Power Point

Setting Up Your PowerPoint Environment

Introduction

Before you begin creating presentations in PowerPoint, you may want to set up your PowerPoint environment and become familiar with a few key tasks such as how to minimize and maximize the Ribbon, configure the Quick Access toolbar, switch views, and access your PowerPoint options.

The PowerPoint Environment

Exploring the PowerPoint Window

When you open PowerPoint, a new presentation is created and a blank slide appears in the PowerPoint window. The slide has placeholders for you to add a title and subtitle.

The tabbed Ribbon menu system is how you access the various PowerPoint commands. If you have used previous versions of PowerPoint, the Ribbon system replaces the traditional menus. Above the Ribbon in the upper-left corner is the Microsoft Office Button. From here, you can access important options such as New, Save, Save As, and Print. By default the Quick Access Toolbar is pinned next to the Microsoft Office Button, and includes commands such as Undo and Redo.

On the left side of the window, you will see a task pane with slides and outline tabs, which appears by default. On the bottom, right area of the screen you will find View commands (Normal, Slide Sorter, and Slide Show), and the zoom tool.

To Zoom In and Out:

• Locate the zoom bar in the bottom, right corner.
• Click the slider and drag it to the right to zoom in and to the left to zoom out.

To Change Views

• Locate the View options in the bottom, right corner. The View options are Normal, Slide Sorter, and Slide Show.
• Click an option to select it.

The default is Normal View.

Quick Access Toolbar and Ribbon

The Quick Access Toolbar

The Save, Undo, and Redo commands appear by default on the Quick Access toolbar. You may wish to add other commands to make using specific PowerPoint features more convenient for you.

To Add Commands to the Quick Access Toolbar:

• Click the arrow to the right of the Quick Access toolbar.
• Select the command you wish to add from the drop-down list. It will appear in the Quick Access toolbar.

OR

• Select More Commands from the menu and a dialog box appears.
• Select the command you wish to add.
• Click the Add button.
• Click OK.

The Ribbon

The new, tabbed Ribbon system replaces traditional menus in PowerPoint 2007. It is designed to be responsive to your current task and easy to use; however, you can choose to minimize the Ribbon if you would prefer to use different menus or keyboard shortcuts.

To Minimize and Maximize the Ribbon:

• Click the drop-down arrow next to the Quick Access toolbar.
• Select Minimize Ribbon from the list. The Ribbon disappears.
• To maximize the ribbon, click the arrow again and select Minimize the Ribbon to toggle the feature off.

You can also minimize and maximize the Ribbon by right-clicking anywhere in the Ribbon and selectingMinimize the Ribbon in the menu that appears.

 

The Microsoft Office Button Menu

The Microsoft Office Button

The Microsoft Office Button appears at the top of the PowerPoint window. When you click the button, a menu appears. From this menu you can create a new presentation, open existing files, save files in a variety of ways, and print. You can also add security features, send, publish, and close files.

 

To Change the Default PowerPoint Options:

• Click the PowerPoint Options button. A dialog box will appear.
• Select a category on the left to access different PowerPoint options.
• Modify any of the default settings. For example, if you want to change the color scheme of the PowerPoint window, click the color scheme drop-down menu in the Popular section and choose an option. In this example, we choose Black.

• Click OK and the changes will be applied. In this example, the PowerPoint window color scheme is now Black.

As you learn more about PowerPoint and become proficient at using it, you may want to modify some of the settings. As a beginning user, it is usually best to leave the default settings.

Challenge!

• Open PowerPoint.
• Practice using the Zoom tool.
• Minimize and maximize the Ribbon.
• Click the Microsoft Office Button and review the menu options.
• Add two commands to the Quick Access toolbar.
• Continue to explore the PowerPoint environment.

Presentation Basics

 

Introduction

PowerPoint includes all the features you need to produce professional-looking presentations. When you create a PowerPoint presentation, it is made up of a series of slides. The slides contain the information you want to communicate with your audience. This information can include text, pictures, charts, video, sound, and more. 

Before you begin adding information to slides, you need to know the basics of working with slides. In this lesson you will learn how to start a new presentation, insert new slides, modify a layout, move and copy slides, how placeholders work, as well as how to save your presentation.

Creating New Presentations

New Presentations

When you open PowerPoint from the Start menu or from an icon on your desktop, a new presentation with one slide appears by default. You can also create a new presentation while PowerPoint is already open.

• Click the Microsoft Office Button and choose New from the menu.

The New Presentation dialog box will appear. Blank presentation is selected by default.

• Click Create, and a new presentation will open in the PowerPoint window.

The default slide that appears when you create a new presentation is a Title Slide layout.

Slide Basics

About the Slides

Slides contain placeholders, or areas on a slide that are enclosed by dotted borders. Placeholders can contain many different items including text, pictures, and charts. Some placeholders have placeholder text, or text that you can replace, and thumbnail-sized icons that represent specific commands such as Insert Picture, Insert Chart, and Insert Clip Art. Hover over each icon to see the type of information you can insert.

About Slide Layouts

The placeholders are arranged in different layouts that you can select when you insert a new slide or that can be applied to existing slides. In the example above, the layout is called Title and Content and includes title and content placeholders. 

A slide layout arranges your slide content. Layouts contain different types of placeholders that you can use depending on what information you want to include in your presentation. Each layout has a descriptive name, but the image of the layout shows you how the placeholders are arranged on the slide.

To Insert Text into a Placeholder:

• Click inside the placeholder. The placeholder text will disappear and the insertion point will appear.
• Type your text once the insertion point is visible.
• Click outside the placeholder when you have entered all your text into the placeholder.

When you enter text or use the icons to insert items, the placeholder text and/or icons disappear as soon as you start typing.

To Insert a New Slide:

• Click the New Slide command in the Slides group on the Home tab. A menu will appear with your slide layout options.

• Click the slide you want to insert. A new slide with the chosen layout will appear in the center of the PowerPoint window and in the pane on the left.

To Change the Layout of an Existing Slide:

• Select the slide you wish to change.
• Click the Layout command in the Slides group on the Home tab. A menu appears with your options.

• Click an option to select it. The slide will change in the presentation.

Working with Slides

To Copy and Paste a Slide:

• Select the slide you wish to copy.
• Click the Copy command on the Home tab.

• Click inside the slides tab on the left task pane. A horizontal insertion point will appear.
• Move the insertion point to the location you want the copy of the slide to appear.

• Click the Paste command on the Home tab. The copied slide will appear.

You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl and C to copy the slide and Ctrl and V to paste it.

To Delete a Slide:

• Select the slide you wish to delete.
• Click the Delete command in the Slides group on the Home tab.

You can also delete a slide by pressing the Delete key on your keyboard.

To Move a Slide:

• Select the slide you wish to move on the slides tab in the left task pane.
• Click and drag the slide to a new location. The insertion point will appear.
• Release the mouse button. The slide will appear in the new location.

Using Different Views from the PowerPoint Window

In the bottom, right corner of the PowerPoint window are three view commands. From here, you can change the view to Normal, Slide Sorter, or Slide Show view by just clicking a command.

Normal is the default view and where you will create and edit your slides in the center slide pane and all the slides will appear on the slides tab in the left task pane.

Slide Sorter is a view of your slides in thumbnail form. The slides are presented horizontally, which allows you to see more slides at a time.

Slide Show view fills the computer screen with your presentation so you can see how the presentation will appear to the audience.

Saving Your Presentation

If you are saving a document for the first time, you will need to use the Save As command; however, if you have already saved a presentation, you can use the Save command.

To Use the Save As Command:

• Click the Microsoft Office Button.
• Select Save As. A menu will appear.
• Select the type of file you would like to save the presentation as. The two most commonly used file types are:
• PowerPoint Presentation -- This saves the presentation as a 2007 PowerPoint file. Only users with PowerPoint 2007, or the compatibility pack, can view the file without possibly losing some of the formatting.
• PowerPoint 97-2003 Presentation -- This saves the presentation so that it is compatible with some previous versions of PowerPoint. If you will be sending the presentation to someone that does not have Office 2007, you should use this file type.

• The Save As dialog box will appear. Select the location you wish to save the document using the drop-down menu.

• Enter a name for the document.
• Click the Save button.

To Use the Save Command:

• Click the Microsoft Office Button.
• Select Save from the menu.

Using the Save command saves the document in its current location using the same file name.

Challenge!

• Open PowerPoint.
• Insert text on the default, Title slide.
• Insert a Title and Content slide.
• Insert a Two Content slide.
• Practice moving slides.
• Copy the Title slide.
• Delete one of the slides.
• Save the presentation.

Themes and Background Styles

 

Introduction

A theme is a predefined combination of colors, fonts, and effects that can be applied to your presentation. PowerPoint includes built-in themes that allow you to easily create professional-looking presentations without spending a lot of time formatting. Each theme has additional background styles associated with it that can be applied to the slides to modify the theme. 

In this lesson, you will learn how to apply a theme, modify theme colors, theme fonts, and theme effects, as well as apply a background style.

Themes

About Themes

When you create a new presentation in PowerPoint there is a theme applied even though the slide background is white. This default theme is called the Office Theme. The Office Theme consists of a white background, and Calibri font of various sizes for titles and body text.

You can apply a different theme to your slides before you add text or make changes to the default slide. An advantage of doing this is that the location of the text will not move. If you apply the theme after you enter text on the slides, the text boxes and placeholders may move depending on the theme you choose. 

An advantage of entering some of your text before applying a new theme is that the live preview feature allows you to see how the themes will affect your specific text. The example below is the Aspect theme.

You will need to know how to apply a theme and how to switch to a different theme if you want to use this feature to create presentations. All of the themes that come included in PowerPoint are located in the Themes group on the Design tab.

 

To Apply a Theme:

• Select the Design tab.
• Locate the Themes group. Each image represents a theme.

• Click the drop-down arrow to access more themes.
• Hover over a theme to see a live preview of it in the presentation. The name of the theme will appear as you hover over it.

• Click a theme to apply it to the slides.

You can access additional themes on Microsoft Office Online or create your own.

Fonts that are changed with the font size and style menus will not change when you apply a new theme.

Modify Themes

You can also modify the current theme colors, fonts, and effects. For example, if you like the Urban theme, but would prefer to use more of the color red in the presentation, you can change the colors of the theme and create a new, custom theme. If you would prefer to use the font style Verdana so that your presentation font will match your company logo and materials, you can modify the font combination and save it. 

The PowerPoint themes are powerful because they allow you to create professional-looking slides easily. The option to modify these themes makes it an even more robust and powerful tool because you can customize the themes based on your needs and preferences.

To Switch to a Different Theme Color Option:

• Select the Colors command in the Themes group on the Design tab.

• Hover over a color group to display a live preview of the color combination on the selected slide.

• Click a color option to select it.

To Change the Current Theme Colors:

• Select the Colors command in the Themes group on the Design tab.
• Click Create New Theme Colors from the menu. A dialog box will appear.

• Click a color option to display a color menu. Choose a color to change the option.

• Enter a name for the new theme color combination.
• Click Save.

Viewing and Printing Slides

 

Introduction

Once you finish creating the slides, you may want to view your presentation to make sure all the slides appear how you want. PowerPoint gives you the ability to view the presentation in four different ways, depending on what task you are completing. For example, if you will be using your slides to talk to an audience, which is how PowerPoint is often used, you may want to practice your presentation and view your slides in slide show view. 

You may also want to print copies of the slides, either for yourself, or for people viewing your presentation. You have several printing options that are specific to PowerPoint. This lesson covers different ways you can view and print your PowerPoint slides, depending on your needs.

Viewing and Printing Slides

Slide Views

It is important that you be able to access the different PowerPoint slide views and use them for various tasks.Three of the four views are visible from the default view, Normal. The slide view commands are located on the bottom, right side of the PowerPoint window in Normal view. Click a view command to switch to that view.

Normal View: This view is where you create and edit your slides. You can also move slides in the Slides tab on the task pane on the left.

Slide Sorter View: Miniature slides are arranged on the screen in this view. You can drag and drop slides easily to reorder them, and see more slides at one time. This is a good view to use to confirm that you have all the needed slides and that none have been deleted.

 

Slide Show View: This view fills the computer screen with a slide and is what the audience will see when they view the presentation. The slide show view has an additional menu that allows you to navigate through the slides, as well as other features you can use during a presentation.

 

Use the arrow keys, Page Up and Page Down keys, space bar, and Enter key to move through the slides in slide show view. Press the Esc key to end a slide show.

The Slide Show Menu

Arrows: The forward arrow displays the next slide and the back arrow displays the previous slide.

Menu Icon: Click the menu icon and a menu appears that gives you the option to move to the Next or Previous slide, jump to a specific slide, change your screen options, or end the show.

Pen Icon: Click the pen icon and a menu appears that allows you to change your cursor to a ball point pen, a felt tip pen, or a highlighter, and choose the color of the pen. This allows you to annotate your slides and make notes while you present to an audience.

Notes Page View

The fourth view is Notes Page view. It is not one of the view commands included at the bottom of the Normal View; however, it can be accessed from the View tab. Notes Page view provides a space for presentation notes, often called speaker notes. The notes can be added to the presentation from this view. You can enter your speaker notes directly into the text placeholder in Notes Page view, or in Normal view, you can enter your notes in the area below the slide.

To Change to Notes Page View:

• Select the View tab.
• Locate the four view commands on the left side of the Presentation Views group.

• Click Notes Page View.

Printing

You may want to print copies of your slides for the people who view your presentation or for yourself. There are three print options available from the Microsoft Office Button menu -- Print, Quick Print, and Print Preview.

To Use Print Preview:

• Click the Microsoft Office Button.
• Select Print  Print Preview. The presentation opens in Print Preview format.

• From here you can view each slide in grayscale, make decisions about whether to print the slides individually or as handouts, choose options, and more.

To Print:

• Click the Microsoft Office Button.
• Select PrintPrint. The Print dialog box appears.

• Select the printer you would like to use, if you have more than one printer.

• Click Properties. From here you can make choices about paper size and whether to print double-sided. These options vary from printer to printer.
• Enter a print range.

o   Leave the default setting, All, selected, or click Slides.

o   The field beside it will become active and you can enter the slide numbers of the slides you want to print.

• Decide what you want to print -- slides, handouts, notes pages, or an outline.

o   Handouts print many slides per page. The default is 6, but you can change that to 3 and have room for the person to take notes, or set another amount of slides per page.

o   Choose horizontal or vertical slide layout, if given the option.

o   You can print Notes Pages, if you typed speaker notes for the slides.

o   Choose to print in grayscale or color.

• Choose the number of copies to print.
• Click OK.

Challenge!

Use the Workshop presentation or any other PowerPoint presentation you choose to complete this challenge.

• Open a presentation.
• View it in Normal view.
• View it in Slide Sorter view.
• View it in Slide Show view.
• View it in Notes Page view.
• Print the slides as handouts with six slides to a page.