It can still be done

In Access/Office 2003/2007 MS Photo Editor was replaced, and Office no longer includes an OLE server for images.

To work around this issue, reinstall Photo Editor.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Insert the Microsoft Office XP CD-ROM into your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
   
2. If the Office XP Setup program does not start automatically, follow these steps:
   
   
   1. Click Start, and then click Run.
      
   2. In the Open box, type drive:\Setup.exe, where drive is the letter of your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
   
   
3. Start to step through the Setup process, and then select Customize for the type of Setup to perform.
   
4. When you reach the Selecting Features step, set each node of the Setup tree to Not Available.
   
5. Under Features to install, expand Office Tools.
   
6. Click Microsoft Photo Editor, and then click Run from My Computer.
   
7. Click Install Now.
   
8. Click OK when Office XP Setup has completed successfully.

Microsoft Support Article: 817095

Also: Ammara.com: Pictures in Access Forms & Reports OLE Object Photo & Image Problems & Solutions

Access MVPS.org: Handle/Display images in forms/database

"While it's possible to actually store the images within the database itself as OLE objects, normally it's not the preferred way. When you embed an OLE object in a table, you're storing a lot of overhead as well. This overhead is the information about the object (such as its parent application) that Access needs to store in order to render the object properly."

Labels: Forms, Tips