Add Picture Fills to Shapes in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac

Picture fills may appear convincing or confusing depending upon the type of picture you use for the fill. Do remember that using a detailed or crowded picture as a fill for a small shape will get you no awards for slide design! It is best to use pictures that have one focused object or are subtle in nature for this purpose. Any shape on your slide in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac can be provided with a picture fill in the same way as you add or change solid fills or gradient fills.

Scroll down this page to see a sample presentation that contains shapes with picture fills. Then follow these steps to change or apply a picture fill to a shape:

1. Open your presentation and select the shape that you want to change or apply the fill to.
2. Alternatively, if you want to start from scratch, launch PowerPoint. You will see the Presentation Gallery. Here, select the Blank Presentation to open a blank presentation with a new slide. Next, you can change the Slide Layout to Blank by selecting the Home tab | Layout | Blank option. Then, insert a shape and select it.
2. We selected a 10-Points Star shape, as shown in Figure 1. Selecting the shape brings up the Shape Format tab in the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1. Activate this Ribbon tab by clicking on it.
3. 
   Figure 1: Shape Format tab of the Ribbon
Note: The Shape Format tab is a Contextual tab. These tabs are special tabs in the Ribbon that are not visible all the time. They only make an appearance when you are working with a particular slide object which can be edited using special options.
3. Within the Shape Format tab, click the down-arrow within the Shape Fill button (highlighted in red within Figure 2). This brings up the Shape Fill drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 2. From the Shape Fill drop-down gallery, choose the Picture option as shown in Figure 2.
4. 
   Figure 2: Shape Fill drop-down gallery
4. This brings up the Choose a Picture dialog box, as shown in Figure 3. Navigate to where you have saved pictures to be used as fills.
5. 
   Figure 3: Choose a Picture dialog box
5. Select the picture and click the Insert button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, above.
Note: You can also choose to link the picture instead of inserting it. To link the picture, you will find two check-boxes: Link to File and Save with Document, highlighted in blue in Figure 3, above. To learn more about the difference between various Insert options, refer to our Insert and/or Link Pictures in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac tutorial.
6. Whichever option you choose, the result will be that the picture will form a fill for the selected shape, as shown in Figure 4, below (compare with Figure 1, shown earlier on this page).
7. 
   Figure 4: Shape with picture fill
7. Remember to save your presentation often.

Sample Presentation of Picture Fill in Shape:

Click below to view this presentation on SlideShare

Click below to view this presentation on YouTube