Complete course to learn how to Customize PowerPoint

Complete course to learn how to Customize PowerPoint

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Getting started with PowerPoint 2007 you will notice that there are many similar features to previous versions. You will also notice that there are many new features that you’ll be able to utilize. There are three features that you should remember as you work within PowerPoint 2007: the Microsoft Office Button, the Quick Access Toolbar, and the Ribbon. The function of these features will be more fully explored below.

Presentations

A presentation is a collection of data and information that is to be delivered to a specific audience. A PowerPoint presentation is a collection of electronic slides that can have text, pictures, graphics, tables, sound and video. This collection can run automatically or can be controlled by a presenter.

Microsoft Office Button

The Microsoft Office Button performs many of the functions that were located in the File menu of older versions of PowerPoint. This button allows you to create a new presentation, Open an existing presentation, save and save as, print, send, or close.

Ribbon

The ribbon is the panel at the top portion of the document   It has seven tabs: Home, Insert, Design, Animations, Slide Show, Review and View. Each tab is divided into groups. The groups are logical collections of features designed to perform function that you will utilize in developing or editing your PowerPoint slides.

Commonly utilized features are displayed on the Ribbon. To view additional features within each group, click the arrow at the bottom right corner of each group.

Home: Clipboard, Slides, Font, Paragraph, Drawing, and Editing

Insert: Tables, Illustrations, Links, Text, and Media Clips

Design: Page Setup, Themes, Background

Animations: Preview, Animations, Transition to this Slide

Slide Show: Start Slide Show, Set Up, Monitors

Review: Proofing, Comments, Protect

View: Presentation Views, Show/Hide, Zoom, Window, Macros

Quick Access Toolbar

The quick access toolbar is a customizable toolbar that contains commands that you may want to use. You can place the quick access toolbar above or below the ribbon. To change the location of the quick access toolbar, click on the error at the end of the toolbar and click Show Below the Ribbon.

You can also add items to the quick access toolbar. Right click on any item in the Office Button or the Ribbon and click Add to Quick Access Toolbar and a shortcut will be added.

Mini Toolbar

A new feature in Office 2007 is the Mini Toolbar. This is a floating toolbar that is displayed when you select text or right-click text. It displays common formatting tools, such as Bold, Italics, Fonts, Font Size and Font Color.

Navigation

Navigation through the slides can be accomplished through the Slide Navigation menu on the left side of the screen. Also, an outline appears from materials that have been entered in the presentation. To access the outline, click the outline tab.

Slide Views

Presentations can be viewed in a variety of manners. On the View tab, the Presentation Views group allows you to view the slides as Normal, Slide Sorter, Notes Page, Slide Show, Slide Master, Handout Master, and Notes Master.

PowerPoint 2007 offers a wide range of customizable options that allow you to make PowerPoint work the best for you. To access these customizable options:

            Click the Office Button

            Click PowerPoint Options include picture of OB menu.  

Popular

These features allow you to personalize your work environment with the mini toolbar, color schemes, personalize your user name and allow you to access the Live Preview feature. The Live Preview feature allows you to preview the results of applying design and formatting changes without actually applying it.

Proofing

This feature allows you personalize how word corrects your text. You can customize auto correction settings and have word ignore certain words or errors in a document through the Custom Dictionaries.

Save

This feature allows you personalize how your workbook is saved. You can specify how often you want auto save to run and where you want the workbooks saved.

Advanced

This feature allows you to specify options for editing, copying, pasting, printing, displaying, slide shows, and other general settings.

Customize

Customize allows you to add features to the Quick Access Toolbar. If there are tools that you are utilizing frequently, you may want to add these to the Quick Access Toolbar.

New Presentation

You can start a new presentation from a blank slide, a template, existing presentations, or a Word outline. To create a new presentation from a blank slide:

            Click the Microsoft Office Button

            Click New

            Click Blank Presentation

To create a new presentation from a template:

            Click the Microsoft Office Button

            Click New

            Click Installed Templates or Browse through Microsoft Office Online Templates

            Click the template you choose

To create a new presentation from an existing presentation:

            Click the Microsoft Office Button

            Click New

            Click New from Existing

            Browse to and click the presentation

To create a new presentation from a Word outline:

            Click the slide where you would like the outline to begin

            Click New Slide on the Home tab

            Click Slides from Outline

            Browse and click the Word Document that contains the outline

Save a Presentation

When you save a presentation, you have two choices: Save or Save As.

To save a document:

            Click the Microsoft Office Button

            Click Save

You may need to use the Save As feature when you need to save a presentation under a different name or to save it for earlier versions of PowerPoint. Remember that older versions of PowerPoint will not be able to open PowerPoint 2007 presentation unless you save it as a PowerPoint 97-2003 Format. To use the Save As feature:

            Click the Microsoft Office Button

            Click Save As

            Type in the name for the Presentation

            In the Save as Type box, choose Excel 97-2003 Presentation

Add Slides

There are several choices when you want to add a new slide to the presentation: Office Themes, Duplicate Selected Slide, or Reuse Slides.

To create a new slide from Office Themes:

            Select the slide immediately BEFORE where you want the new slide

            Click the New Slide button on the Home tab

            Click the slide choice that fits your material

To create a slide as a duplicate of a slide in the presentation:

            Select the slide to duplicate

            Click the New Slide button on the Home tab

            Click Duplicate Selected Slides

To create a new slide from another presentation:

            Select the slide immediately BEFORE where you want the new slide

            Click the New Slide button on the Home tab

            Click Reuse Slides

            Click Browse

            Click Browse File

            Locate the slide show and click on the slide to import

Themes

Themes are design templates that can be applied to an entire presentation that allows for consistency throughout the presentation. To add a theme to a presentation:

            Click the Design tab

            Choose one of the displayed Themes or click the Galleries button

To apply new colors to a theme:

            Click the Colors drop down arrow

            Choose a color set or click Create New Theme Colors

To change the background style of a theme

            Click the Background Styles button on the Design tab

Enter Text

To enter text:

            Select the slide where you want the text

            Click in a Textbox to add text

To add a text box:

            Select the slide where you want to place the text box

            On the Insert tab, click Text Box

            Click on the slide and drag the cursor to expand the text box

            Type in the text

Select Text

To select the text:

            Highlight the text

Copy and Paste

To copy and paste data:

            Select the item(s) that you wish to copy

            On the Clipboard Group of the Home Tab, click Copy

            Select the item(s) where you would like to copy the data

            On the Clipboard Group of the Home Tab, click Paste

Cut and Paste

To cut and paste data:

            Select the item(s) that you wish to copy

            On the Clipboard Group of the Home Tab, click Cut

            Select the items(s) where you would like to copy the data

            On the Clipboard Group of the Home Tab, click Paste

Undo and Redo

To undo or redo your most recent actions:

            On the Quick Access Toolbar

            Click Undo or Redo

Spell Check

To check the spelling in a presentation:

            Click the Review tab

            Click the Spelling button

Change Font Typeface and Size

To change the font typeface:

            Click the arrow next to the font name and choose a font.

            Remember that you can preview how the new font will look by highlighting the text, and hovering over the new font typeface.

To change the font size:

            Click the arrow next to the font size and choose the appropriate size, or

            Click the increase or decrease font size buttons.

Font Styles and Effects

Font styles are predefined formatting options that are used to emphasize text. They include: Bold, Italic, and Underline. To add these to text:

            Select the text and click the Font Styles included on the Font group of the Home tab or

            Select the text and right click to display the font tools

Change Text Color

To change the text color:

            Select the text and click the Colors button included on the Font Group of the Ribbon, or

            Highlight the text and right click and choose the colors tool.