E-mail this pagePowerPoint: Adding Images
Text and Picture (Clip Art)
Picture (Clip Art) and Text
Pictures or illustrations can be added to any slide by way of selecting Insert|Picture... from the main menu, but PowerPoint provides two slide layouts that are ready-made with image place-holders which can ensure a visual consistency in your presentation style by locating the lists and images in relatively stable positions.
When either of these slide layouts is selected, you will see a title field, a field for a bulleted list, and an image field. The title field and bulleted list should be filled in as you have already done elsewhere.
The field marked "Double click to add clip art" needn't contain clip art--indeed, it would be best if it didn't. Double-clicking on the field opens the Microsoft Clip Gallery dialog that represents your computer's repository of clip art. You can search through the library of available images by entering a term in the search field that appears at the top of the dialog; this will return not only clip art items, but also items that you have added to the clip library.
To add items of your own--photographs, illustrations, or drawings, you can click on the option marked Import Clips . This option allows you to specify an image file existing on your computer and incorporate it into the clip library via the Add Clip to Clip Gallery dialog.
When you select an image file from your hard drive through this dialog, it will become part of the Clip Gallery according to the options at the bottom of the dialog: Copy into Clip Gallery will create a copy of the file in the clip library; Move into Clip Gallery will remove the file from its original location and insert it into the clip library; and the Let clip gallery find this clip... option leaves the original file where it is and does not create a duplicate in the clip library. If you've got all sorts of drive space, the Copy... option is the most attractive; if your hard disk is close to full, the last option is recommended.
Once you've selected the file and options, click on the Import button to incorporate the clip into your clip library.
You'll then be able to add a few descriptive words into the Description field so that your image can be identified, and, in the tabs marked Categories and Keywords , you'll be able to ensure that your clip can later be found using the "search" and categorization mechanisms provided by the clip library.
These steps need only be performed once with any given image you'd like to add to the clip library; once the image has been added, it becomes available, through the clip library as often as you'd want to use it.
Once the image is part of the clip library, you need only select it and, from the menu that appears, click on the first option (labeled Insert clip ) to incorporate it into your presentation. The image will then appear in the Clip art/Image field on the slide.
At the same time, a Picture toolbar will generally appear, providing you with the option of altering the image's contrast, brightness, and allowing you to add a border, crop and otherwise adjust the image.
You'll also see the by-now-familiar sizing handles appearing around the border of the image, giving you the opportunity of re-sizing the image on the screen. Clicking and dragging in the center of the image allows you to push the image to a different location on the screen.
Images Tip : When resizing an image, click and drag on one of the corner selection handles: this will ensure that your image doesn't get stretched disproportionally on the horizontal or vertical axis.
Manually Inserting Images and Objects onto Slides
Although the use of existing template layouts is strongly encouraged, it is possible for you to add virtually anything--virtually anywhere--on any given PowerPoint slide.
For instance, if you wished to add a picture without relying on one of the image slide layouts, you could easily do so by selecting Insert|Picture... from the main menu, and then specifying what sort of picture you'd like to insert.
Your options include Clip Art (which would introduce the clip library discussed earlier), From File (which would let you pick any available picture on your computer), Autoshapes (which would present you with options for incorporating a variety of pre-defined shapes), Organizational Chart (which creates an organizational chart), or Word Art (which creates decorative, though not particularly useful, text headings).