Microsoft PowerPoint 97/98/2000

Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation graphics program for making professional-looking presentations quickly and easily. It is designed to format text and pictures into attractive screen displays (or "slides") that can be used in a presentation. The screens can then be printed onto transparencies, 35-mm slides, paper handouts, or used for on-screen presentations. PowerPoint 98 is available on many of the campus Macintoshes, and PowerPoint 97/2000 is available on many of the Windows PCs. We will assume that you have a working knowledge of either machine.

 

1.0 Getting Started


Figure 1: MS Office Shortcut Bar


Figure 2: Office Manger Menu

Launch PowerPoint by clicking on its icon in the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar (PC--see Figure 1) or selecting it from the Office Manager Menu (Mac--see Figure 2). You can also select the PowerPoint icon (illustrated below) from the Programs submenu of the Start menu (PC), or double-click on the PowerPoint icon in the Microsoft Office 98 folder (Mac).

 

2.0 Getting Help

When you open PowerPoint, you may get a message from the cartoon character "assistant." Click on "Start using Microsoft PowerPoint" to continue. The window containing the assistant will remain on the screen for further use; simply click on this window at any time to get help. During the course of your PowerPoint session, the assistant may at times offer suggestions on how to do whatever it "thinks" that you are attempting to do. If you don't want the assistant helping you as you go along, you can click the close box in the upper left-hand corner (Mac) or upper right-hand corner (PC) of the assistant window. To activate the assistant again, click on the button with the question mark inside a balloon on the right-hand side of the toolbar (illustrated below).

 

3.0 Starting A New Presentation With Wizards

Now you should see a box asking how you want to create a new presentation. (If not, select New from the File menu.) We'll take you through the Wizards that will create a sample outline from which you can start your presentation.

  1. For our purposes, we will select the AutoContent Wizard first. As our example presentation, we will create a presentation explaining the do's and don'ts of an effective presentation.
  2. Once you have selected AutoContent Wizard, click OK. After reading the introduction, click Next >. PowerPoint will then ask you what sort of presentation you will be making. It gives you a list of possible presentation types, sorted into different categories. For now, we will choose "Generic." (Click on the General button, then click on Generic.)
  3. Click Next > to continue. The Wizard asks you how this presentation will be used. Select Presentations, informal meetings, handouts, and click Next >.
  4. We want to display our presentation on the screen, so select On-Screen Presentation. If you are not sure whether you will want to print handouts, it's best to proceed as if you will. With On-Screen Presentation and Yes selected, click Next > to continue.
  5. In the box labeled Presentation title:, type "Presentation Do's and Don'ts," and press TAB to move to the next box. Type your name in this box, and press TAB. Type "St. Olaf College" in the final box, and click the Next > button. You are now done with the first part of the preparation; PowerPoint has created a sample outline for you. Click Finish to exit the AutoContent Wizard.
  6. We now want to create a certain style for our presentation. To do this, select Apply Design... from the Format menu. PowerPoint should present you with a list of designs. If not, you should select the folder Microsoft Office 98/Templates/Presentation Designs (Mac) or C:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Templates/Presentation Designs (PC) from the Apply Design window.
  7. Click on the name of a design to see a preview of it. After selecting the design you want to use, click Apply.

 

4.0 Views and Toolbars

4.1 Toolbars

PowerPoint displays many toolbars to make common tasks easily available. If you move the mouse pointer over one of the buttons or boxes on a toolbar and let it rest there a moment, PowerPoint will display that item's function in a small box immediately beneath the mouse pointer.

When you launch PowerPoint, certain toolbars are displayed--they may appear across the top, bottom, or side of the document window, or as floating boxes. If these "floating" toolbars get in your way, you may move them to the edge of the document window, and they will become "docked" toolbars. If you do not want to use the tools from a certain floating toolbar at all, you can click on its close box. To change whether or not a certain toolbar is displayed, select that toolbar's name in the Toolbars submenu of the View menu.

4.2 Views

 

In the main program window, you will see five small icons in the lower left corner (Figure 3). These are the different views that you can use when working on your presentation. Each is also accessible from the View menu. Left to right, the buttons give you access to the Slide, Outline, Slide Sorter, Notes Page, and Slide Show views.


Figure 3: View Icons

  • Slide View: This view gives you a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) view of your slides. This is the best view when editing the look of your presentation.
  • Outline View: This view shows you the text of each slide. This is the ideal view when creating and editing the content of your presentation, since you can see at a glance the flow of your presentation.
  • Slide Sorter View: From here, you can reorder the slides, assign special effects, and set timings for automatic advancing of the slides. We will cover these settings in Section 10.0.
  • Notes Page View: In this view, you can produce separate pages containing notes and miniatures of the slides you have produced. These pages are useful for making your own notes or audience handouts.

Slide Show View: This will start the slide show with all of your settings. By clicking on the icon, you will start the presentation from the slide your are currently viewing.

 

5.0 Editing the Outline

We will start out by editing the contents of our presentation. If necessary, click on the Outline View icon--you will see the sample outline that the Wizard produced for us before. As you make changes to the outline, it will come to look like Figure 4.


Figure 4: The Outline View

We do not need all of the slides that were created, so we can delete some of them. Select slides 2 and 3; to do so, click and hold at the beginning of the text for slide two (just before the word "Introduction"), drag down to the end of the text for slide three (just after the word "about"), and release the mouse button. Press the Delete key to remove them. Notice that the remaining slides are automatically renumbered, so that slides 8 and 9 are now slides 6 and 7. Delete slides 5 through 7. Now we have 4 slides: a title page and three topics. However, we have 4 topics that we will cover, and we want to include a summary, so we'll need to create new slides for these. Select slides 3 and 4, then select Copy from the Edit menu. Now click at the end of the last line of text in slide 4, and select Paste from the Edit menu. The slides are copied into the outline after slide 4.

Now we can edit our outline. Editing the text works much like a word processor. Figure 4 shows part of what our final product will look like after the example below is followed. (Some text formatting may be different, however.) Slide 1 has the introductory information that you entered into the Wizard when we began, so you probably will not need to edit this information. Slide 2 will cover basic do's and don'ts. Change the title from "Topic One" to "Basic Ideas." (Highlight "Topic One," and type in "Basic Ideas.") For the elements, change the lines to read:

  • Do Use Contrasting Colors
  • Do Keep Text Simple
  • Don't Use More Than Three Colors
  • Don't Use Small Text

You'll notice that we have four lines for this slide, but only three are given. To add a fourth line, simply press RETURN (Mac) or ENTER (PC) at the end of the third line.

Now we'll create the other slides. Slide 3 will be titled "Text Tips" and will have the following information:

  • Use Large Point Sizes
  • Color Text to Contrast with Background
  • Use Non-City-Name Fonts, Not City-Name Fonts
  • Keep Text Well Within Margins
  • Use Primary Capitals for Readability

Slide 4 will be called "Graphics Tips" and will have the following ideas:

  • Use Object-Oriented Formats (EPS and PICT)
  • Avoid Bitmapped Graphics ("MacPaint")
  • Use Simple, Large Graphics
  • Mix Text Slides with Graphics Slides
  • Avoid Pattern Fills (They "Choke" Film Recorders)

Slide 5 will describe an effective presentation. For this slide we will have not only main topics but some subtopics as well. To produce a subtopic for a main topic, press TAB, and the insertion point will automatically indent, forming a subheading. To create Slide 5, first change its title to "Building an Effective Presentation," then enter the following information, pressing TAB where appropriate.

  • Effective Text
    -Large Point Sizes, Outline Fonts
    -Contrasting Color
    -Keep Text Simple
  • Effective Graphics
    -Object-Oriented
    -Simple and Large
    -Not More Than One or Two Per Slide

To change a heading to a subheading, place the insertion point anywhere within the heading, then click on the "Demote" button on the vertical toolbar along the left side of the window (Figure 4). To change a subheading to a main heading, place the insertion point anywhere within the subheading, and click on the "Promote" button (Figure 4). Alternatively, you can place the insertion point within a line and press TAB to demote or SHIFT/TAB to promote.

Finally, Slide 6 will be called "Summary" and will have the following points:

  • Simplicity Is Key!
  • Looks are Important, But Don't Be Too Flashy
  • Stay Focused--No Distractions

 

6.0 Editing the Slides

Now that you have your text, you may want to make some changes on your slides by formatting text, doing a little drawing, and adding clip art or other items. PowerPoint makes it very simple to edit your slides--we'll take you through all the necessary steps. Before you begin, go into Slide View by clicking on its icon (Figure 3) or by selecting Slide from the View menu.

6.1 Formatting Text on the Slides

Formatting text in PowerPoint is similar to working in Microsoft Word. The Formatting Toolbar (Figure 5) shows the main editing tools available.


Figure 5: The Formatting toolbar

PowerPoint text is contained in invisible text boxes. The size of the text boxes determines the width of the margins and where the lines of text will break. You can adjust the size of the text boxes or move them around on the slide. A single slide may contain several text boxes. (For example, there may be one text box for the slide's title, another for a bulleted list, and one for a footer.)

To edit or format text, simply click anywhere on the text you wish to edit or format. The borders of the text box should now appear, and the insertion point should appear in the text where you clicked. You may now edit the text as you would in Word. If you wish to change formatting (e.g., bold or italic), highlight the text and click on the appropriate icon in the Formatting Toolbar (Figure 5).

To move the text box, click and hold anywhere on the box's border, drag to the new location, and release the mouse button. To resize the text box, click and release anywhere on the box's border. "Handles" will appear in the four corners and in the middle of each side. Click, hold, and drag the appropriate handle to resize or reshape the box, and release the mouse button.

Go now to Slide 5 by clicking within the scroll bar along the right-hand side of the slide composition window (or by pressing the PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN key) until "Slide 5 of 6" appears in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. This slide has overlapping text boxes, which make it difficult to read. Select the top text box by clicking on it, then click and hold on the border, and drag it up so that the two boxes no longer overlap.

If you wish to add text to a slide, you may select the Text Box Tool from the Drawing Toolbar (Figure 6), and then click, hold, and drag to form the new text box, and release the mouse button. This creates a new text box in which you may enter text. NOTE: Text entered in this way will not appear in your outline. The best way to enter new text is to go back to Outline View and make your adjustments there.

To delete a text box, click on the border to make the handles appear, then press the Delete key.

6.2 Drawing on Your Slides

The Drawing Toolbar (see Figure 6) gives you most of the basic tools that you will need to add and edit design elements on your slides. (As with other toolbars, help pops up when you hold the pointer over the button in question.)


Figure 6: The Drawing Toolbar

Begin experimenting with the Line, Arrow, Rectangle, and Oval tools to see how they operate. Create a shape, then (with the shape selected) click on the downward-pointing arrow next to the Fill Color and Line Color icons to see how these functions operate. Double-clicking on a shape will open the Format AutoShape window, allowing you to change many options about that shape at one time.

With a shape selected, click on the Free Rotate Tool, grab one of the shape's handles, and drag in an arc. Notice how the shape rotates. Clicking on the Draw button gives other rotating and moving options.

The AutoShapes button is of special interest. Clicking on it brings up a menu with many different shapes that you can add to your slides.

As with text boxes, all shapes can be resized when selected by dragging the handles. If you hold down the Shift key while dragging a corner handle, the horizontal and vertical proportions will remain constant so that the element gets larger or smaller without any distortion of its shape. To move the element, select it, then click and hold anywhere within it (not on a handle), drag to the new position, and release. To remove an element, select it (its handles will appear), then press the Delete key.

6.3 Adding Objects to Your Slides

You may wish to add an object to a slide--e.g., a piece of clip art. To add clip art, select Clip Art... from the Picture submenu of the Insert menu. If this is the first time you've used PowerPoint, the program may ask if you wish to add the clip art gallery from Microsoft Office. Click OK--the process may take a while. (If the gallery does not load properly, call the ACC HelpLine at ext. 3830 for assistance.)

A window appears with four different file cards. Select the Clip Art file card (if it is not already selected) by clicking on its tab. The window now lists all of the available art, divided into many subcategories. You can browse through the pictures using the scroll bar to the right of the small "thumbnail" pictures. Click on the picture you wish to use, and click Insert. The clip art picture will then appear on the current slide. You can resize the picture by dragging the handles that appear when you click on it. Dragging a corner of the picture scales the picture proportionally (the picture will not be distorted), while dragging a handle on one of the sides scales the picture horizontally or vertically, which will cause some distortion. To move the clip art, select it, then click and hold anywhere within the graphic (not on a handle), drag to the new position, and release.

If you wish to add a picture other than PowerPoint's clip art (e.g., a graphic you created in Photoshop), select From File... from the Picture submenu of the Insert menu. You can also add a Word-formatted document or table, or an Excel-formatted spreadsheet. To do this, choose Object... from the Insert menu, and choose the appropriate option in the Object Type: window.

 

7.0 Editing a Slide Master

The background for every slide can be standardized using the Slide Master. Everything on the master is present on every slide; also, you can change the standard format for headings. To view the slide master, drag the View menu down to Master; a submenu will pop up, from which you should choose Slide Master.

You will see an area where you can change the format of the master title style, as well as the master text styles. Simply click on the line of text whose style you wish to change, then make the appropriate selections using the options in the Format menu.

You can also add clip art or other objects that will then appear on every slide. We will add a small graphic of a presenter to our slides. Select Clip Art from the Picture submenu of the Insert menu. Select the People at Work subcategory, and locate and select the woman presenting to a group, illustratedbelow.

Click Insert, and it will appear on the Slide Master. Make it smaller by dragging a corner until it is about an inch high, and place it in the lower left corner of the slide. Now go to Slide View. You will see that every slide (except the title slide) has been updated to include the changes you made to the Slide Master.

 

8.0 Creating a Chart

In this section, we will add another slide to our presentation and create a chart. While in Slide View, go to the fourth slide (titled "Graphics Tips.")

Select New Slide from the Insert menu. You will be prompted to choose an AutoLayout; select the thumbnail of a bar graph, illustrated below.

The box on the right-hand side of the dialog should read "Chart." Click OK, and the new slide will be inserted after the fourth slide. Click within the title placeholder, and give the slide the title "Computer System Preference."

Double-click in the chart placeholder, and a graph and small spreadsheet will appear, as illustrated in Figure 7. Click on the spreadsheet (labeled ... --Datasheet). Then click and hold in the upper left-hand cell, drag across and down through all the cells that contain sample text or numbers, and release the mouse button. Pull down the Edit menu to Clear, and select All from the side menu. Enter the data as shown in Figure 7. Column D may show a placeholder for "Slice 4." You will need to clear this placeholder so that "Slice 4" is not listed in the legend. Click on the column heading for column D to highlight the entire column, then pull down the Edit menu to Clear and select All from the side menu.


Figure 7: The Graph Spreadsheet

Now we will change the chart type to a three-dimensional pie chart. Click and hold on the Chart Type menu icon's arrow (located in the toolbar above the chart composition window, illustrated below).

Pull down to select the 3-D pie chart (illustrated below), and release the mouse button.

To view the slide, select Quit & Return to... from the File menu (Mac) or click on the close box in the upper right-hand corner of the data sheet (PC). (If you need to modify the datasheet later, double-click on the pie chart, then select Datasheet form the View menu.) You may resize or move the pie chart as you would any graphic or text box. When you are finished editing the pie chart, click on the slide anywhere outside the pie chart to view the finished slide. (You may need to click twice.) Your finished slide should look something like Figure 8.

 

9.0 An On-Screen Presentation

Now we will look at the presentation you have created on your computer screen. From the Slide Show menu, select Set Up Show...; a dialog will appear as in Figure 9.

You have three different options for types of shows. For now, we'll choose Presented by a speaker (full screen). You also have the option of running through the entire presentation, or just a part of it (using the From: and To: boxes). If you have set up animations and/or recorded narrations (see Sections 10.3 and 10.5), you can choose to view the show without these included.

If you have set timings for automatic slide advancing (see Section 10.2), you can select Using timings, if present to make use of that feature, or you can choose Manually. Click OK when you are ready to begin the slide show. Then select View Show from the Slide Show menu. Click the mouse button to advance to the next slide. When you have gone through all the slides, the PowerPoint workspace will return (unless you selected the Loop Continuously option in the Set Up Show... dialog). If you wish to stop in the middle of the presentation, simply press the ESC key.

 

10.0 Using The Slide Sorter

PowerPoint's slide sorter lets you see thumbnails of all the slides that you have created so that you can change the order of them, set timings and transitions, and set text body animations. Click on the Slide Sorter View icon (illustrated below) along the lower left-hand side of the slide composition window.

10.1 Reordering Slides

To reorder slides, simply drag a slide to the white space between two other slides, and release the mouse button; the slides will be renumbered accordingly.

10.2 Setting Timings and Transitions

When you give an on-screen presentation (see Section 9.0), PowerPoint lets you set an interval of time for each slide to advance automatically. You also can apply a special effect, or transition, between slides. By default, PowerPoint does not apply transition effects, and slides will advance manually (when you click the mouse button).

You may set timings and transitions for an individual slide (click on it to select it), multiple slides (hold down the Shift key while clicking on each slide you want), or all the slides in your presentation (choose Select All from the Edit menu). Click the Slide Transition button (illustrated below) on the left-hand side of the toolbar above the Slide Sorter window.

A dialog will open in which you can choose (from a pull-down menu) the transition effect you want between slides, the speed of the effect, the time a slide is displayed on the screen, and the sound to be played while the slide is displayed. Click Apply when you have made your choices.

10.3 Setting Text Body Animations

A text body animation allows you to reveal the text on a slide one line at a time. When you use a text body animation, your slide will first appear with only the title displayed. When you click the mouse button, the first line of text under the title will appear. Click again, and the next line down will appear, and so on.

To apply a text body animation, make sure you are in Slide Sorter view, and select the slide(s) on which you want to apply the effect. Pull down the Text Body Animation menu on the right-hand side of the toolbar immediately above the Slide Sorter window. (It will read No Effect until you have selected an effect.) Select the transition effect you want to use. This is the effect that will be used to reveal each new line of text as you click the mouse button.

10.4 The Rehearse Timings Button

The Rehearse Timings button (illustrated above) in the toolbar above the Slide Sorter window provides an easy and effective way to set the timing between slides for automatic on-screen presentations. When you click on the button, the slide show will begin. A timer in the lower right-hand corner of the screen will show how long a slide has been displayed on the screen. Read through the slide at a pace you estimate your audience would read, and click the mouse button when you are ready to proceed to the next slide. If you have applied text body animations, timings will apply to those as well. When you reach the end of the presentation, PowerPoint will ask if you want to apply your rehearsed timings to your presentation. Click on Yes. Click Yes again to return to Slide Sorter View.

Before you view your presentation (by selecting View Show from the Slide Show menu), be sure to select Set Up Show... from the Slide Show menu, then select Using Slide timings, if present.

10.5 Recording Narrations

If your computer has a microphone, you can record narrations to go along with your slides. This can be useful for making self-running presentations, or for saving a presentation as it is given for later use.

Choose Record Narration... from the Slide Show menu. A dialog box appears, telling you the current recording quality. Click OK to begin recording narrations. As each slide appears on the screen, speak your narration into the microphone. Click the mouse button to go to the next slide. When you reach the end of the slides, PowerPoint will ask if you want to save the new slide timings in your presentation. Most likely you will, so click Yes, then click Yes again to return to Slide Sorter View.

 

11.0 Speaker's Notes Pages and Handouts

11.1 Notes Pages

You can create one page of speaker's notes per slide. These can be helpful in longer presentations. A page of speaker's notes will contain a picture of the slide and any notes that you type in. To see the notes pages, select Notes Page from the View menu, or click on the Notes Page View icon. You will see a page that has a reduced picture of your current slide on the top half, and a text box on the bottom. Simply click in the text box and add notes to your page. You can go to other slides using the scroll bar and add notes to them as well.

11.2 Handouts

Handouts are paper copies of your slides along with any header or footer text you may wish to add. They help an audience follow along with and remember your presentation. PowerPoint automatically formatted your handout pages through the Wizard. You will have the option of printing two, three, or six slides per page.

If you wish to add header or footer text, select Handout Master from the Master submenu of the View menu. Click in the appropriate text box to add text. If you wish to make a new text box, select the Text Box tool from the toolbar along the bottom of the window, click and drag to form the text box, and begin typing. When you are finished, return to the view of your choice by using the View menu. You will print your handouts as explained in the next section.

 

12.0 Producing Your Presentation

12.1 Printing

Select Print... from the File menu. A Dialog box will open. PowerPoint can print your slides, handouts (two, three, or six slides per page), notes pages, or the outline. Select Microsoft PowerPoint from the pull-down menu if necessary, then select the appropriate option from the Print What menu, and click on Print (Mac) or OK (PC).

12.2 Overhead Transparencies

It is possible to print your slides as full-color transparencies in the Resource Room at the ACC. For more information on this process, stop by the ACC HelpDesk in Rolvaag 251.

12.3 Making 35-mm Slides

Making 35-mm slides requires a film recorder. Currently, St. Olaf does not have one. You will need to take a soft copy of your presentation on a 3.5-inch floppy disk to an outside service bureau. If your presentation is too big for a floppy, a magneto-optical or ZIP disk may be necessary--ask the bureau ahead of time which disk media they accept. If you need help choosing a service bureau, call the ACC HelpLine at ext. 3830; they will direct you to the appropriate ACC staff member.

Here are some important tips for 35-mm slides:

  • Do not use fill patterns in your slide backgrounds, graphic elements, or graphics. Fill patterns will cause film recorders to lock up and crash. Since many service bureaus charge by the minute, this can be an expensive mistake that yields no finished product. Instead of fill patterns, use fill colors.
  • Do not "export" your presentation for the service bureau; they will not be able to edit it if they run into any technical problems. Instead, give them a copy of your PowerPoint file.
  • Give the service bureau a copy of your file, so you have a copy for yourself.
  • Colors on your finished slide may vary from what you see on your computer screen. If accurate color is critical and your presentation is long, you would be wise to have the service bureau make a sample slide before you film record your entire presentation.

12.4 Color vs. Black & White

Most PowerPoint templates use many colors, which means that if you choose to print out the slides in black and white, they won't look as good as they could if you chose a background better suited for black and white printing. Usually this means a white background, which will make text stand out better in black and white. If you know ahead of time that you only want black and white output, make sure to choose a black and white option in the Wizard when you start a new presentation.

12.5 In-class Presentation

Many of classrooms at St. Olaf are equipped with projection equipment suitable for showing Powerpoint presentations in class. You will want to save your Powerpoint file somewhere easy to access from the classroom computers. Each class is provided with a class folder on the Brit server, which is a good place to store files that will be used in class. More information about the class folder. Save your presentation to your class's folder, and you will then be able to open it with a computer in the classroom and display the presentation using a projector. First, set up the necessary hardware following the instructions found here. Then, open your Powerpoint file from the class directory and start the presentation, as discussed in section 9.

 

13.0 Some Final Thoughts

As you create your presentation, save your work frequently. Long presentations can result in large files, particularly if you include scanned images. If you will be saving your presentations on a floppy disk, it is best to start with a blank disk.

As always, make multiple backup copies of your presentation, and store the copies in different locations. This investment of time and money can save you many hours of work if something should happen to your files. 

 

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