Introduction Opening PowerPoint, Using the AutoContent Wizard, Window Elements, Working in the Outline and Slide Window Panes, Understanding Different Views, and Saving the Presentation. Contents Introduction Contents Opening PowerPoint Using the AutoContent Wizard Additional Window Elements Working with the Outline Window Pane Working with the Slide Window Pane Understanding the Different PowerPoint Views Saving the Presentation Opening PowerPoint There are several ways to open PowerPoint: 1) On the taskbar, click on the Start button, Programs, Microsoft PowerPoint, 2) Some computers may have a PowerPoint shortcut on the desktop, and 3) some computers may have a PowerPoint shortcut in the taskbar. When you first open PowerPoint, a dialog box will appear prompting you to either open a presentation by using the AutoContent Wizard, Design Template, or Blank Presentation or to open an existing presentation. Notice the Don t show this dialog box again option. If you checkmark this, every time you open PowerPoint, a blank presentation automatically opens. Using the AutoContent Wizard Page 1
The AutoContent Wizard gives direction on creating a PowerPoint presentation by prompting you with step-bystep directions to help you. Click the AutoContent Wizard radio button and then hit OK. The AutoContent Wizard now appears. Click on the Next button. Now you have the option of selecting the type of presentation you would like to create. Click on the Next button again. Now you have several options. Most times you will leave it on the On-screen presentation default. Keep it on On-screen presentation and click on the Next button. Type in a name for your presentation. You also have the option at this time to type in words for a footer, which will appear at the bottom of each slide. Date last updated and Slide Number are defaulted to be checked on, but you have the option of turning them off at this point. If you leave them on, the date and slide number will appear at the bottom of each slide. Click Next. Page 2
The Wizard has now completed the setup of your presentation. Click Finish. The first slide of your presentation now appears on the screen. At the left of the slide is an outline listing of your slide presentation. You have the option of sliding the view to the left so this outline form does not show. Notice that directly under the slide, there is also a Notes Window. This is so you can write specific notes about a slide and print them out separately for when you do your presentation. We will cover this in more detail later. The rest of the window looks much the same as any other Microsoft program: it has the standard toolbar, formatting toolbar, and drawing toolbar. You will also see scroll bars in every window pane and have minimize and maximize buttons in the top right hand corner of the file. Page 3
Additional Window Elements On the right side of the screen are arrows that allow you to move through your presentation a little faster than the normal scroll bars. The double up arrow takes you to the previous slide and the double down arrow takes you to the next slide. When you hover over either of these with your mouse, a little slide indicator box will appear stating which slide of how many you are currently on. Working with the Outline Window Pane Text can be changed either on the slide itself or within the outline window pane. In the outline window pane, scroll up to the slide you want to change and position the mouse pointer to the right of the words you want to change. The pointer now turns to an I-beam or cursor. Double-click to select the text and change it. You can also move slides by clicking and dragging them up and down, delete slides, and copy and paste slides. Another feature is the Edit, Duplicate Slide feature. This allows you to copy and paste directly after the selected slide. An exact duplicate slide will be made and you can make slight alterations without having to redo an entire slide. Page 4
Working with the Slide Window Pane Most people prefer to work directly in the slide window pane to change text, insert pictures, etc. When making a selection, a box will appear with anchor points on the outside of the selection. You can either select the text by clicking or dragging or simply start typing and replace the text completely in the box. Each anchor point can be clicked on and then dragged to a different location to size or move the selection. If you want to move the entire selection, put the pointer anywhere on the outside box away from an anchor point until the 4 crosshairs image appears, then click and drag. If you want to resize the selection, point to the anchor point and click and drag. Understanding the Different PowerPoint Views There are several different ways to view your presentation in PowerPoint. Each button to the left reveals a different view. Beginning with the leftmost button, these are the views respectively: Normal View, Outline View, Slide View, Slide Sorter View, and the actual Slide Show View. You can also view the Notes Pages by going to the View Menu and selecting Notes View. Page 5
Each of these views may also be selected from the View Menu at the top of your screen. In the Slide Sorter View as shown above, slides may be moved around by clicking and dragging them to a new location. The rest of the slides will then be automatically resorted. Saving the Presentation To save your PowerPoint presentation, go to File, Save As, and type in the name of your presentation or if has already been saved once, simply go to File, Save or to the Save Button in the toolbar. It is ALWAYS a good idea to save the presentation right when you start because then the AutoSave feature is on and it will save it every so many minutes. Page 6