Using Stock Images in Microsoft 365
If you have ever been tasked with creating a PowerPoint Presentation or Word document to present you already know the different degrees of frustration of trying to pick the right background, bullet points, and graphics necessary to prevent your audience from falling asleep midway through your presentation.
After staring at the dummy text used to fill templates for hours now it is time to start laying out your lesson plan or sales pitch to mesmerize your audience.
True, you still must do all the hard work of writing the meaningful text that will get your point across but without a doubt, graphics capture everyone’s attention.
Graphics help in two ways; they help make your presentation or document non-boring. They can express what you are trying to convey faster and easier than a paragraph or two of text.
However, borrowing a graphic from the internet while easy is not always prudent. Most images have copyrights associated with them that can get you and your company in hot water without the owner’s permission. Those permissions can come with restrictions on how many people are allowed to see it, whether it can be printed or used in a display, etc. Also, those that are free from copyrights usually come in low-grade images.
That is one reason why individuals use websites like Shutterstock, Magisto, and Adobe which offer the ability to purchase the exact photo to get your point across for a fee.
Now, thanks to Microsoft 365, all subscribers have access to the full library of its creative content. you have an extensive library right at your fingertips. Completely royalty-free stock images that add that punch to your written words.
How To Use Stock Images
Using Stock Images in PowerPoint, or any Office Document has never been easier. From the top Ribbon, select Insert then Pictures. In the Pictures dropdown, select Stock Images.
Once they are inserted with the document or presentation, you may resize them to your needs. Because they are high-resolution images they will display and print well.
Once the Stock images are opened you have the choice of thousands of stock images in several categories and image types. Using the search function, you can look up an image by a phrase instead of just a word. For example, boys playing vs girls playing. Because the word playing is included there will be some overlap, but it does help you get the right graphic quicker.
More than Stock Images
In addition to stock images, they categories for “Cutout People”, Icons, and Stickers. In particular, the Cutout People help an audience see your intent by having models doing the function you are talking about.
So start getting your point across with Stock art and take boring out of the equation.