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How to create PowerPoint Presentations in Microsoft Office 2007
Get to know your workspace
AUDIO TEXT
This is the view that first opens in PowerPoint; it's called Normal view. You work here to create slides. There are three main areas of
Normal view:
The slide pane is the big area in the middle. You work directly on the slide in this space.
On the slide, the boxes with the dotted borders are called placeholders. Here's where you type your text. Placeholders can also
contain pictures, charts, and other non-text items.
On the left are small, or thumbnail, versions of the slides in your presentation, with the one you're working on highlighted. This area
is the Slides tab, and you can click the slide thumbnails here to navigate to other slides, once you add them.
In the bottom area is the notes pane, where you type the notes that you'll refer to while you present. There's more room for the
notes than shows here.
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January 2010
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Add new slides
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When PowerPoint opens, there's only one slide in the show. You add the other slides.
The most obvious way to add a new slide is by clicking New Slide, on the Home tab, as the picture shows. There are two ways to use
this button.
If you click the top part of the button, where the slide icon is, a new slide is added immediately, beneath the slide that's selected in
the Slides tab.
If you click the bottom part of the button, you get a gallery of layouts for the slide. You choose a layout, and the slide is inserted with
that layout.
If you add a slide without choosing a layout, PowerPoint applies one automatically. You can easily change it, and you'll see how in the
practice session.
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Pick layouts for slides
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A slide layout arranges your slide content. For example, you may want both a list and a picture on the slide, or a picture and a caption.
Layouts contain different types of placeholders and placeholder arrangements to support whatever your content is.
The picture shows the layouts that PowerPoint starts with automatically.
The Title Slide layout, shown here as it looks in the layouts gallery, is applied to the first slide in the show, the one that's already
there when you start.
On the slide, the Title Slide layout contains placeholders for a title and subtitle.
The layout you'll probably use the most for other slides is called Title and Content, shown here as it looks in the layouts gallery.
On the slide, this layout has a placeholder for the slide title, and a second, all-purpose placeholder that contains text as well as
several icons. This placeholder supports either text or graphic elements like charts, pictures, and movie files.
Some of the other layouts have two of these all-purpose placeholders, so you could put a list in one and a picture or other graphic in the
other.
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Type your text
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In the all-purpose placeholder shown previously, you can add graphic elements or text. You'll look at adding graphics such as pictures in
the next lesson. Right now let's talk about text.
The default formatting for text is a bulleted list.
You can use different levels of text within bulleted lists to make minor points under major points.
On the Ribbon, use commands in the Font group to change character formatting, such as font colour and size.
Use commands in the Paragraph group to change paragraph formatting, such as list formatting, degree of text indentation, and line
spacing.
Automatic text fit If you type more text than fits in the placeholder, PowerPoint reduces the font size and line spacing to fit it all in.
You can turn this behaviour off, if you prefer
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Insert slides from another presentation
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You may need to use slides from an existing presentation in your show. This is how to do it:
On the Home tab, click the arrow next to New Slide, as if you were going to insert a new slide and choose a layout for it first.
Below the layout gallery, click Reuse Slides.
In the Reuse Slides task pane, under Insert slide from, click Browse to find the presentation or slide library that has the slides you
want. Then click the arrow to open those slides in the task pane.
When you find the slide you want, take notice of the Keep source formatting check box, at the very bottom of the pane. If you want
to retain the exact look of the slides you're inserting, be sure this check box is selected before you insert the slide.
Click each slide you want to insert. Each one is copied into the open presentation, below the currently selected slide or below your
cursor, if you've positioned it beneath a slide thumbnail.
If you don't select Keep source formatting, the inserted slides inherit the look, or theme, that your current slides use. (The theme is
what dictates the overall design and colours for the presentation; more about that in the next lesson.)
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Create Speaker Notes
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Use speaker notes to elaborate on the points on the slide. Good notes can help you keep your audience engaged and prevent text
overload on the slide.
As you develop the content on your slides, type your notes in the notes pane, below the slide. Typically, as a presenter, you print
these notes and refer to them as you give the presentation.
You can enlarge the notes pane so that it's easier to work in by dragging the split bar.
Your notes are saved in a notes page, which contains a copy of the slide along with the notes. This is what you print to refer to
during the show.
You'll see how to view and edit the notes page in the practice session.
There is a space limit If your notes exceed the space on the notes page, they will get cut off when you print. You'll see how to
prevent this in the lesson "Proof, print, prep for the show."
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Choose a theme, add more content
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As a colour scheme for your presentation, basic black and white will do the job. But when you're in the mood for more colour and a
vibrant design, go straight to the PowerPoint themes gallery and try out what's there.
The picture contrasts the default theme, applied to the slide on the left, with one of many others that are available, applied to the slide
on the right.
Choosing another theme is no harder than flipping a switch.
See also how to put other elements, such as pictures and captions, on your slides. Then learn some alignment tricks to keep everything
neatly arranged.
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January 2010
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The Beauty of Themes
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Every presentation has a theme; some are just more colourful than others.
The theme determines the look and colours of your slides and gives your presentation a consistent appearance. Here, you see three
title slides that have the same content but that use different themes.
A theme includes these elements, offered as a package:
Background design
Colour scheme
Font types and sizes, and
Placeholder positions
The colour scheme affects background colours, font colours, fill colours for shapes, border colours, hyperlinks, and slide elements like
tables and charts.
Regarding placeholders, the theme honours the layout you've chosen, it just moves things around a little. For instance, on the three
slides shown, each theme puts the title and subtitle placeholders in a different position. But the basic Title Slide layout is still there.
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January 2010
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Choose a Theme
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Every new presentation starts out with the default theme, called Office Theme. Now see how to choose another one.
To find and apply a theme, click the Design tab on the Ribbon.
Theme samples, in the form of the small thumbnails you see here, are shown in the Themes group.
To see additional themes, click the More button on the right of the group.
When you point to any theme thumbnail, a preview of it is shown on the slide.
Click a thumbnail to apply that theme to all your slides. You can also apply the theme only to the slides you have selected.
Apply a theme at any stage of creating the show. However, remember that themes can alter the position of placeholders, so some will
work better than others with your content
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Insert Pictures 1
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Now learn two methods for inserting pictures and other non-text items into slides.
In the first lesson, you had a glimpse of the first method, which is to click an icon in a placeholder. The picture illustrates how to insert a
piece of clip art.
Click the Clip Art icon in the placeholder.
The Clip Art task pane opens. There, type a keyword in the Search for box that suggests the sort of clips you want, and click Go.
Clips appear that fit the keyword. Click one of them to insert it into the slide.
The picture is automatically sized and positioned within the placeholder.
Other things you can insert this way include tables, charts, SmartArt graphics, your own pictures, and video files.
Caution about inserting pictures Pictures, particularly high-resolution photographs, can quickly inflate the size of your presentation.
Be mindful of ways you can optimize such pictures to make them as small as possible. Find out more in the Quick Reference Card at
the end of this course.
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Insert Pictures 2
AUDIO TEXT
Another way to insert slide items is to use the Insert tab on the Ribbon. All of the things you could insert from the slide pane are also
available here, plus more — including shapes, hyperlinks, text boxes, headers and footers, and media clips such as sounds.
The picture shows the array of things available on the tab. A typical thing to insert is a text box. (Note, you can't insert a text box using
an icon in a slide layout.)
Text boxes are handy when you want to add text somewhere and need another placeholder for it, such as for a picture caption. First,
you'd click Text Box on the Insert tab.
And then, you'd draw the box on the slide and type in it.
What's the best method? Since you have two choices for how to insert some things, what's the recommended method? It mostly
comes down to what you find handiest. One thing to consider is how you want the inserted item to be positioned on the slide.
For example, if you use an icon in the placeholder to insert a picture, the picture will be put in that placeholder. When you insert a
picture by using the Insert tab, PowerPoint guesses on its placement, putting it in an available placeholder or in the one you have
selected. If there are no available placeholders, PowerPoint inserts the picture to the middle of the slide — and that may be what you
want, sometimes.
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January 2010
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Edit Slide Elements
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Once you have inserted a picture, you may want to make adjustments to it, such as resizing, cropping, or changing the brightness. Use
Picture Tools for this. They're available when you have the picture selected.
So, select the picture.
Picture Tools appear above the Ribbon. Use options on the Format tab to work with the picture.
There are tools for the range of things you can insert, from tables, charts, and SmartArt graphics to text boxes and shapes, sounds, and
videos. Just select the inserted item to see the relevant tab on the Ribbon.
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Arrange Slide Elements
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Once you've put all the things that you want on the slide, you need to align them so they look just right.
For example, in this picture, the text box with the caption will look best once it's aligned evenly with the picture — either flush left, or
correctly centred.
You use the Arrange commands to align slide elements.
To align the caption so it's flush left with the picture, first select both placeholders.
Find the Arrange group on the Format tab, in Picture Tools.
Click the Align button, and then click Align Left.
The Arrange commands are also available in the Drawing group on the Home tab.
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Proof, Print and Prep for the Show
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You've learned the essentials for creating a slide show. Now imagine that your presentation is ready, and you need to prepare to
present it.
Start with previewing it as a slide show on your computer. Then run a spelling check, get input from others, and check your notes.
Use print preview to see how handouts and notes will look when printed, and select the right printing options for them.
When it's ready to go, place your presentation on a CD or on a computer that you'll have access to when you present. The PowerPoint
packaging feature helps you here.
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January 2010
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Preview on your computer
AUDIO TEXT
COURSE TEXT
As you create a show, preview it at any time in Slide Show view.
This view gives you an idea of how the slides will look and behave
when projected.
Other ways to open Slide Show view are:
Press F5 to start on the first slide.
To open Slide Show view, click the Slide Show tab, and click a
command in the Start Slide Show group — to start on the first
slide or the current slide.
Press SHIFT+F5 to start on the current slide.
Click the Slide Show button, which is in the lower-
Slide Show view fills your computer screen.
One way to navigate from slide to slide is to use the Slide
Show toolbar, at the bottom of the screen, on the left. It has
navigational arrows that appear when you position the cursor in
that area. (You'll see this toolbar better in the practice session.)
Another way to move from slide to slide is simply to click the
mouse button.
To get out of Slide Show view at any point, press ESC. This
returns you to the view you left, which is typically Normal view.
There, you can make necessary changes to slides, and then
preview the slide show again.
right part of the PowerPoint window next to the Zoom
slider.
The show begins on the slide that's currently selected on
the Slides tab.
Click the Slide Show button on the View tab. The
show begins on the first slide no matter which slide is
currently selected.
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January 2010
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Check spelling, send for comments
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You'll want to weed out any spelling errors and find other goofs and gaps before you present. Go to the Review tab on the Ribbon to
run a spelling check. That's also where others can go to add comments as they review your slides.
On the Review tab, in the Proofing group, click Spelling, and make selections as the spelling checker moves through your slides.
You might also want to have others review the presentation and make comments before you present. You'll find the New Comment
command in the Comments group, also on the Review tab. A person adding comments just clicks the command and types the
comment, slide by slide. When you review the comments, you use Previous and Next, in the Comments group, to navigate through
them.
If you do have others review the presentation, PowerPoint helps the process by automatically attaching the presentation to an e-mail
message. In the practice session, you'll see how to do that.
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Print Handouts
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The most common type of PowerPoint printout for audiences is called a handout. Handouts can have one or several slides per page,
up to nine.
A good practice is to use Print Preview to select the handout type you want, as shown here, so you can see how it will look before
printing. (Start by clicking Print Preview on the Microsoft Office Button menu.)
In Print Preview, display the list in the Print What box by clicking the arrow.
Choose one of the handout types from the list.
When you click the handout type, you are shown a preview of how your slides will look when printed in this format. You can navigate
through all the handout pages. The handout type that has three slides per page also includes lines for audience notes.
When you're ready to print, you click Print.
You'll use Print Preview in the practice session.
Note You do not have to select handouts in Print Preview; you can just open the Print dialog box from the Microsoft Office Button
menu, and select the handout type there.
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Print Speaker Notes
AUDIO TEXT
You've printed handouts to give to your audience; now print speaker notes for yourself, which you can refer to as you present.
It's a good practice to look at your speaker notes before you print them. See if they look as you're expecting them to. Start by clicking
Print Preview on the Microsoft Office Button menu.
To print your speaker notes, select Notes Pages in the Print What list.
Your notes pages are shown in the preview window, starting with the first slide (unless you specify otherwise).
If you find that something isn't formatted as you'd intended or you see that note text has been cut off (as it will be if it exceeds the room
in the text placeholder), you need to fix the notes either in Notes Page view or in Normal view. You'll go through this in the practice
session.
After you've checked your notes and you're ready to print, you click Print.
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January 2010
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Add Footer Text to Handouts and Notes
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Print Preview also affords you the chance to add or adjust footers in your handouts and notes.
By default, printed handouts and notes have page numbers. If you want them to show other things, such as footer text, follow these
steps:
Click Options, and then click Header and Footer.
To show footer text, such as "Draft" or "Confidential," select the Footer option, and then type the text you want in the box. If you
wanted a date, you'd select the Date and time option and then set options in that area of the dialog box.
The selections you make on the Notes and Handouts tab in the Header and Footer dialog box apply to your handouts and your notes
pages.
Tip You can set up headers and footers anytime as you create your presentation. Use the Insert tab on the Ribbon to open the
Header and Footer dialog box.
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Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Colour Options for Printing
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Depending on what kind of printer your computer is hooked up to, you can print your presentation in Colour; in Greyscale, which
consists of various tones of gray combined with black and white; or in Pure Black and White, which eliminates most of the greys and
will use the least printer ink.
This is how you select an option for printing:
Under Print Preview, click Options, and point to Colour/Greyscale. Then select from the menu. Your slides will be previewed and
printed with that choice applied. Note that if you are printing to a black and white printer, the Colour option becomes Colour (On Black
and White Printer), and all the slide's colours are rendered using black, white, and shades of gray.
The first preview example shows a slide that will be printed in colour.
The second preview example shows a slide that will be printed in greyscale. While the background is made white, some areas
reflect colour, such as the horizontal banners under the title and along the bottom of the slide.
And the last preview example shows a slide that will be printed in pure black and white.
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January 2010
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Package the Presentation
AUDIO TEXT
COURSE TEXT
The PowerPoint Package for CD feature bundles your
presentation file and any other files you need for your presentation
and copies them into one folder or directly to a CD. If you copy
your files to a folder, you can burn the folder to a CD later. You can
also copy the files to a network server that you have access to
from your presenting computer.
Requirements for packaging to a CD To package and then
copy to a CD from PowerPoint, you must be running Microsoft
Windows XP or later on your computer, and you must have a CD
burner. If you are running Microsoft Windows 2000, you can still
use this feature to package the presentation files to a folder, and
then use a third-party program to burn the folder to a CD.
To package your presentation and related files:
Click the Microsoft Office Button
.
Point to Publish, and click Package for CD.
In the dialog box that opens, make selections for what you
want to be included in the package, and copy your file or files
either to a folder or a CD.
Important Always save your presentation before packaging it to
a folder or CD.
For more about the packaging process, read the notes here, and
look in the See Also and Package to CD or folder sections in the
Quick Reference Card at the end of the course.
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January 2010
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Quick Reference guide
Add slides
To add a slide without selecting the layout first, do one of the following:
On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click New Slide.
Right-click a slide thumbnail, and click New Slide.
The first slide after the title slide gets the Title and Content layout by default. After that, a new slide
gets the same layout as the slide that precedes it.
Choose and change layouts
To insert a slide with a specific layout:
1.
On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click the arrow on the New Slide button.
2.
Click a layout.
Tip Any layout that has "content" in its title includes icons that you can use to insert nontext items such as pictures, charts, and tables.
To change the layout of an inserted slide, do one of the following:
Right-click the slide that has the layout you want to change, point to Layout on the
shortcut menu, and click a layout.
Select the slide or slides whose layout you want to change (press CTRL as you click to
select multiple slides). On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click Layout
click a layout. If you have selected multiple slides, they all get the same layout.
, and then
Insert slides from other presentations
1.
Open the presentation that you want to add slides to. Make sure you're in Normal view.
2.
On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click the arrow on the New Slide button.
3.
Click Reuse Slides.
4.
In the task pane, browse to either a slide library or a presentation file that has the slides
you want to use.
5.
If you want to keep a slide's original look, select Keep source formatting, at the bottom
of the task pane.
6.
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Click each slide that you want to insert into your presentation.
Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010
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Apply a theme
To apply a theme to all slides:
On the Design tab, in the Themes group, click a theme.
To apply a theme to only some slides:
1.
Select the slides you want to apply a theme to (press CTRL while you click each one to
select multiple ones).
2.
On the Design tab, in the Themes group, right-click a theme thumbnail, and click Apply
to Selected Slides.
Insert slide elements
Insert from within a slide placeholder
one:
Apply a layout that has a content placeholder, such as this
Click an icon to insert a table, chart, SmartArt™ graphic, picture file, clip art, or video file.
Use the Insert tab This tab has the most comprehensive collection of things to insert, including
shapes, hyperlinks, headers and footers, and sounds.
Size and align pictures and text boxes
With the picture selected, Picture Tools are available. On the Format tab, use
commands in the Size and Arrange groups.
With the text box or shape selected, Drawing Tools are available. On the Format tab,
use commands in the Size and Arrange groups.
The Arrange commands are also available on the Home tab.
Work with notes
On the View tab, in the Presentation Views group, click Notes Page. In Notes Page
view, you can see and revise the notes formatting for the currently selected slide. Make sure
the notes fit into the placeholder, as any text that doesn't fit will not be printed.
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January 2010
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Get ready to print
Click the Microsoft Office Button
, point to Print, and click Print Preview.
To select a type of printout, click the arrow in the Print What box (in the Page
Setup group) and select from the list.
To set color options for printing or to access the Header and Footer dialog
box, click Options in the Print group.
To print, click Print in the Print group.
Work in Slide Show view
To open Slide Show view, do any of the following:
Click the Slide Show tab, and click a command in the Start Slide Show group. You can
choose to start on the first slide or on the current slide.
Press F5 to start on the first slide.
Press SHIFT+F5 to start on the current slide.
Click the Slide Show button
in the lower-right part of the PowerPoint window
next to the Zoom slider. The show begins on the slide that's currently selected on the Slides
tab.
On the View tab, in the Presentation Views group, click Slide Show. The show begins
on the first slide no matter which slide is currently selected.
To get out of Slide Show view, press ESC.
Package to CD or folder
Use the Package for CD feature to bundle all your presentation files and then copy them to a folder
or a CD.
To package and then copy to a CD from PowerPoint, you must be running Microsoft Windows® XP or
later and you must have a CD burner. If you are running Microsoft Windows 2000, you can still use
this feature to package the presentation files to a folder, but you must then use a third-party program
to burn the folder to a CD.
Important: Options for when you're packaging
There are a couple of ways you can have your file packaged, depending on the environment in which
you'll present it. You can:
Package it in the Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Viewer, which enables you to show it
on a computer that doesn't have PowerPoint. OR:
Package it just as it is, to be presented within PowerPoint.
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Note that when files are packaged for the viewer, they are converted to older file formats, such as
.ppt, .pot, and .pps. This is to enable them to run automatically, if you choose, within the viewer.
If you don't want to show your presentation in the viewer but plan to show it within PowerPoint,
choose the Archive Package (do not update file formats) option when you're making selections in
the Package for CD dialog box. To get to that option, click Options.
Final note of advice
A must before you present: Go to the room where you'll be presenting, make sure that you can
access your presentation from the computer you're using, and run through the slide show. Take your
printed notes with you so that you can practice referring to them while you practice clicking through
the show. You might also ask someone else to go along, listen, and give feedback.
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January 2010
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PE27
Adapted from Microsoft Tutorial
January 2010