Can't crop pictures (or make them transparent)
Problem
You click on a graphic and the Picture toolbar appears, but the crop and transparency buttons remain grayed out and inaccessible.
This might be due to any of the following:
It's a vector graphic
Your graphic isn't an image but a vector graphic (ie, a drawing composed of lines and shapes). Try copying the graphic then ungrouping the copy. If it ungroups into many shapes, it's a vector graphic. You can't crop vector graphics, but you can edit or delete the shapes that make up the image. If that's too troublesome, try this:
- Select the graphic and choose Edit, Copy
- Choose Edit, Paste Special and pick PNG as the paste format
- Click OK
That gives you a copy of the graphic as an image that you can crop. If you want a higher resolution image, enlarge the graphic before copying it.
It's grouped with other shapes
Cropping and transparency are disabled if you've selected a group. Ungroup the shape and choose the image from among the resulting individual shapes. You should then be able to crop it.
It's an AutoShape fill
You can apply images as the fill of AutoShapes. AutoShapes filled with images can't be cropped. Note that the Photo Album feature in PowerPoint 2002/2003 (and the Photo Album add-in in PowerPoint 2000) creates image-filled AutoShapes, so you can't crop images that have been added using it.
As with vector graphids, you can copy the shape then use Paste Special, as PNG to convert it to an image that can be cropped or made transparent.
Search terms:crop,transparent,transparency