How To Use InsertPicture For PowerPoint(tm) 2004
Microsoft(tm) PowerPoint(tm) Add-in

There are four Ways to Use this Add-In

  1. Import all the pictures in a folder all at once (Bulk Import)
  2. Import pictures from a Scanner or other TWAIN driver device
  3. Import pictures one at a time
  4. Handy buttons to features already built into PowerPoint

Import all the pictures from a folder (Bulk Import)

Click this button and PowerPoint will open a new blank presentation. The following dialog box will appear. Make appropriate selections then click the Get Pictures button. This is a screen shot of the Bulk Import Settings menu:

 

 

You will then be prompted to locate the folder that has the picture files you wish to import. Then you will be prompted for Properties for the presentation. Click the "Save Picture with Preview" button if you wish to enable the preview feature for File Open with Finder or the Microsoft Project Gallery.

 

If you choose to put all pictures on one slide then you can not display the file names of the pictures.

 

The add-in imports pictures quickly. You may see the Pictures toolbar flicker while pictures are being imported. This is normal.

 

Insert Pictures from files One-at-a-Time: Menu

 

 

This menu lets you work with pictures that have been inserted from a scanner or one at a time from a file.

 

The upper controls offer the opportunity to spruce up the picture that's imported. The contrast and brightness controls are set at 10% increments.

 

The turn clockwise & counterclockwise buttons resize the picture to fit PowerPoint's screen window in addition to rotating the picture.

 

Tilt, flip, and Next Picture buttons are self-explanatory. Tilt and flip do not resize the image.

 

When you click Finish the add-in will stop and PowerPoint will be running. The new presentation will display the first picture that was inserted (slide #1).

 

 

Animate

The Animate button lets you choose from more than 160 animations. Animations that are backwards compatible with PowerPoint 2001 and PowerPoint version X are highlighted with a blue background behind the text as shown here:

 

 

To re-use an animation you must select a different animation. Then click back to the animation you want to use.

 

If you click DONE without making a selection then no animation will be applied.

 

If you cancel in a window during an operation to insert a picture, then the InsertPicture add-in will stop and will not insert additional pictures into a presentation.

 

If the add-in gives an error, this may indicate that certain preference files are corrupted, and that you should try deleting them to rectify the problem.  In OSX these files are located in your Home directory, which can be found by opening the Finder and going to Go -> Home (alternatively Shift-Command-H).  From there, find the Preferences folder, which is located in the Library folder.  Delete the PowerPoint preferences and plist files with PowerPoint not running.

 

Then empty the trash. Open PowerPoint again and all should be well. If trouble persists then (with PowerPoint turned off) delete the PowerPoint plist file (in the Preferences folder) and PowerPoint preference file (in the Microsoft folder within the Preferences folder), empty the trash, and then try launching PowerPoint and using the add-in again.

 

(Thanks to Mickey Stevens, Mac MVP, for these suggestions)

 

Bug or feature?

A picture in a presentation must be "selected" in order for the add-in controls to work on the picture. You can tell that the picture is "selected" because when a picture is selected there are little white squares (Microsoft calls them "handles") in the corners of the picture.  If you click someplace on the screen other than the picture or the menu, then click once on the picture to select it again. You are allowed to scroll through the presentation to select pictures previously added and change their settings. Whether you consider this a bug or a feature, that's how it works.

 

Import Pictures from a Scanner or other TWAIN driver device

This feature works if your computer has a scanner (or any other image generating device that's driver enabled such as an all-in-one machine or scanner-copier).  Please be sure that the scanner is plugged in and turned on. This feature supports TWAIN complaint drivers.

 

Click the Camera button. A new, blank Presentation file is created and the PROPERTIES window for this presentation is displayed. This window has several tabs to let you enter and organize information about the pictures you are about to insert.  Entering information is optional. Click OK when you have finished with the PROPERTIES window.

 

The next screen allows you to select an input device. If you have more than one scanner or input device you can choose from all available devices by selecting a device from the list displayed next to "Device."

Click ACQUIRE to activate the selected device. This screen will look different from this picture but should have similar wording.

 

At this point the add-in turns control of your computer over to the scanner's driver. Follow the instructions provided by the scanner's imaging software to generate an image to insert into PowerPoint.

 

When the image is sent to PowerPoint from the scanner's software, the CONTINUE window appears to let you know that PowerPoint-in is back in control. Click "Click Here to Continue."

 

The InsertPicture menu screen will then be displayed.

This menu is explained in detail below. Click here for further instructions..

 

Import Pictures one-at-a-time from files, directories, and network locations

You can use this feature to insert pictures from any volume or folder that is on your computer. If you have a digital camera that attaches via USB or FireWire and it mounts a volume to your desktop you can insert directly from the camera.

 

Click the rainbow Iris button to make a new blank Presentation. The new presentation's PROPERTIES window is displayed. This window has several tabs to let you enter and organize information about the pictures you are about to insert.  Click OK when you have finished with the PROPERTIES window.

After you have finished inserting pictures the PROPERTIES window can be displayed & modified. Use PowerPoint's FILE menu and choosing PROPERTIES to display the PROPERTIES dialog box.

 

The next window that will appear is the CHOOSE A PICTURE dialog box. This is the standard Apple Macintosh dialog box that is used for navigating to the files and folders that have the pictures you wish to insert.

 

This dialog offers the option to LINK TO FILE. If you check LINK TO FILE the pictures inserted will not be saved with the presentation. PowerPoint will display the pictures, but the Presentation's file size will not grow larger with each added picture. Instead, PowerPoint will create a link to the picture and use the picture file when the presentation is run. The downside to not saving pictures in the document is that if you change the directory path in any way (for example, if you move the presentation to a new folder, move any picture, or move to a different disk, volume or hard drive) then you will break the links and PowerPoint will be unable to display the pictures. If you choose LINK TO FILE the pictures and the presentation must be saved in the same folder at the same directory level and that all pictures be in that one single folder before you link to them.

 

LINK TO FILE works well with PowerPoint's SAVE AS POWERPOINT PACKAGE. Be sure to distribute the entire package folder, not just its contents. Add the file extension .ppt to the presentation's file name if you plan to distribute the package to users of Microsoft Windows. Most users should NOT use LINK TO FILE, as the links break easily.

 

By default LINK TO FILE is NOT CHECKED, which means copies of pictures inserted are added to the presentation and are included with the Presentation. The presentation will grow as pictures are added. The pictures will always be available to anyone you give the presentation to or if you open the presentation on a different computer or move the presentation to any file location you desire and it will make no difference whether the computer is Macintosh or Windows.

Handy buttons

Software: Microsoft Office

 

These three buttons are exactly the same buttons already built into PowerPoint, but I use them a lot so I put them onto the toolbar for my own convenience (and hopefully yours).

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