The Mystery of the Disappearing PowerPoint Photo

I am trying to put a photo into a PowerPoint presentation. At first it’s too large, but it disappears when I try to resize it. What gives?

Despite what you may think, your photo has not quite disappeared. It has simply vanished off to a portion of your screen where it is hidden from your view.

I am going to venture a guess and say that you are trying to place a pretty big digital photo in your presentation, maybe even one you took with your own digital camera.

Why you can’t see your picture

Think of your PowerPoint presentation’s “canvas” area as a grid made of X and Y coordinates, with the top left corner being 0, 0. When a graphic is larger than the viewable canvas area of your PowerPoint presentation, it will be placed outside the canvas. Instead of being placed at point within the viewable area, it might be placed at say 12″ outside the viewable area. Despite its placement, you can still see part of the photo - it is so big that it extends back into the viewable area of the canvas.

The problem arises when you resize your graphic. It stays placed at point -12″, -12″, but it has now been resized so small that it no longer extends into the viewable area of your presentation. In order to get on with your work, you must reposition your photo inside of your PowerPoint presentation’s viewable canvas area.

How to recover your picture

First, insert your picture into the presentation. Click Insert → Picture and locate the desired image file.

Now, resize the picture. Click Format → Picture and adjust it’s size via the “Size” tab.

Finally, reposition the picture. You should still be in the “Format Picture” dialog. If not, click Format → Picture once more. Go to the “Position” tab and place your picture at Horizontal: 0″ and Vertical: 0″.

Once you have repositioned your picture, it will appear in your PowerPoint presentation once more. You will now be able to move and manipulate your picture freely.