Making the most of Microsoft Office PowerPoint

A Guide* for the SOS Workshop Series No. 3

Karen Spear Ellinwood, PhD, JD Associate Specialist, Faculty and resident instructional development The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Office of Medical Student Education
*SOS guides are not sanctioned by Microsoft and are provided as a convenient supplement to workshops conducted to assist staff in developing professional office skills in support of the UA COM medical education program and faculty. Created using Microsoft Office Visio 2013 and saving as PDF Comments on Trademark use of Microsoft Office applications

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Like Microsoft Publisher, PowerPoint is an object-based application. In other words, you dont open a document and start typing anywhere, as you would in Word. You have to type in a text box or ADD TEXT to an object (you can use RIGHT CLICK menu to do that). You can, however, copy text from another document and paste it anywhere on a PowerPoint slide and PowerPoint will create automatically a text box for that text.
Remember, text boxes conform to the space that the text occupies. You cannot stretch text boxes beyond that space. Many people have experienced that but didnt know why it was happening .

If you want the box to be much bigger than the space the text occupies, you should INSERT a SHAPE, and then right click to ADD TEXT. That will give you more control over the size and shape of the box.
Whenever you can, create changes that affect the ENTIRE presentation, instead of doing it slide by slide.

To create the look and feel you want, click on the DESIGN menu
and select: Themes; Colors; Fonts; and Effects.
Locate other UA COM Branding & Logo Information and Templates Use UA NetID to log in

Remember the RGB color codes for UA Red & Blue: UA Red R=201 G=0 B=51 UA Blue R=0 < G=51 < B=102
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 On the DESIGN menu, you can choose from among many themes in PowerPoint. Each theme has a set of fonts, a color scheme and effects that are default for each slides layout and objects, including shapes and SmartArt. If you already have content on your slides, check to see how your content looks as you change the theme. It might be that certain themes are not best suited for the content you have. Some themes, for example, are designed for photo-heavy content. If you have mostly text, that theme will not work as well.

 Now that youve chosen your theme , look at the right side of the DESIGN menu to see what the default color scheme is for that theme. The square will show you the basic colors but if you click on the upside down triangle next to the word Colors, and scroll down youll come to the highlighted color scheme that is the default for that theme.

The one in the example above left is called Clarity. I changed it to a color scheme I had previously created UA11 (how to create color schemes, next page). If you RIGHT CLICK on a color scheme, you may select whether to apply it to ALL slides or SELECTED slides.

To create a new color scheme click on the inverted triangle to the right of the word COLORS on the DESIGN menu. Click on Create New Theme Colors at the bottom of the list. The pop-up window will appear (Image 2). It has an image on the right which is supposed to correspond to the Theme Color list on the left. Sometimes it is hard to determine which of the objects on your slide layouts correspond to this image map . It may take some trial and error. Click on the color squares and choose a color or create a color using RGB (Red-Green-Blue) codes. Name your scheme notice I named mine (Image 1) UA11. Click SAVE. You can use this color scheme in future presentations.

Create New Color Scheme

Select Font scheme for presentation

The font scheme you choose from the Fonts sub-menu on the DESIGN menu tab should convey the look and feel you want for the entire presentation. Keep in mind you want the font to be LEGIBLE, not necessarily fancy. Fancy is often hard to read. There are two font categories: Serif Non-serif

Serif fonts have tails and tips on letters such as

Ts, Fs,

Ws and Ss.
Non-serif fonts incorporate straight lines (no tails or fancy tips on the

Ts, Fs, Ws and Ss).

Consider which is easier to read, given the lighting of the presentation room and the size font you will use. The Top Font listed is the default font for special objects and headings; the bottom font is the default body text in objects or text boxes.

Selecting EFFECTS
Notice that when you click on EFFECTS, the name of the default effects look and feel is the same as the name of the color scheme , here Clarity. You can choose one of the Built-In or pre-set themes for your color scheme and another for your fonts or effects.
The pre-set effects schemes give you a preview of what your objects and SmartArt will look like throughout your presentation. To get a better sense of the look and feel of a scheme, simply click on it and then review your slides.

You can always undo your selection by clicking on the undo arrow OR by using CNTL+Z on your keyboard. Note the change from the Clarity to Paper scheme below.

VIEW

This is what your workspace will look like if you click on Ruler, Gridlines and Guides on the VIEW menu.
Ruler

Guides

Gridlines

HOME|Layout

Select the layout that works best for the content you are going to insert. Go to the HOME menu and click on Layout, to the right of NEW SLIDE. You can change that layout for the entire presentation if you go to the VIEW menu tab and click on SLIDE MASTER .

VIEW SLIDE MASTER

If you select the first slide master, any changes you make will be applied to any slide layout that has those same elements/objects. To make changes to certain layouts, click on the layout in the left view panel of your PowerPoint screen. That layout slide master will appear in the main screen. Then make changes as you would to any object to change size, color, and effects of boxes, shapes or fonts.

BEFORE

AFTER

 You can change the look and feel of the printed HANDOUTS by clicking on the VIEW menu tab and then HANDOUT MASTER. You can change the size of the text box or font, add bullets or numbers, and change the color of the font or font type. You can REPOSITION the boxes, perhaps making the image of the slide presented smaller, to use as a visual cue, and enlarging the text area of the slide to make it more legible. Using my PRESENTER MODE slide from the Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation, you can see how the NOTES are set in the enlarged area. Audience members can also use this box to write additional notes.
CAUTION: Do NOT use the NOTES HANDOUT view as a printed handout UNLESS you dont mind the audience seeing the notes created in the NOTES text box below each slide.

DEFAULT

Modification PRINT PREVIEW

I switched from 6 slide view for the Handout Master to 3 slides with lines for audience members to take notes. The lines do not appear in the preview of the master (thats not a good thing because its deceiving). HOWEVER, in PRINT PREVIEW youll see those lines . I used INSERT SHAPE to insert a rectangle and stretched it to enclose the slide image on the left and the area for note-taking. Unfortunately, we cannot change the position of the images of the slides or lines for notetaking.

Slide Show Set-up

The defaults for presenting Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations are different on Macs and PCs (non-Mac computers). A presentation on a Mac will show the presenter view, which has a clock for timing the presentation, back and forward arrow keys, slide notes and a preview of upcoming slides. PCs have the same presenter mode view, but you have to set it up using the SLIDESHOW menu. Click on SET UP SLIDESHOW. Then select the options you prefer in the pop-up window (right). Note the Show Presenter View is at bottom right, above OK. Then Click OK. Now when you click on the icon for Slideshow or the icons for showing the presentation From Beginning or From Current Slide , you will see it in Presenter Mode. The audience sees only the presentation.

INSERT SmartArt
To insert SmartArt, click on the Green Arrow in the box on the slide, OR Go to the INSERT menu tab and click on SmartArt.

Select the type of graphic you would like to create on the left of the pop-up window.

If you dont like how it looks, you can change it.

ADDING TEXT to SmartArt

Ordinarily, the default mode of SmartArt when it is first inserted in to the presentation slide is to have the Type your text here box open to the left of the object. Type here and you will see text automatically appear in the graphic.
You can also click on the sample text in the graphic and begin typing.

Indented text Text at the margin or appearing as the FIRST bullet.

If you start with text and want to CONVERT it to SmartArt: SELECT the text with your mouse, OR set your cursor ANYWHERE in the text box, and RIGHT CLICK, Select the option that says Convert to SmartArt, the same pop-up window will appear, and Select the SmartArt graphic you want and click OK.
SmartArt SHOULD incorporate your selected text, and preserve the original formatting placing it in the graphic where it belongs as text at the margin or indented.

Changing the COLOR or EFFECT of your SmartArt Graphic

CLICK on the outer frame of your SmartArt Graphic. This will highlight your SmartArt Tools menu (see below). Click on Design. Click on Change Colors and select the color scheme you would like. Click on the image of the effect you would like to create, or try them out. If you make a mistake you can UNDO or RESET GRAPHIC on the Design toolbar.

Hiding Slides from the Presentation View

You can HIDE slides so that they do not show up in your presentation.
The reason to do this is when you do not want to delete the slide because you might use it with other audiences.

Click on Hide Slide on the Slideshow Menu, OR RIGHT CLICK on a slide in the left side menu of slides. Right click options include HIDE SLIDE (at the bottom of the list). Click on HIDE SLIDE and the colors and text of that slide appear muted in the left menu of slides. You can still see the hidden slide in the main screen and you can still change it. But, it will not appear in your presentation. Notice the Slide # has a \ through it to indicate this slide is hidden (inset, bottom).
CAUTION: It might still appear in your PDF when you convert the document or in your print-out, so you should check this before distributing the presentation in those other formats.

Interface with other applications

You can insert NEW charts in PowerPoint, but you can also INSERT charts that you have created in Excel (see next page for detailed example).

You can SAVE publisher documents as PDFs. This makes it easier to share or upload online for others to access.

You can create graphics, organizational charts, flow charts, etc., in Visio 2013, and save these as higher resolution graphics. Then insert them as pictures in Publisher.

You can write text in Word or copy text from an existing document and paste it into a text box in Publisher. This helps save time by not requiring you to retype the text. It might require that you create a continuing text box (see preceding page) to accommodate longer documents.

 To insert a chart based on data in an existing EXCEL file, go to the INSERT menu tab. Click on OBJECT.
Select Create from File

Click on BROWSE A window will pop up for you to choose the folder and file you want to insert. Do not click LINK because this will insert an image of the file that you will have to open separately during your presentation. Select the file with the data you want to include, and click OK.
Your chart will appear in the PowerPoint slide (see sample at right).

 To EDIT the data after you have inserted it into PowerPoint, and click on WORKSHEET OBJECT. The data will then appear as an Excel spreadsheet with the ability to be edited. THEN, Select OPEN worksheet object and the data will appear in a new Excel worksheet with the same name as your PowerPoint.

The chart below is the chart from the previous page.

Once I opened the Excel spreadsheet and made changes to the table style, those changes appeared immediately in PowerPoint.
I deleted columns, increased font size and changed the table style.

Once Excel open, use your mouse to select all the data you want to appear as a table in PowerPoint. On the Excel HOME menu, select FORMAT TABLE STYLE and choose a style. Once you select a table style, the data will appear as a formatted table in PowerPoint, and all extra columns and rows will disappear. The table format in PowerPoint will follow the format you assigned in Excel.
We will discuss this more in-depth at the SOS Workshop No. 5 on Excel on May 7, 2014.

From Data Table to Chart

If you want to insert a chart based on this data, then go to that Excel spreadsheet that PowerPoint created for you. Highlight the data you want to use to create a graphic chart Go to INSERT menu tab in Excel and CLICK on the chart type1 (example: Pie chart, colons, line graph, etc.) The chart will appear in Excel on the same page 2 and simultaneously appear in the same location (with respect to the table of data) in the Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation. If you want the chart to be the main focus of your PowerPoint, go back to the Excel file and RIGHT CLICK on the chart. From the menu select MOVE CHART.
On the MOVE CHART pop up window, name the chart or use the default name Excel provides, click OK.

Next page

Once you move the chart to its own page in the Microsoft Office Excel file 1, 2, that chart will appear automatically in the PowerPoint slide3. The chart will pick up the Color Scheme of your PowerPoint 3. You can modify the color, font size, further using Excel menus ; again, those changes will appear in PowerPoint automatically.

We will cover this in more detail when we do SOS Workshop No. 5 (Excel) on May 7, 2014.

Use Excel Chart Tools menu to modify the look and feel of the chart in PowerPoint

Move the LEGEND from side to TOP, ADD a Chart Title, etc and those changes will appear i the PowerPoint slide automatically.

Interface with mobile devices

To get you started with thinking about the interface between Microsoft Word and other applications, check out the following: Haiku Deck allows you to locate royalty free and most of the time FREE photographs that you can use to enhance your document. Using these images avoids copyright issues because Haiku Deck pulls these from users and Copyright Commons. This requires membership, but membership is FREE. You can use Haiku Deck to create presentations as well. The application can be used online from your desktop computer as well as from your iPad or iPhone. One Note and PowerPoint both allow you to take screen clippings of the screen and insert these into PowerPoint by using the CNTRL + V function. Keynote Mobile App for iPad & iPhones There are many applications (apps) for iPad and iPhones that are compatible with Word and other office applications. Keynote will open a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation and will allow you to make changes to content. Please warn faculty that Keynote might change the look and feel. However, I have used Keynote on my iPad successfully to change content without changing the look and feel and then converted it back again to PowerPoint and presented it using a PC (non-Mac computer).

Go to Haiku Deck on the web

$$$

Go to App Store to find Apps

Interface with mobile applications For example: Apps that are designed for: Producing documents of different types Creating drawings or graphics Calendaring appointments, creating reminders
The thing about the App Store is that you dont have to search for individual apps. You can search by CATEGORY, that is, you can look for collections of apps that do certain things.
Dont forget that the basic NOTEPAD on your iPhone or iPad allows you to take notes