PowerPoint: Formatting Pictures
Formatting Pictures in PowerPoint

Introduction

There are a variety of ways to format the pictures in your slide show. The picture tools in PowerPoint make it easy to personalize and modify the images in interesting ways. PowerPoint allows you to change the picture style and shape, add a border, crop and compress pictures, add artistic effects, and more.

Optional: Download our practice presentation to follow along with the lesson.

To crop an image:

When you crop an image, a part of the picture is removed. This is helpful when you want to focus on a specific part of a picture or remove distracting content.

  1. Select the image you want to crop. The Format tab appears.
  2. On the Format tab, click the Crop command.
    3. Clicking the Crop command
  3. Black cropping handles will appear around the image. Click and drag one of the handles to crop the image.
    4. Cropping an image
  4. Click the Crop command again to finalize the crop.

To crop an image to a shape:

  1. Select the image, then click the Format tab.
  2. Click the Crop drop-down arrow. Hover over Crop to Shape, then select the desired shape.
    3. Selecting a shape for cropping
  3. The image will appear formatted as the selected shape.
Cropped Image

To add a border to an image:

  1. Select the image and click the Format tab.
  2. Click the Picture Border command. From the drop-down menu, you can select a color, weight (thickness), and dash style.
    3. Changing the picture border
  3. The border will appear around the image.
    4. Changing the picture border

Image adjustments

PowerPoint offers several options for changing the way images appear, located in the Adjust and Picture Styles groups on the Format tab.

The Corrections command
  • Corrections: Use this to sharpen/soften an image or adjust the brightness and contrast.
    • The Corrections command
  • Color: Adjust the saturation, tone, or recolor the entire image.
    • The Corrections command
  • Artistic Effects: Apply styles like pastels, watercolors, or glowing edges.
    • The Corrections command
  • Picture Styles Group: Apply preset frames, borders, and soft edges quickly.
    • The Corrections command

Compressing pictures

Large high-resolution pictures can make your presentation file size very large, making it difficult to email. PowerPoint can reduce the file size by compressing pictures, lowering resolution, and deleting cropped areas.

To compress a picture:

  1. Select a picture and click the Format tab.
  2. Click the Compress Pictures command.
    3. Clicking the Compress Pictures command
  3. In the dialog box, you can check Delete cropped areas of pictures to further reduce size.
  4. Choose a Target output (e.g., Email) and click OK.
    5. The Compress Pictures dialog box
Tip: If compression doesn't reduce the size enough, consider using an external image editor to resize the image before inserting it.

Challenge!

  • Open our practice presentation.
  • On slide 7, select the treadmill picture.
  • Crop the picture so it's slightly smaller and the treadmills fill the frame.
  • Change the Picture Style of the image.
  • Apply a Correction (e.g., increase the brightness).
  • Compress your picture and choose Email as your target output.
    • The Corrections and brightness command
Next Lesson : Working with Shapes →

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