An easy guide to Microsoft PowerPoint

The PowerPoint interface is very similar to other Microsoft applications, having a similar main menu (e.g. File, Edit, View, Tools, etc.)

A PowerPoint Presentation is a slide show. It consists of several slides. The file type of a PowerPoint presentation is *ppt. A slide can contain text, images, graphs, chart, tree-diagrams, sheets. We have the possibility to format any element of the slide and the whole slide show, too.

Creating new presentations

File -New: General, Web Pages, Presentation Designs (layout), Presentations (content)

File - New - General - Blank Presentation

Different views

There are several views in PowerPoint: Slide, Outline, Slide Sorter, Notes Page, Slide Show, the user can toggle between them with the help of the buttons present in the bottom left corner of the PowerPoint window.

The Outline View: View - Outline (working in outline view = writing a table of contents, or structure)

You can create a new slide from the Common Tasks menu or by simply pressing Enter (while still in Outline view)

You can change a slide to text, or vice versa by moving it with the arrow buttons

Managing slides

There are different options in different views:

• Slide Sorter View: select and delete, or move with drag and drop
• Slide View: Edit - Delete slide, Insert -Insert new slide

Format the presentation

When satisfied with the content, you can apply several formatting changes

• Common Tasks - Apply Design
• Format - Slide Layout, Slide Color Scheme, Background, Replace Font
• Formatting the background: Format - Background - drop down menu - Fill Effects - Gradient, Texture, Pattern, Picture (from file)

Formatting the animation

• Slide Show - Preset Animation, Timing, etc. (important: View - Slide Sorter - Select All as without selecting all the slides, the animation wouldn’t work)
• Formatting animated text
• Formatting animated slides: Slide Show - Slide Transition
• Slide Show - Custom Animation - Timing - Slide objects without animation - Animate (this only works in the Slides View!)

Ways to draw

• activate the drawing toolbar View -- Toolbars – Drawing to insert:
  • AutoShapes
  • Word Art
  • Fill Color, Line Color, Font Color

• Format - Slide Layout - choose layout

Inserting objects and charts

In slide view click twice on the chart. Now you can format data, chart type, chart options, etc. All of these options are available on clicking on different parts of the chart by the right mouse button. If you want to get back to the normal view just click outside the chart area.

• Working with organization charts: Format - Slide Layout - choose layout
• Inserting other Microsoft objects (Word Table, Excel Worksheet): Insert - Object - choose appropriate

Give a consistent look to your presentation

• View - header, footer
• Add or change the date, time, slide number, or footer text
• Applying the same look, info on every slide: View - Master (Slide, Title, Handout, Notes. In order to have art or text appear on every slide, put it on the slide master
• To add text to every slide, add the text to the slide master by using the Text Box tool on the Drawing toolbar
• You can also create presentations for use on the Web: File - Save as HTML

Additional help

Note that these instructions are only a guide. For additional help, you may want to try the Learning Word module found under the Help command on the main menu bar.

You might also want to consult the links to other online tutorials presented in the MS PowerPoint course page.