Using Clip Art

PowerPoint comes with more than 1100 clip art pictures ready to be added to you presentation. PowerPoint's clip art pictures are organized and managed by the Microsoft Clip Gallery, a program that is automatically installed when you install PowerPoint. This small, but very useful, program keeps track of all of the clip art files stored on your hard drive, their filenames, and even organizes the files into subject categories! As a consequence, finding and inserting that perfect picture into your presentation is a snap. To make it even more fun, if for some reason you cannot find just the right piece of clip art in this collection, you can add your own clip art to the Gallery as well.

Inserting Clip Art Using the Clip Gallery

Changing the Slide Layout

• move to the slide on which you want to add a picture
• if you have not done so already, switch to
  • Slide Viewif you are using PowerPoint 97/98
  • either Slide Viewor the Tri-Pane View if you are using PowerPoint 2000/2001

   

Although it is not required, I strongly recommend that you change the layout of the slide to one with a placeholder for clip art to maintain proper spacing between the text and the picture.

• to change the layout of a slide, choose FormatSlide Layout or click the Slide Layout button on the toolbar
  • in PowerPoint 97/98/2001, the Slide Layout button is on the Standard toolbar
  • in PowerPoint 2000, the Slide Layout button is under [Common Tasks] on the Formatting toolbar
• the Slide Layout dialog box will appear; note that this is the same as the New Slide dialog box discussed earlier
• select the appropriate layout and click the <Reapply> button.
  • since you are inserting a picture, you would select either the “Clip Art & Text” or the “Text & Clip Art” layouts

Inserting the Clip Art

• now do either
  • choose InsertPictureClip Art
  • or click the Insert Clip Art button  
  • or click the Insert Clip Art button
    • the Insert Clip Art button is in the Standard Toolbar in PowerPoint 97/98/2001
    • the Insert Clip Art button is in the Drawing Toolbar in PowerPoint 2000
  • or double-click on the clipart placeholder in the slide layout

• the Clip Art Gallery dialog box will appear

	The Microsoft Clip Gallery in PowerPoint 2000
	The Microsoft Clip Gallery in PowerPoint 97/98
	The Microsoft Clip Gallery in PowerPoint 97/98

• PowerPoint 97/98: click the [Clip Art] tab
• PowerPoint 2000: click the [Pictures] tab
• PowerPoint 2001: select [All Pictures] in the “Show” drop-down list
• in all cases, now choose the clip art picture you want
  • first “Choose a Category” from the scrolling list
     
    PowerPoint 97/98/2001:

    • the categories are listed by name along the left
    • the clip art for that category appears to the right of the list once you click on the name
    • click on another name to view another category

    PowerPoint 2000:

    • the categories are listed by named buttons in the dialog box
    • click on the button to make the clip art for that category appear
    • use the back and forward arrows in the upper left of the dialog box to move from one category of clip art back to the buttons
    • click on another category
    • etc.

     

  • then select the picture you want (click on it) from the scrolling list of pictures
  • click the <Insert> button

Inserting Clip Art without the Clip Art Gallery

To insert a clip art picture that is not in the Gallery but is saved somewhere on your hard drive or on a floppy:

• move to the slide on which you want to add a picture
• if you have not done so already, switch to
  • Slide Viewif you are using PowerPoint 97/98
  • either Slide Viewor the Tri-Pane View if you are using PowerPoint 2000/2001
  • (and don't forget the recommendation about changing the slide layout as discussed above!)
• choose InsertPictureFrom File
• use the Insert Picture Dialog box to navigate to the location of your picture
• click <OK>

Adding Embellishments to Any Picture

• click once on the picture to select it (note the eight handles on the picture)
• choose Format Colors and Lines or choose FormatPicture or choose FormatObject and then you will be able to
  • draw a box around a picture and/or
  • shade its background
  • and more, be sure to explore the different “tabs” in these dialog boxes

Animating Graphic Elements on Slides

Clip art and other graphic elements added to slides as described above can be animated. Since PowerPoint treats clip art and other graphic elements as simply objects on a slide, just follow the steps for builds (aka animations) described in the Transitions and Builds section to animate these elements.

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Copyright © 2003
last updated August 12, 2003