Display a favorite picture as your computer's desktop background

We all have a favorite picture that moves us in some way. Which one is yours? Maybe it is a picture of your baby daughter and her toothy grin, a picture of a sailboat floating lazily in that tropical lagoon where you vacationed last summer, or a picture of your canine best friend asleep with all fours in the air. You can relive a special memory by displaying the picture on your computer's desktop background — right where your attention is focused all day. With Microsoft Office Picture Manager, it is as easy as right-click.

Having the picture on your computer offers many advantages over film — you don't have to worry about the picture fading or getting damaged over time, and you can save backup copies (this means no more pictures lost in long-forgotten drawers or buried in boxes somewhere in the attic). If the picture needs a little touch-up — for example, if your subject has red eyes from the camera flash — you can quickly edit the picture in Picture Manager. When you decide you want to display a different picture, just send that new picture to your desktop to replace the existing one.

1. On the Start menu, point to All Programs, and then point to Microsoft Office.

2. Point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

3. In the Picture Shortcuts pane, click the shortcut to the folder where the picture is located.

   If the Picture Shortcuts pane doesn't already have a shortcut to that picture, add the shortcut.

   Add a picture shortcut

   1. In the Picture Shortcuts pane, click Add Picture Shortcut.

   2. Browse to the folder that contains the pictures you want to work with. (The pictures will appear in the preview pane after you close the dialog box.)

   3. Click Add.

4. In the preview pane, right-click the picture you want to work with, and then click Set as Desktop Background.

5. Switch to your desktop to see the picture.