Topic 12: Tips

Design Tips

1. Use contrasting colors for the text and the background so the text will be easy to read.
   
   
2. Use font size large enough to be seen from the back of the room where the presentation will be held. A font size of 24-point or larger is recommended.
   
   
3. Use short phrases and sentences to convey your message.
   
   
4. Use simple slide transitions. Too many different transitions will distract your audience from the subject of the presentation.
   
   
5. Avoid cluttering the slides with too much text or graphics. Your audience should hear what you have to say and not be distracted by a busy screen.
   
   
6. Keep text simple and easy to read by not using many different text effects such as bold, italics, underlining, larger font size for emphasis within a sentence, or a different font all on the same slide.

Presentation Basics

1. Begin the slide show by clicking the Slide Show button on the bottom of the screen.
   
   
2. Move to the next slide by pressing the SPACE BAR, ENTER, PAGE DOWN, or right arrow keys or by clicking the left mouse button.
   
   
3. Go back to the previous slide by pressing BACKSPACE, PAGE UP, or the left arrow key.
   
   
4. To end the slideshow before it is complete press ESC on the keyboard.
   
   
5. A pen tool is available for drawing on the screen with the mouse. Press CTRL+P or click the right mouse button at any time and a popup window will appear. Choose Pen and the pointer will change to a pen that allows you to draw freehand on the screen using the mouse. Press the E key to erase all pen strokes. Press CTRL+A to disable the pen feature and revert the pen back to a pointer arrow.
   
   
6. If you would like to use the pen to draw on a blank screen during a presentation, press the B or W keys, or select Screen/Black Screen from the popup menu and the screen will turn black. Press B or W again or choose Next from the popup menu to return to the presentation when you are finished drawing.
   
   
7. To hide the pointer and button from the screen press the A key.
   
   
8. Be sure to preview the slide show using a projector if one will be used during the presentation. Words or graphics that are close to the edge of the screen may be cut off by the projector.

Topic 11: Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts can save time and the effort of switching from the keyboard to the mouse to execute simple commands. Print this list of Power Point keyboard shortcuts and keep it by your computer for a quick reference.
Note: A plus sign indicates that the keys need to be pressed at the same time.

Action Keystroke Document actions Open a presentation CTRL+O New presentation CTRL+N Save As F12 Save CTRL+S Print CTRL+P Help F1 Presentation actions Begin slide show F5 Next slide ENTER or Down arrow key Previous slide BACKSPACE or Up arrow key Activate pen tool CTRL+P Erase pen strokes E Deactivate pen tool CTRL+A Show/Hide black screen B Show/Hide white screen W Show/Hide pointer & button A End slide show ESC

Action Keystroke Formatting Select all CTRL+A Copy CTRL+C Cut CTRL+X Paste CTRL+V Undo CTRL+Z Redo CTRL+Y Bold CTRL+B Italics CTRL+I Underline CTRL+U Left justified CTRL+L Center justified CTRL+E Right justified CTRL+R Promote list item ALT+SHIFT+Left arrow Demote list item ALT+SHIFT+Right arrow or TAB Editing Find CTRL+F Replace CTRL+H Insert hyperlink CTRL+K New slide CTRL+M Spell checker F7 Macros ALT+F8

Run the slide show and press the F1 key to view all keyboard shortcuts applicable when running a slide show.

topic 10: Saving & Printing

Save as Web Page

Presentations can be saved by selecting File|Save from the menu bar. However, if you want to post Power Point presentations on the Internet, you may want to save them as web pages so students and other visitors to your web site can view the presentation even if they do not have Power Point installed on their computers. Select File|Save As Web Page from the menu bar. Choose your web page directory on the network from the Look in: drop-down menu and name the file in the File name: box. Click Save to save the presentation in web format.

Page Setup

Select File|Page Setup from the menu bar to access options for printing the presentation slides. Select the format the printed slides will be used for from the Slides sized for drop-down menu or enter a specific print size using the Width and Height boxes. Select the page orientation for the slides and for other print material from the presentation in the Orientation section.

Print

Select File|Print from the menu bar to print the presentation.

Print range - Select All to print all the slides in the presentation, Current slide to print only the current slide, or enter slide numbers in the Slides field to print only certain slides.
Copies - Enter the number of copies of each slide specified in Print range and check the Collate box if necessary.
Print What -

• Slides prints a full-page slide on each page.
• Handouts prints as many slides as you designate on each page.
• Notes Page prints one slide with that slide's notes on each page
• Outline view prints the outline of the presentation

Click OK to print.

Topic 9: Master Slides

Slide Master

Change the style of all slides in the presentation by changing the properties on the Slide Master. Each Design Template has its own Slide Master that can be altered. If you create slides from scratch, a consistent style can be added to the presentation by formatting the Slide Master.

1. Select View|Master|Slide Master from the menu bar.
   
2. Format the master slide just as you would format a regular slide by formatting text, formatting lists, adding background patterns and effects, and setting footers.
3. Click the Close button on the Master toolbar to quit editing the master slide and return to the presentation.

Headers and Footers

Add the date and time, slide numbers, and other footer text to the master slide from the Header and Footer window.

1. Select View|Header and Footer... from the menu bar.
   
2. Check the Date and time box to add this feature to the slide. Select Update automatically to always display the current date and time or click Fixed and enter a date that will not change in the text field provided.
3. Check the Slide number box to add this feature to the slides.
4. Click the Footer box and add other text to the footer area of the slide.
5. Check the Don't show on title slide box to hide these features on the title slide of the presentation.
6. Click the Notes and Handouts tab to make the same changes to notes and handouts pages.
7. Click Apply to All to add the changes to every slide or Apply to add only to the current slide.

Slide Numbers

To add the slide numbers in a fixed position on the slide, use the Header and Footer window detailed above. The slide number can otherwise be added anywhere on the slide by placing the cursor where the slide number should appear and selecting Insert|Slide Number from the menu bar. The text of the slide number can the formatting just as regular text style is changed.

Date and Time

A date and/or time can also be added using the Header and Footer window or anywhere else on the slide. Place the cursor where the date and time should appear on the slide and select Insert|Date and Time from the menu bar. Select a format from the Available formats box and click Update automatically if this feature should always be updated to reflect the current date and time. Click OK to finish.

Topic 8: Slide Effects

Action Buttons

Use the action button toolbar to add functioning buttons to slides in a presentation.

1. Select Slide Show|Action Buttons from the menu bar. Click the bar across the top of the button menu and drag it off the menu so it becomes a floating toolbar.
   
2. Click one of the button faces and draw the button on the slide using the mouse. The Action Settings menu will then appear.
   
3. Set the actions under either the Mouse Click or Mouse Over tabs. Actions specified for Mouse Click will execute when the button is clicked on the slide while actions for Mouse Over will occur when the mouse pointer hovers over the button.
4. Select an action for the button by choosing a Hyperlink to destination.
5. If you want a sound to be played when the button is clicked, check the Play sound box and choose a sound from the drop-down menu.
6. Click OK when finished.
   
7. The button on the slide can be resized using the white box handles and the depth of the button can be changed by dragging the yellow diamond.
   

Slide Animation

Several animations for slide objects are available through the drop-down menus on the menu bar. First, select the text box or graphic that will be animated. Select Slide Show|Preset Animation and choose from one of the options. To select a different animation or turn the animation off, select the appropriate choice from the same menu. For more options, follow the procedure below:

1. Select Slide Show|Custom Animation from the menu bar.
2. Select the object on the slide that will be animated from the Check to animate slide objects list.
3. Under the Effects tab, select the animation type (or select "No Effect" to turn an animation off) and direction from the drop-down menus and select a sound if you wish.
4. Select an After animation effect if the text should change colors after the animation executes.
   • Color palette - Select one of the color swatches or click More Colors for a larger selection. The text will change to the selected color when the mouse is clicked during the slide show.
   • Don't Dim - This option erases all After Animation effects.
   • Hide After Animation - Text will be immediately erased after the animation is completed.
   • Hide on Next Mouse click - The text will be erased when the mouse is clicked.
5. Choose the style of displaying the text under the Introduce text section. The drop-down menu provides options for displaying the characters for each bulleted item. Select "All at once" for the text to appear immediately, "by Word" for the text to appear one word at a time, or "by Letter" for a typewriter effect that displays one letter at a time.
6. Click the Order & Timing tab to alter the order that the objects appear on the slide. Highlight the object in the Animation order box and click the Move arrows to move the object's position within the animation sequence. Under Start animation, choose "On mouse click" to activate the animation by clicking the mouse or "Automatically" for the animation to execute after a set number of seconds.
   
7. Click the Preview button at any time to preview the animation on the slide and click OK when finished.

Animation Preview

Select Slide Show|Animation Preview from the menu bar to view the Animation Preview window. Click anywhere within this window with the mouse to preview the animations that have been set. To hide the window, click the x close button in the top, right corner.

Slide Transitions

Add transition effects when changing slides by following these steps:

1. Select Slide Show|Slide Transition from the menu bar.
2. From the Effect section, choose a transition from the drop-down menu and notice the preview after the transition is selected. Select a speed for the transition as well.
3. Under Advance, check "On mouse click" for the slide transition to occur by clicking the mouse or using keystrokes or check "Automatically after" and a number of seconds if the transition should occur automatically.
4. Select a Sound if necessary and check the Loop until next sound if it should keep repeating until the next sound is played.
5. Click Apply to All if the transition effects should be added to every slide or Apply if the effects should be added only to the current slide.

Slide Show Options

Select Tools|Options and click the View tab to choose from several more slide show options.

• Popup menu on right mouse click - Check this box if you want to be able to access the shortcut menu during a presentation.
• Show popup menu button - Check this box to activate the menu button that appears in the bottom, left corner of the screen during a presentation.
  
• End with black slide - Insert a blank, black slide to the end of the presentation.

Topic 7: Graphics

The Drawing Toolbar provides many commands for creating and editing graphics. The toolbar is located at the bottom of the Power Point screen or it can be activated by selecting View|Toolbars|Drawing from the menu bar.

• Menu -
  
  • Grouping - Images can be grouped together so they become one image and can be moved together or the same formatting changes can be applied to both at once. Select all the images that will be grouped by holding down the SHIFT key and clicking once on each image. Then select Group from the Draw menu. The images can be ungrouped by selecting Ungroup from the same menu. The rectangles in the image to the left are separate images with their own sets of handles and they are grouped together in the image to the right:
    
  • Order - The order of overlapping images can be changed using this feature. In the example of two rectangles below, the green rectangle is selected and the Send Backward command was used to move the image below the blue rectangle. Send Backward and Bring Forward will move elements by one layer. Send to Back and Bring to Front move the elements to the back or top of a series of several overlapping graphics.
    
  • Nudge - Use the nudge actions to move an object slightly in one direction.
  • Align or Distribute - Select a group of objects and choose one of the the commands from the Align or Distribute menu to change the position of the objects in relation to one another.
  • Rotate or Flip - Rotate an object 90 degrees or flip the object over its x- or y-axis.
• Select objects - Deactivate all drawing functions.
• Free rotate - This button will place green handles on certain objects so they can be arbitrarily rotated. Click and drag the handles to rotate the objects.
  
• AutoShapes menu - Click the small down arrow to the right of the "AutoShapes" text to select a shape. [more...]
• Line and Arrow - Click and drag the mouse on the slide to add lines. Hold down the SHIFT key to draw a straight line. Use the end points of the completed line to stretch and reposition the line.
• Rectangle and Oval - Click and drag the mouse on the slide to add rectangles and ovals. Hold down the SHIFT key to add squares and circles.
• Text box - Click to draw a text box on the slide.
• Word art - Click to add WordArt. [More]
• Picture - Click to add a clip art image to the slide.
• Fill color - Choose a fill color for rectangles, ovals, and clip art.
• Line color - Select a border color for shapes and pictures.
• Font color - Highlight text on the slide and click the small down arrow next to the Font color icon to select a color.
• Line style - Highlight a line or arrow that has been drawn and click this button to select a thickness or style for the line.
• Dash style - Highlight a line or arrow and select a dash style.
• Arrow style - Change the arrow head style for an existing arrow or change a line to an arrow.
• Shadow - Select a text box to add shadow to text or choose any other object on the slide to add a drop shadow.
• 3D - Add a three-dimensional effect to text and other objects.

Adding Clip Art

To add a clip art image to a slide, follow these steps:

1. Select Insert|Picture|Clip Art from the menu bar or click the Picture button on the Drawing toolbar..
   
2. To find an image, click in the white box following Search for clips and enter keywords describing the image you want to find.
   - OR -
   Click one of the category icons.
3. Click once on the image to want to add to the slide and a selection bar will appear.
4. Click once on the image you want to add to the slide and the following popup menu will appear:
   
   
   • Insert Clip to add the image to the slide.
     
   • Preview Clip to view the image full-size before adding it to the slide. Drag the bottom, right corner of the preview window to resize the image and click the "x" close button to end the preview.
     
   • Add Clip to Favorites will add the selected image to your favorites directory that can be chosen from the Insert ClipArt dialog box.
   • Find Similar Clips will retrieve images similar to the one you have chosen.
5. Click the Close button in the top, right corner of the Insert Clip window to stop adding clip art to the slide.
   

Add An Image from a File

To add a photo or graphic from a file:

1. Select Insert|Picture|From File from the menu bar.
   
2. Click the down arrow button on the right side of the Look in: window to find the image on your computer.
3. Highlight the file name from the list and click the Insert button.
   

Editing A Graphic

Activate the image you wish to edit by clicking on it once with the mouse. Several handles will appear around the graphic. Click and drag these handles to resize the image. The handles on the corners will resize proportionally while the handles on the straight lines will stretch the image. More picture effects can be changed using the Picture toolbar.

Auto Shapes

The AutoShapes toolbar allows you to draw a number of geometrical shapes, arrows, flow chart elements, stars, and other graphics on a slide. Activate the AutoShapes toolbar by selecting Insert|Picture|AutoShapes or View|Toolbars|AutoShapes from the menu bar. Click the buttons on the toolbar to view the options for drawing each shape.

• Lines - After clicking the Lines button on the AutoShapes toolbar, draw a straight line, arrow, or double-ended arrow from the first row of options by clicking the respective button. Click in the slide where you would like the line to begin and click again where it should end. To draw a curved line or freeform shape, select curved lines from the menu (first and second buttons of second row), click in the slide where the line should appear, and click the mouse every time a curve should begin. End creating the graphic by clicking on the starting end or pressing the ESC key. To scribble, click the last button in the second row, click the mouse in the slide and hold down the left button while you draw the design. Let go of the mouse button to stop drawing.
  
  
• Connectors - Draw these lines to connect flow chart elements.
  

• Basic Shapes - Click the Basic Shapes button on the AutoShapes toolbar to select from many two- and three-dimensional shapes, icons, braces, and brackets. Use the drag-and-drop method to draw the shape in the slide. When the shape has been made, it can be resized using the open box handles and other adjustments specific to each shape can be modified using the yellow diamond handles.
  
  
  
• Block Arrows - Select Block Arrows to choose from many types of two- and three-dimensional arrows. Drag-and-drop the arrow in the slide and use the open box and yellow diamond handles to adjust the arrowheads. Each AutoShape can also be rotated by first clicking the Free Rotate button on the drawing toolbar . Click and drag the green handles around the image to rotate it. The tree image below was created from an arrow rotated 90 degrees.
  
  
  
• Flow Chart - Choose from the flow chart menu to add flow chart elements to the slide and use the line menu to draw connections between the elements.
  
  
• Stars and Banners - Click the button to select stars, bursts, banners, and scrolls.
  
  
• Call Outs - Select from the speech and thought bubbles, and line call outs. Enter the call out text in the text box that is made.
  
  
• More AutoShapes - Click the More button to choose from a list of clip art categories.
  

Each of the submenus on the AutoShapes toolbar can become a separate toolbar. Just click and drag the gray bar across the top of the submenus off of the toolbar and it will become a separate floating toolbar.

WordArt

Add headlines in striking colors and shapes to your presentation using Word Art.

• Select Insert|Picture|WordArt from the menu bar or click the Word Art button on the Drawing toolbar.
• Choose a Word Art style from the listing and click OK.
  
• Enter the text in the Edit WordArt Text box and choose the font, size, and style for the text. Click OK.
  
• Use the white box handles around the word art to resize it on the slide.
• Drag the yellow diamond handle to change the shape of the text. To revert back to no shape, double-click the diamond.

Topic 6: Color Schemes

The colors of predesigned slide templates can be changed and a color scheme can be added to blank presentations. This page explains how to add color schemes and background images to slides.

Color Schemes

1. Select Format|Slide Color Scheme from the menu bar.
2. Click one of the preset color scheme thumbnail images in the Color schemes box.
   
3. Click the Preview button to see how the scheme will appear on the slide.
4. To make changes to the color scheme, click the Custom tab on the dialog box.
   
5. Change the colors of the slide elements by selecting the color swatch beside the name of the element and clicking the Change color button.
6. Highlight one of the colors from the Text and Line Color window or select the Custom tab to view more color choices and click OK when finished.
   
7. When you have finished all color formatting, click Apply to All to apply the color scheme to all the slides in the presentation or Apply to add the scheme only to the current slide.

Backgrounds

Follow these steps to add background colors and patterns to a slide:

1. Select Format|Background from the menu bar.
   
2. Select a color from the drop-down menu below the Background fill preview or choose More Colors... for a larger selection.
3. Select Fill Effects from the drop-down menu to add gradients, texture, patterns, or a picture to the background.
   
4. Gradient tab
   
   • Select One color if the color chosen will fade into the background and select the color from the Color 1 drop-down menu. Choose Two colors if the gradient will use two colors and select those colors from the Color 1 and Color 2 drop-down menus. Preset provides a selection of color combinations. Select one from the Preset colors drop-down menu.
   • Select the type of gradient from Shading styles.
   • Click one of the four Variants of the styles chosen.
     
   
5. Texture tab
   From the Texture window, select a repeating background by scrolling through the thumbnail images or click Other Texture... to select an image from a file.
   
6. Pattern tab
   Select a two-tone pattern by clicking one of the pattern swatches and selecting the Foreground and Background colors.
   
7. Picture tab
   Click the Select Picture button to choose a picture from a file. After the picture is selected, a preview and description will be shown in this window.
8. Click OK to apply the changes made from the Fill Effects windows.
9. Click Apply to All to add the changes to every slide or Apply to make changes only to the current slide.

Topic 5: Working with Text

Adding Text

If the slide layout includes text boxes, simply click on the text box to add text. To add a text box to the slide, select Insert|Text Box from the menu bar and draw the text box with the mouse. Set text editing options by selecting Tools|Options from the menu bar and clicking the Edit tab.

Formatting Text

Select the text that will be formatted by highlighting the text either on the outline or on the slide. Choose Format|Font from the menu bar or right-click on the highlighted selection and select Font from the popup shortcut menu or. Select a font face, size, style, effect, and color from the Font dialog box. Click the Preview button to see how the changes will appear on the slide before making a decision.

Replace Fonts

Design templates have a preset font that you may want to change or you may want to change the font used on for the entire presentation for a number of reasons. This can be accomplished quickly using the Replace Fonts feature. Select Format|Replace Font from the menu bar. Choose the font you want to Replace from the first drop-down menu and the font it should be replaced With from the second menu, and click the Replace button.

Line Spacing

Change the amount of space between lines in a text box by selecting Format|Line Spacing from the menu bar.

• Line spacing - Select the amount of vertical space between lines. A value of "1" is equal to single spacing and "2" is double spacing. Values between and above these numbers are valid as well.
  
  
• Before paragraph and After paragraph - This value will determine the amount of vertical space before and after each paragraph in a text box.

Change Case

Change the case of the characters in a paragraph by selecting Format|Change Case from the menu bar without having to retype the text.

• Sentence case - Capitalizes the first letter of the first word in each sentence.
• Lowercase and Uppercase - Changes the case of all the letters.
• Title case - Capitalizes the first letter of every word and reduces the rest to lowercase.
• Toggle case - The opposite of Title case, it makes the first letter of every word lowercase and capitalizes the remaining letters.

Spell Check

Correct the spelling in the presentation by selecting Tools|Spelling from the menu bar or by pressing the F7 key on the keyboard.

1. The spell checker will prompt you to make corrections of the first word that is spelled wrong.
2. If the word is spelled correctly, click Ignore or Ignore All if the same word appears several times during the presentation. If this word will appear in many presentations (such as your name), click Add to add the word to the dictionary and you won't be prompted by a misspelling again.
3. If the word is spelled wrong, highlight one of the the Suggestions or type your own revision in the Change to box. Click Change to correct this occurrence of the word or Change All to correct all occurrences of the word in the presentation.
4. Click Close to abort the spelling check early.
5. When the spell checker has read through the entire presentation, you will be prompted by a window telling you that the spelling check is complete. Click OK.
   

Spelling Options

Select Tools|Options from the menu bar and click the Spelling and Style tab.

1. Check spelling as you type - If this box is checked, Power Point will check the spelling of every word as you type. Misspelled words will be underlined with wavy red lines.
2. Hide spelling errors in this document - Check this box to remove the wavy red lines from words that are spelled wrong.
3. Always suggest corrections - If this box is checked, suggestions for misspelled words will appear when you activate the spell checker.
4. Ignore words in UPPERCASE - Power Point recommends that you don't type slide titles in all uppercase letters so it will treat words like this and other all-uppercase acronyms as misspelled. Check this box to ignore this suggestion and acronyms that are typically typed in all caps.
5. Ignore words with numbers - Check to ignore words that are combinations of letters and numbers.