Information Services Logo

Microsoft PowerPoint
2004
Macintosh OS X

Graphics and Media in PowerPoint 2004

Getting Started button Slide button Format Slides button Graphics and Media button Charts and Tables button Slide Show button What's New button

Adding Clip Art

PowerPoint 2004 comes with a large clip art collection. To insert clip art and open the clip art gallery, choose the Insert menu and select Picture > Clip Art... The Clip Art Gallery will open. The Gallery has a category section. When the category is selected thumbnail images of the clip art available appear in the right section of the gallery. You can maneuver within these sections to find the clip art that suits your needs. You can also use the Search button to find a specific piece of clip art. Once you have selected clip art, clicking on it once will insert it into your PowerPoint presentation. You can then change the location, size, and rotation if you like.

Back to Top

Pictures

Pictures can also be added to your slides to clarify a point. To insert a picture, it must be saved in a graphical format PowerPoint understands. Such formats include GIF and JPEG. To insert a picture, choose the Insert menu and select Picture > From File... A dialog box will appear from which you can select the name of the file to insert.

Unfortunately, inserting large images or many images can cause your presentation to crash. Before inserting your images into a PowerPoint presentation you should use a graphics application such as Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Fireworks to reduce the size of your images.

Changing the resolution of an image is especially important when you intend to view the presentation on-screen rather than making printouts since computer screens at best can only display images at 96 dpi, even if the image has a resolution of 300 dpi. Removing the extra resolution data makes your file smaller and more manageable without compromising the quality of the image.

For more information on how to safely include images in your PowerPoint presentations, learn how to prepare your images for PowerPoint.

Back to Top

Movies and Sound Clips

Inserting movies and sound clips is possible in PowerPoint 2004. However, you must save your movie or sound clip files with your PowerPoint presentation or else they will not work. It is recommended that you create a folder and save your presentation and media clips together.

Always test your presentation on the computer you will be presenting on to make sure the necessary applications are installed on the computer. Some media formats are not fully compatible on Windows computers in PowerPoint.

To insert a movie:

    1. Select the Insert menu > Movies and Sounds menu > Movie from File.
    2. The movie dialog box will appear. Navigate to the folder containing your movie file.
    3. Select the movie file and click Choose.
    4. The first frame of the movie appears in the center of the slide.
    5. A dialog box will ask if you would like the movie to play immediately when you navigate to the slide or when you click on it. Select the option that works best for your presentation.
    6. To see the movie play during a slide show, click the Slide Show button.
    7. Click anywhere on the movie frame to play the movie if you set it to play when clicked.

To insert a sound clip:

  1. Select the Insert menu > Movies and Sounds > Sound from File.
  2. The sound dialog box will appear. Navigate to the folder containing your sound file.
  3. Select the sound file and click Insert.
  4. The sound clip icon Sound Clip Icon will appear in the middle of the slide.
  5. A dialog box will ask you if you would like the sound to play immediately when you navigate to the slide or when you click it. Select the option that works best for your presentation.
  6. To hear the sound clip play during the slide show, click the Slide Show button.
  7. Click on the sound clip icon Sound Clip Icon to hear the clip play if you set it to play when clicked.

 

Back to Top

Drawing Shapes

PowerPoint 2004 provides simple drawing tools for adding shapes to your slides. To insert a shape you must be in Normal View. In this view, the drawing toolbar is located on the bottom or left-hand side of the window. If you don't see the toolbar, go to the View menu and select Toolbars > Drawing.

Drawing an object can be accomplished by clicking on the shape icon on the Drawing toolbar and moving the mouse cursor to the desired location on the slide where the object is to be placed. Next, hold down the mouse button while dragging the mouse to form the size of the shape. If you hold down the SHIFT key while dragging, the object will be made with even sides or angles (i.e. making an ellipse a circle).

The AutoShapes icon will display a dialog box of shapes when selected. To insert one of these shapes, choose the shape and drag the mouse to draw the desired size. To add text to a shape, click to select the shape and begin typing.

To change margins, vertical alignment, word wrap, and whether the shape automatically resizes as text is added, first make sure the shape is selected.Choose the Format menu >AutoShape. In the Format window click the Text Box button, make changes, then click OK.

Back to Top