Ever find yourself frustrated while working in MS PowerPoint as you jump back and forth between the keyboard and the mouse? You know, as you move from text box to text box.
Let me clarify. You’re working on a slide with a couple of text boxes and a title box, but you’re tired of jumping between the mouse and the keyboard every time you want to move… Continue reading
Do you like using MS PowerPoint 2007′s Quick Styles when using shapes?
I just love them… they are an easy way to dress my presentation up. (Not that I don’t branch out on my own to do custom work but let’s face it, we don’t always have the time or energy for custom stuff in each and every presentation.)
Now… Continue reading
Whenever it’s appropriate I find myself using SmartArt in my PowerPoint presentations.
Why?
Well, because they’re instant organization for my information as well as visually interesting.
Now, I also tend to like animations in my presentations, especially entrance animations, so that I can keep the audience’s attention on the current information and not what’s yet to come on the slide.… Continue reading
When you work on an MS PowerPoint presentation do you often find that your numbers or bullets seem either too small to view in the back of the room or so large that they overpower to rest of the slide?
Either way it’s not a good thing and you may find yourself spending way too much time trying to fix the situation.
Well, fortunately… Continue reading
Over the years, I’ve run into a couple of different keyboard shortcuts for changing font sizes and I thought it might be of interest to my readers who love a good keyboard shortcut.
To be exact, I have two different sets of key combinations for increasing and decreasing font size in various MS Office programs. (For the record, I was able to make this trick work in… Continue reading
Do you “undo” a lot in MS PowerPoint?
Ever run out of undo steps and wish for more?
If your response was yes, here’s what you need to know about PowerPoint to get a few (or a lot) more undo steps added to your list.
Older versions of PowerPoint:
To
Ever find yourself trying to create a “cut-out” or frame effect for a PowerPoint slide? (One shape inside another with the inside shape “see thru” to the slide’s background).
Maybe something like this?
If this is something you’ve wished you could do then I’ve got good news for you – you can and it’s easier than you may have every… Continue reading
Have you ever noticed that when working in a title or text placeholder, the font will just shrink as the text fills the box?
It’s a good thing if you want PowerPoint to help take care of the “making it fit” issue, but it’s not so good if you want the text to be the same on all slides or have a specific font size in mind… Continue reading
Looking to create a presentation based on a document that you already have complete?
Dreading the time it takes to transfer the key information to the presentation slides?
Does the document use heading styles that would allow for the program to create an outline?
Is it these titles, formatted in a heading style, that are to become the basis for the… Continue reading
Previously we’ve discussed PowerPoint motion path custom animations. (Click here to view the motion path article.)
They are entertaining and definitely have some good aspects when it comes to grabbing attention.
I don’t know about you, but when I learn something new I tend to get right in there to find my options. You know, what exactly can I do with this… Continue reading
Today I thought I would extend our discussion to one more aspect of motion path animations.
This is one that I’ve used frequently to get exactly the custom effect I really want to see during the presentation.
With this one you can use the ease of the preset motions and still get the custom path that your presentation requires.
With this… Continue reading
So, we all know about the recently used file list found on the File menu / Office Button in the MS Office Suite programs.
It’s automatically there and I know that I personally use it a lot. But what if someone else is going to use the computer and you don’t want them to see the list… for whatever reason you may have.
The… Continue reading
Move what you ask?
Good question. Specifically I’m talking about creating MS PowerPoint presentations with moving elements.
No, I don’t mean the zooms, shifts, rotations or whatever that you use for element entrances and exits.
I’m actually talking about Motion Paths… you know, that choice below Entrance, Emphasis and Exit on the list of custom animations?
Did you know that you can view multiple presentations at the same time in MS PowerPoint?
It’s not a bad thing to know when you’re trying to compare presentations or moving items from one to another.
To accomplish this goal we’re going to need to open all the presentations… obviously, the more you open the smaller they’ll appear on the screen so be sure that you need everything that you… Continue reading
Give a lot of MS PowerPoint presentations?
If you do, then I’m sure you know to click the left mouse button to advance your presentation, right?
You probably even know that you can spin the mouse wheel down to advance the show or up to retrace your steps.
But, did you know that there are a variety of keys that will advance your presentation or back it up?
Yep, that’s… Continue reading
Do you tend to create PowerPoint presentations that contain a lot of pictures?
Tired of constantly creating new slides then going through the whole insert process for each pictures?
Yeah – if you’ve got a lot of them then it can definitely be a lot of repetitive work.
May I suggest a different approach – one that creates slides and inserts all the pictures in one step?
I thought you… Continue reading
Do you use MS PowerPoint presentations that are set to advance automatically?
Ever find yourself frustrated as you try to guess just how many seconds to display each slide? I mean, if you are sitting there looking at this…
…and wondering how many seconds to enter into the field (found with Slide Transition information in older versions of PowerPoint & on the Animations tab of the Ribbon in PowerPoint… Continue reading
Here’s the situation: You’re in the middle of your PowerPoint presentation and suddenly, there’s a question regarding a different slide.
Of course, it’s not a question about the previous or the next slide. As luck would have it, you’ve got to go “hunting” for the right slide. So, now what?
Fortunately, while there are a lot of ways you could get to your new destination, there’s a couple that can… Continue reading
If you’re a fan of the SmartArt feature in Office 2007 then you may have experienced the frustration of trying to select a single shape in the diagram.
Or worse yet, when you’re looking to select several shapes and you have the Ctrl + click thing down, too bad you keep accidentally clicking on something already selected… which deselects it, of course.
At this point you’ve got to be wondering… Continue reading
Do you have a PowerPoint presentation containing slides that you just wish you could make into your screensaver?
Maybe you had a presentation sent to you containing a bunch of pictures of the grandkids.
Or maybe you’d just love to create a screensaver out of a variety of your favorite quotes.
Either way, if it’s in a PowerPoint presentation, we can do that!
Interested?
Okay, then let’s get started.
First… Continue reading
Here’s yet another great one for my PowerPoint 2007 users.
Ever have a bulleted or numbered list and wish that you’d thought to put it into SmartArt from the beginning?
Well don’t start kicking yourself for not thinking of it earlier and don’t retype it all into a diagram. In fact, don’t even start with the copy / paste thing… you really don’t need any of that.
What you really… Continue reading
I don’t know about you but I find myself constantly rearranging the preset layouts I find in PowerPoint.
Frankly it can be annoying after a while – knowing that I’m pretty much setting up the same thing more than once.
I could duplicate the slide I created first but then I have to delete all the content.
I could bring a slide from another presentation into the current file -… Continue reading
Just Taking a Scroll
Give a lot of PowerPoint presentations?
Tired of all the click, click, click required to give your presentation?
What about the hassle to move back a step, once you’ve made that extra click?
Do you have a scroll wheel on your mouse?
Yes? Well, good, because I just might have a suggestion you may take a liking to.
While giving a presentation, try scrolling the mouse… Continue reading
When using MS PowerPoint to you choose to use slide themes or designs?
Ever find that while you’re working on a single slide (or two) and there’s so much going on that the background you’ve chosen is now a liability?
Maybe it leaves you wishing for a solid or subtle gradient background that compliments the slide show but only for the selected slide?
Short of removing your design or theme… Continue reading
Working with Office 2007?
Everyone you share files with need them saved for an older version?
Maybe you have 07 at work and some other version at home…
Whatever the situation how many times do you find yourself saving a new file in an Office 2007 program as an Office 2007 file when it should have been in the 97-2003 file format?
Now what?
Oh yeah, go back and save… Continue reading
Have you ever found yourself frustrated with the AutoCorrect feature found in the MS Office suite programs?
Yeah, I’m sure you have.
Most of the time, they’re helpful little changes in spelling or things like capitalization and we’re thankful to have the program looking out for us.
But, what about the times when AutoCorrect is making changes that we really don’t want or need?
Sometimes it’s enough to make a… Continue reading
Did you know that you can save a picture from a PowerPoint presentation into a differnt picture format?
Maybe you need a Clip Art saved as a jpeg or gif?
Whatever your reason or need to get that picture into a different format here’s what you need to know to accomplish the task at hand.
Start with a right-click on the picture to be saved.
From the menu… Continue reading
