Puzzles are underused as a message-delivery framework. They’re incredibly versatile: they can illustrate a missing piece, fragments of a whole, deconstruction, swap outs, reassembly, filling gaps, completion, interdependence, and countless others. The example below is only one such use. There are techniques for cutting photographs into puzzle pieces for both PowerPoint 2007 and pre-PowerPoint 2007 versions. The techniques are not widely known or used, but they are relatively easy and produce the “ah-ha” slide you need.

How do I cut a photograph into a puzzle piece?

There are two processes: one for PowerPoint 2003 and one for PowerPoint 2007.

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If you are using PowerPoint 2007, follow these steps:

1. Select a photograph
2. Size it and/or crop it to be the exact size of the whole puzzle with all of the pieces (use the “snap to other objects” tool in the Grid and Guides menu for perfect sizing)
3. Duplicate the photograph until you have the same number of photographs as you have puzzle pieces (if you have six puzzle pieces, you’ll need six photographs)
4. Align all of the photographs vertically and horizontally so they are stacked beneath the whole puzzle with all of the pieces
5. One by one, crop a photograph so that it is the same horizontal width and vertical height as one of the puzzle pieces. Be sure to include the tabs that extend from the puzzle piece (use the “snap to object” tool again). Repeat until all of the photographs have been cropped to an associated puzzle piece.
6. Select one cropped photograph and “cut” it (it will be put into your clipboard)
7. Right-click on the associated puzzle piece and select “Format shape…”
8. Select “Picture or texture fill” and click on “Clipboard”
9. Repeat steps 6 through 8 as many times as you have photographs/puzzle pieces.

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If you are using PowerPoint 2003, follow these steps:

1. Select a photograph
2. Size it and/or crop it to be the exact size of the whole puzzle with all of the pieces (use the “snap to other objects” tool in the Grid and Guides menu for perfect sizing)
3. Duplicate the photograph until you have the same number of photographs as you have puzzle pieces (if you have six puzzle pieces, you’ll need six photographs)
4. Align all of the photographs vertically and horizontally so they are stacked beneath the whole puzzle with all of the pieces
5. One by one, crop a photograph so that it is the same horizontal width and vertical height as one of the puzzle pieces. Be sure to include the tabs that extend from the puzzle piece (use the “snap to object” tool again). Repeat until all of the photographs have been cropped to an associated puzzle piece.
6. Right click on one of the cropped photographs and choose “Save as image.” Save the image to your hard drive using either a PNG or JPG format and give it a name that you’ll easily recognize (Puzzle 1, for example).
7. Right-click on the associated puzzle piece and select “Format Autoshape”
8. Select the “Colors and Lines” tab, click on the downward-pointing arrow next to the color bar, and select “Fill Effects …”
   
9. From the fill effects menu, select the “Picture” tab and then click on “Select Picture”
   
   
10. Navigate to the cropped photograph you just saved as an image (Puzzle 1) and double click. Click OK and click OK again. The cropped photograph that you saved as an image (Puzzle 1) is now imported into your puzzle piece
11. Repeat steps 6 through 10 as many times as you have photographs/puzzle pieces.

Thanks goes to Ute Simon for the PowerPoint 2003 photograph-cutting technique.

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If you are using PowerPoint 2007, you can apply bevels to the puzzle pieces to make them look more realistic. Here’s an easy bevel format for you to use:

1. Click on the puzzle pieces and make them all active
2. From the “Format” menu, select “Shape Effects,” presets” and the second-from-the-left preset on the top row.
   Notice how the bevel above is too sloped to be a convincing puzzle piece? Add the following formatting and that problem will be solved.
3. With all of the puzzle pieces still active, right click and select “Format Object…” and then from the “Format Shape” menu, select “3-D Format.”
   
4. From the “3-D Format” menu, change the top number (Width: ) to 4.5.
   

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That’s all you have to do to make a realistic-looking puzzle.