When you add images in your PowerPoint presentations you increase the file size, which can make it difficult to email or, in some cases, play it.  Microsoft PowerPoint has two compression settings in the Picture Tools area that will help decrease the file size.

1.  Open the PowerPoint presentation you would like to compress the images in.

2.  Click on one of the images in the presentation, the Format tab should now appear on the ribbon toolbar.

3.  In the Adjust section on the left side of the ribbon toolbar, click on the Compress Pictures icon (photo with arrows at the four corners). 

4.  When the Compress Pictures window opens, click on the Options… button.  A Compression Settings window will open with two sections - Compression Options and Target Output. 

5.  In the Compression Options, make sure that the checkboxes for "Automatically perform basic compression on save" and "Delete cropped areas of a picture" have been checked.  These settings will compress the image(s) and remove any remaining picture information that you cropped from your image(s).

6.  In the Target Output section, there are three options - Print (220 ppi), Screen (150 ppi), and E-mail (96 ppi).  Select Print if you need a higher quality for printing or displaying directly on a computer monitor.  Select Screen if you plan to give the presentation using a projector or place on a website.  Select E-mail if you plan to send it to others to view.

7.  After making your selection, click on the OK button to close the Compression Settings Window.

8.  Back in the Compress Pictures window, if you check the "Apply to selected pictures only" it will only compress the selected image.  If you leave this box unchecked, it will compress all the images in your presentation.  Click on the OK button to close the Compress Pictures window.

9.  Save your presentation to activate your changes.