PowerPoint unexpectedly puts content into placeholders

Problem

By default, PowerPoint 2002 and 2003 automatically put some kinds of content into placeholders. They'll even create a placeholder on a slide to hold the content, without your asking. It may not be obvious that this is happening, but it can cause problems later, including:

PowerPoint resizes or repositions content unexpectedly and undesirably
Rotated images in placeholders turn jaggy when printed
Macros and add-ins that work with images may skip images that have been "sucked" into placeholders

Solution

To prevent this from happening in the future:

• Choose Tools, AutoCorrect Options ... from the main menu bar
• Click the "AutoFormat As You Type" tag in the AutoCorrect dialog box that appears
• Remove the checkmark next to "Automatic layout for inserted objects" (it's at the bottom of the list)
• Note that you can also disable several of PowerPoint's other automatic formatting and text sizing features here; some people like these features, some don't, but they're yours to control.
• Click OK

To repair images that have been converted to placeholders already:

• Click to select the placeholder; the Picture toolbar should appear; if not, choose View, Toolbars and click Picture
• Click the Reset Picture button on the Picture toolbar (it's the one at the far right end of the toolbar)
• Choose Edit, Copy from the main menu bar
• Choose Edit, Paste from the main menu bar; this creates a copy of the original image but it will be an image shape type, not a placeholder.
• Delete the original image (as placeholder) and re-size/position the new image as needed.

Search terms:placeholder,jump,jaggy,resize,reposition,move,image

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