44 tips and tricks to help turbocharge your PowerPoint presentations Special magazine supplement: Learning to live with PowerPoint

By Ellen Finkelstein

LAYOUT & DESIGN

1. Expand one slide into two: If your text doesn't fit well on one slide, split it into two slides. Click at the end of the last item you want on the first slide and press the ENTER key. On the Outline toolbar, click Promote until a New Slide icon appears. Type a title for the new slide.

2. Use guides to line up objects: In PowerPoint 2000, choose VIEW » GUIDES. (In PowerPoint 2002, choose VIEW » GRID AND GUIDES.) To add a guide, press the CTRL key and drag a guide onto the workspace. To delete a guide, drag it to the horizontal or vertical ruler.

3. Nudge objects: To move an object just a little, select it and use an arrow key. For even more control, press CTRL as you press an arrow key – this moves objects in increments of .02 inches. For manual control, press the ALT key as you drag an object.

4. Align objects perfectly: For a professional-looking layout, make sure your objects line up. Select two or more objects and from the Draw toolbar, choose Align or Distribute. Select one of the alignment options.

5. Distribute objects evenly: To make three or more objects equidistant, select them all and from the Draw toolbar, choose Draw, then Align or Distribute. Then select Distribute Horizontally or Distribute Vertically. To distribute them equally across the entire slide, first choose Relative to Slide.

6. Attach objects exactly: From the Draw toolbar, select Snap to Shape. (In PowerPoint 2002, select Grid and Guides.) In the Grid and Guides dialog box, check the Snap Objects to Other Objects check box. Click OK. Then drag one object to another – it snaps perfectly.

7. Use the Slide Master for consistency: Start with the Slide Master (view » master » slide master) to set up the layout for your slides and create a coherent, consistent look. Format the background, specify the color scheme, select fonts and bullets, add text animation and logos, and insert slide numbers or other repeating text.

8. Create your own templates: When you've created a presentation that you can reuse in modified form, save it as a template. Choose FILE » SAVE AS. Choose Design Template (*.pot) from the Save as Type drop-down list and click Save. Now you never have to worry about writing over a presentation that you'll need again. Just start your new presentation from the template.

9. Reduce the text margins to get more into a tight space: Right-click the placeholder or autoshape and choose FORMAT » PLACEHOLDER or FORMAT » AUTOSHAPE. Click the Text Box tab. In the Internal Margin section reduce the numbers for the left, right, top and bottom margins. For placeholders with no visible border, set the margins to zero. Click OK.

10. Use a font with a larger x-height: To make text more legible without using a larger font size, switch to a font with a larger x-height (the height of its x character, as well as its a, c, e, etc.). Two fonts of the same point size can have different x-heights. Fonts with a larger x-height are easier to read. For instance, Arial and Verdana have large x-heights, but Garamond has a small x-height.

11. Align text at a decimal point: If you have a list of dollars and cents, for instance, to line them up,

use a decimal tab. Select the text placeholder and click the tab button at the far left of its ruler until the tab symbol with a dot appears. (Choose VIEW » RULER if the ruler isn't visible.) Press the TAB key in front of the text you want to align.

12. Create an automatic agenda slide: Use the Summary Slide feature to create a list of your slideshow's slides. Select the slides to include in the Slide Sorter view, then click Summary Slide on the Outlining toolbar. Change the title of the new slide to Agenda and move it to the beginning of the presentation. From this slide, you can hyperlink each of the other slides' names to their corresponding slides, then use this Agenda slide to navigate to topics the audience wants to discuss.

13. Create a "questions" slide with hyperlinks to topics: Create a Summary Slide as described in Tip 14. Title it Questions? and place it at the end of your presentation. Hyperlink each slide's name to its slide. When people ask questions at the end of your presentation, you can easily return to a slide to review material in more detail.

GRAPHICS & MULTIMEDIA

14. Find free photos in the public domain: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for instance, has an incredible library of more than 20,000 photographs of weather events, animals, coastlines and more at http://www.photolib.noaa.gov.

15. Microsoft Producer: Use Microsoft Producer, a free download, to combine and synchronize a presentation that includes PowerPoint slides, video, audio and still images. Go to http://office.microsoft.com/downloads. Choose PowerPoint as the product and check Add-ins and Extras.

16. Choose your background based on a room's lighting: While conventional wisdom is to design with a dark background when you plan to project your slideshow onto a screen, in reality, the best background has to do with the presentation location. Although light text on a dark background looks best in a dark or slightly darkened room, in a light room the dark background may look so faded that light text may not show up as well. For this kind of situation, it doesn't hurt to try dark text on a lighter background.

17. Widen the bars in a bar chart for readability: To make your bar chart stand out more clearly, widen the bars. Double-click on the chart to activate it, then double-click on the bars to select them all. In the Format Data Series dialog box, click the Options tab and reduce the Gap Width. Click OK.

18. Save a chart's properties: After you've spent hours formatting a chart, you can save its formatting for use in another presentation. Double-click on the chart, then right-click and choose Chart Type. Click the Custom Types tab of the Chart Type dialog box and choose User Defined. Click Add, name the chart type, and click OK twice to get back to your presentation.

19. Format realistic shadows: Adding shadows to objects creates a sense of depth. To make shadows work you often have to change their color, size or direction. Select the object, click Shadow Style on the Draw toolbar, then choose Shadow Settings. In the Shadow Settings toolbar, you can change the shadow's color and nudge the shadow in any direction. Note that the color scheme also includes a shadow color, which you can change to affect all the shadows in your presentation.

20. Use gradients to create a 3D look: A horizontal or vertical two-color gradient with the lighter color in the middle gives bar charts and other objects a 3D look, as though they're raised in the middle. You can also use the From Corner gradient to give circular objects a 3D look (put the lighter color in the corner).

21. Use 3D to make objects stand out: Insert any autoshape and choose one of the options on the 3-D button of the Draw toolbar. Use the 3-D Settings toolbar to adjust the 3D look.

22. Use autoshapes to highlight a point or highlight related text: Add an arrow autoshape over a chart with text that makes your point, such as Fixed costs down 8 percent. Add a rectangle autoshape behind any text for emphasis or to unite several points.

23. Recolor WMF graphics: PowerPoint comes with many clip art images that are in WMF format. You can recolor these images, color by color, to match your color scheme. Select the image and choose Recolor Picture on the Picture toolbar. In the Recolor Picture dialog box, choose one of the original colors and choose a new color in the New column. Continue with the other colors you want to change. Click OK to finish.

24. Add art to the Clip Organizer: Keep your own library of clip art and graphics by adding your files to the Clip Gallery (in PowerPoint 2000) or Clip Organizer (in PowerPoint 2002). In PP 2000, choose INSERT » PICTURE » CLIP ART and click Import Clips. In PP 2002, in the Clip Art task pane choose Clip Organizer. Choose FILE » AD CLIPS TO ORGANIZER.

25. Animate charts: Display your charts bar by bar or year by year. Select the chart and choose SLIDE SHOW » CUSTOM ANIMATION. In PowerPoint 2000, use the Custom Animation dialog box to choose the type of animation. In PowerPoint 2002, click Add Effect in the Custom Animation task pane to add an effect. Then choose the animation from the task pane listing, choose Effect Options, and specify how you want to break down the chart's animation.

26. Remove icons from your slides: If you insert a sound, for example, PowerPoint places a sound icon on the slide. If you choose to play the sound automatically, you won't need the icon. Just drag it off the slide and it won't appear in Slide Show view.

ORGANIZING CONTENT

27. Develop your outline in the Outline pane: Click the slide icon on Outline pane (left side of workspace), type the title of the slide and press ENTER. PowerPoint creates a second slide. In the Formatting toolbar (view » toolbars » formatting) click the right arrow icon (demote) to add bulleted text on the first slide. After the last text item, press ENTER. Click the left arrow icon (promote) until you see a second slide. Do the same for the rest of the slides, then add the graphics.

28. Insert the current date and time during the authoring process: Especially when collaborating, it helps to know which version of the PowerPoint file is most current and when it was updated. Display the Slide Master and choose VIEW » HEADER AND FOOTER to open the Header and Footer dialog box. Check the Date and Time check box and choose Update Automatically. Click Apply to All.

29. Add slide numbers: Slide numbers are helpful during authoring as well as during your presentation for easy navigation. Display the slide master and choose VIEW » HEADER AND FOOTER to open the header and footer dialog box. Check Slide Number and click Apply to All.

30. Hyperlink to supporting information: Select text or an object and press CTRL+K. You can link to another slide in the presentation, another presentation entirely, another file or a Web page. To return to where you left off (in the same presentation), include a link back. To return from another presentation, just press the ESC key. From another file or Web page, use the Windows taskbar to return.

31. Add an e-mail link to a slide: Let viewers running the presentation on their own directly e-mail you with questions or information. Select text or an object and press CTRL+K. In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, choose E-mail Address and complete the necessary information. Click OK to finish.

32. Get rid of the Automatically Select Entire Word option: Are you frustrated when you try to edit part of a word? Choose TOOLS » OPTIONS and click the Edit tab. Uncheck When Selecting, Automatically Select Entire Word. Click OK.

33. Put your most-often used commands on one power toolbar: Choose TOOLS » CUSTOMIZE. On the Toolbars tab, click New. Name the toolbar and click OK. Press CTRL while dragging buttons from existing toolbars. Or click the Commands tab and drag commands from there.

DELIVERY

34. Create a slide list: Display the Outline pane. (In PowerPoint 2002, display the Outline tab of the Outline pane.) Press ALT+SHIFT+1 to collapse the entire outline to show only slide titles. (This shortcut toggles between collapsing and expanding the outline.) Choose FILE » PRINT. From the Print What drop-down list, choose Outline View. Click OK.

35. Record narration to rehearse your delivery: It's hard to hear what you sound like when you just practice out loud. But you can record what you say in your presentation and then listen to yourself as you play it back. Attach a microphone to your computer and choose SLIDE SHOW » RECORD NARRATION. Click OK to accept the default settings. You'll find yourself in Slide Show view. Narrate as you go, as if you were delivering the presentation. At the end, click Yes to save the timings.

36. Print the slide notes to refer to when you present: Choose FILE » PRINT. From the Print What drop-down list on the Print dialog box, choose Notes Pages and click OK.

37. Create a slide as you present – for brainstorming and lists: During informal meetings and working sessions, return to Normal view (view » normal) and create a new slide. Type out brainstorming items or to-do lists so people see you're including their ideas. In Slide Show view (view » slide show) you can also use the Meeting Minder – choose Meeting Minder from the slideshow's navigation menu. (Note: With PowerPoint 2003, the Meeting Minder is no longer available.)

38. Black out or white out a screen: If you stop to discuss a point and don't want people staring at the screen, black it out. Press the B key. In a light room, you can also white it out – press W. Press B or W again to continue your presentation.

39. Vertically align text in text boxes and autoshapes: Do you sometimes find that your text looks too high or low in its box? To change text placement, choose FORMAT » TEXT BOX (or » AUTOSHAPE). Click the Text Box tab and choose an option from the Text Alignment drop-down list. (To do the same for a table, select it and choose FORMAT » TABLE.)

40. Squeeze lines of text together: Need to fit just a little more text into a tight space without making the font smaller? Choose FORMAT » LINE SPACING. Change the line spacing slightly and click OK.

41. Use a lightened photo as a background: To create a light background for your presentation, open the slide master (view » master » slide master) and choose INSERT » PICTURE » FROM FILE. Find and insert the image and resize it to fit the slide. With the image selected, choose Draw on the Draw toolbar, then select Order, then Send to Back. From the Picture toolbar, choose Color, then Washout. Dark text will now show up clearly in front of the background.

42. Use callouts: Use Callouts (from AutoShapes on the Draw toolbar) to point to parts of an image or chart. Add text to label the part.

43. Use AutoCorrect to store shortcuts to text phrases: Choose TOOLS » AUTOCORRECT OPTIONS (AUTOCORRECT in PowerPoint 2000). In the Replace box, enter a shortcut, such as P&L. In the With box, enter the full text, such as Profit & Loss Statement. Click OK to finish.

44. Change the Recently Used File List to 9: Easily access the nine presentations you opened most recently from the file menu or New Presentation task pane. Choose TOOLS » OPTIONS and click the General tab. Change the number for the Recently Used File List to 9. Click OK.