A very small hack. In Office 2003, once you have inserted a picture you can make it transparent. If you love transparency, you’ll have been disappointed to discover that this function has been removed in Office 2007.

However, there is a way around. It’s a little bit ugly.

• Insert a regular vector object like a rectangle.
• Right click -> Format Picture -> Fill
• Select “Picture or texture fill”
• Insert your picture
• Now play with the transparency
• You may have to remove the “line” outlining the shape