Image compression in PP2003 (lots of screenshots)

[ker_01]

I've been documenting a software process by copy/pasting *lots* of
screenshots into powerpoint and cropping them, ususally ending up with 5-10
screenbits per slide (with little arrows inbetween to show flow).

The file is getting large, so I decided to use image compression & delete
cropped areas. However, every time I try to run it, instead of compressing
the images it seems to uncrop them altogether, which results in unusable
slides.

I did a test by creating a new file, pasting in only one screenshot,
cropping it, then selecting compress/delete cropped areas for all images in
the document, and even with just one image, it still uncropped the picture
back to original size.

Is there any way (including the use of VBA) to force powerpoint 2003 to
delete cropped areas (and possibly compress, although that isn't as big a
deal) every image in the file? I appreciate any solutions!

Thank you,
Keith

 

[John Wilson]

The method you are using should work - it does here

You might also try cut > paste special as jpg

This latter method could be automated with vba.
--
john ATSIGN PPTAlchemy.co.uk

Free PPT Hints, Tips and Tutorials
http://www.pptalchemy.co.uk/powerpoint_hints_and_tips_tutorials.html
PPTLive Atlanta Oct 11-14 2009

 

[ker_01]

To be honest, I'm at a complete loss.

To test (PP2003, SP3) I pasted in a screenshot. I also tried "paste as" but
bitmap is the only format supported when I'm trying to paste a screenshot.

Replicable on my machine:
1. open any application and resize the window so that it is fairly small
(just easier to work with). Press Alt-PrtScreen to capture that window
2. Paste into a blank powerpoint slide
3. Crop the image in any one direction using crop on the image toolbar
4. Right-click the image, and select "Format Picture"/Picture/Compress/
5. Select all or just this one picture (I get the same effect either way),
Print resolution, and select both compress and delete cropped areas
6. Click "OK", then "OK" again.

On my machine, the cropped image has now uncropped itself.

If this functionality works as expected on other machines, my preference
would be to change the settings on my machine so that I'll get the same
desired result. Are there any hidden settings that I should be checking that
might affect picture cropping and compression?

Thank you!
Keith