Linked pictures in a PowerPoint presentation are missing

When you open a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint, some of the pictures may be missing. A frame appears that shows where the picture is supposed to be located in the slide, along with a small red X in the upper left corner. There is no indication of the location or name of the picture.

This behavior can occur when the location of a linked picture has been changed. Even when the relative path to the picture remains the same, PowerPoint may not be able to find the picture because PowerPoint always uses the absolute path to link to pictures.

For PowerPoint 2002 and for PowerPoint 2003

To prevent this issue from occurring, do not change the path to a picture that is linked to a PowerPoint presentation.

To work around this issue, insert the picture into the presentation instead of linking the picture file to the presentation.

To insert a picture file, follow these steps:

1. In PowerPoint, on the Insert menu, point to Picture, and then select the picture source; for example, click From File.
2. Browse to find the picture that you want, and then click Insert.
   
   Note Do not click Link to File.

This workaround increases the size of the presentation file, but all pictures remain with the presentation.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.