When I used to do a lot of Microsoft PowerPoint presentations for sales and executive teams, I would usually get big presentations that were completely bloated with high-resolution images. A ten-slide presentation would sometimes be over 100 MB and when I would compress it to 500 KB, people would be quite oddly amazed. Here, we’ll show you a quick method of compressing all the images at once and also what to do when certain imported images simply won’t get smaller in file size.

Compressing images

This method works for PowerPoint 2007 and later.

  • Double-click any image. The ‘Picture Tools’ should show in the ribbon.
  • Click the ‘Compress Pictures’ in the ribbon.
Microsoft PowerPoint 'Compress Pictures' Button is shown in the Ribbon

Microsoft PowerPoint – Compress Pictures Button in the Ribbon

 

  • The ‘Compress Pictures’ box will show. Uncheck the ‘Apply only to this picture’ option.
Microsoft PowerPoint - Compress Pictures Dialog Box. Option to 'Apply only to this picture' is un-checked. 'Delete cropped areas of pictures' option is checked. Under ' Target Output', 'Use document resolution' is selected.

Microsoft PowerPoint – Compress Pictures Dialog Box

  • Set the target resolution. Email (96 ppi) is usually good for most purposes.
  • Click ‘OK’ and save the file.

 

What to do when the file size does not reduce

Some image files, when either copy-and-pasted or imported, will not reduce using the above method. If you start with a 97 MB file, compress the pictures and are now at 96 MB, you will need to do a little digging.

  • First scroll through the slides and look for any images that look really sharp. If an image is properly compressed, it should look a tiny bit blurry in comparison to a high-res, uncompressed image.
  • Once you find a suspected uncompressed image, cut it (control + x)

Now paste it, but not via ‘Control +V’. Go up to the ribbon and under ‘Paste’ click on ‘Paste Special…’

Microsoft PowerPoint Home Tab ribbon. Paste options are selected and 'Paste Special...' is highlighted.

Microsoft PowerPoint – Select the ‘Paste Special…’ option from the ‘Home’ tab in the ribbon

 

  • The ‘Paste Special’ box will show.
Microsoft PowerPoint 'Paste Special' dialog box for images. Several image formats are shown on a list. 'Device Independent Bitmap' is selected.

Microsoft PowerPoint – The ‘Paste Special’ dialog box for images.

 

  • Select ‘Device Independent Bitmap’ and click ‘OK’
  • The image will go on the screen, but now it will compress properly. Compress the pictures again and save. The file size should now be dramatically smaller. If not, look through the images again and try to find another stubborn image.

When creating a PowerPoint file, this is usually not a problem, especially if you are in the practice of importing optimized images and aren’t copy-pasting images from anywhere and everywhere. At least when you do get a file filled with high-res TIF files embedded into it, you will know what to do.

Further Reading