A reader wrote me the following:
I import graphics from InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. I say import, but sometimes I do copy/paste out of indesign…a NO-NO i’m sure. Anyway, the deck looks great. I send it out to everyone — they make any last minute changes and sometimes send back for me to approve. This is where I’m guessing the compression is taking place and making most every graphic look awful. Is there a way to stop this?
The reader is right. A new “feature” of PowerPoint 2007 is that PowerPoint automatically compresses pictures when you save the file. This is usually OK, but in certain situations, it degrades the images unacceptably. (And it makes animated GIFs stop working, but few people use them any more.)
Selecting an image in another program and pasting into PowerPoint is not a good idea. Save the image as a separate file and then insert it as a picture in PowerPoint.
You can stop PowerPoint 2007 from compressing images automatically, but it’s very hard to find this setting! When you change the setting, it applies to the file, so the setting should stick with the file.
Here are the steps:
- Select a picture on a slide.
- Under Picture Tools, on the Format tab, go to the Adjust group and click Compress Pictures. You see this Compress Pictures dialog box
- Click the Options button to display the Compression Settings dialog box.
- Uncheck Automatically Perform Basic Compression on Save check box.
- Click OK twice.
Luckily, PowerPoint 2010 doesn’t automatically compress pictures when you save.
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It’s worth reinforcing the point that turning compression off ONLY works for the current presentation, and that if you save your presentation before turning it off … well. Too late. You can turn automatic compression off completely, for all presentations though:
PowerPoint 2007 makes pictures blurry, loses GIF animation
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00862.htm
PPT 2010’s defaults are no longer set to compress on save, though it’s still possible for a presentation to be set up with compression on. But it’s still going to bite you: if you insert a picture onto a slide that has an empty content or picture placeholder, the picture will pop into the placeholder. Some people love that, some hate it. There are ways around it if you’re one of the latter. But either way, PPT 2010 WILL compress the image when it goes into a placeholder, like it or not.
Steve,
Thanks for clarifying with your usual thoroughness!
Ellen
Interesting, Ellen!
I’ve been compressing both by default and manually, mainly to decrease filesize, but now an other question arises: is there a loss of data (pic quality) after every save? Both I and my customers save the same files numerous times… pics should completely disappear after some rounds. Right?
But since they do not disappear, Ppt seems to distinguish between the first “save and compress” and perform subsequent saves without compression, right again?
Any thoughts?
Rgds,
B.A.
B.A.,
Yes, I think you’re right. Obviously, images aren’t compressed again and again. I think it only compresses new images, but I’m not absolutely sure. I personally haven’t seen any signs of continual degradation.
i AGREE WITH ALLEN “Yes, I think you’re right. Obviously, images aren’t compressed again and again. I think it only compresses new images, but I’m not absolutely sure. I personally haven’t seen any signs of continual degradation.”
Thanks for this post Ellen, however, I can’t seem to find the “picture tools” under the format tab. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
Oh just found my answer in PowerPoint Help.
This may be useful for other visitors so I’ll post it below…
To turn compression off (but only for the current presentation) in PowerPoint 2007:
Choose File, Save As.
– In the Save As dialog box click Tools.
– Choose Compress Pictures.
– On the Compress Pictures dialog box, click Options.
– On the Compression Settings dialog box that appears, remove the checks next to “Automatically perform basic compression on save” and “Delete cropped areas of pictures”.
– Optionally remove the check next to “Delete cropped areas of pictures”.
– Click OK to dismiss the Compression Settings dialog box.
– Click OK to dismiss the Compress Pictures dialog box.
– Back in the Save As dialog box, you can either go ahead and save or cancel. The compression options you just set will be preserved either way.
More info about PP 2010 can be found here too.
TURNING OFF AUTOMATIC PICTURE COMPRESSION IN POWER POINT 2007 & 2010
Problem
When you save presentations in PowerPoint 2007/2010 then open them again in any version,
the pictures in your presentation are blurry or less sharp than when you first inserted them.
In some cases, your animated GIFs may lose their animation.
The same thing happens in Word 2007/2010 and the fix is the same.
(Power Point 2003 and Earlier does not have this issue.)
Solution
PowerPoint 2007/2010 has an option to automatically compress images when you save the
presentation. That’s a good thing.
This option is turned on by default. And that can be a bad thing. Programs should never, ever
throw away a user’s data without asking for permission first, but that’s exactly what PowerPoint
does.
Worse, when PowerPoint compresses an animated GIF, the animations are lost.
And even worse, it’s hard to find the dialog box where you can turn this “feature” off.
And … are we having fun yet? … turning compression off applies only to the current
presentation. You have to change the option for every presentation you work on.
If you’ve already inserted any pictures, be sure to turn compression of BEFORE you save your
presentation. Otherwise it’ll be too late. Your pictures will be compressed when you save. Here’s
how:
To turn compression off (but only for the current presentation) in PowerPoint 2007:
1. Choose File, Save As.
2. In the Save As dialog box click Tools.
3. Choose Compress Pictures.
4. On the Compress Pictures dialog box, click Options.
5. On the Compression Settings dialog box that appears, remove the checks next to
“Automatically perform basic compression on save” and “Delete cropped areas of pictures”.
6. Optionally remove the check next to “Delete cropped areas of pictures”.
7. Click OK to dismiss the Compression Settings dialog box.
8. Click OK to dismiss the Compress Pictures dialog box.
9. Back in the Save As dialog box, you can either go ahead and save or cancel. The
compression options you just set will be preserved either way.
To turn compression off (but only for the current presentation) in PowerPoint 2010:
1.Choose File, Options
2. Click Advanced
3. Under “Image Size and Quality” remove the check next to “Discard editing data” and PUT
a check next to “Do not compress images in file”. Yes, it IS confusingly worded.
4. Click OK.
A more thorough solution
To really fix the problem, you’ll need to edit the registry. The usual cautions apply: back up your
PC first, be very careful, wash behind your ears …
1. Close Power Point
2. Open registry editor (Start /Run and type Regedit)
3. Go to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\PowerPoint\Options].
==>Change that “12.0” to “14.0” for PowerPoint 2010.
4. Create a new Dword value named AutomaticPictureCompressionDefault
5. Make sure that the value of the new Dword is 0
6. Close registry editor
Now, by default, PowerPoint does not compress pictures. If we want to enable compression, go
back to the same registry key and change the value from 0 to 1.
Thanks to Marta Portela Maseda [Office MVP] for this tip, originally published on Fermu’s
Website.
Here’s the official Microsoft word on this problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;2002066&sd=rss&spid=11264
Modified from PowerPointTools Stephen Rindsberg, Rindsberg Photography, Inc. and members
of the MS PowerPoint MVP team.
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00862_PowerPoint_2007_and_2010_make_pictures_blurry-_loses_
GIF_animation.htm
Alternate instructions:
Power Point 2007:
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint2007/ss/080508compress.htm
Power Point 2010:
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint-2010-tips/ss/101007-compress-photos-powerp
oint.htm
PowerPoint 2007/2010 has an option to automatically compress images when you save the
presentation. That’s a good thing.
This option is turned on by default. And that can be a bad thing. Programs should never, ever
throw away a user’s data without asking for permission first, but that’s exactly what PowerPoint
does.