Want to change the spacing in one of the PowerPoint pre-existing
layouts? The trick to changing a layout lies in the Line Spacing
dialog box.
Let's illustrate how to do this using a sample slide. Run
PowerPoint and select a blank presentation, then click OK. Choose the
2 Column Text layout (in PowerPoint 95, it's third from the left in
the top row) and click OK.
Now click the first column and add some text. Add three or four
lines so you'll have something to work with when you change the
spacing. Use the mouse to select all the text that requires a spacing
change. With the text selected, choose Format, Line Spacing. When the
Line Spacing dialog box opens, use the Line Spacing spin box to set a
new value. In general, you'd want to increase the line spacing. If you
need to decrease the spacing, be careful that you don't decrease it so
much that the text looks cramped.
After you make your line spacing selections, click OK to record
your selections and close the dialog box.
When working with PowerPoint, you may want to use AutoShapes to
draw rectangles, arrows, or circles. To put text into a shape, simply
double-click the shape and start typing.
To set the font, font size, and font color, right-click the shape
and choose Font. When the Font dialog box opens, select the font,
size, and color and then click OK. This will change the parameters of
existing text as well as any new text you enter.
"I know I have inserted ClipArt into slides and then recolored
the picture. I'm working on a slide show now, and I've inserted some
ClipArt. My problem is that I can't recolor it. To fill you in on what
happened, I inserted a picture of a girl at a desk. Then I ungrouped
the picture and removed the girl, leaving only the desk. Now, I'd like
to change the desk's colors, but I can't find the Recolor command. Can
you help?"
Unfortunately, when you ungroup a ClipArt picture, you can no
longer recolor it. Say you insert a picture, then select it, and
choose Draw, Ungroup. When you do this, you get a dialog box warning
you that you are converting the object into a PowerPoint drawing. Once
the object is converted into a PowerPoint drawing, you can't use the
Recolor command.
The trick here is to recolor the picture before you delete the
unwanted portions. If you want to recolor an object, insert the
picture and then right-click it and choose Recolor. Recolor the
picture and then select it and choose Draw, Ungroup. Now, you can
delete what you don't need.
If you're developing a new slide show and want to use some charts,
you can use them very easily by selecting the correct slide type up
front. When you create a new slide, PowerPoint opens the New Slide
dialog box, from which you can select the type of slide you want.
There are 24 slide layouts available, and three of them include chart
placeholders. The three that use charts are (counting from left to
right in the dialog box) slides five, six, and eight. After you select
one of these three slide formats, you can insert a slide by simply
double-clicking inside the chart graphic.
If you work primarily in Word, but occasionally need to make slides
using PowerPoint, why not take advantage of the hard work you've done
in Word? When you need to create a table in PowerPoint that you've
already created (and edited) in Word, just select the table, press
Ctrl-C to copy it, open the PowerPoint slide, and press Ctrl-V to
paste it. Although you can create tables from scratch in PowerPoint,
there's no reason to redo something you've already done in Word. Once
you've pasted a Word table into a slide, you can use the mouse to
resize and position the table.
If you want the PowerPoint table to reflect changes made to the
Word table, follow the same procedure (select the table and press
Ctrl-C); but when you get to the PowerPoint slide, choose Edit, Paste
Special. When the Paste Special dialog box opens, select Paste Link
and click OK. Now, any changes you make to the Word table will appear
in the PowerPoint slide.
When you create a PowerPoint slide show, you may not want to show
all the slides to all audiences. To hide a slide, choose View, Slide
Sorter. Click the slide you want to hide and then choose Tools, Hide
Slide. Now when you run the slide show, PowerPoint will skip the
hidden slide.
As sure as you hide a slide, someone in the audience will ask for
information on the hidden topic. If this happens, you can show the
hidden slide with a minimum of fluster. When a hidden slide is next in
line, a large asterisk appears in the slide window near the
lower-right corner. When you click on the asterisk, PowerPoint will
move to the hidden slide and display it. Note: You may have to move
the mouse slightly to make the asterisk appear.
When you have a group of objects on a PowerPoint slide, you may
want to align all of them so that they fall into the general
categories of left, center, or right.
Let's say you have three pictures on a slide. You'd like to have
them all appear to be standing on the same floor. Click one of the
figures and then press and hold the Shift key while you click the
other two figures to select them. Choose Draw, Align and then select
Bottoms. Now all the figures will be aligned across the bottom.
Many designers use PowerPoint's existing templates when designing a
slide presentation. It's easy to add text when all you have to do is
click once in the right spot and type away.
If you'd like to add additional text to a slide, you can click in
one of the text areas again and type more text. If the location
doesn't suit you, you can use the Text tool to add text anywhere on
the slide. Just click on the Text button in the Drawing toolbar (it's
the big A icon) and then use the mouse to locate and size your text
entry.
To set the font and font size, choose Format, Font and make your
selections from the Font dialog box. Now type in your text.
Is there an easy way to add shadows to ClipArt inserted into a
PowerPoint slide? Here's how: Choose Insert, ClipArt and select a
picture. Click Insert to insert the selection into the slide. Once the
picture is on the slide, select it (if necessary) and then click the
Shadow button (its icon is a rectangle with a shadow) in the Drawing
toolbar. There's your shadowed ClipArt.
Is there a way to paste Excel charts into a PowerPoint slide
without pasting the entire worksheet. Yes, there is. To do this, you
right-click the chart and then choose Copy. Now move to the PowerPoint
slide and press Ctrl-V (or choose Edit, Paste). This technique will
get the chart into PowerPoint without dragging the whole worksheet
along with it.
Versions 4.x, 95
If you're looking for some cool graphics for your PowerPoint slides,
don't forget the special fonts that are on your computer. Wingdings is
especially rich in symbols that you can use in PowerPoint slides.
Suppose you'd like to add a slide that reads "Don't get behind the
eight ball." You could replace the words "eight ball" with a Wingdings
eight-ball symbol. To do this, open Character Map and select the
Wingdings font. Now locate the eight ball and click it. Next, click
Select, then Copy, and Close.
Now open your PowerPoint slide and select an insertion point.
Choose Edit, Paste, and the eight ball will appear on the slide. Since
the eight ball is a character, you can't resize it with the mouse as
you would a picture. You'll have to select a new font size. An
advantage
to using symbols in a TrueType font (which Wingdings is) is that the
resolution remains the same even when you make the symbol very large.
Version 4.x, 95
You size pictures in PowerPoint by selecting the picture and then
using the mouse to drag it to a new size. If you want to keep the
vertical-to-horizontal ratio (the aspect ratio) the same, hold down
the Ctrl key while you drag to the new size.
Version 4.x, 95
Often when you size artwork in PowerPoint, you need to size it so that
several elements retain the same size relationship to each other. The
best way to accomplish this is to size all those elements at the same
time. Let's suppose you have three pictures that need sizing and must
retain their size relationship. Click on the first picture, then hold
down the Shift key and click the other two pictures. Now use the mouse
to drag the pictures to their new size.
When you apply the emboss effect to PowerPoint text, you'll find
that the effect varies depending on the type of fill you decide to
use. Here's what you can expect:
*One-color (shaded): Text gets the selected shading color.
*Two-color (shaded): Text gets the first of the selected shading
colors.
*Shaded preset: Text gets the last solid color selected or the fill
color from the slide color scheme (this depends on how you formatted
the text previously).
*Patterned fill: Text gets the Pattern Fill dialog box background
color.
*Other Color fill: Text gets the new fill color.
*No Fill: Text gets the slide color scheme background color.
*Background fill: Text gets the slide background color (based on the
background formatting).
*Textured fill: Text gets the background color from the slide color
scheme.
Now that you've created your report, you have to present it at the
stockholders meeting. And since no one wants to spend half an hour
watching you talk, you must turn the main points of your presentation
into a slide show. The right tools for that job are your word
processor's outliner (for extracting the main points from your
document) and your suite's presentation program. Unfortunately, these
tools aren't always on speaking terms. Here's how to get them to
cooperate.
To help with your learning curve, Microsoft PowerPoint can read
Word files, allowing you to turn them into effective presentations in
just a few steps. The trick is to set up your document using Word's
outline-based heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, and so forth).
If your document isn't already using these styles, load it into
Word and select View, Outline. Scroll through your document, using +
and - to assign outline levels to the paragraphs you consider
important enough to include in your slides. When you're satisfied with
the outline, close and save your file.
When your document is ready--but isn't open in Word--enter
PowerPoint. Ignore any wizards that pop up to help you create a
document; you don't need them.
Select File, Open. In the resulting dialog box's Files Of Type
list, select Outlines (in Office 7.0, it's All Outlines). Choose the
document you want to convert, then click OK.
PowerPoint will create a new file from your document and switch to
Outline View. All paragraphs in the Heading 1 style will become
individual slides. Subheadings will fall into place naturally,
typically appearing as bulleted lists. Paragraphs that weren't styled
as outline headings in Word won't appear at all.
Unfortunately, PowerPoint won't bring in any pictures, worksheet
tables, or other objects from your Word document. You will have to go
through your document and copy these items over one by one, using
Edit, Copy In Word and Edit, Paste In PowerPoint.
To view your presentation in a more graphical way, select View,
Slide Sorter. Use the various options on the Format menu to select a
layout, a color scheme, and other elements to give the presentation
the look you want. To edit an individual slide, double-click it.
You may find that when you paste a bitmap file from Word into
PowerPoint, the picture is distorted. The reason for this is that Word
assumes the system palette remains constant. So Word places palette
information for a Device Dependent Bitmap (DDB) and a Device
Independent Bitmap on the Clipboard. The default pasting uses DDB. The
way around the problem is to use Paste Special and always choose
Device Independent Bitmap when pasting from Word into PowerPoint.
One of PowerPoint's most impressive features is its gradient fill.
You can add (or modify) the gradient fill to your slide show at any
point. Choose Format, Custom Background to open the Custom Background
dialog box. Click the arrow at the right side of the list box and
choose Shaded.
PowerPoint opens the Shaded Fill dialog box, from which you can
choose the type of fill you want, along with its colors and variants.
When you're finished, click OK to return to the Custom Background
dialog box. Click Apply to apply your selections to the current slide,
or click Apply To All to apply your changes to all the slides in your
show.
There's a common misconception that linking files in PowerPoint
saves disk space. The truth is, when you link a picture to one of your
presentations, the file size will be the same as if you had embedded
the picture. PowerPoint maintains a metafile copy of the picture. It's
this copy that is displayed. If the linked picture changes, the saved
picture changes. If the picture is deleted or moved, PowerPoint will
still display the last stored version.
You can use the Advanced tab in the Options dialog box to control
the way PowerPoint 7.0 handles 24-bit graphics when it saves slides in
the .WMF format. Begin by choosing Tools, Options. Click the Advanced
tab and make sure the check box labeled Render 24-bit Bitmaps At
Highest Quality is selected. If you select the radio button Best For
Printing, the slide will be saved as a 24-bit image. If you select
Best For On-Screen Viewing, the image will be saved with a depth of 8
bits.
In our last tip, we mentioned the Advanced dialog box, where you
have a choice between saving slides as an 8-bit image (Best For
On-Screen Viewing) or as a 24-bit image (Best For Printing). If you
know you're going to view a presentation only on screen, don't choose
Best For Printing unless you're using photographs in your
presentation. Most graphics look just fine on screen in 256 colors,
and there's a huge difference in the file sizes.
Version 95, 4.x
We recently ran a PowerPoint tip suggesting that you press Ctrl-M to
insert a new slide. Several subscribers commented that Ctrl-M doesn't
immediately create a new slide--instead Ctrl-M opens the New Slide
dialog box from which you can choose the slide layout that you would
prefer to use.
To open a new slide using the same layout as your current slide,
press Ctrl-M and then press Enter as soon as the New Slide dialog box
opens.
If you would prefer to skip the New Slide dialog box entirely, you
can. However, when you do, PowerPoint will insert new slides in the
current layout. To eliminate the New Slide dialog box, choose Tools,
Options. When the Options dialog box opens, click the General tab.
Now, deselect the check box labeled Show New Slide Dialog and then
click OK to close the dialog box and save your selection.
"I use PowerPoint 95 and I was wondering if it's possible, or
practical, to add a border to existing text on a PowerPoint slide."
You can certainly add a border almost any time. Click the text box
(not the text itself) to select it. Now, choose Format, Colors And
Lines. When the Colors And Lines dialog box opens, click the arrow at
the right side of the Color list box. When the list expands, select a
color for the line. To make a wide border, click the arrow at the
right side of the Style list box and choose one of the wide lines.
Click OK to close the dialog box and save your settings.
When you close the dialog box, your new border will appear around
the text.
"I have been using PowerPoint 95 for quite a while now, but I
only very recently began using its drawing capabilities extensively.
When I create a new drawing, it always appears with a sickly looking
green fill color. Is there any way to get PowerPoint to create
drawings with no fill color at all?"
Yes, you can change the default. The only problem is that you can
change it only for the current session. When you close PowerPoint and
start it again, the green fill comes back.
To change the default for the current session, open a blank slide
and click one of the drawing tools--oval will do for this purpose. Use
the mouse to draw your oval and then choose Format, Colors And Lines.
When the Colors And Lines dialog box opens, click the arrow at the
right side of the Fill list box and choose No Fill from the list.
Next, select the check box labeled Default For New Objects and click
OK to apply your settings and dismiss the dialog box.
All objects you draw for the rest of this session will appear
without fill. But, when you quit PowerPoint and then run it again, it
will revert to the green default fill.
You size pictures in PowerPoint by selecting the picture and then
using the mouse to drag it to a new size. If you want to keep the
vertical-to-horizontal ratio (the aspect ratio) the same, hold down
the Ctrl key while you drag to the new size.
Often when you size artwork in PowerPoint, you need to size it so
that several elements retain the same size relationship to each other.
The best way to accomplish this is to size all those elements at the
same time. Let's suppose you have three pictures that need sizing and
must retain their size relationship. Click on the first picture then
hold down the Shift key and click the other two pictures. Now use the
mouse to drag the pictures to their new size.
"When I need to pause during a slide show--perhaps to answer a
rather complex question, I like to turn the screen black. I believe
that leaving something on the screen is a distraction. All you have to
do to turn the PowerPoint 95 screen black is press the letter B. When
you're ready to resume, just press B again and your slide will
reappear."
By the way, if you think a blank white screen would look better
than a black screen, you can press W to turn the screen white. To
resume the show, press W again.
"I usually put the company logo on the slide master so it will
appear on all the slides in the show. I need to use the company logo
in my current slide show, but I need to have it smaller on some slides
than on others. I realize that I can't put it on the slide master, but
is there any easy way to line up all the logos so they appear in the
same spot on each slide even though the size varies?"
It isn't as difficult as you might think to get all the logos in
the same spot on each slide. Insert and place the logo on your first
slide. Now, select the logo and press Ctrl-C to copy it to the
Clipboard. Move to the next slide and press Ctrl-V. PowerPoint will
paste the logo in the same spot on the second slide. Move to the next
slide and press Ctrl-V. Continue this until you have pasted the logo
on to all your slides.
Now, let's say that you need to make the logo smaller on slide 3.
Just click the logo to select it and then hold down Ctrl while you use
the mouse to resize the logo. Holding down Ctrl will preserve the
logo's center point. This will prevent the sudden change of position
that you see when the logo shifts horizontally or vertically.
"I know you can add shadows to WordArt in PowerPoint slides, but
is there a way to add shadows to ClipArt?"
Yes, there is. Let's suppose you have a PowerPoint slide to which
you'd like to add some ClipArt. After you insert the ClipArt, you want
to add some shadows to it. To insert the ClipArt, choose Insert,
ClipArt and double-click a picture to insert it onto the slide. Now
that the picture is on the slide, select it (if necessary) and then
click the Shadow button (its icon is a rectangle with a shadow) in the
Drawing toolbar. The shadow will appear.
"I usually work in Word 95. When I need a table in a PowerPoint
slide, I simply paste the Word table onto the slide. There is no point
in building the table all over again in PowerPoint."
Right--why repeat existing work? All you have to do is select the
table in your Word document and press Ctrl-C to copy it. Next, move to
the PowerPoint slide and press Ctrl-V to paste the table onto the
slide. With the table pasted onto the slide, you can use the mouse to
resize and locate it just as if you had created it in PowerPoint.
"An easy way to view all the slides in your slide show is to
click the arrow at the bottom of the scroll bar on the right side of
the PowerPoint window. Each click of the mouse will cause PowerPoint
to increment by one slide."
You can also scroll through the slides using the Page Up and Page
Down keys, which some users may find easier.
