PowerPoint Too Big To Email?

Do you like using a lot of pictures in your Powerpoint presentations?  Then find out you can’t email it because the file is mega big?

Never fear!  There is a way to make your file smaller by compressing the pictures in your PowerPoint presentation.  Using PowerPoint 2010, I was able to compress a 50 MB PowerPoint file into 3 MB using the method below:

1. Save a copy of your file with the word compressed added to it, e.g. mypresentation-compressed.pptx (this is for damage control—in case things go wrong, you’ll still have a copy of your original to fall back on!).

2. Open up the compressed copy of your file and click on a picture.  Any picture is fine—you just need to get the Picture Tools menu to show up.

3. Click on the Format menu.

4. Click on the Compress Pictures icon (the one the red arrow is pointing to in the screenshot above).

5. In the Compress Pictures options:

• Uncheck Apply only to this picture
• Check Delete cropped areas of pictures
• Select Email (96 ppi): minimize document size for sharing
• Click OK

6. Save your file.

7. Done!  The file size should have shrunk to a more manageable size.

PowerPoint Tip:

The best way to add pictures into your presentation is to use the Insert menu and Picture option (see screenshot below) instead of copying and pasting the picture into your presentation.  You’ll finish your presentation with a smaller file, which can be compressed to an even smaller file.

I did a comparison, in which I used the same pictures to make two identical presentations.  I used the copy and paste method in one presentation and the Insert Picture method in the other.  Copy and paste file had 50 MB and compressed to 3 MB.  Insert Picture file had 7 MB and compressed to 620 KB.  Seeing the difference in file size, which method would you use?