Preparing graphics for PowerPoint using Microsoft Photo Editor

You can use any one of a number of image editors to prepare a photo, but Microsoft Photo Editor is an obvious choice, since it is included in the Office suite.

Microsoft Photo Editor is part of Microsoft Office 2000 and Office XP, but may not be part of the default installation. You might need to add it to your system.

Other photo editors include:

Remember, the three things you want to be sure you address are:

File type

It is always best to save a copy of the image, and to edit the copy, so that the original is preserved. You might consider including information about the desired DPI and size of the image in the file name, so a filename might look something like MauiSunset 350x200 96dpi.

Dots per inch

Configure a DPI of 96, unless you plan to print full page, high quality handouts, in which case you should experiment with DPI, but 200 is a good rule of thumb.

With Microsoft Photo Editor, you should configure DPI prior to the image size. When you lower the DPI, the photo will become an enormous physical size and the file size will stay the same. After lowering the DPI, resize the image. At that point, the file size will be reduced.

Image Size

To determine what size your image should be, draw a rectangle on the slide as a 'placeholder' representing the desired size of the image. Chose Format ? Format AutoShape (or right-click the rectangle and choose Format AutoShape) and look at the Size tab. Use that information to size the image prior to inserting it onto the slide.