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Microsoft PowerPoint
2004
Macintosh OS X

What's New 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

Compatibility Report

Compatibility Report is a new tool in Office 2004 that checks for possible compatibility problems with older versions of Microsoft Office. It identifies and helps fix items in a document that may not be displayed or print properly in earlier versions of Office.

 

Compatibility Report Window

Whenever a document is opened in Office 2004, Compatibility Report checks and alerts you of any compatibility problems. It also checks while you work. If a problem is found, the Compatibility Report button Compatibility Report Icon in the toolbar glows red Glowing Compatibility Report Icon. Selecting this button will bring up a dialog box listing all compatibility problems found in the document. If one of the listed problems is selected, the Explanation window describes what the problem is and how to resolve it. Choosing fix will fix the compatibility issue with older versions of PowerPoint, but if the computer you will be presenting on has Office 2004 installed, fixing the compatibility issues is not necessary.

You also have the option of running Compatibility Report when you save your presentation. When you save your document for the first time, or when using Save As... there is a compatibility report button at the bottom of the dialog box. Selecting it will bring up the Compatibility Report dialog box, and a prompt window will ask if you want to continue saving. Selecting OK will stop the save process so you can address the compatibility issues.

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Presenter Tools

Presenter Tools are a new feature of PowerPoint 2004 that gives the presenter greater control over the presentation while it is running. Using the Presenter Tools feature, the presenter can move through the slide show more efficiently (by using on-screen backward and forward arrows as well as the thumbnail view of the slides in the thumbnail column), add notes, and keep track of time with the built in timer.

Presenter Tools

The Presenter Tools will appear on only the presenter's computer screen if there are two monitors connected and if it is set up correctly. To set up two monitors to use Presenter Tools:

To use the presenter tools during a slide show, you must have two monitors connected to one computer, and have them set as non mirrored. To use the presenter tools to rehearse your slide show, you don't need to make any adjustments to your computer.

  1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences.
  2. In the System Preferences dialog box, select Displays > Arrangement tab.
  3. Uncheck the Mirror Displays check box at the lower left of the dialog box.


If there is no Mirror Displays check box, both monitors are mirrored and that setting can't be changed. The same thing will show on both screens (either the presenter tools or the slide show). Drag the monitor icons so that the larger icon (representing your monitor) is on the left and the smaller (representing the audience monitor) is on the right, and then close the dialog box.
The presenter tools appear on your monitor, and the audience view appears on the audience monitor.

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Custom Animations

A new feature of PowerPoint 2004 is the upgraded animation capability. With this feature, you can create your own transition effects for text and images, increasing your ability to modify your presentation exactly the way you want it. Now, custom animations created in PowerPoint for the Mac will work on PCs with PowerPoint, and even those created in PowerPoint 2004 will work on PCs with PowerPoint 2003.

To access Custom Animations:

  1. From the Slide Show menu, select Custom Animation...
  2. In the new window that appears, select the part of the slide you want to animate in the Select to animate field.
    1. The Add Effect button opens the Animation Effects window, a list of entrance effects, emphasis effects, and exit effects.
    2. You can see each list by choosing the corresponding buttons at the top of the Animation Effects window.
    3. Selecting an item in the list will show a preview of the effect in the Preview field of the Custom Animation window.
  3. You can also edit other features of the slide animations in the Custom Animation window, such as speed, when the animation will start, and the way the animation is shown.
  4. When you have finished customizing, select the OK button to return to your slide.Custom Animation Window

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Saving as a Quicktime Movie:

A new feature of PowerPoint 2004 is the ability to save your presentation as a Quicktime movie. This is useful if your presentation is rather simple and you do not need the more advanced abilities of the full program. Quicktime files can be played on either mac or pc as long as the computer has Quicktime installed. Sound files inserted into a PowerPoint presentation will play in the Quicktime movie. Movie files will not play during the Quicktime movie, the first frame of the movie will appear on your slide, just as it appears in the Normal View when you are editing the slide. Hyperlinks will appear on the slide as well, but are not active.

To Save As A Quicktime Movie:

  1. Select the File menu > Save As...
  2. In the Save As field type a name for your presentation
  3. In the Where drop-down menu choose the location you wish to save to
  4. In the Format drop-down menu choose PowerPoint Movie (Quicktime Format)
  5. Click the Save button

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How to Quit

From the File menu choose Quit.

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