How to Compress Images in Word/PowerPoint

Adding photos to Microsoft Word or PowerPoint files can quickly make the file very large. Even if you shrink or crop the photo, all of the photo's original information remains in the Word/PowerPoint file, meaning that the total file size may be much bigger than it needs to be.

However, you can compress the photos inside the file to reduce the size of the document:

Here is a Word file with a full-size photo. It is 167 KB.

Here is the same file with the photo shrunk down. It is smaller, but could be much smaller still.

To do this, go to File > Reduce File Size..., then for Picture Quality, select On-screen (150 ppi).

You can also choose to Delete cropped areas of pictures.

You won't be able to get the cropped-out areas back or increase the size of the photo again after this, so make sure you do it when you are done editing.

You can do the same thing in PowerPoint.

Even after shrinking the photo, the size of the PowerPoint didn't change.

In PowerPoint, go to File > Compress Pictures..., then for Picture Quality, select On-screen (150 ppi). Again, you can choose to Delete cropped areas of pictures.

The file is now a much more manageable size.

Page updated

Report abuse