Microsoft Power Point
Office 98
Mac & PC
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Microsoft Power Point |
How
to Use Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint software is standard for public clusters and/or offices. It is part of the Microsoft Office 98Suite.
Microsoft PowerPoint version Office98 is a presentation package. PowerPoint can be used to produce presentations, slides, handouts, speaker's notes, and outlines. PowerPoint's use of templates lets you design consistent slides without being an expert designer.
If you are using PowerPoint on a Macintosh, your computer must be a PowerPC equipped with System 7.5 or later and a minimum of 16MB of RAM. 120 MHz is recommended and you should have between 49-120 MB of hard disk space.
Every time PowerPoint is started on your computer, a dialog box will show up asking if you want to create a new presentation or open an existing one. If you want to create a new presentation, it gives you the option of creating a blank one, or one with the help of a wizard or a template (more on these later). A "tip of the day" will also appear. This dialog box shows a tip on how better to use a particular feature of PowerPoint. If you wish to disable the tip of the day, click the Office Assistant by going to the Help Menu > Microsoft PowerPoint Help > Options and uncheck the box that says "Show Tip of the Day at Startup" and click OK.
PowerPoint has five views from which you can choose to create and edit your slides. To access the views, you can go to the View Menu. You can also click icons that are located on the bottom left corner of the slide window. Each view will have a different set of icons from which editing can be done. Each view also displays the slide in a unique way. To select a view, click on the appropriate view icon. These views are also accessible from the Views pulldown menu. Back to menu.
The first view is the slide view. In this view, you edit one
slide at a time. With the current slide, you can add text, draw
graphics, add clip art, and change the layout.
The second view is the outline view. In this view, your
presentation is displayed in an outline form. Only your headings and
main text will appear in the outline. This view is helpful for
organizing your presentation. Back to
menu.
The third view is the slide sorter view. This view shows a
miniature of your slides. Under each slide it shows the slide number,
transition between slides, body text animation and display time. All
of these attributes can be modified from this view. The toolbar above
the slide window contains the functions for setting the slide
attributes.
The notes page view the fourth type of view in PowerPoint.
This view shows your slide in the upper half of the window and your
notes in the bottom half. This is a useful view for correlating your
notes with a particular slide. The notes you enter for each slide can
then be used during your presentation.Back to
menu.
The last view is the slide show view. This view runs your
presentation, filling the screen with your slides. With this view,
you can see the slide transitions and timing. To get out of the Slide
Show view and back to one of the edit views, press the <esc>
key. Back to menu.
Wizards let you easily create slides by clicking on the desired options and letting PowerPoint do all the formatting. Wizards are a great way to create professional looking slides with very little effort.
When you close the "tip of the day" or chose File > New , a dialog box appears. This dialog box lets you choose which wizard you wish to use to create your slides. The AutoContent wizard helps you create the first slide. Then it helps you select a presentation category. On a PC, you have the option to open a blank presentation, select auto content wizard, or template.
The Template helps you create a specific style for your slides. To find Template, select File > Open > Templates. You will be asked to pick a template from the list of designs that come with PowerPoint. You are then able to add special features to customize your slides. This wizard is available throughout the slide development cycle not just at the creation of a new presentation. Back to menu.
If you wish to create a new presentation without the help of the wizards, click on the Blank Presentation button and choose OK. A new presentation can also be created by pressing [Control][N] or choosing File > New from the menu. The Wizards dialog box will appear and you may select the Blank Presentation icon and click OK. When you choose Blank Presentation, it asks you to choose a slide style. Select one and click OK. Back to menu.
To open an existing presentation, choose the Open button on a Mac, or Open an Existing Presentation on a PC; then select the name of the file you wish to open. Alternatively, pressing [Control][O] or selecting File > Open from the menu will also open the selected file. Back to menu.
Pressing [Control][S] or selecting File > Save from the menu will save the current presentation. If this is the first time you have saved this presentation, PowerPoint will ask for a filename. If the presentation has been saved before, PowerPoint will use the current filename.
To save a presentation with a different name or in a different directory, choose File > Save As... from the menu. PowerPoint will then ask for the new name and directory for the presentation.
You also have the option of saving your presentation in different formats. In the Save As window, there is a pull down menu under File Name, Save As Type. This allows you to save your presentation as a Window Metafile, a JPEG, or whatever format suits your fancy.
There also exists the option to save the presentation as html, enabling you to publish it on the Web. To do this, select File > Save as HTML, and then follow the instructions in the Internet Assistant. Additional information regarding saving as html can be found here.
A new slide can be added by simply choosing Insert > New Slide or clicking on the New Slide button on the status bar. When inserting a new slide, PowerPoint displays a dialog box. In this box, you must choose the layout type of the new slide. This feature allows you to easily insert information into your slides and provide consistency throughout your presentation.
The current slide can be deleted by choosing Edit > Delete Slide from the menu. The next slides in the presentation will each move up in the slide order. Back to menu.
When you first created a new slide, you picked a layout to be applied to the slide. PowerPoint lets you change this layout without having to remake the entire slide. To change the layout, simply choose Format > Slide Layout from the menu. Doing so displays the slide layout dialog box from which you can select a new layout. The new layout will be applied to the current slide without affecting the slide's contents. Back to menu.
The easiest way to change a slide's position is to switch to the Slide Sorter view. Hold the first click over the slide you wish to move and drag it to the new location. Release when the cursor is at the new location. The slide will now be placed in the new position for the presentation. Back to menu.
The slide master contains the formatting of the title, text, and background items that appear on all the slides in the presentation. Any changes you make to the slide master automatically occur in the other slides of the presentation.
To edit the slide master, choose View > Master > Slide Master from the menu. This makes the slide master the current slide for editing. All changes you make are applied to the slide master. When you are done, choose View > Slide or View > Slide Sorter from the menu. All slides will now have the changes made to the slide master.
If you wish a slide to differ from the slide master, simply make the slide the active one. All changes made to the slide will apply only to the current slide, and not to the slide master or other slides in the presentation. Any further changes to the slide master will not erase the formatting you specifically defined for this slide. Later, if you wish to reapply the slide formats, choose Format > Slide Layout to display the layout dialog box. Choose Reapply to update the current slide with the formats of the slide master. This reapplication, however, does not reapply the slide master's color scheme. To reapply the color scheme from the slide master, choose Format > Slide Color Scheme. Here you can choose standard or custom color schemes. When finished, select Apply or Apply to All.
A background item can be removed from an individual slide by first making it the active slide. Next, choose Format > Background from the menu. Verify that the checkbox labeled, Omit Background Graphics from Master is unchecked and that after selecting the changes, choose Apply. Back to menu.
Color should be used to enhance the message on your slides and make it more presentable. PowerPoint has hundreds of color schemes that can be used to make professional looking presentations. To change the color scheme, choose the Format > Slide Color Scheme menu, and the Custom tab. This brings up a dialog box from which you can select a preset color scheme or you can set colors for each background, text, lines, shadows, fills, and accents using the custom dialog box. To change a color, click on the appropriate box and choose Change Color or double-click on the color box. In the new dialog box that appears, you can click on the Standard tab for the standard colors or the Custom tab to create a new color. For the Standard tab, click on the desired color and choose OK. Under the Custom tab, you can also select the color by adjusting the levels of HSL and/or RGB. You can preview the color in the adjacent color square.
In the Standard tab of the Color Scheme dialog box is a sample slide. This slide shows how your color choices will look on the slides.
A special feature, to make your slides look nice, is selecting different colors and fill effects for the background. Choose the Format > Background. PowerPoint displays the Slide background dialog box. At the bottom of the dialog box, a pop-up menu appears. Select More Colors to change the background color of the slide. Select the Fill Effects option from the pop-up menu to see the different options in fill effects. Back to menu.
An object can be selected by simply placing the mouse cursor over it and double-clicking. To select more than one object, hold down the [SHIFT] key while double clicking. If the objects are located next to each other you can select them all by placing the cursor in the corner of the region, holding down the mouse and dragging the mouse to form a rectangle that surrounds the objects to be selected. When you release the mouse button, the objects will be selected. You can also deselect an object by holding down the [SHIFT] key and clicking on a selected object. If you wish to select all the objects on a slide, choose Edit > Select All from the menu.
Sometimes, you will want to treat a bunch of objects as if they were one object. PowerPoint lets you do this by making the objects a group. To do this, select all the objects you wish to group together. Then go to the Drawing toolbar along the bottom of the window, choose the Draw > Group menu command at the far left. Now any operation performed on an object in the group will also be performed on the other group members. You can ungroup the objects later by choosing Draw > Ungroup.
Before you can cut, copy, or paste an object you must first select it. Once selected, choose the appropriate command from the Edit menu. The cut command removes the selected item from PowerPoint and places it on the clipboard. The copy command leaves the original object in PowerPoint and places a copy on the clipboard. The paste command pastes the object from the clipboard onto PowerPoint. The duplicate command makes a copy of the selected object and places it on top of the original object. Duplicate does not place a copy of the object on the clipboard. You can replicate the duplicate command in Slide Sorter by holding down the [OPTION] key on a Mac, or the [CONTROL] key on a PC, while dragging a selected slide to the place where you want the duplicate. Back to menu.
Before an object can be moved you must first select it. Once selected, click and drag the object to the new location. If you depress the [SHIFT] key while dragging the object, PowerPoint constrains the movement to vertical or horizontal moves only.
Objects can be aligned by their selection borders, not their physical borders. To align objects, you must first select them. Once selected, choose the Draw > Align or Distribute menu. From here you can choose the type of alignment you desire for the selected objects. Back to menu.
Objects can be stacked on top of one another. As with a stack of real objects, those on the bottom are not fully visible and may not be visible at all. To stack an object on top another, drag the object on top of the first. You can determine which object is the top object by choosing the Draw > Order > Send Backward menu to send the selected object back one level in the stack or the Draw > Order > Bring Forward menu to bring the selected object up one level in the stack. Back to menu.
To rotate a selected object choose the Draw > Rotate or Flip menu. This displays a dialog box from which you can select the type of rotation. If you wish to rotate the object on a non-ninety degree angle, choose the Free Rotate option. Click on a corner of the object and drag the object to the desired angle. If you hold down the [SHIFT] while dragging the object, PowerPoint will restrict the rotation to 45-degree angles. Back to menu.
Resizing objects in PowerPoint is easy. First, select the object to be resized. Next, hold down the click on one of the corners of the box surrounding the object and drag to the new size. If you wish to keep the aspect ratio of the original object, hold down the [SHIFT] key while resizing the object. Holding down [OPTION] resizes the object from the center. Back to menu.
To cancel or undo your most recent action, click the 
button or select Edit > Undo. Another way you can do this
is by selecting the arrow next to Undo
to see the most recent actions you can undo. You can scroll to see
more actions. Click the action you want to undo. When you undo an
action, you also undo all actions listed above it. If you change your
mind after you click Undo, you can click Redo 
to restore the action. Back to menu.
Placing a border around objects can enhance them. PowerPoint lets you place borders by selecting the object and choosing the Format > Colors And Lines menu. This displays a dialog box from which you can choose the line style, color, and fill of the object. If you wish to remove a border, choose the No Line option in the dialog box.
To fill an object, click on the Fill box of the Colors and Lines dialog box. From this menu choose a color for the fill and then choose OK. Back to menu.
Adding text to the title of a slide requires you to click on the box stating Click to add title. Next, type the text you want to be used as a title. Do not hit [ENTER] at the end of the line unless you wish to place another line of text in the title.
Typing text on the slide is just as simple. Click in the box Click to add text. All text you enter will be placed on the slide. Hitting [ENTER] will advance to the next bulleted item. Pressing [OPTION][RETURN] on a Mac, or [CONTROL][RETURN] on a PC, will start a new slide. If the text is too long for the line, PowerPoint automatically wraps the text to the next line and indents properly. You can also advance to the next line of the same bulleted text by pressing [SHIFT][RETURN]. While typing text, you can edit by using the arrow keys, [BACKSPACE], [DEL], and the edit menu commands. If you wish to edit text in another section or put text in an object, select the object and edit the text. Adding text in Outline View is the easiest way to generate slides. To start entering text, click to the right of the slide icon that follows the number 1. Enter the text you want to be the title of the first slide. After entering the title, press [RETURN] to start entering the bulleted items. After entering a bulleted item, press [RETURN] to start a new bullet or [OPTION][RETURN] on a Mac, or [CONTROL][RETURN] on a PC to start a new slide. You can create bullet levels by using the demote buttons (arrow buttons on the right of the tool bar). Back to menu.
PowerPoint lets you find and replace text relatively quickly. To find a string, choose the Edit > Find menu. In the dialog box, enter the text to find and select any options you desire. When you are done, click on the Find Next button. If PowerPoint found the text, it will be highlighted in the active slide. Continue to click on the Find Next button to find the text.
To replace a string, choose the Edit > Replace menu. In the dialog box, enter the string to find the string to use as a replacement, and select any desired options. When done, select Find Next to find the next occurrence without replacing it, select Replace to replace the next occurrence, or Replace All to replace all occurrences of the search string. Back to menu.
PowerPoint provides a very good spell checker. To check the spelling of your presentation, select the Tools > Spelling menu. PowerPoint will then search your slides for misspelled words.
If an unknown word is found, PowerPoint displays a dialog box with possible corrections. To correct the misspelled word, click on the correct spelling and select Change or Change All to change the current and any future misspellings of the word. The Add button will let you add the word to your personal dictionary. This is useful for commonly used words such as your name, which PowerPoint may think, are misspelled. Back to menu.
PowerPoint lets you change the style and characteristics of your text. To change the text format, choose the Format > Font menu to display the font dialog box. From this dialog box you can choose the font, point size, font style, and text color for the selected text. You can make your text shadowed by choosing the Shadow option in the effects box. The Emboss option is used to provide an embossing effect on your text. The Superscript option raises the text above the current text line and the Subscript option places the text below the current line.
PowerPoint also lets you define formatting characteristics for paragraphs of text. The Format > Align menu command (Alignment on a PC) lets you select the alignment of the text within the paragraph. The Format > Line Spacing menu command is used to set the spacing between lines of a paragraph. The Before Paragraph and After Paragraph boxes are used to set the line spacing before and after each selected paragraph. Back to menu.
To paste an object from another application, go to the host application and copy the object to the Clipboard. Next, go to the slide in PowerPoint where you want the object pasted and choose Edit > Paste from the menu. The object will now be pasted onto the slide. If you wish the object to be updated automatically in PowerPoint whenever changes are made to the object in the original application, choose Edit > Paste Special and click on the Paste Link option. This forms a link between the object in PowerPoint and the object in the original application. If you wish to insert an entire object file into PowerPoint, choose the Insert > Object menu command and select the file or application which generated the object. Back to menu.
PowerPoint provides simple drawing tools for adding shapes to your slides. To insert a shape you must be in Slide 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 View > Toolbars > Drawing. Drawing an object is as simple as clicking on the desired shape’s icon or AutoShapes 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). Holding down [OPTION] draws the shape from the center outwards.
The AutoShapes icon (icon with several shapes stacked on top of each other) will display a dialog box of performed shapes. To insert one of these shapes choose the shape and drag the mouse to draw the desired size. Back to menu.
PowerPoint comes with a large clip art collection. To open the clip art gallery, choose the Insert > Picture > Clip Art menu. The Gallery has a box of categories and a box of clip art miniatures. You can maneuver within these boxes to find the clip art that suits your needs. You can also use the Find button to find a specific piece of clip art. Back to menu.
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 > Picture > From File menu. A dialog box will appear from which you can select the name of the file to insert. Unfortunately, inserting large images, or a large number of images can cause your presenation to crash. For more information on how to safely include images in your powerpoint presentations, learn how to prepare your images for PowerPoint. Back to menu.
PowerPoint has a special application called Organization Chart which lets you easily design organizational charts for your slides. To start Organization Chart, choose the Insert > Object menu and choose MS Organization Chart from the object box. PowerPoint will then load Organization Chart and let you create your graph. Back to menu.
PowerPoint provides a program called the Equation Editor, which lets you create mathematical equations to place on your slide. To insert an equation, choose Insert > Object and select Microsoft Equation from the list of objects. This will load the Equation Editor in which you can create your equations. To edit an equation, double-click the equation and use the Equation Editor tools and menus to update your equation. Back to menu.
PowerPoint also accepts movies and sound clips. With the use of Media Player for Windows or QuickTime for Macintosh, you can insert a movie object on the slide. Your computer must have these applications installed to use the multimedia capabilities of PowerPoint.
To insert a movie, choose the Insert > Movies and Sounds menu> Movie from File. The movie dialog box appears. Navigate to the drive and folder containing your movie file. Select the movie file and click Open. The first frame of the movie appears in the center of the slide. To see the movie play during a slide show, click the Slide Show button. Click anywhere on the movie frame to play the movie. Back to menu.
Slide transitions can be used to break the monotony of changing slides. To set a slide transition for the current slide, choose the Slide Show > Slide Transition menu. This displays the transition dialog box from which you can choose the type and speed of the transition. The box with the key will show the chosen transition when you make a change. The Advance box lets you select the number of seconds the slide will be displayed before PowerPoint automatically advances to the next slide. Use this only if you need a timed slide. Back to menu.
PowerPoint lets you run your presentation from your computer. This is useful because it saves you from printing slides and provides full color slides for your presentations.
To run the slideshow from within PowerPoint, choose the View > Slide Show menu. PowerPoint will start your presentation.
To set options for your slide show select the Slide Show > Set Up Show menu. If you set the option for advance manually pressing the space bar will advance to the next slide. If you wish to go back to a previous slide, press the [Left Arrow] or [PG DN] key. Back to menu.
The PowerPoint Viewer comes with PowerPoint and is free to distribute with your presentation file. Microsoft allows the distribution of this file only so that people who do not have PowerPoint can still present or view your slide show. To use the PowerPoint Viewer, click on its icon. On a PC, you can add the Viewer to the same disk as a presentation by using the Pack and Go Wizard, found under the File menu. Then you can unpack the Viewer and presentation together and run the slide show on another computer. Back to menu.
PowerPoint provides the facilities for drawing on your slides while you are giving your presentation. This feature is nice if you wish to draw a circle around a particular bullet item of interest, or trace a route on a map displayed on the slide.
To switch to freehand drawing mode while running the presentation, click the Mouse Button on the pen icon in the lower left corner of the screen. On the menu that comes up, choose Pen. This will turn your mouse cursor into a drawing pen. To draw, place the mouse cursor where you want to draw and hold down the Mouse Button while dragging the mouse. When you are done drawing, click the arrow on the lower left hand corner and change back to the Arrow. Any marks you make on the slide during the presentation are not saved, and therefore will not appear the next time the presentation is run. Back to menu.
PowerPoint gives you four options for printing. You can print your presentation as an outline, an audience handout, or a notes page.
All printing is done from the Print dialog box, which is displayed when you choose the File > Print menu. The first line of the dialog box shows the current printer. If this is not the printer you wish to use, click on the Printer button and select a new printer.
The remainder of the Print dialog box contains options to control the printing. If you do not wish to print the entire presentation, you can select a range of slides to print. To do this, move the cursor to the Slides: box and click the Mouse Button. You can now enter the range of slides to print. If you want to print a contiguous range of slides, type the starting slide number, a dash, and then the ending slide number. If you want to print noncontiguous range of slides, type a comma between the slide numbers. For example, entering the string 1- 5, 7, 9-11, 14 will print slides 1 through 5, slide number 7, slides 9 through 11, and slide number 14.
If you want to have more options for printing, hold down the General button and choose Microsoft PowerPoint. Under the "Print What" button. The following options are given:
Slides
This options prints one slide per page (the default). On a PC, you have the option to print with builds, which tells PowerPoint to print each phase of the build slide on its own page, providing build slides are in your presentation.
Notes Pages
This option prints the note pages for each slide.
Handouts (2 slides per page)
This option is used to print 2 slides per page. This provides the best-printed slide quality of any of the handout prints.
Handouts (3 slides per page)
If you want to let people make comments on each slide, use this option. PowerPoint places three slides on the left-hand side of the page, leaving writing room to the right of each slide.
Handouts (6 slides per page)
This option will print six slides per page.
For all these handout pages, you have the option to format them to add Headers, the date, page number, etc. To format the handout pages, choose View > Master > Handout Master. When the Handout Master appears, choose the icon representing the number of slides you want to appear on each handout page. To add text that you want to appear on each page, choose View > Header and Footer command. You can also add any desired background graphics. When you are finished click Close on the Master Toolbar. Note: any headers or footers you add do not display on the Handout Master; you see them only on the printed handout page.
Outline View
This option makes a printed copy of your presentation outline as it appears in outline view.
The other printing options in that dialog box are:
Scale to fit paper
This option tells PowerPoint to automatically scale the slide so it fits on the paper.
Print hidden slides
Normally, slides marked as hidden are not printed. Selecting this option tells PowerPoint to print the hidden slides.
Pure black & white
This option turns all color fills to white and all text and lines to black. PowerPoint automatically adds outlines and borders to all filled objects and prints pictures as grayscale. This is useful when you want to print a draft copy or readable speaker notes and handouts.
Black & white
With this option selected, PowerPoint makes all fills whites and applies a thin black frame around objects with no borders or text.
Print to File
On a PC, you have the option ot print the slides to a PostScriptÆ file. This is useful if you need to give your presentation to aprinter to create 35mm slides or if you want to print it on a PostScriptÆ printer somewhere else.
Collate copies
Checking this option, only available on a PC, tells PowerPoint to collate the pages when printing multiple copies. Back to menu.
When you want to run a slide show on another computer, you can use the Pack and Go Wizard. The wizard packages together, on a disk, all the files and fonts used in the presentation. When you intend to run your show on a computer that doesn't have PowerPoint installed, it also packages the PowerPoint Viewer on the disk.
You can include linked files as part of your package, and if you use TrueType fonts, you can include them as well. If you make changes to your presentation after you use the Pack and Go Wizard, just run the wizard again to update it.
To pack up a presentation for use on another computer, open the presentation you want to save, and under the File menu, select Pack and Go. Follow the instructions in the Pack and Go Wizard, and if prompted, insert another disk. Then, to unpack a presentation to run on another computer, insert the disk you copied the presentation to, and in Windows Explorer, go to the drive where the disk is located. Double-click Pngsetup. Enter the destination that you want to copy the presentation to, and to run the slide show, double-click the PowerPoint Viewer-Ppview32- and click the presentation that you want to run. Back to Menu