PowerPoint Pearls: Cropping a Graphic

My title is not quite accurate, but PowerPoint is to blame.

The crop tool in PowerPoint appears to “cut away” a portion of your image. The reality is that the image remains intact. PowerPoint simply doesn't display the area that you have cropped. This has an advantage and a disadvantage.

The Advantage: If you really butcher your image, you can use the Reset button in the Format Picture window.

The Disadvantage: If you are cropping to reduce file size, you'll have to accomplish that in Photoshop.

If you decide to do your cropping in PowerPoint (because it is convenient) here's the how to:

1. Select the image by clicking on it. If the picture tool bar does not automatically appear, click on View, Toolbars, Picture.

2. Click on the crop tool to choose it
   
   
3. Place the cursor on the appropriate handles and drag to remove the unwanted section of the image.