Those in marketing can’t live without it, your friends often spam you with an offspring containing a corny message, and most presentations depend on it. The beauty of PowerPoint is that it can be used for both personal and professional use, so if you have to present your ideas at a sales meet, your college, or want to irritate your friends with your philosophies on tree-hugging, keep reading…
Minimise The Ribbon
For those who want more Desktop area to work with, the ribbon might get in the way. This is especially true for those working on resolutions of 1024x768 or lower — Office 2007 seems to demand higher resolutions. In order to minimize the Ribbon, just right-click on any of the tab names and select “Minimize the Ribbon”. Now you will be able to see all the names of the tabs, but not all the buttons. When you need to do some formatting or changes, just click on the name of a tab and all the buttons will return in all their glory. A single click means that the ribbon will auto-hide, and a double-click will keep it there permanently.
Customise The Quick Access Bar
Next to the Office logo you can find the quick access toolbar. By default, this has a shortcut to Save, Undo and Redo, which is a little pointless, because we’re all quite adept at using the respective keyboard shortcuts. However, each of us may have some task that we perform regularly, which have difficult to remember keyboard shortcuts, or complicated ones requiring key-combinations. In such cases, it would be useful to customize the quick access toolbar. Just right-click on the toolbar and select “Customise Quick Access Toolbar”. Now choose the shortcuts you want to display on the Quick Access toolbar, and click OK.
Easy Keyboard Shortcuts
For keyboard warriors, the most irritating thing about the new PowerPoint is the fact that a few shortcuts have changed. What most people don’t realize is that Office 2007 has shortcuts for every single menu item, which previous versions did not, and they’re easy to identify as well, thanks to the little letters that pop up when you press [Alt]. It is a good idea to learn the keyboard shortcuts if you spend a significant amount of time using any Office application, using [Alt] and the cues (called Key Tips) provided; it couldn’t be simpler! Most of the older [Ctrl] + [Some key] shortcuts are left unchanged, so you really will not find yourself too frustrated!
New Slide Layouts
By default, a lot of us just tend to add new slides in PowerPoint, without bothering about the slide layout. We then proceed to change the layout and other options. Instead of just clicking on the New Slide icon, click on the text below it and select the layout of the slide even before you add it. This saves you immense amounts of time and energy. For professionals at work, who need to create presentations with hundreds of slides, this is a great boon.
Content Placeholders
When you add a new slide which has blank content placeholders, you will see that PowerPoint 2007 offers little icons in the middle that act as shortcuts to particular types of content. These icons symbolize adding table, chart, SmartArt graphic, picture, Clip Art, media files or plain text. While creating slides, it’s likely that you know what it is you’re looking to include in a particular place holder, so just click on the associated icon and you can browse through only those types of files on your computer. This will save you hours in the long run.
Adding Effects
When you add a picture or element into a slide, it could appear rather plain. To jazz it up a bit, take a look at the default picture styles available in PowerPoint 2007. One of these is guaranteed to attract your attention. Besides, if you find one that’s close to what you want, but not quite it, you can always select it and play around with the 3D settings to modify the style to your liking. To do this, just go to Format > Picture Effects > Presets > 3D Options and then play around with all the different effects to get the ideal 3D layout for your picture.
Do The Same For Text
As simple as the header above is, it’s the truth. You can add all the same effects, if not more, to your text as you did for your pictures. Apart from the standard Word Art selections, you can also apply similar 3D effects to your text. If you insert the text in the same placeholder as the picture, you can apply 3D effects globally, to both the text and the picture at the same time. This works especially well when you want to add a caption to a picture that you have applied 3D effects to — you don’t want your presentation looking lame with a cool 3D picture and a standard 2D caption, now do you?
Animations
To animate your slides, you have the Animations tab which puts everything in plain sight and within easy reach. From within the Animations tab, look for the Custom Animations button ([Alt] + [A] + [C]). This will open up a Custom Animations pane on the right, from where you can add animations to individual contents on your slide, instead of animating the entire slide itself. Once you have added your effects, you can just drag them about to reorder them, which makes storyboarding your slide very easy. Also remember to play your animation, using the little play button at the bottom of the Custom Animations pane, to check progress.
In this same pane, you can set various parameters for the animation, including the event (time delay or on click), directions and speed. Every effect in that pane also has a drop down arrow, which will reveal further options.
Formatting Images
Previous Office versions would let you do some changes to the images in your presentations but in a rather non-interactive manner. The new PowerPoint 2007 shows you live previews after every change is made. Click on an image and click the Format tab that appears in the ribbon. You get a wide range of settings such as Picture Styles, Brightness, Contrast and Color parameters. Move your mouse over any of the styles and the preview will be shown on the image in the slide itself.
Disable Image Compression
By default, PowerPoint 2007 compresses images put into a presentation while saving. While this saves file size, it can result in a loss of quality – which you may not always want. To disable compression, go to the Office button > Save As. Go to Tools > Compress Pictures. Click on the Options button. Uncheck the box against “Automatically perform basic compression on Save”. You can also change the density (pixels per inch) of the images saved. Keep in mind this option will be set only for the current presentation — which means you have to do this over again when you work on another presentation.
Resize Proportionately
When you want to resize items in a slide, instead of doing so individually, and ruining the aspect ratios, you can just select multiple objects by [Shift] + Clicking on them to select them and then resizing using your mouse to drag the corners. Remember to keep [Shift] pressed in order to make sure that individual aspect ratios are maintained. This works with both text and pictures. So just select and resize without worry!
Changing Resolutions On The Fly
Large presentations with high-resolution images can be a burden on slower machines. To avoid any embarrassment during presentations, PowerPoint has a useful feature that can switch resolutions of the presentations down to more manageable levels. Click on the Slide Show tab on the ribbon. Under Monitors, click the Resolution dropdown and select a suitable resolution. The next time you run the slideshow, the resolution will be switched to the one specified by you.
Viewing Sizes
This tip applies throughout Office 2007, and relates to the Zoom feature. Most of us use [Ctrl] + mouse scroll down/up to zoom in or out. However, this does so in increments of 10 per cent. For obsessive compulsive people like those of us here at Digit, we often find our documents zooming to just inside the screen boundaries or just out of it. In such cases the perfect zoom might be something like 154 per cent. Using the Zoom slider on the bottom right of the Office application window, you can achieve these exact zoom levels.
The Developer Tab
The Developer tab in PowerPoint is a hidden tab in the ribbon. It allows you to create and run or edit macros. To enable it, click on the Office button and then PowerPoint Options button. Under the Popular section, check the box against Show Developer tab in the Ribbon. Click OK to save the changes. The Developer bar will appear in the ribbon on top and can be accessed by clicking on the tab.
Create Photo Albums With PowerPoint
Creating photo albums can be an onerous chore for some of us. PowerPoint 2007 has a feature that lets you create a photo slideshow within seconds. First click on the Insert tab in the ribbon. Click the Photo Album icon and choose New Photo Album. Click the File/Disk button to add images to the album. Select the photos you want in the sideshow and click Insert. You can use the up and down arrows here to change the order of the photos. You can also alter the brightness, contrast and orientation of the images. When you are done, click the Create button and your Photo Album is ready. You can now continue adding notes to each slide.
Recording Narrations
PowerPoint lets you record a voiceover for slides – which can be useful if you’re not making your presentation to a live audience. To record a narration, first click the Slide Show tab in the ribbon. Click the Record Narration icon. Here you have the option to change the microphone volume, quality and where the file should be saved. Click OK once you’re done with the changes. Click the Current Slide button if you want to record a voiceover
starting from the current slide, or click the First Slide button if you want to start from the very beginning. The slideshow will then start and you can start speaking into the microphone. Click to switch to the next slide and continue speaking as necessary. When all the slides are done, you’ll be asked whether you want to save the timings for each slide. Click Save.
Accurate Placement
Placing elements and then aligning them, or accurately placing them can be a little irritating. The easier way is to click the object and use the direction keys to move them into place. Holding down [Ctrl] while you do this gives you pixel-accurate movement — which means you can move them even more accurately. Don’t forget to use gridlines to align objects better – under the View tab, check the box against Gridlines.
Page Setup For Presentations
Depending on the type of projector or screen you use or the impact you need to deliver with a presentation, it is wise to change the resolution of the presentation. For example, presentations at standard 4:3 resolutions will look awkward on widescreens. To change the page setup, simply go to the View tab in the ribbon and then click on Slide Master. Click on the Page setup icon and you will be able to select from a range of presets, or you can enter your own custom size. If you’ve chosen one of the readymade design themes or even created one by yourself, you should be a little careful while changing the page setup – it can wreak havoc on the design.
Minimise The Ribbon
For those who want more Desktop area to work with, the ribbon might get in the way. This is especially true for those working on resolutions of 1024x768 or lower — Office 2007 seems to demand higher resolutions. In order to minimize the Ribbon, just right-click on any of the tab names and select “Minimize the Ribbon”. Now you will be able to see all the names of the tabs, but not all the buttons. When you need to do some formatting or changes, just click on the name of a tab and all the buttons will return in all their glory. A single click means that the ribbon will auto-hide, and a double-click will keep it there permanently.
Customise The Quick Access Bar
Next to the Office logo you can find the quick access toolbar. By default, this has a shortcut to Save, Undo and Redo, which is a little pointless, because we’re all quite adept at using the respective keyboard shortcuts. However, each of us may have some task that we perform regularly, which have difficult to remember keyboard shortcuts, or complicated ones requiring key-combinations. In such cases, it would be useful to customize the quick access toolbar. Just right-click on the toolbar and select “Customise Quick Access Toolbar”. Now choose the shortcuts you want to display on the Quick Access toolbar, and click OK.
Easy Keyboard Shortcuts
For keyboard warriors, the most irritating thing about the new PowerPoint is the fact that a few shortcuts have changed. What most people don’t realize is that Office 2007 has shortcuts for every single menu item, which previous versions did not, and they’re easy to identify as well, thanks to the little letters that pop up when you press [Alt]. It is a good idea to learn the keyboard shortcuts if you spend a significant amount of time using any Office application, using [Alt] and the cues (called Key Tips) provided; it couldn’t be simpler! Most of the older [Ctrl] + [Some key] shortcuts are left unchanged, so you really will not find yourself too frustrated!
New Slide Layouts
By default, a lot of us just tend to add new slides in PowerPoint, without bothering about the slide layout. We then proceed to change the layout and other options. Instead of just clicking on the New Slide icon, click on the text below it and select the layout of the slide even before you add it. This saves you immense amounts of time and energy. For professionals at work, who need to create presentations with hundreds of slides, this is a great boon.
Content Placeholders
When you add a new slide which has blank content placeholders, you will see that PowerPoint 2007 offers little icons in the middle that act as shortcuts to particular types of content. These icons symbolize adding table, chart, SmartArt graphic, picture, Clip Art, media files or plain text. While creating slides, it’s likely that you know what it is you’re looking to include in a particular place holder, so just click on the associated icon and you can browse through only those types of files on your computer. This will save you hours in the long run.
Adding Effects
When you add a picture or element into a slide, it could appear rather plain. To jazz it up a bit, take a look at the default picture styles available in PowerPoint 2007. One of these is guaranteed to attract your attention. Besides, if you find one that’s close to what you want, but not quite it, you can always select it and play around with the 3D settings to modify the style to your liking. To do this, just go to Format > Picture Effects > Presets > 3D Options and then play around with all the different effects to get the ideal 3D layout for your picture.
Do The Same For Text
As simple as the header above is, it’s the truth. You can add all the same effects, if not more, to your text as you did for your pictures. Apart from the standard Word Art selections, you can also apply similar 3D effects to your text. If you insert the text in the same placeholder as the picture, you can apply 3D effects globally, to both the text and the picture at the same time. This works especially well when you want to add a caption to a picture that you have applied 3D effects to — you don’t want your presentation looking lame with a cool 3D picture and a standard 2D caption, now do you?
Animations
To animate your slides, you have the Animations tab which puts everything in plain sight and within easy reach. From within the Animations tab, look for the Custom Animations button ([Alt] + [A] + [C]). This will open up a Custom Animations pane on the right, from where you can add animations to individual contents on your slide, instead of animating the entire slide itself. Once you have added your effects, you can just drag them about to reorder them, which makes storyboarding your slide very easy. Also remember to play your animation, using the little play button at the bottom of the Custom Animations pane, to check progress.
In this same pane, you can set various parameters for the animation, including the event (time delay or on click), directions and speed. Every effect in that pane also has a drop down arrow, which will reveal further options.
Formatting Images
Previous Office versions would let you do some changes to the images in your presentations but in a rather non-interactive manner. The new PowerPoint 2007 shows you live previews after every change is made. Click on an image and click the Format tab that appears in the ribbon. You get a wide range of settings such as Picture Styles, Brightness, Contrast and Color parameters. Move your mouse over any of the styles and the preview will be shown on the image in the slide itself.
Disable Image Compression
By default, PowerPoint 2007 compresses images put into a presentation while saving. While this saves file size, it can result in a loss of quality – which you may not always want. To disable compression, go to the Office button > Save As. Go to Tools > Compress Pictures. Click on the Options button. Uncheck the box against “Automatically perform basic compression on Save”. You can also change the density (pixels per inch) of the images saved. Keep in mind this option will be set only for the current presentation — which means you have to do this over again when you work on another presentation.
Resize Proportionately
When you want to resize items in a slide, instead of doing so individually, and ruining the aspect ratios, you can just select multiple objects by [Shift] + Clicking on them to select them and then resizing using your mouse to drag the corners. Remember to keep [Shift] pressed in order to make sure that individual aspect ratios are maintained. This works with both text and pictures. So just select and resize without worry!
Changing Resolutions On The Fly
Large presentations with high-resolution images can be a burden on slower machines. To avoid any embarrassment during presentations, PowerPoint has a useful feature that can switch resolutions of the presentations down to more manageable levels. Click on the Slide Show tab on the ribbon. Under Monitors, click the Resolution dropdown and select a suitable resolution. The next time you run the slideshow, the resolution will be switched to the one specified by you.
Viewing Sizes
This tip applies throughout Office 2007, and relates to the Zoom feature. Most of us use [Ctrl] + mouse scroll down/up to zoom in or out. However, this does so in increments of 10 per cent. For obsessive compulsive people like those of us here at Digit, we often find our documents zooming to just inside the screen boundaries or just out of it. In such cases the perfect zoom might be something like 154 per cent. Using the Zoom slider on the bottom right of the Office application window, you can achieve these exact zoom levels.
The Developer Tab
The Developer tab in PowerPoint is a hidden tab in the ribbon. It allows you to create and run or edit macros. To enable it, click on the Office button and then PowerPoint Options button. Under the Popular section, check the box against Show Developer tab in the Ribbon. Click OK to save the changes. The Developer bar will appear in the ribbon on top and can be accessed by clicking on the tab.
Create Photo Albums With PowerPoint
Creating photo albums can be an onerous chore for some of us. PowerPoint 2007 has a feature that lets you create a photo slideshow within seconds. First click on the Insert tab in the ribbon. Click the Photo Album icon and choose New Photo Album. Click the File/Disk button to add images to the album. Select the photos you want in the sideshow and click Insert. You can use the up and down arrows here to change the order of the photos. You can also alter the brightness, contrast and orientation of the images. When you are done, click the Create button and your Photo Album is ready. You can now continue adding notes to each slide.
Recording Narrations
PowerPoint lets you record a voiceover for slides – which can be useful if you’re not making your presentation to a live audience. To record a narration, first click the Slide Show tab in the ribbon. Click the Record Narration icon. Here you have the option to change the microphone volume, quality and where the file should be saved. Click OK once you’re done with the changes. Click the Current Slide button if you want to record a voiceover
starting from the current slide, or click the First Slide button if you want to start from the very beginning. The slideshow will then start and you can start speaking into the microphone. Click to switch to the next slide and continue speaking as necessary. When all the slides are done, you’ll be asked whether you want to save the timings for each slide. Click Save.
Accurate Placement
Placing elements and then aligning them, or accurately placing them can be a little irritating. The easier way is to click the object and use the direction keys to move them into place. Holding down [Ctrl] while you do this gives you pixel-accurate movement — which means you can move them even more accurately. Don’t forget to use gridlines to align objects better – under the View tab, check the box against Gridlines.
Page Setup For Presentations
Depending on the type of projector or screen you use or the impact you need to deliver with a presentation, it is wise to change the resolution of the presentation. For example, presentations at standard 4:3 resolutions will look awkward on widescreens. To change the page setup, simply go to the View tab in the ribbon and then click on Slide Master. Click on the Page setup icon and you will be able to select from a range of presets, or you can enter your own custom size. If you’ve chosen one of the readymade design themes or even created one by yourself, you should be a little careful while changing the page setup – it can wreak havoc on the design.
No comments:
Post a Comment