Pictures make a slide memorable — as long as they are the right size and not squashed. This page covers inserting one and resizing it properly.
The Insert tab has a Pictures button with two main choices: This Device, for a file already on your computer, and Stock Images, for pictures Microsoft provides and licenses for you to use.
- Empty picture placeholder
- Title stays put while you add a picture
- Drag a corner handle, never a side one
Try it yourself
Click Insert, then Pictures, then This Device, and choose a photo.
The picture drops onto the slide at full size with handles around it, ready to move.
Drag from the middle of the picture to move it.
Dragging the middle moves; dragging a handle resizes. Faint alignment guides appear when you are centred.
Drag a corner handle to make it smaller.
Corner handles change width and height together, so the picture keeps its proportions and nobody looks stretched.
With the picture selected, click Picture Format and then Crop, and drag the black edges inwards.
Cropping trims off parts you do not want, instead of shrinking the whole image to hide them.
Right-click the picture, choose Send to Back if it is covering your text.
Slide items sit in a stack. Send to Back puts the picture behind the text rather than on top of it.
Words people use
Check yourself
If you can say yes to each of these, you are ready for the next lesson.
- I can insert a picture from my computer
- I resize with corner handles, not side handles
- I can crop a picture
- I know how to put a picture behind my text