afterward.

First, select the object and then head over to the “Animations” tab. This time, click the “Add Animation” button. You must select the animations from here if you want to apply multiple animations.

Once selected, a drop-down menu will appear that looks just like the expanded animations drop-down we showed you earlier. We already applied the Fade animation to our object, so this time we're going to select the "Teeter" animation from the "Emphasis" section.

Now you’ll see both the number 1 and 2 next to the object, indicating the order in which the animations will happen.

Here’s what it looks like in action. First, it fades in, and then it teeters a bit.

Now that you understand how to use animations let’s talk about how to control their timing.

There are three options available for making your animation start:

• On Click: This makes the animation begin when you click your mouse. It's also the default trigger.
• With Previous: This initiates the object animation at the same time as the previous animation.
• After Previous: This makes the animation begin after the last animation finishes.

To find these settings, select the object you're animating, head to the “Animations” tab, and then click the box next to “Start.”

Select the start option you want from the drop-down menu.

You can also set a duration for the animation. Changing the duration makes the animation run slower or faster. If, for example, you have an object enter by flying in from the left, but it's flying in a little to quickly, you could increase the duration to make it move more slowly.

You can also add a delay that happens before the animation starts. This delay happens based on what start setting you use. For example, if your start setting is "On Click" and you have a delay of two seconds, the animation will start two seconds after clicking. If your start setting is "After Previous" and you have a delay of five seconds, the animation will start five seconds after the previous animation finishes.

The options you have available for manipulating how and when objects appear are nearly endless. Play around with these features a bit, and you'll be making a great presentation in no time!

How to Save a Powerpoint Slide as a Picture: A Step-by-Step Guide

Saving a PowerPoint slide as a picture is a handy trick for creating graphics, sharing information, or preserving a slide’s content. You can easily convert individual slides or an entire presentation into images, such as JPEGs or PNGs, to use elsewhere. Let’s dive into the simple steps to make this happen.

Step by Step Tutorial: Saving a PowerPoint Slide as a Picture

Before we start, remember that saving your PowerPoint slide as a picture allows you to use it in different ways, such as inserting it into other documents or sharing it on social media.

Step 1: Open the PowerPoint Presentation

Open the PowerPoint presentation that has the slide you want to save as a picture.

When you open your presentation, make sure you are on the slide that you want to save. If you have multiple slides to save as pictures, you’ll need to repeat the process for each one.

Step 2: Click on “File”

Click on the “File” tab located in the upper-left corner of the screen.

This will open a menu where you can see various options for managing your PowerPoint file.

Step 3: Choose “Save As”

From the “File” menu, choose “Save As” to open the dialog box for saving your file.

This step is essential because it takes you to the area where you can select different file formats for saving your slide.

Step 4: Select Save As Type

In the “Save As” dialog box, click on the “Save as type” dropdown menu and select the image format you want, such as JPEG or PNG.

Choosing the right format is important depending on how you plan to use your image. JPEG is great for smaller file sizes, while PNG offers higher quality with a transparent background option.

Step 5: Save

After selecting the file type, click “Save,” and a prompt will ask if you want to save all slides or just the current one. Make your choice, and the slide(s) will be saved as picture(s).

If you choose to save all slides, each slide will be saved as a separate image file, which can be useful for creating a series of graphics.

After completing these steps, your PowerPoint slide will be saved as an image file in the location you specified. You can now use this picture in various ways, like making it part of a document, using it in a video, or simply sharing it with colleagues or friends.

Tips: Saving a PowerPoint Slide as a Picture

• Always save your original PowerPoint file before converting slides to avoid any loss of content.
• Use the PNG format if you need a transparent background for your slide image.
• High-resolution slides make for better quality pictures, so consider your slide’s design and text size.
• If you’re saving multiple slides, organize them in a dedicated folder for easy access.
• You can also use the “Export” feature to save slides as images, which gives you additional options like resolution settings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can i save multiple slides as one picture.

No, each slide is saved as a separate image file. If you need them in one picture, you’ll have to combine them using an image editor.

What resolution will my saved picture have?

The resolution of your saved picture will depend on the original slide’s quality and the image format you choose when saving.

Can I save my slides as pictures on a Mac?

Yes, the process is similar on a Mac. The menu options might be slightly different, but the functionality is the same.

Is it possible to save slides as pictures in bulk?

Yes, you can save all slides in a presentation as images by selecting “Save Every Slide” when prompted during the save process.

Can I edit the picture after saving it?

Yes, once saved as an image file, you can edit it with any image editing software.

• Open the PowerPoint presentation.
• Click on “File”.
• Choose “Save As”.
• Select Save As Type.
• Save the slide as a picture.

Converting PowerPoint slides into pictures is a piece of cake once you know how. Whether you’re looking to spice up your documents, create standout social media posts, or simply want to preserve your slides’ content, following the steps outlined above will get the job done quickly and efficiently. With the added tips and answers to common questions, you’ll be a pro at saving PowerPoint slides as pictures in no time.

Remember, the format you choose can impact the quality and size of your image, so choose wisely based on your needs. And, if you run into any trouble along the way, don’t hesitate to refer back to these steps or reach out to someone with a bit more PowerPoint savvy. Happy saving!

Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master’s degree in 2003. While he still does some consulting work, his primary focus now is on creating technology support content for SupportYourTech.com.

His work can be found on many websites and focuses on topics such as Microsoft Office, Apple devices, Android devices, Photoshop, and more.

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Best Slideshow Apps in 2024 (iPhone, Android & Desktop)

Explore a curated selection of paid and free slideshow apps for your smartphone to transform your photos and videos into captivating presentations.

Mobile Apps | Software | By Stephan Jukic

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This guide will take you through the best slideshow apps for smartphones (and more).

There’s nothing better than getting creative with the photos and videos you’ve taken and sharing the results with friends and family.

Of course, making these kinds of slideshows can have professional uses too and help you succeed in your job.

While the native software on both iPhone and Android can comfortably make slideshows (Videos in Photos on iPhone or Google Photos on Android), they aren’t as feature-rich as a dedicated slideshow maker.

The photo slideshow apps below have added features and were chosen based on their ease of use, functionality, and, honestly, how much fun they are to use.

Table of Contents

What is the Best Slideshow App for Smartphones in 2024?

Inshot (best photo slideshow app overall).

• Lots of features
• Reasonably priced
• User-friendly
• Can export 4K
• Video slideshow features
• Need to upgrade to maximise potential

Inshot is an excellent all-round video editing and photo slideshow maker app. It’s one of the most feature-packed and easy-to-use apps of this kind for use on the iPhone and Android.

Like with many of these apps, there’s a free version and a premium version you need to pay a subscription for. The free version has plenty of features for most people (although it has ads and watermarks), and the premium version is reasonably priced.

With it, you can set up video slideshow projects, photo projects, and collages.

It has a very simple, easy-to-use interface with a preview window and an editing timeline. It is very easy to add or remove pictures and videos to or from the timeline just by dragging and dropping.

In the timeline, too, you can trim or reorder clips to suit your needs.

It has a good selection of different canvas settings (aspect ratios) to help you set up your photo slideshow and tailor-make it for different social media platforms. For example, vertical for Tik-Tok, square format for Instagram, and so on.

See the video below, which shows how you can make a slideshow using Inshot:

Inshot makes it simple to add effects (these are basically filters) and transitions to your slideshow, as they have a good library of these.

You can also add stickers and text to your photo slideshow, and these are added as layers so they’re easy to edit afterwards.

The app also contains more advanced features like adding video within video, but those are only available to Premium users.

As for its audio capabilities, you can extract the audio directly from your video, but it’s also easy to add other audio as necessary.

Inshot has a huge music library of its own, but you can also import tracks from your iTunes library or use your phone to record a voiceover if you want that to be your audio track.

Once the audio track is in place, you can manipulate it to fit your visuals, for example, to fade in and fade out.

It’s easy to export your finished content to a variety of resolutions and speeds, up to a maximum of 4K at 60fps. Once you’ve done that, you can share it to any social media platform straight from the app itself.

• Best timelapse photography apps

FotoPlay Slideshow Maker (Best Free SlideShow App for Android)

• Free photo slideshows
• Adjustable intensity filters
• Easy to learn and use
• Variety of  background music
• No 4K download

FotoPlay Slideshow Maker is an easy and free-to-use video and photo slideshow maker that has a decent amount of features.

Its interface is simple and easy to learn, plus there are a lot of templates to help you set things up with minimal effort.

If you don’t want templates, you can start with a blank canvas, and it’s easy to import your own photos and videos from your camera roll.

Once you have your content in place, you can customize the photos and videos by adding effects (you can also adjust the intensity of these), and add stickers and frames from the app’s large library of them.

You can also add animations to your photos like pan and zoom or dissolve, which work on the content itself or the transitions.

With the traditional preview window and timeline set up, it’s simple to see what you are creating as you’re creating it, and also easy to make micro-adjustments to the lengths of the clips and the duration of effects and animations.

You can adjust the speed of each clip individually, plus the transitions and music settings.

FotoPlay Slideshow Maker has an audio extractor that lets you scrape the music from any video. You can also import your own music or use the app’s music library to add soundtracks.

Once everything’s ready, you can save your photo slideshow at different aspect ratios for different social media platforms and then download it at a maximum of Full-HD 1080p resolution.

• Best apps to turn photos into anime

PicPlayPost (Best Free SlideShow App for iPhone Video Clips & Photos)

• Supports all media formats
• Auto slideshow setting
• Video collage feature
• Easy to use
• Lower resolution downloads than other apps

PicPlayPost is a free slideshow maker app for photo and video slideshows and video collages.

The slideshows you create can be up to thirty minutes in duration, and you can set them up according to a range of aspect ratios suitable for different social media. For example, 16:9 for YouTube, 4:3 for Facebook, etc.

If you’re pressed for time or just don’t want to do any work yourself, the app can produce an automated slideshow for you. Just select all the content you want to be added, drag everything in, and PicPlayPost will set up the slideshow for you.

Otherwise, you can do everything manually.

Like the other apps in this guide, it has a simple interface with a preview window and a timeline. So you can move clips around, reorder and trim them, add and delete them, and get everything looking exactly as you want it to.

You can also import GIFs from Giphy and add animated text and stickers to your slideshows, and the app also lets you create live wallpapers.

One interesting feature is that any text you add to a slideshow video can, if you like, be pinned to a moving object, so it can follow it around.

It’s easy to add audio tracks to your photo slideshow, as you can buy music straight from the app.

PicPlayPost also allows you to create slideshow video collages with up to four videos playing simultaneously or sequentially, and you can add your own music and transitions to this.

The slideshow video collage function is not just for videos either. It supports all media formats, including photos, videos, GIFs, and live photos.

Anything you create on PicPlayPost can be shared to social media directly from the app.

• How to use Photoroom app

MS PowerPoint (Best SlideShow App for Presentations)

• Powerful photo slideshow software
• AI assistant
• Templates and other design aids
• Supports all forms of media
• Collaborative tool
• Subscription-based
• Steep learning curve

MS PowerPoint is the corporate chief of photo slideshow makers, a piece of software so ubiquitous that it has entered the daily lexicon in the same way that Google has.

It’s software designed for collaboratively creating slideshow presentations and for sharing with other people across devices.

You can set up your presentation from scratch or take a template from its vast library of them. Once you have a template set up, you’re not stuck within its starting parameters.

You can get right to work customizing and formatting its colours and layout.

There are also no limits when it comes to the media you can insert into the presentation.

Of course, audio is supported, still images and video, but you can also add animations or even 3D elements either from your own archive or the Microsoft library.

And the way that you can interact with the software is also pretty flexible.

Gone are the days of just dragging and dropping elements in or typing text out.

Of course, you can still do this, but you can now also draw straight onto a slide or convert handwritten notes to text. You can even dictate your presentation’s text with the voice-to-text feature.

As well as the templates I mentioned earlier, you can get a different kind of help with the design of your presentation.

With the Designer and Ideas feature, you can, for example, type in a title for your slideshow, and the software will make image suggestions for you.

And that’s not as smart as it gets, either.

The new Copilot feature will help you write the presentation from prompts you give it, fine-tune your language if you ask it to, and intelligently help you create a narrative arc.

Powerpoint has almost become a robot colleague.

And, if you’re working on a presentation or photo slideshow with flesh and blood colleagues, you can communicate with them within the software, and you can all track one another’s edits.

• Apps to make the background of a picture white

Best Desktop SlideShow Apps for Photos & Video Clips

Editor’s Choice:

• Smartslides – $8-$48 monthly; iOS, Windows
• iMovie – free; iOS
• Adobe Premiere – $21 + per month; iOS, Windows
• Davinci Resolve – $295; iOS, Windows, Linux
• Filmora – free; iOS, Windows
• WeVideo – $89 + yearly; iOS, Windows, Android, Chromebook
• PhotoStage – free; iOS, Windows, Android
• Cyberlink Photo Director – $81 for a lifetime license, $3 monthly subscription; iOS, Windows
• Movavi Slideshow Video Maker – $56 for a lifetime license, $39 yearly; iOS, Windows

12 Tips for Making an Entertaining Photo Slideshow

Creating an entertaining photo slideshow is about more than just displaying images in sequence.

Here are some tips to elevate your slideshow and captivate your audience:

• Storytelling is Key : Arrange your photos in a way that tells a story. Whether it’s chronological, thematic, or based on mood, a narrative flow keeps viewers engaged.
• Choose Quality Over Quantity : Instead of overwhelming viewers with countless images, select the best ones that truly convey the essence of your story or theme.
• Use Transitions Wisely : While it’s tempting to use flashy transitions, it’s often the subtle ones that work best. However, occasional dramatic transitions can emphasize key moments.
• Add Music : A well-chosen soundtrack can elevate the emotional impact of your slideshow. Ensure the background music matches the mood you’re trying to convey.
• Incorporate Motion : Pan and zoom effects, often referred to as the “Ken Burns effect”, can add dynamism to still photos.
• Use Captions Sparingly : While it’s okay to provide context, avoid cluttering your slideshow with too much text. Let the images speak for themselves.
• Vary Photo Durations : Not every photo should have the same screen time. Some images might require a longer view, while others can be fleeting.
• Include Short Video Clips : If you have relevant video clips, intersperse them with photos. This breaks the monotony and adds a dynamic element.
• Maintain a Consistent Style : Whether it’s in the choice of transitions, color schemes, or fonts, maintaining consistency gives your slideshow a professional touch.
• End with a Bang : Conclude with a memorable image or a summary slide that encapsulates the essence of your slideshow.
• Test on Different Devices : Before presenting, ensure your slideshow looks good on various devices, from laptops to projectors, to ensure the best viewing experience.
• Engage the Audience : If presenting live, interact with your audience. Share anecdotes, ask questions, or provide additional context verbally.

Remember, the goal of an entertaining slideshow is to evoke emotions, tell a story, and engage the viewer.

All the best photo slideshow apps in this guide have the ability to help you do just this.

FAQs on SlideShow Apps

How do I make a slideshow of pictures?

It’s quite simple to make a photo slideshow these days with all the software and apps out there.

First of all, you need your content, the photos, either some you’ve taken or copyright-free images you’ve found online, and then you just upload them to the software.

Many slideshow apps will automatically make a slideshow for you, but if you want manual control, that’s built-in.

Use the software to move your pictures around, adjust the length they show for, add music, and all that sort of thing.

You can have a complete slideshow ready to share in a matter of minutes.

How do I make a slideshow with music for free?

There are plenty of options for making slideshows with music for free, both with desktop software and slideshow apps for mobile phones.

You can normally add music of your choice from your library or use the app’s library instead.

Free options for desktop computers include PhotoStage, Filmora and iMovie, and free slideshow apps for mobile phones include PicPlayPost and Fotoplay Slideshow Maker.

Bear in mind, too, that most paid slideshow apps for mobile phones have free versions. If you’re just looking to make something simple, and don’t need access to a huge array of, for example, effects and stickers, they might be enough.

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Stephan Jukic is a technology and photography journalist and experimental photographer who spends his time living in both Canada and Mexico. He loves cross-cultural street photo exploration and creating fine art photo compositions.

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How to Align Text in PowerPoint for Professional Slide Layouts

Who hasn’t felt the pinch of misaligned text during a critical presentation? It not only looks unprofessional but can throw off your entire game. In PowerPoint, aligning text is as crucial as the content itself. When I dove into my slides, I found that simple alignment tricks can make a world of difference.

When engaging an audience, those subtle tweaks – like centering titles or justifying bullet points – can keep eyes firmly glued to your slides. The alignment tools in PowerPoint aren’t just for aesthetics; they’re for creating a clean, structured view that enhances comprehension. It’s akin to having a tidy workspace – everything’s in place and easy to find.

Exploring these tools, I noticed how much smoother presentations flowed. The answers are often just a click away: selecting text and navigating options like Left, Center, or Right in the Paragraph group. This isn’t about perfectionism; it’s about readability and impact. Go ahead, explore, and secure your audience’s attention through impeccable text alignment.

• 1.1 Using the Align Tools for Professional Results
• 1.2 Adjusting Text and Objects for Impact
• 2.1 Controlling Paragraph Layout and Spacing
• 2.2 Applying Advanced Text Features for Clarity
• 3.1 Leveraging Shapes and Pictures
• 3.2 Utilizing PowerPoint Templates and Themes
• 4.1 Maximizing Audience Engagement
• 4.2 Exploring Tools and Resources

Mastering Slide Alignment in PowerPoint

Mastering slide alignment in PowerPoint is crucial for creating clean and professional presentations. By utilizing built-in alignment tools, one can ensure that text and objects are precisely positioned for maximum impact.

Using the Align Tools for Professional Results

The alignment tools in PowerPoint are designed to make element positioning easy and error-free. To start, I select multiple objects by holding the Shift key. This selection process is essential when dealing with various text boxes or shapes.

Next, I navigate to the Format Tab , where I can find the Align tool under the “Arrange” section. Here, I can align objects in multiple ways:

• Align Center
• Align Right
• Align Middle
• Align Bottom

Additionally, distributing objects evenly is just a click away. I use the Distribute Horizontally and Distribute Vertically options to evenly space elements on my slide. This precision ensures that everything looks orderly and professional.

Adjusting Text and Objects for Impact

Besides basic alignments, adjusting text and objects can further enhance the presentation’s visual appeal. By selecting the text box and heading to Shape Format > Align Objects , I can choose options like Align Left , Align Right , or Align Center for horizontal alignment.

To ensure text consistency, I use Guides and Gridlines which help me maintain equal spacing and alignment. This is especially helpful when I work with intricate layouts or smartart graphics . Adjusting the alignment to Align Middle or Align Bottom often balances the slide’s overall appearance, providing a polished finish.

Creating impactful slides isn’t just about placing objects randomly. It’s about meticulously aligning and spacing to create a coherent structure that guides the audience’s eyes seamlessly across the slide. Precise alignment transforms a cluttered slide into a professional and coherent visual narrative.

Using these tools effectively, I can create slides that not only look good but also communicate ideas clearly and effectively.

Enhancing Readability with Text Formatting

Text formatting in PowerPoint enhances the overall presentation by increasing readability and maintaining engagement. Through careful control of paragraph layout, spacing, and advanced text features, slides become clearer and more effective.

Controlling Paragraph Layout and Spacing

When creating readable slides, begin by selecting proper paragraph layouts . I always start by choosing the alignment that best fits my content’s purpose, from left, center, to right alignments. Justified alignment is particularly useful for polished, consistent blocks of text.

In the Home tab , I use the paragraph dialog box to tweak margins and indents. Adjusting line spacing can greatly enhance readability. Options like single , exactly , or double spacing allow me to adjust the space between lines for better legibility. Including a little space before or after paragraphs can also make complex slides easier to follow.

I always keep an eye on aligning objects evenly across the slide.

Applying Advanced Text Features for Clarity

PowerPoint’s advanced text features help further enhance readability. WordArt is a fantastic tool for making headings and vital points stand out. By experimenting with different text directions , I sometimes add vertical or diagonal text to add a dynamic element to the slide.

Setting specific text box properties can also make a world of difference. I prefer using the paragraph dialog box to handle tasks like creating a hanging indent , which makes lists more readable. Consistent use of text formatting, like bold , italic , and underline , can emphasize key points and make content pop.

Finally, don’t underestimate the power of straightforward, spaced-out content. Overloading slides can overwhelm your audience, so keeping things clear and concise is my go-to strategy.

Optimizing Visual Elements on Slides

Visual elements like shapes, pictures, and templates can transform a mundane slide into a captivating and effective presentation. Let’s explore how to make the most out of these tools.

Leveraging Shapes and Pictures

In my experience, shapes and pictures are invaluable for enhancing visual appeal. When aligning multiple shapes , ensure consistency by using the “Align” button in the Ribbon . This helps in creating a clean and organized look. 😊

For multiple objects , group them together. This prevents accidental misalignment and keeps things tidy. Use placeholders or SmartArt to insert pictures within a formatted structure without causing clutter.

Here’s a quick tip : When embedding pictures, use high-resolution images to avoid blurriness. Also, maintain a uniform style or color theme. This creates a cohesive visual narrative on your slides.

Utilizing PowerPoint Templates and Themes

PowerPoint templates are not just time savers; they’re a game-changer for maintaining consistency. I always opt for templates that align with my presentation’s theme. The Slide Master allows you to modify the overall look without editing each slide individually.

To customize text alignment within the template, use the Align Objects feature. This ensures uniformity and a polished appearance. Apply the same style to bullet points and charts for a harmonized feel.

PowerPoint’s pre-designed templates often include suggestions for text and image placement. Using these wisely ensures your slides are both functional and visually appealing.

By optimizing visual elements effectively, you can elevate your PowerPoint presentation, making it both engaging and professional.

Leveraging PowerPoint for Effective Presentations

Creating impactful PowerPoint presentations involves engaging the audience with visual aids while maximizing the tools and features available in the software.

Maximizing Audience Engagement

Engaging the audience is paramount in delivering a memorable presentation. I usually start by incorporating high-quality visuals and keeping text concise and to the point.

Using bullet points and short sentences helps maintain clarity. I often use animations and transitions to maintain interest but ensure they are not overwhelming.

Interactive elements like Q&A slides or live polls can keep the audience involved. Sometimes sharing personal anecdotes or humor can create a relaxed atmosphere and make the content relatable.

Visual aids such as charts and graphs break down complex data and can be more digestible. Effective text alignment helps maintain a professional look and enhances readability.

Exploring Tools and Resources

PowerPoint offers several tools that can enhance presentations. Align tools help create symmetry and a clean layout by arranging objects to the top, middle, or bottom of the slide.

Using guides and gridlines , I can maintain consistency across slides. Shape Format and Align Objects options streamline the process of organizing text boxes and images.

Subscription benefits like premium templates offer a professional finish. Additionally, I often browse training courses and engage with communities of experts to refine my skills.

Securing your device ensures all work is saved and accessible, preventing data loss. By using these tools and resources, I can create impactful and polished presentations that captivate and inform the audience.

Related posts:

• How to Add Music to PowerPoint: A Step-by-Step Guide for Seamless Presentations
• How to Insert GIF into PowerPoint: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Create an Org Chart in PowerPoint: Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners
• How to Change Font on All Slides in PowerPoint: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Use Slide Master in PowerPoint: Streamline Your Presentation Design
• How to Indent Bullet Points in PowerPoint: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Add a Row to a Table in PowerPoint: Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Embed a File in PowerPoint: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Send a PowerPoint Through Email That Is Too Big: Effective Solutions
• Can You Work on PowerPoint at the Same Time: Tips for Seamless Collaboration
• How to Change Layout in PowerPoint: Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners
• Where is the Insert Outline Dialog in PowerPoint: A Quick User Guide

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Animate a picture on your slide

To add some spirit to your presentation, you can add an animation effect to a picture or to shapes on your slides.

In this example, we’ll animate two pictures:

Select the first picture.

On the Animations tab, select an animation effect. For example, select Fly In .

Click Effect Options , and then pick a direction for the animation. For example, From Left .

Select the second picture that you want to animate.

On the Animations tab, pick Fly In .

Click Effect Options and pick From Right .

Tip:  You can change the order of the animations by selecting a picture and, under Reorder Animation on the ribbon, clicking Move Earlier or Move Later .

To test the animations you just applied to the two pictures, select the Slide Show button located at the bottom-right corner of the browser window:

In slide show view, click a slide to start each animation.

Tip:  To remove an animation effect, in Normal view, select the picture, and on the Animations tab, click None .

More about animation:

Animate text or objects

Animation effects available in PowerPoint for the web

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