Using Microsoft PowerPoint

Working with Graphics

Inserting Graphics

You can insert three kinds of graphics into a PowerPoint document:

• a graphic file that you have
• clip art that comes with Microsoft Office
• AutoShapes that are also a part of Microsoft Office programs

To insert a graphic file:

1. Choose Insert àPictureàFrom File.
2. Find the file and select it.
3. Click Insert.

To insert clip art:

1. Choose a slide layout that includes a picture placeholder.
2. Double-click the placeholder.
3. Choose a category, and then choose a picture.
4. Click Insert clip.

Tip: You can click Import Clips to add graphic files to the clip art gallery for easy access.

To change the coloring of clip art to match your presentation:

1. Insert, resize and position the clip art where you want it to be on the slide.
2. Select the clip art image. The Picture toolbar should appear. If it doesn’t, click View on the menu bar, Toolbars, and select Picture.

3. Click the recolor Picture button.

4. Select the checkbox or checkboxes of the color or colors you want to change.

5. Use the [Preview] button to check your new colors before you accept the changes.

To insert AutoShapes:

1. Click the Drawing button on the Standard toolbar to display the Draw toolbar, if necessary.
2. Choose AutoShapes.
3. Choose a category and then choose a shape. You can use one of the curved block arrows, then rotate or flip it, as explained in the next section on modifying graphics.
4. Click on the slide where you wish to add the shape. You can also drag to set the size as you insert.

To copy an object on your page quickly and easily:

1. Instead of using cut & paste, try this instead.
2. Select the object you want to copy by clicking on it.
3. Hold down the "CTRL" key on the keyboard.
4. Click (with the left mouse button) and drag the object to the new position. Simple & quick. Now try it again but press the "Shift" key at the same time as the CTRL key, this will keep the objects aligned.

To modify graphics:
To select graphics:
Click a graphic to select it. You must select the graphic before you can modify it. To work with more than one graphic at a time, press Shift before select additional graphics.

To modify graphic files and clip art:
Click the image to select it. You can then resize it using the small square "handles." You can also use the Picture toolbar that appears to modify the image in several ways, including cropping, brightening, etc.

To modify an AutoShape, select it and:

• Use the small square "handles" to resize it.
• Drag it to move it. (You'll see a four-arrow cursor.)
• Press [Del] to delete it.
• Choose Free Rotate on the Draw toolbar to rotate the shape. Drag the green circles until you have the rotation you want.
  
• Choose Fill Color to fill the AutoShape. You can choose a color, choose More Colors for more options, or choose Fill Effects to fill the shape with a gradient, texture, or even a graphic image.
• Choose Line Color to set the color of the line around the shape. If you fill the shape with a color, you can remove the line (choose No Line) if you wish.
• Choose 3-D to create a neat 3-D effect.
• Choose Shadow to add a shadow effect.
• Use the Draw menu on the Draw toolbar to rotate or flip the shape and for other options.

To format a text box or other object:

1. Select the object.
2. Right-click/Ctrl+click and choose Format Text Box (or Format AutoShape, for example.)
3. In the Format dialog box, use the Colors and Lines tab to set the border and fill of the object. You can also format lines and arrows on this tab.
4. Use the Size tab to precisely set the size of the object. You can also rotate and scale the object.
5. Use the Position tab to precisely set the position of the object.
6. Use the Text Box tab to format the relationship between the text and the border of the text box. This setting also applies to text inside an AutoShape.
7. If you have an active Picture tab, use it to crop and control the color, brightness, and contrast of pictures.
8. When you're done, click OK.

Laying Out a Slide

When creating a presentation, you should pay attention to the layout of each slide to get a balanced, pleasing, and easily understandable effect. Here are some guidelines and techniques:

• Lay out the Slide Master carefully because it affects the layout of all your slides.
• Use placeholders as often as possible; they help lay out your slide.
• Use guides to help you lay out a slide. These guides don't appear on your final slide and are just for helping you to see relationships and distances. Choose ViewàGuides to place a vertical and horizontal guide on the slide. To add guides, press Ctrl/Option and drag one of the guides. You can use this technique to create a grid, like the one professional graphic artists use when laying out their artwork.
• When you want to align several objects or distribute them evenly, select them and choose Draw àAlign or Distribute from the Drawing toolbar.
• Don't put too much on a slide. Keep the layout simple, with plenty of blank space.
• Limit your fonts and colors to avoid a chaotic impression.

Adding Builds (Animation) to Slides

You can control when and how objects appear on a slide. This feature is now called animation, but is commonly called builds, because you can build up the slide, object by object. The most common type of animation is for bulleted text in a text placeholder. Here's how to add text animation:

1. Select the text placeholder.
2. Choose Slide ShowàCustom Animation.
3. On the Effects tab, choose an effect from the Effects drop-down list. (Tip: choose something simple)
4. In the After Animation section, choose an effect for after the animation. You can choose Don't Dim, choose a color to dim to, or hide (after the animation or on the next mouse click).
5. On the right, in the Introduce Text section, you can choose how you want to group the text animation. By default, PowerPoint animates by 1st level paragraphs, meaning that each level 1 bullet is animated separately. Level 2 bulleted text comes along for the ride with its parent level 1 bullet. To change this, change the top drop-down list to By Word or By Letter (if you want) and change the Grouped By drop-down list to whatever you want, for example, 2nd level paragraphs.
6. Click Preview to see the result.
7. Click OK to close the dialog box.

You can also use this dialog box to set automatic timings for animation, to animate other objects, to add sounds to the animation, and to animate charts.

Adding Slide Transitions

Slide transitions are effects that control how a slide appears when you are delivering your presentation. Slide can appear to slide in from the left, for example. For best effect, use only one transition type for the entire presentation. Make exceptions rarely when you move to a new section or want to wake up the audience. Here's how to add a slide transition:

1. Switch to slide sorter view (click the slide sorter button or choose View > Slide Sorter).A new toolbar appears. (It's called the Slider Sorter toolbar.)
2. Select all the slides you want to work with to make it active. (To select all the slides, press Ctrl/Cmd + A or choose EditàSelect All.)
3. From the Slide Transition Effects drop-down list, choose a transition effect. As you do so, PowerPoint shows you how the transition looks on the active slide.
   For more control, click the Slide Transition button on the toolbar (or choose Slide ShowàSlide Transition) to open the Slide Transition dialog box. Here you can fine tune the speed of some of the transitions, see their effects more clearly, add sound if you want, and easily apply the transition to either the current slide or all the slides. Click OK when you're done with the dialog box settings.

NOTE: When you create a transition, PowerPoint adds a small icon under the slide in slider sorter view. You can click this icon to view the transition effect at any time.