PowerPoint 2007 Topics

  1. Design tab - Cursor over designs at top (example of Live Preview feature new in Office 2007), cursor over more button (bottom button, immediately to the right of the designs) - you will see tooltip more, click to see more designs.
  2. Click in placeholders and type on title slide
  3. To get a new slide, Home tab, New Slide - by default you will get a Title and Content slide with bullet points. Hit enter to get to the next bullet point. Tab demotes insertion point to the next level, whereas Shift-Tab promotes the insertion point. You can also change the list level by clicking on the icons above.
  4. Outline tab at left-- you can make changes here -- the outline tab won't show images that are in your slides
  5. Click in the notes area to add notes -- so-called speaker notes - won't show up in Slide Show view
  6. Font size -- click in the middle of text and then look up at the top -- each level of indentation will generally reduce size by about 4 points (72 points to a vertical inch) -- The font sizes you want to use in PowerPoint will generally be much larger than you will use in Word, Excel, Access, or other Office applications because PowerPoint is generally used for presentations -- the appropriate font size will depend on size of the room, size of the screen, etc.
  7. For a new slide, to get a different type of slide than Title and Content, click the arrow to the right of New Slide and select the appropriate choice. To change the type of an existing slide, choose Home>Layout.
  8. Review> Spelling - explain how this works.
  9. Review> Thesaurus - explain how this works

Running a Presentation

  1. Slide Show tab> From Beginning or From Current Slide.
  2. To go to the next slide - spacebar, PageDown key, down arrow key, or right-click>Next.
  3. b - gives you black slide, hit any key to resume where your were
  4. Escape key - takes you out of Slide show view and back to Design view
  5. Right-click> Pointer Options>
    1. Ballpoint Pen
    2. Felt Tip Pen
    3. HIghlighter
    4. Ink Color
    5. Erase
    6. Erase All Ink on Slide
    7. Arrow Options - Automatic, Visible, Hidden

Design View

  1. Click on slide at left to make it the active slide.
  2. Use scrollbars (tooltip will tell you which slide you are on) and arrows on scrollbars

Rearranging Slides

  1. Slide View at left - click and drag to reorganize slides, line between slides will indicate where it will be placed
  2. Home>View>Slide Sorter -- allows more slides to be seen on screen that in Design View

Printing

  1. Office Button (replacement for File in earlier versions of Office)>Print.
  2. Print range choices - all, current, and slides (specify).
  3. Number of copies
  4. Print what - Slides, Handouts - specify layout (slides per page - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 6, and 9), order, Notes pages and Outine view -- Preview good to save paper.

Title and Content Slides

  1. Insert Chart (1st row, in middle) - Choose type and then enter data into datasheet, rename categories and series, add or delete rows or columns by dragging range; Swith Row/Column
  2. Insert SmartArt Graphic - click on Hierarchy on the left, and then a choice among the possibilities. The boxes will have placeholders whwe one can add text. If you select a shape, and then click Add Shape, it adds it at this level in the hierarchy. To move the chart, put your cursor on the chart border where the cursor will be 4-sides and then drag it.
  3. Insert Picture from File (2nd row, first on left) - once inserted, you will have resize handles and rotation thing at top
  4. Clip Art (2nd row, in middle) - enter a search term, specify where you want to look, and what file types you want, and then click Go -- double click on picture to insert or click on down arrow and select insert

Font Formatting

  1. In PowerPoint several versions ago, if you added too much material to a slide, it just ran off the bottom of the slide. Sometimes this still happens in PowerPoint, but most of the time the font size automatically gets smaller so that everything will fit on the slide. If text is then removed, the font size increases back toward the starting size. Although this automatic adjustment is convenient, one must watch the font size to make sure the slide is still readable in the context in which it will be shown.
  2. Applying font effects - select text, various icons at top - B, I, U, Font, Font size, A+, A= -- the increase/decrease in the size for a middle size font is generally 4 points, but it is smaller when the font size is small and larger when the font size is large
  3. Font group dialog box launcher - lower right hand corner of font group
  4. Replace fonts - At the far right on the Home tab, click the drop down arrow next to replace and select "replace fonts"
  5. Format Painter - apply formatting to text, click in the text and then double click the Format Painter (paint brush at top left), and then drag through text to apply the formatting -- double clicking the Format Painter allows one to reapply the format whereas a single click of the Format Painter will only allow one application of the formatting.
  6. Font color - click on the down arrow next to the A with a colored line underneath it - can choose a standard color or choose More Colors and then choose color by clicking in two areas - color and luminosity - or by specifying the RGM values (0-255 for red, green, and blue, thus allowing for 256x256x256 or over 17 million colors

Paragraph Formatting

  1. Alignment buttons - left, center, right, justify
  2. Line spacing icon - typically you won't change line spacing in PowerPoint whereas you will in Word
  3. Shift-Enter - to go to the next line without inserting a bullet

Presentations

  1. Hiding Slides - Select the slide in the Slide/Outline Pane and then click Slide Show tab and then click the Hide Slide in the SetUp group -- to make it visible again, just click the Hide Slide button again. If you right click, select Go to Slide, hidden slides will have their slide number showing in parentheses in the list of slides
  2. Another approach is to move these slides to the end of the presentation as backup slides

Overall Appearance

  1. Header and Footer and Page numbers
    1. Insert>Header and Footer>Slide
    2. Date and Time - can choose between fixed time and one that updates automatically
    3. Slide Number
    4. Footer - could put additional information
    5. Option as to whether any of these will appear on the title slide.
  2. Changing the Design Theme, Theme Colors (4 text colors, 6 accent colors, and 2 hyperlink colors) and Theme Fonts - Design tab>More button>seelct a Design. Can change colors, fonts, and background styles but design probably chooses things that work well together. If you choose Create New Theme Colors, you can them save the set of colors as a named color theme

Advice about PowerPoint Content/Appearance

  1. Aim for only one main idea per slide
  2. Keep slides uncluttered, keep words to a minimum -- however, sometimes a slide presentation will be viewed by people who weren't at the presentation so one wants it to be comprehensible by itself
  3. Aim for consistency in appearance and grammatical structure
  4. Don't use more than 2-3 typefaces and use a font color with a high degree of constrast against background

Images

When an image is selected, the Format tab will appear at the top. If you click on the format tab, various groups will appear

  1. Size Group at far right - The size of the image will be displayed. If you enter a number for height or width, the other dimension adjusts so that the aspect ratio, the ratio of width to height, remains constant. If you want to change the dimensions independently of each other, then click the launcher at the bottom right of the Size group and then select the Size tab if it isn't selected, and then uncheck the "Lock aspect ratio" box.
  2. To move the image, click in the picture and drag.
  3. Adjustment Group at far left - Brightness, Contrast, Recolor
  4. Picture Styles group - Live Preview feature, and More button at bottom right

Transition and Animation

  1. Transition - how one slide is removed from the screen in a slide show presentation and how the next slide is displayed
  2. Animations - More button at right of group, Live Preview of Animations. Can set Transition Speed and whether it will apply to all. Can set whether advance slide occurs in a presentation on a mouse click or automatically after a specified amount of time.
  3. Having bullet points on a slide come in one at a time on mouse clicks is sometimes useful

Revised: November 17, 2009. Comments to William Pegram, bill@billpegram.com