I want to stop auto-compress for Powerpoint for Mac

Question

For years I have used Powerpoint to markup photos of newspaper pages. I have the home subscription version of Office for Mac.

Suddenly in the last few days Powerpoint has compressed files when I same them, and whenI open them again I can then no longer read the newsprint. It has gotten blurred due to compression of the photographic images. I have looked this up on the web and found a number of sites suggesting clicking Files and then Options, but I have no item names Options in the Files dropdown menu in Powerpoint (or MacOS 11.6 Finder).

I also found items suggesting changing the Image Size and Quality options, but mine were already set for High Resolution.

I am now afraid to open files I made before yesterday for fear of rendering them useless. What should I do?

Answer 1

After additional work with Powerpoint on my Mac, I have concluded that the problem is not with the Powerpoint application but with the graphic, which apparently has an auto-compress feature that causes PowerPoint to compress all graphic files. I do not have the compression problem when using any other graphic files in Powerpoint. For the single problem PDF graphic file I am able to import it, mark it up, and print the markerd-up page, but the fraphic becomes compressed as soon as I save it, so on opening the saved PPT file the graphic is degraded a bit, and the image (and others in that file) become increasingly distorted each time the file is modified (by adding other images and/or markups) and saved.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Now that I understand the nature of such infected PDF files I can isolate them to individual sacrificial PPT files rather than including other images that could suffer collateral damage. I thank the several people who made helpful suggestions (on answers.microsoft.com) that did not work because we had not suspected that the true cause was the importation of an infected (booby-trapped?) PDF file. We live and learn.

Answer 2

Hi

Select a picture.

The Format Picture Ribbon tab will display while a picture is selected.

Click the Compress Pictures button

Then use this dialog to choose the settings you desire

Answer 3

Please see Jim Gordon's reply.

Also, in at least some versions of PPT, when you pop your pictures into a placeholder, they *will* be compressed, regardless of your compression settings. It's a good idea to delete the usual "Click here to ..." box before adding pictures, OR click inside it, type some text and then insert your picture.

Answer 4

I am sorry, Kevin. I was re-reading your Nov 9 message, which said "And for mac, there is no way to stop auto-compress for PowerPoint for Mac". That would mean that PowePoint is worthless for my application. Fortunately I have Windows on another computer, so I can transfer my work there.

However, I do not understand why I have been able to use Powerpoint for Mac without problems up until last week. It is not because of file size. In my Trial-1.ppt file I have only one newspaper page photo. It was originally a PDF file 6.1M in size. I wanted to mark it up so I drag-dropped into an empty PPT file. I marked it up, printed the marked-up version out (looked good) and saved the file. When I opened the PPT file the image was unreadable and the PPT file was only 270 kB. This is much smaller that the 45 MB files that I have put together without any auto-compression (and am now afraid to open due to the auto-compress "feature" that you said can't be stopped on PowerPoint for Mac.

I shall sadly accept your comment that "And for mac, there is no way to stop auto-compress for PowerPoint for Mac". I shall move my files to my Windows computer, hoping not to have the same problem appear up there as Microsoft updates PowerPoint there.

Answer 5

Thank you, Kevin.  I understand that the original image data put into the Powerpoint file has been lost.  I believe that this is due to a change in some setting so that my Powerpoint is now auto-compressing the file each time it is saved, making the original image unreadable.  Here is an example after one Save.

I tried to follow your instructions, but I immediately ran into a problem.  You said "And for mac, you could click Insert > Compress picture > Original picture."  So, I opened my trial PPT file in Powerpoint, clicked on the top-line menu for Insert and got the options that you can see in my attached photo of the screen.  "Compress picture" is nowhere to be seen.  

Also, can you tell me what is the data size limit for Powerpoint for Mac ver 16.54?  In the past I have made files 30 to 60 MB in size with no problem.

-- Thank you.