Remember Microsoft’s clip art? Neither did I until this week, when Redmond announced that clip art gallery is going the way of Clippy.

Or, to put it another way: once upon a time, we were all…

…but now, anyone looking for classic clip art feels mostly…

To be fair, the clip art gallery you remember from days of yore is already long gone – in Office 2013, clip art was an online-only feature. If you’re like most people you didn’t notice, because you haven’t used clip art since Google Image Search launched in 2001, but for quite a while Office’s clip art feature was an embed of an online service.

It’s that online service that is, as of this week, gone. In it’s place: a Bing Image Search, filtered to only show you Creative Commons images.

Why Clip Art Was Somewhat Good

It’s easy to make fun of Microsoft’s old image gallery. There’s a Tumblr page full of famous album and movie covers, re-created with clip art and it’s freaking hilarious.

Microsoft’s gallery had an aesthetic, to be sure, and it wasn’t high art. But these images, cheesy as they are, were also incredibly useful in their time. It wasn’t easy to quickly find images in the dial-up age, and an entire industry of CD-ROMs you could buy for $50+ tried to fill that niche. You could buy those, or you could stick with what you already had: Microsoft’s clip art.

There it was, inside the program you were already using. Sure, it wasn’t pretty, but you could quickly add a visual highlight to your document or presentation. Even better: everything was rights-cleared, meaning you could use it in your document or PowerPoint presentation without the fear of legal repercussionsConfused About Copyright Law? These Online Resources Can HelpConfused About Copyright Law? These Online Resources Can HelpIt's a confusing subject, yes, but it's important that you wrap your head around it. If you're involved in any sort of creative work, these resources will help you do just that.Read More.

In 2014 there’s a lot more choice out there – images you can use, free of charge5 Easy Ways To Grab Free High Resolution Stock Images With Your Email5 Easy Ways To Grab Free High Resolution Stock Images With Your EmailFinding a great photo isn't that hard. Using that perfect photo can also come without sweat and cost. The five sources here ease your hunt because you simply subscribe to them with an email.Read More, without much legal worry. Even better: a lot of them look great. You just need to know where to look.

Microsoft’s new embedded search will help with this.

What Is Creative Commons?

It’s not hard to find images to use online – just use an image search. This works well, but it’s worth noting that doing so isn’t necessarily legal. Most of the images you can find this way are owned by their original creators. This likely doesn’t matter if you’re only using something for private use, or even a school assignment, but if you intend to publish a work you need to make sure all rights are cleared.

Which brings us to Creative Commons, the license Office’s new Bing-powered search filters for. My colleague Danny explained what Creative Commons is, and why you should use itWhat Is Creative Commons, And Should You Use It?What Is Creative Commons, And Should You Use It?Creative Commons is a set of licenses which automatically give you permission to do various things, such as reuse and distribute the content. Let's find out more about it and how to use it.Read More, but the quick version is that it’s a way for artists to tell the web their images are free to use.

So Microsoft took down the clip art gallery, but is arguably offering something even better: a constantly updated stream of rights-cleared images. You’ll find photos, which look a lot better than clip art ever did. It’s hard to see this as anything but an improvement, really.

Is there a potential downside? Yes. Just because a search engine sees something as Creative Commons doesn’t necessarily mean that it is. Here at MakeUseOf, for example, we’ve had at least one photographer threaten to sue us over an image he didn’t realize he himself licensed as Creative Content. He backed down when we pointed this out, and it’s one example resulting from thousands of blog posts spread over a decade, but know that this isn’t without risk.

I Don’t Like Bing, What Should I Use Instead?

Just because Bing is built into Office doesn’t mean it’s your only option.

My colleague Chris compared Google Image search to BingBing Images vs. Google Images - Which Has Better Results?Bing Images vs. Google Images - Which Has Better Results?Bing’s image search once challenged Google, offering more features and a better design. With infinite scrolling and the ability to search for similar images, Bing was legitimately better than Google at image search just a..Read More, and found Google’s results to be better. If you feel the same way, don’t worry: you can use it to find rights-cleared images. While searching for an image, click Search Tools then Usage Rights.

With this your results will be filtered, showing you images you can reuse.

Be careful: most Creative Commons images require attribution, meaning you need to give credit to the artist in order to use the image. Make sure you understand Creative Commons and other licenses3 Popular Image Licenses You Need To Be Familiar With Before Using Someone's Photos3 Popular Image Licenses You Need To Be Familiar With Before Using Someone's PhotosRead More before using such images.

If you’d rather not make room for an attribution, there are other sites made up entirely of images you can use free of charge. My preferred choice is MorgueFile, a collection of high-quality photos you can use free of charge with no strings attached whatsoever.

Or, if you really prefer that “clip-art look”, you should check out OpenClipArt.org. It has the cheesy aesthetic you crave.

It’s a Christmas miracle!

RIP Clip Art

A lot of jokes have been cracked at clip art’s expense this week, but for many this was a useful feature of Office that will be missed. Red dead redemption pc free download.

RIP, #ClipArt. You provided the artistic flare for the majority of my school papers, K-8 (and a little in high-school). I will miss you.

— Taylor Laabs ? (@TaylorLaabs) December 2, 2014

Oh, and Mac users: Clip Art is still an offline feature in Office for Mac 2011, so you can still use it. You won’t. But you can.

If clip art appeals to you for its retro feel, you might also like pixel art. You can create some yourself with pixel art toolsThe 11 Best Pixel Art Tools to Create Pixel Perfect ArtworkThe 11 Best Pixel Art Tools to Create Pixel Perfect ArtworkDo you want to try your hand at creating pixel perfect artwork? These pixel art tools will help you get started.Read More.

Explore more about: Creative Commons, Image Search, .

1. I just got a new computer with Windows 10. Naturally, I had to download several 'new' programs, Word, Excel, Power Point. I am so upset that they have removed the Clip Art feature from Word. I used this all the time when publishing our community news letter and calendar. I am looking for an easy to use replacement, but so far, no luck. Any suggestions? Thanks.

2. I am going to miss clip-art so much. It was so easy to find images and now it is combersome and time consuming. Please bring this feature back!

3. I liked it for the simple inserting of visual effects for creating newsletters. Pictures do enhance communication and the ease of using a word document and gathering an image made this task easy. Now having to go outside of my document to find the extra spice my documents need makes this less fun. I have always used animated images that were less than artistic but were entertaining. Like others I will miss this service, but I understand progress is not always comfortable.

4. Please bring Clip Art back for Microsoft Word and Publisher.
   I use it quite a lot. It is so easy.
   When you use Bing it mucks your toolbar up.
   Thank you.

5. This applies more to teachers than to anyone else, but clip art (especially black line clip art) can´t be beat when it comes to using images that are going to be photocopied. It creates a much cleaner look than a photo. While there is much talk of going digital, the reality is that most of the world still is using paper for teaching . . . and a lot of it, not because we aren´t open to the digital world, but many times not all students have access.

6. oh ya I used to use clip art all the time and I just loved clip art even though a lot of the art was cheesy, but you could definitely find what you needed or close to it. I just tried using the clip art on the new system and because I have a mac its harder to use. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to resize it put it behind text all that. I wish they would bring it back

7. I MISS MISS MISS clipart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8. I loved Clip art - so simple and effective, ok not for professional use but for fun stuff, community groups, local ads it was great.. shame on whoever's responsible for getting rid of it!

9. I loved the free clip art what's going on bring it back. At my age there should not be any changes like thi it was hard for me to figure it out now here's this new stuff. My my

10. I used clipart a LOT for newsetters and other documents. I don't always want a photo - clipart is often better at getting an idea across quickly, and I didn't need to worry about copyright because I assumed it was OK to use without permission as it was a part of the MS package. The BING option is terrible - very juvenile and hardly extensive with fewer than 50 options. And by-the-way, most of the online sites for 'accessing clipart in MS Word 2010' still say to go to insert then click on clipart. Really - we hardly need such basic instructions when they aren't even correct anymore!

11. Why is it that every time Microsoft make another edition of their software it makes it harder and harder to use. Seriously frustrated. Clipart was so darn useful. I was always ungrouping it to pull apart and use just some little images or to recolour to match my document / presentation. now I have to go and try and completely redraw things. This is a complete waste of time. Microsoft, you continue to be morons. Just once, I'd like to see an upgrade that actually added value and didn't make it harder for people to use. User UNfriendly. Seriously considering heading back to an earlier version of PowerPoint just so I can get that feature back.
    i wonder who Microsoft actually *does* consult when it decides to make these changes?

12. I use clipart often and transport it into other programs such as Print Master to make cards. It was easy to make a few small changes in it and use what you redesigned. I hope you'll reconsider it's removal and put it back. Personally, I don't care for Bing's images. And I don't want to go out on the net to find other clipart when I'm in the process of getting a manuscript together. It's a waste of time.

13. FOR PITY'S SAKE
    Keep It Simple S....
    not everyone has the inclinatiion or the time or the patience to be messed around all the time...

14. This pretty seriously ticks me off. Why in the world would a company delete something that far ranging without at least sending an email to the customer or broadcasting it on every platform possible? I used clip art on a regular basis..making cards, mailing labels, chore charts, papers for my homeschool, etc. It would have been nice to be able to save off all those clip art graphics to my own drive before MS Office did one of their lovely updates and removed everything. Personally, I detest Bing and I'm not even remotely interested in getting involved with anything involving copyright law. Maybe it's time to make the journey to Open Office at last. Buh bye Microsoft!

15. search.creativecommons.org is a much better way to find free images because you can search by the 'flavor' of creative commons you want to use. Not all CC licensing is just a matter of attribution. The owner has the right to allow only specific people under specific circumsntances and conditions to use their art. That's as it should be.

    As an artist I resent some people's assumption that original art from my abilities and imagination, which I have sacrificed a lot to develop, should somehow default to public property. If we require artists to participate in a money economy their art belongs to them. Copying images and not following the copyright owners permissions to the letter is stealing, outright. And deep pockets like Disney has taught individuals that the hard way.

    Teachers: if you copy it, you are PERSONALLY liable infringement. Know the Fair Use laws and understand the TEAACH act. Until we fund all artists as a social service, artists have to make a living in the same marketplace as everyone else. Don't exploit talent. Reward it.

16. Thank you for the tip about OpenClipArt and MorgueFile. We're a small library, with about ten minutes a week allocated to creation of publicity, and the attribution required with Bing images was wasting time and space. Plus, we kinda adore the clip art.

17. This is TERRIBLE! Besides being able to edit vector images like Will mentioned (which is important for those of us who don't have graphic artists available to create custom images or the budget or time to buy that service ad hoc), you could also search for style 'families' (different graphics that were all in the same style). There was a huge range of files and styles in the collection and it was much faster to find what you need than to do a Bing search. Plus, you knew that everything there was free and free to use, without having to worry about CC license issues.

    This is seriously the worst work-related news I've heard in a long while..it will be a huge blow to my ability to find/make effective images for my future e-courses (or the existing ones that I have to maintain -- god forbid I need to find another image to match the style I've already used in one of them!).

18. I'm seriously angry that Clipart is gone. Why? Because many of those cheesy images were available as Vector Graphics. So, I could quickly insert a crappy clipart into my powerpoints, ungroup the elements of it and delete all but what I wanted. I used it and it worked awesome for me multiple times. I wrote clipart off for years and only started doing this in the past 2 years..I wish I had known earlier.

19. It was easy and quick in powerpoint, and as an elementary online teacher, I was using it constantly. Especially helpful because many times I need a cartoon-type image as an historical representation--I teach eras of history before photography existed. I guess my wee little finger has to make a few more clicks now..

20. Elementary technology teachers all over America are crying. My lessons will all have to be revamped..can't you think of the little people for once?

    MB

21. There are circumstances where clip art serves a purpose.
    I had a customer who explicitly requested crappy clip art images on his web site. His reasoning was that he wanted to project an image of 'cheap and cheerful' like a market trader. A glossy high production values website would make visitors expect correspondingly high prices.
    And maybe there's some scope for home or small scale events: invitations, flyers, decorations.

    Actually I guess the title of the article is a bit misleading: clip art isn't 'gone', it will appear in Google/Bing image search, what's (largely) gone is its inclusion in products like MS Office.

22. Like most things, clip art is very useful in its own way. It's not clip art that's cheesy. It's your ignorant comments - with just that certain whiff of elitism - that are cheesy.

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