Graphics are displayed as a red X in a PowerPoint 2002 or PowerPoint 2003 presentation (291874)

WORKAROUND

NOTE: It may not be possible to recover a picture after it becomes a red X. If the techniques in this article do not recover the picture, you may have to reimport the picture from its original source.

If you open a presentation that contains a red X instead of the original graphic, follow these steps:

1. Close the file without saving it.
   
   If you save the file, the red X will be permanently stored in the file.
2. Restart your computer.
3. Close all other programs to free up as much memory as possible.
4. Open the file again.

If this does not correct the problem, or if you encounter this problem frequently, you may have a problem with your video driver or your Windows display settings. You might want to try the following techniques to reduce the frequency of this problem:

1. Use your current display driver, but lower the resolution and/or color depth. If your driver is set for High Color or True Color, try changing it to 256-color. Additionally, you may want to modify the hardware acceleration setting:
   1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
   2. Double-click the Display icon.
   3. Click the Settings tab, and then click Advanced.
   4. Click the Troubleshoot tab.
   5. Move the slider to the left to reduce the hardware acceleration, and then click OK.
   6. When you are asked if you want to restart your computer, click Yes.
      
      The hardware acceleration changes take effect when you restart your computer.
2. If your video driver was not included with Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, or Microsoft Windows 2000, you might want to check to see if your video adapter emulates one of the drivers that is included with Windows 98/Me, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 2000. Try to run your computer with the emulated video driver. If nothing else, most video drivers can use the Windows 98/Me or Windows NT/2000 VGA display driver.
3. If you cannot use one of the video drivers that is included with Windows 98/Me or Windows NT/2000, contact the manufacturer of your computer or video adapter to see if there is an updated video driver available.

If you try to paste a picture into PowerPoint, and it appears as a red X, follow these steps:

1. Delete the red X.
2. On the Edit menu, click Paste Special.
3. Click the second choice in the As list. Click OK.
   
   If a red X appears, repeat steps 1 through 3, but instead of selecting the second choice in the As list, select the third choice, and then click OK.

If neither of the previous options resolves the problem, follow these steps:

1. Double-click the X. The toolbars and menus may change to those of another program, and the X may be replaced with the actual picture. Click outside the picture to restore the PowerPoint toolbars and menus.
2. If step 1 fails, select the X and then click Ungroup on the Draw menu. Click Yes when you receive the following message:
   This is an imported object, not a group. If you convert it to a Microsoft Office drawing, embedded data or linking information will be lost. Do you want to convert the object?