You can insert a picture into a slide easily enough, merely often, you lot'll exist working with placeholders — especially when working with a layout slide. You insert the pictures into the placeholder, and the placeholder determines the size and position of the picture. It isn't an verbal science though, and y'all may need to adjust the size and position of the paradigm within the placeholder. In PowerPoint 2010, this all gets a chip easier. I'll show yous how to insert pictures into placeholders and and then use the new cropping behaviors in PowerPoint 2010 and 2013 to chop-chop get the shot you want while retaining the position, size, and shape of the placeholder.

I've used PowerPoint 2010, but you'll notice 2007 and 2013 like. In that location's no comparable feature in PowerPoint 2003. You can work with whatever PowerPoint slide or you can download the .pptx example file. Besides the presentation file, this download also contains the four moving picture files used, every bit split files, so you tin hands insert and adjust the images yourself.

Without placeholders

You can insert a picture directly into a slide, but you'll accept to tweak its size and position. Inserted pictures and graphics don't adjust automatically to the slide. Information technology's not rocket scientific discipline, but it's just tedious work. You can experiment by inserting a picture into a blank slide as follows:

  1. Click the Insert tab and so click Moving picture in the Illustrations grouping.
  2. Using the Insert Picture dialog, detect the moving picture you want to insert and click Insert (Figure A).
    Figure A

The moving picture'due south size determines its position and size inside the slide. Most likely, you'd want to resize and reposition any picture inserted this way.

Create a custom layout

If y'all insert a film into a placeholder, the file adjusts to the size and position of the placeholder. A placeholder is a container that remains empty until you lot fill it. If yous plan to reuse the layout oft, utilise placeholders for ease of use and consistency. Even if the slide's a one-time chore, placeholders can make positioning and sizing easier.

You add together placeholders via Slide Main View to create a layout slide. Then, you add the layout slide to the presentation. We'll create the custom layout shown in Figure B. It has one full-slide picture placeholder and 3 smaller motion picture placeholders to the right.

Figure B

This custom layout slide accommodates four pictures.

Now, allow's create that layout slide as follows:

  1. Click the View tab, and and so click Slide Master in the Master Views grouping.
  2. To position the new layout afterwards the championship slide, click the background betwixt the title slide and the slide that follows. When you practise, PowerPoint volition display a dividing line betwixt the two slides (Figure C).
    Effigy C
  3. One time you see the dividing line, click Insert Layout in the Edit Master group. You can also right-click the background and choose Insert Layout, but the dividing line might be obscured a bit.
  4. The new layout slide volition have a header and footer; turn them off by unchecking the Title and Footers options in the Master Layout group.
  5. Click the Insert Placeholder drop-down (in the Master Layout group) and choose Moving picture (Figure D).
    Effigy D
  6. Using the mouse, drag across the entire slide to create a placeholder the aforementioned size as the slide (Figure E).
    Figure East
  7. Repeat this process to add together 3 more than picture placeholders to the right of the slide.
  8. Use gridlines (View tab) to left-align the smaller placeholders.
  9. Use the Distribute Vertically option to evenly position them. Y'all can find the Align option on the contextual Format tab in the Arrange grouping.
  10. Right-click the new slide and choose Rename Layout. Enter a meaningful proper name (Figure F) and click Rename.
    Figure F
  11. Click Shut Master Slide in the Close group to return to your presentation.

Use custom layout to insert pictures

Now, you're ready to brand a slide using the custom layout you lot simply created. To add the layout slide to your presentation, click the New Slide drop-down (in the Slides group) and choose PictureRight, as shown in Figure G. At whatsoever fourth dimension, y'all tin can click Zoom Out or Zoom In (in the bottom right corner) to better visibility.

Figure G

Cull the custom layout.

With the new layout in Normal view, y'all're set up to add together the offset picture. We'll fill the full-slide placeholder start. Here's how:

  1. Click the icon in the centre of the slide.
  2. Use the Insert Picture dialog to locate and select the picture, and and then click Insert. PowerPoint, by default, volition brand the picture fit the placeholder (Figure H) without distorting it. This feat is worth the placeholder alone. To arrive fit, PowerPoint automatically crops some of the motion picture.
    Figure H

Ingather to adapt

As is, the placement is Okay, simply it could be better by moving the goose a picayune to the left and and then resizing it to arrive larger. You can use PowerPoint'south Ingather tool to do both (only available in PowerPoint 2010 and 2013) while maintaining the pic'due south attribute ratio. To get started, click Crop in the Size group on the contextual Format tab. PowerPoint will brandish cropping tools, as shown in Figure I, around the motion-picture show. The gray represents the picture that PowerPoint cropped when you lot inserted the file in order to fit the placeholder.

Figure I

PowerPoint makes the picture fit the placeholder.

To resize this moving-picture show, grab the circle at any corner of the epitome and drag it in or out appropriately. Y'all can sentry the epitome grow and shrink accordingly. Effigy J shows the result of dragging the upper left corner out a bit to enlarge the goose. Use the corner handles to maintain attribute ratio. At this indicate, the tail is almost flush with the slide's left border, but it's still too high.

Figure J

After resizing the image, the goose is larger.

To move the enlarged image, click the greyness area just higher up the slide's tiptop border and drag it down, as shown in Figure One thousand. The gray continues to correspond the moving-picture show'south cropped portion. Click Crop to consummate the change.

Figure Thou

Drag the epitome to reposition the picture's focal point.

Effigy L shows the results; we enlarged the goose and then moved information technology downward.

Figure 50

The goose is larger and to the left of the smaller placeholders, while still filling the entire placeholder.
  1. Continue by adding pictures to the smaller placeholders on the right. If you're using PowerPoint 2010 or 2013, retrieve you can resize and reposition the image while cropping:
  2. With the moving-picture show selected, click Crop.
  3. Drag the circles at the image's corners to reduce and enlarge the focal point of your epitome.
  4. Drag the image itself to reposition the focal point of your epitome.
  5. Click Ingather when you lot're done.

Effigy One thousand shows the finished slide. I moved the image in the top placeholder upward a chip. I enlarged and moved the goose in both the middle and bottom pictures.

Figure M

Resize and reposition pictures using the Crop tool.

To reposition the focal point, you'll almost ever take to enlarge the image first. If yous don't, you lose role of the background. When enlarging the paradigm, utilise the corners to maintain aspect ratio. For the best results, you'll normally overstate the picture by extending it in the contrary management that you lot plan to move it.

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