MS PowerPoint techie help - NB

[Rob_Webb]

Got some didgital pics of boat on my pc downloaded from camera - high res, approx. 700kb each. I have pasted 4 of them into a single page of PowerPoint to create a nice collage. Expected the resulting .ppt file to be about 4 x 700kb = 2.8MB plus a bit more, say 3-3.5MB at most. But damn file has ballooned in size up to 80MB - yes that's right!

Tried it several times and no mistake. Vaguely notice this before but ignored it - but now makes resulting .ppt file totally useless to email anywhere and even printing can cause hiccups.

Any ideas?

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[webcraft]

Why use Powerpoint?

Why not just paste them into a Word doc if you want to make a collage?

- Nick

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.bluemoment.com>http://www.bluemoment.com</A></font size=1>

 

[PaulS]

Save the pics on your hard disk then, after opening them in your favourite photo editor, save them at a much lower resolution before importing them into PP.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Rob_Webb]

Tied that too - similar balooning effect, in fact worse. A single 700KB picture pasted into a Word doc creates a .doc file of 14MB. Try it!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Rob_Webb]

Just tried that too, result is that I resaved 700kb picture in lowest quality (too poor to be usable) = 58kb. But when that pic is pasted into Word the resulting .doc fiel still = over 9MB!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Talbot]

If I am creating a collage, I have two alternatives that I use - Paint shop Pro using the transparent paste and different layers. Or if the collage is going to contain a lot of pictures, I use Serif Draw. In each case, when I have finished, I merge to a single layer and then save as a jpg file. The trouble with using MS word or powerpoint is that if you have it set up right, the pictures themselves are fine the first time, but if you then try to use them again, they results are crap. Any other setting and the files balloon.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[PaulS]

What format are you saving the pics in?
Try JPG.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[webcraft]

Don't copy and paste . . . save the file as a jpg then use 'insert file' to insert the pic in the Word doc. Typically a 700kb pic will result in a 550Kb Word doc - actualy smaller than the original jpg using this method.

HOWEVER . . . copying and pasting the same image from another application WILL usually result in a huge file size. There is a reason for this - namely that the copied and pasted image is not compressed whereas the jpg is.

Hope this helps,

Nick



<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.bluemoment.com>http://www.bluemoment.com</A></font size=1>

 

[webcraft]

Don't copy and paste . . . save the file as a jpg then use 'insert file' to insert the pic in the Word doc. Typically a 700kb pic will result in a 550Kb Word doc - actualy smaller than the original jpg using this method.

HOWEVER . . . copying and pasting the same image from another application WILL usually result in a huge file size.

Hope this helps,

Nick



<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.bluemoment.com>http://www.bluemoment.com</A></font size=1>

 

[Ships_Cat]

Hi Rob

You must be doing something wrong but for the life of me I don't know what.

I regularly produce reports in MSWord with photos in them and size has never been a worry. Looking at some here with 6 to 8 photos in and rarely exceed 2 MByte and that is even though the document also includes bmp or enhanced metafile pastes of Excel tables etc as well as the photos.

I just now inserted an approx 1.5MB jpg photo (Insert>Picture> in Word) into a blank Word document and saved it. The doc file was approx the same size as the photo ie approx 1.5MB.

{Edit: just as Nick says I see}

John

<hr width=100% size=1>I am the cat but I am only 6.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Ships_Cat on 13/10/2004 22:54 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Rob_Webb]

Thanks for the help so far, this is on the right track - you're right this has worked in principal and created a far more sensible file size although it's affected the physical image size - only the central 50% of the picture has made it into the image when viewed or printed?

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Rob_Webb]

Fully sorted!

I've managed to resize the inserted image and you're right it works fine - thanks a lot for the help. Result!

Rob

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[BrendanS]

What you want to do with it? Save, post on forum, etc.It makes a diffference

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni

 

[Rob_Webb]

I'm sorted now by using this technique i.e. insert picture from file. My mistake was using the 'cut & paste' function to drop the picture in which does cause the target file to balloon in size alarmingly.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Sybarite]

I often copy photos into an Excel file.

The process is :-

copy - special paste (bitmap) (large capacity file)

then;

cut - special paste (jpeg). (reasonable size)

Don't know if this would be the same in Powerpoint .

John



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Anwen]

Webcraft has it right. If you cut and paste, it pastes a bitmap which leads to enormous file sizes. If you do Insert - Picture - From File and insert the jpeg, when the Word or Powerpoint file is saved, the picture is saved in its native format. I often get asked to "sort out" other people's reports and presentations in this way.

Incidentally, for screen presentation, most screens are around 72 dots per inch (dpi). So if you have a jpeg file which is 2000+ pixels wide, and your normal display screen is 17 inch, you can resize it to 1200 pixels wide, and it will still look fine when displayed.

Hope this helps

Jon

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[pragmatist]

It's worse than that. Once saved the file will never reduce in size even if you take out all contents. Well known Microsoft feature - in league with hard disk salesmen ?

<hr width=100% size=1>a pragmatist is an optimist with a boat in the UK - but serious about not being in the UK !

 

[Steve Clayton]

This is another "Noddy" way to do it - either as e-mail or as resized pictures for other use:

Step: Right-click on the desktop, and create a new folder. Type it's name (e.g., "for e-mail") and press Return.

Step: Copy the photos you want to e-mail (or use elsewhere) in to this new folder.

Step: When all the photos have been copied, make sure the new folder is open.

Step: Select all the photos, by choosing "Edit" -> "Select All"

Step: Choose "E-mail the selected items" from the menu of 'tasks' that appears on the left hand side of the window.

Step: Windows will suggest that it should resize the pictures. This is a good idea, so make sure that "Make all my pictures smaller" is selected, and press OK.

Step: Windows will think for a few seconds, then a normal e-mail message window will pop up. Windows will have shrunk and attached all the pictures, and given a default Subject line and message.

Now you can copy out the pictures in the e-mail to other applications such as WORD or even send them as a mail!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[ColinW]

If you want to make the presentation from the same computer as the pictures are stored on (or via a network link from where you can "see" the files) then you don't need to store the picture in the powerpoint file. Use Inset - Picture - From file and when the directory viewer opens, select the little triangle next to "Insert" this will open a menu that allows you to "Link to" the picture. The picture will then be put into your Powerpoint presentation directly from its original file whenever its needed.
Another alternative is to cut and paste but use "Paste Special" and then select "Picture" but the file won't be as small as using the linking method above.


<hr width=100% size=1>