SETUP
The very first thing you must do when you start a new presentation is decide what your output will be: slides, computer screen show, paper printout, etc. Dimensions change depending on the particular output selected so you have to know what kind of presentation you will be giving. Information will get cut off or changed around when you switch outputs. Go to File-Page Setup to select the output. Try the different settings and watch your page change dimensions.

New Tips
To have New Tips show each time when you start the program, click on Office Assistant (animated paper clip). Click on Options, then Options Tab. Select Show the Tip of the Day at Startup check box.

Graphic File Types for Importing
File types that work well for importing into screen shows are JPEG and TIFF files. Although each file type will display the images the same, it is recommended that you use JPEG files in your PowerPoint presentation if you will be running this as a computer screen show. JPEG files are compressed and TIFF files are not. (See article on File Types). Inserting compressed image files won't result in as large of a PowerPoint file as if you were inserting uncompressed TIFF images. Smaller PowerPoint file size makes for a speedier show. Larger PowerPoint file size makes for a possible slower show.

The JPEG filter may not be installed with the general installation of PowerPoint. You will need to install the JPEG filter to be able to import JPEG files.

To obtain the best results in importing graphic images into a PowerPoint show, you need to understand Image Resolution. Refer to Image resolution from this class and for a condensed version refer to CIT Information Newsletter.

Images taken from the web should be avoided because of copyright violations and they are usually be of very low resolution and will look awful when projected.

Fonts
Creating a computer screen show on one computer and then transferring it to another computer can cause problems with the fonts. Make sure you have the same fonts on both computers or they will be substituted by different fonts on the computer on which you show your presentation. Different fonts can be different sizes and cause your text to enlarge, shrink and move around on your pages. This can dramatically change how your page looks.

Bullets can be FONTS.
Bullets are also dependent upon the fonts. Different fonts will give you totally different bullets, depending upon what is substituted. If not careful, you may have some very interesting substitutions for your bullets!

To avoid font problems, find out what fonts are on the computer you will be using to run the show and use only those in creating your slide show. Or, with permission from the administrator of the computer you are using to show your presentation, you may be able to install the fonts you will need.

PowerPoint does not give a message when it is substituting fonts. It will simply replace an unknown font with another or omit your font. Know what fonts you are using and make sure they are on the computer you are using to make your presentation.

Drawing Tool Icons
Double click with the left mouse button on a drawing tool icon in the toolbar to keep that drawing tool active until you click on a new tool.

Patterns
The Patterned dialog box of Colors and Lines allows you to choose a pattern, such as crosshatching, and then choose two different colors to make up that pattern. This is usually reserved for black and white printout as it doesn’t show up very well on computer screen shows and 35mm slides. Do not use them for slides or screen shows. Use solid blocks of color instead as they show up much better when projected.

DO NOT use anything but a complete solid line in a computer presentation or on 35mm slides. Use different colors instead of dashed or dotted lines as they will show up better when projected.

Add Text to Autoshapes
You can add text to AutoShapes by just clicking in the shape and typing. Text you add becomes part of the shape  - if you rotate or flip the shape, the text rotates or flips with it. The text is attached to the object and is treated as part of the object. If you don't want to attach the text, use the Text Box tool on the Drawing toolbar to insert the text.

Aligning elements relative to the slide in PowerPoint
PowerPoint aligns text and graphics based on their location. For instance, if you select two elements using [Shift]-click, and then choose Align Left, PowerPoint moves the element that is farther right and lines it up with the element that was farther left. PowerPoint uses one element as a guide for lining up the other element. So, if you used the Align Right command, the element to the right would be a guide for lining up an element located farther left. To align an object in strict accordance to its position on the slide, choose Align Or Distribute from the Draw menu and make sure the Relative To Slide option is selected.

Shift Key
Pressing the Shift key while you draw with one of the basic drawing tools will give you a precise and symmetrical object. You can draw perfect squares, circles or straight lines (constrained to certain angles) by holding the shift key down while drawing. Release the mouse before you release the Shift key to keep your constrained image.

Duplicate Slides
If you have two or more slides that will look very similar (same kind of graph but different data points, same table but different numbers, etc.), make one exactly how you want it to look. In the slide sorter view, select the slide and choose Edit > Duplicate from the menu. Next edit the new slide to change the information while the "look" remains the same.

Customized Toolbars for PowerPoint 2000
PowerPoint enables you to customize the contents and the position of toolbars or create your very own toolbar.
To do this see the HELP section in PowerPoint.

Spell Check
Set options in Tools Options - Spelling & Style Tab.

Slide Sorter
To move a slide in Slide Sorter View, select it and drag it to a new location.

To view a slide in more detail, double-click on it to open it in Normal View. Or select it and choose Normal View button at lower-left corner of PowerPoint window.

To delete a slide in Slide Sorter View, select it and press the Delete key from the keyboard. To select multiple slides to delete, press Ctrl, select the slides, then press the Delete key.

To hide a slide, select the slide or slides you want to hide and click the Hide Slide button on the Slide Sorter toolbar. The slides remain in your show but do not show when you run the slideshow.

Easily add screenshots to your slides in PowerPoint
You can add screeshots directly into PowerPoint.

To capture a screenshot in Windows, simply press the Print Screen button (usually located along the top row of your keyboard) to paste the image to the clipboard. Next, return to the slide on which you want the screenshot, and select press [Ctrl]V to paste it onto your slide.

To capture a screenshot on a Mac, press [shift][command][3]. Alternately, you can press [shift][command][3] and crosshairs will appear, which you can use to select just a portion of an image rather than the entire screen. Once you’ve captured your image, return to PowerPoint and select Insert | Picture | From File and navigate to your hard drive (your screenshot is automatically saved there with the filename, Picture 1, Picture 2, etc...). Select your screenshot and click Insert.

Now you can crop, resize and edit the picture in the same manner that you would any other inserted image.

Moving Slides from one presentation to another
Using the Slide Sorter view, you can either copy or move slides from one PowerPoint presentation to another. To do this:

Cycling through multiple presentations opened at same time.
When multiple presentation files were open simultaneously in versions 2000 and before, you can minimize the file window separately from the program window to see all files that were open. You can also have two files open at the same time and arrange their windows so you can see them side by side.

This is no longer the case in Version 2002. The normal view window no longer has a minimize button to reduce a particular presentation window down in order to see other files. Now you can only see one file at a time in the window. In order to see other files you must cycle through them using the commands CTR+F6 or click on the file names in the Start toolbar on the windows screen.

Running Screen Shows
It is best to run the PowerPoint files directly off the hard drive rather than the network or a diskette when running a presentation. Create a new directory on the hard drive and copy all of your files into that directory including your imported images and linked files. Running the show directly from the hard drive makes for a smoother and speedier show and without the change of network error or disk error.

Sharing PowerPoint files
If you are going to share your slide show file (.PPT) with another person, be sure to check which version they have. Each new version of PowerPoint adds new features or templates that the older version may not recognize. You can use File - Save As to save a copy of your file into the older program version. It seems there is not much problem between PPT2000 and PPT97 except some backgrounds or fill patterns may not transfer backwards.

Need to put your PowerPoint file up on the Web (versions 97 & 2000)?
See instructions on CIT Information Newsletter.

Help for problems in PowerPoint
Having trouble getting something to work in PowerPoint? Don’t know where to look for information? Start at Microsoft Support on-line at http://www.microsoft.com/ and click on the Support from the top menu for articles designed to answer your product questions choice. The Knowledge Base has been created by thousands of support professionals and has more than 250,000 articles. It is constantly updated and expanded to help you find the latest information.

PowerPoint Lessons Table of Contents