Inserted image show up as tiny thumbnail in Powerpoint 2016

I am running a fully updated Microsoft Powerpoint 2016 running on Windows 7 SP1.

I have an annoying problem when I insert images into a slide. Whether it's a PNG or JPG file, after I insert them into a slide they get automatically shrunk down to a tiny thumbnail (e.g. 100 pixels wide at 100% "zoom"), and when I try to resize them to make them bigger they look extremely pixellated.

I double checked the resolution of those images and they are big (e.g. 1920x1080) and open correctly in other programs. The strange thing is that this only happens to some PNGs/JPGs and not others... I have no idea why this is.

I have tried clicking on the Insert Image button in the ribbon, dragging the picture into the slide from Explorer, or copying it over from Windows Image Viewer to no avail....

Can anyone help me troubleshoot this? Thank you.

hpy

Posted 2017-11-29T16:47:17.383

Reputation: 5 269

1You mention that the images are big. What constitutes big (as measured in pixels)? – Steve Rindsberg – 2017-11-30T18:55:27.663

1This'll sound like an odd question, but there's a reason for it: what happens if you insert the same image (via Insert Image button) several times on the same slide. Do all of the inserted images appear at the same size? – Steve Rindsberg – 2017-12-02T15:55:40.233

@SteveRindsberg YES. I tried inserting the same image five times into the same slide (via the Insert Image button), and they are all imported as the same, tiny size... – hpy – 2017-12-02T18:55:54.760

1Can you post one of these images someplace where we can download it and have a look? Meanwhile you might try running them in batch through a program like IrfanView (free, www.irfanview.com), not downsampling them but setting dpi to 96 and saving to a new name. See if that makes any difference. – Steve Rindsberg – 2017-12-04T00:21:16.160

@SteveRindsberg I've uploaded two examples (one JPEG and one PNG) to here: http://www.solarsendit.net/df1i881eJLle7byc I also tried setting the DPI and saving as a new image via IrfanView and it worked!!! What does this mean?

– hpy – 2017-12-04T17:24:58.830

Answers

Thanks for posting the sample images; that helped explain this.

A little background: Some image file types don't include suggested Size/DPI values, others do. When PowerPoint imports one of the former, it has to decide how large to make the picture, so it defaults to 96dpi (usually), divides the width of the image (in pixels) by 96 to arrive at the width (in inches) on screen. Or by 37.79-ish to get the width in cm if your system is set to metric.

If the image DOES contain size/dpi info, PPT tries to respect the suggested size, and that's what's going on with your two images.

The Anne Frank image is 919 pixels wide but for some inexplicable reason, is set to 1943 dpi. Somebody set dpi to match a date by mistake?

919/1943 = .47 and that's the size the image comes in at when you insert it into PPT.

The Creative Commons image is set to 1080dpi, so the same math applies. 1440 pixels/1080 = 1.333 inches, and that's the size it appears in PPT.

Saving from Irfanview must have removed the suggested size/dpi data or set it to something more reasonable. If you use IrfanView's batch processing, Advanced Options, you can choose the dpi you want.

Steve Rindsberg

Posted 2017-11-29T16:47:17.383

Reputation: 4 139

Ah I see, this makes sense. I'm guessing I can also use GIMP to batch set the DPI as well. Thank you very much for your patience and your help! :D

– hpy – 2017-12-05T23:31:01.320

1Re GIMP ... I'd expect so, but please repay the help by replying here with the results. Thanks! And for the benefit of the terminally curious, the Frank family went into hiding in 1942 and were captured in 1944, so that 1943 dpi setting seems unrelated. And still odd. – Steve Rindsberg – 2017-12-06T17:48:13.517

I just tried to re-save the Anne Frank image as 96 dpi with GIMP, and it appeared correctly when I inserted into Powerpoint 2016! Thank you for your help. As for the "1943" dpi setting, yeah I'm stumped, too... – hpy – 2017-12-07T10:53:39.940

1@hpy Glad it all worked out. Other than the solution to the now-infamous 1943 Problem. – Steve Rindsberg – 2017-12-07T15:24:21.627