Intro to PowerPoint
PowerPoint is a software program in Microsoft Office that allows you to create “presentations” or slide shows. Your slides can display text or graphics, or a combination of both. From your Start menu, select Programs, then Microsoft PowerPoint. (It may be inside a Microsoft Office folder.)
Create a presentation
- from the File menu, click New to open the “New Presentation” task pane at the right
- from the task pane, under the “New” section, click “From Design Template”
- in the Slide Design task pane, scroll down and select a design template
- click in the text to add a title “My Vacation Plans” and a subtitle “by Prof. Yourname”
- from the File menu, click Save. Save your new presentation to the desktop with filename “My Vacation Plans”
Create additional slides
- click the New Slide button on the toolbar
- from the Slide Layout taskpane, select the appropriate layout—we’ll use the default
- type in the title “Trips” and add some destinations to the bullet list
- create another new slide, selecting the first layout in the “Text and Content” section
- type in the title “Beach” and some possible beach locations
- click Clip Art icon to add content to the right-hand box
- in the Clip Art task pane, search for “beach” and select image
- click the Save button on the tool bar to save edits
The workspace
- menus, toolbars, task pane… let’s close the task pane for now
- views of your presentation. Three views can be selected from tiny icons at bottom left
- Normal view. “Tri-pane” includes thumbnails/outline, editing area, and speaker notes
- Slide sorter view. This is the best view for re-ordering or deleting slides
- Slide show view. This is for presentations… learn how to navigate!
- click mouse or spacebar to go forward
- left and right arrows
- right-click on slide for quick menu… navigation choices
- <esc> to exit slide show quickly
Edit
- change design template. From the Format menu, select Slide Design, then click on new design template in task pane
- change text. Select the slide to edit from the thumbnail view. Click on text to edit
- change images. Click on image to delete; reinsert image by clicking on icon
- add hyperlink. Highlight the text (or image) that will be clickable, click the Hyperlink button on the toolbar, type the full internet address, and click OK.
- add footer. On the View menu, click Header and Footer. Click “Date and time,” select Fixed, and enter the date of your presentation. Then click to select Slide number and Footer. In the Footer box, type “Rutgers-Camden.” Then click to select “Don’t show on title slide” and finally, click Apply to All
- from the File menu, select Print Preview
- pull down the options for “Print What” to view various print options
- “slides” wastes a lot of paper
- 3 per page gives space for audience notes
- “Notes Pages” is the only option that prints speaker notes
- “Options” give color options
Create slide transitions
Be careful with the neat-o effects you can create between your slides. Are they adding to your audience’s experience… or simply annoying?
- start from the Slide Sorter view
- from the Slideshow menu, select Slide Transition
- in the Slide Transition task pane, select a transition, then click Apply to All Slides at the bottom of the pane
- click to Slide Show button to view your masterpiece
