In Word and PowerPoint for Mac 2011, you can change the compression behaviour for a placed bitmap image via the Format Picture
ribbon. Double-click the image to bring that ribbon to the front, then click the Compress
button and choose the option Keep Current Resolution
. Or, choose 'File'File
> 'Reduce Size' …Reduce Size
to bring up the dialog box. This needs to be done beforebefore the presentation is saved with the newly placed image.
This isIt's different for vector graphics placed asfrom PDF files, which PowerPoint will nonethelesssimply convert into bitmap graphics and compress as soon as the presentation is saved with the newly placed PDF file. This can only be avoided in MS Office by using vector graphics in the .WMF.EPS file format or in Microsoft's own .EMF format, which can be exported from most of the common vector graphics editors in use, e.g., Inkscape, OpenOffice Draw, Adobe Illustrator, etc. (Not so forBeware: PDFs or WMFs exported byfrom bitmap editors like GIMP, Photoshop, or Pixelmator – these are bitmapnot vector graphics images only.)