How to insert same picture into different slides in PowerpPoint (not into all slides)

I want to use the same picture on 4 different slides inside PowerPoint presentation. This is high resolution image thus I do not want to place it 4 times.

Is it possible to put this picture only once and use it on any (but not all) slides I need?

Thanks a lot for any suggestion!

2 Answers

As @harrymc suggests, linking is a good option for keeping your files as small as possible, but as he also points out, it has its risks.

It's not always obvious until you test this, but if you insert an image once, then copy it to other slides, PPT doesn't keep multiple copies of the image internally, it just stores pointers to the first instance of the image, so your files will be considerably smaller than you might have expected.

You might also experiment with letting PPT compress your image after you've inserted it. If you're projecting your presentation, there's not much point in the image's resolution being appreciably higher than the resolution of the projector you'll be using.

You may link to the picture on your disk instead of physically inserting it.

When you bring up the Insert Picture dialog box, either by clicking on the Pictures button in a Content placeholder, or by directly selecting the Insert tab | Pictures button, do not blindly click the Insert button after selecting the picture to be inserted.

You will find a down-arrow next to the Insert button, highlighted in red :

Click this down-arrow to open a small menu where you may choose Link to File :

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 be reflected within the presentation automatically as long as the file name and location is not changed.

The downside is that if the original picture is deleted or renamed, you will see a small red X icon indicating that the linked picture cannot be displayed. You will need to always copy the picture used to the an identical folder as the one containing your presentation when taking the presentation to another computer, or you will need to re-link the image.