Insert or Link Pictures in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

When you insert a picture on your PowerPoint slide, you are doing a task that is frequent and commonplace. To you, this may look like an activity that's simple. But behind this simple task, there are options you may not be aware of.

You know that a picture located in any of your folders can be inserted on a slide. But, have you wondered about the relation a picture on the slide has with the original picture located in your folder? By default, PowerPoint retains no relation, even if you delete or move the original picture file you inserted, the copy on your slide will still be retained since PowerPoint saves the picture as a part of the file it creates. However, there are options in PowerPoint that let you maintain the relation between the original picture and the inserted picture. For example, if you make changes to your original picture, PowerPoint will update its copy on the slide!

The advantage of this approach is that you can change pictures in your folder that have the same file names, and your slides get automatically updated with newer pictures. This approach also has a disadvantage: if you rename, delete, or move the picture file you linked from, then the picture on your slide won't be there! Now that we have made you aware of the pros and cons, let us explore these options.

Whenever you bring up the Choose a Picture dialog box (see our Insert Picture tutorial), either by selecting the Home tab | Picture | Picture from File option, or by clicking the Insert Picture from File button in a Content placeholder, you may typically just click the Insert button (highlighted in red in Figure 1) after selecting the picture to be inserted. But look closer, and you find two check-boxes: Link to File and Save with Document towards the bottom left corner of the Choose a Picture dialog box (highlighted in blue in Figure 1).

Figure 1: Choose a Picture dialog box

Let us learn how to make use of the Insert button, Link to File check-box, and Save with Document check-box to achieve the three different ways of inserting a picture on a slide in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac:

Insert

When you just click the Insert button without selecting any of the Link to File, or Save with Document check-boxes, the picture is embedded within the presentation. This is the default option, and will save the inserted picture as a part of the presentation file. We have already explained this in our Insert Picture in PowerPoint 2011 tutorial. Do note that this option will increase the file size of the presentation, although PowerPoint 2011 does some automatic compression.

Link to File

If you want to link the picture in your folder to the slide where you place it, select only the Link to File check-box as shown in Figure 2, before clicking the Insert Button.

Figure 2: Link to File check-box selected

This will reduce the size of your presentation since PowerPoint only saves the path and name of your picture rather than saving the entire picture. Also, if the linked picture is edited outside PowerPoint, the change will get reflected within the presentation automatically as long as the file name and location is not changed for the edited picture. Conversely, if the original picture is deleted or renamed, you will see a small red X icon indicating that the linked picture cannot be displayed.

Insert and Link

If you want to embed the picture within the presentation, and also update the picture if it is edited or updated, then make sure that both the Link to File and Save with Document check-boxes are selected before clicking the Insert button as shown in Figure 3. Do note that the Save with Document check-box is enabled only when you select the Link to File check-box.

Figure 3: Link to File and Save with Document check-boxes selected

Opting for Insert and Link option will bloat the file size, especially if you are using high resolution pictures. However, if file size is not an issue, this approach does give you the best of both worlds.