Beginning PowerPoint 2007 for Windows

Tutorial Description

This course introduces you to the PowerPoint program basics for creating a simple on-screen
presentation.

Intended Audience

Individuals interested in preparing presentations for classes, conferences, etc.

Suggested Resources

Microsoft PowerPoint on-line Help

Materials

This exercise

Opening PowerPoint

• Click on the Start button and choose All Programs> Microsoft Office> Microsoft Office
PowerPoint

The PowerPoint window is displayed and labeled Presentation1 [Compatibility Mode] –

Microsoft PowerPoint.
PowerPoint Features

Ribbon – To navigate Microsoft Office 2007, the Ribbon (located at the top of the document) is
used. The Ribbon replaces menus, toolbars and most of the task panes used in earlier versions of
Microsoft Office. The Ribbon is composed of Tabs (e.g., Home, Insert, etc.) which are
organized by tasks or objects. Each tab is divided into groups (on the Home tab is the Slides,
Font, Paragraph groups, etc. Each group contains command buttons which allow for a different
set of modifications to be applied to your presentation.

Office Button – To create a new presentation, open an existing one, save, print, and
perform other tasks, the Office Button is used. It is located on the top left corner of the
Ribbon.

Quick Access Toolbar – To the right of the Office Button is the Quick Access Toolbar. The
default options are Save, Undo Typing and Redo Typing.

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Note: To customize the toolbar, click the Customize button (down turned arrow) to the right of
the toolbar.

Tabs – To access tools and commands.

The Status Bar – Located at the bottom of the screen, the Status bar contains information
about the active presentation, View buttons and Zoom controls. To customize the bar, right click
on the bar. A list of options will appear.

Task Panes – Separate windows that appear when performing various

tasks. A task pane displays options that relate to the current task. Task
panes can also appear when you click a Dialog Box Launcher icon.

Help

The Office Help Viewer can provide answers and resources you need
to make it easier to get up to speed on using the new Office features.

• Click the Help button on the far right of the

Ribbon or you can press <F1>

There is a two-column listing of topics to explore. One of the

topics is What’s New. The Search text box feature is also
available. For the Table of Contents, click on the book icon on
the Help window toolbar.

Creating a Presentation

The previous versions of PowerPoint provided the

AutoContent Wizard to help you create presentations. In
Office 2007 templates are used. The templates include
different themes and layouts. Themes are a combination of
colors, fonts and effects. Templates give you a starting point
and make it easier to complete your presentation quickly. You
can modify a template’s text and design, add a logo, your own
images or delete text and other content from the template.
Additional templates are available for download by going to Office Online Templates.
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When you create a presentation, you begin with a title slide and build your presentation with
additional slides containing text, artwork, and graphs. Our first slide will be the title slide,
followed by several bulleted list slides with clip art and drawings, a graphics chart, and an
organization chart.

Title Slide

The text boxes on the slide are referred to as placeholders.

• Click in the first placeholder and type the name you want to give your slide presentation

Whomever the software is licensed to will appear as a subtitle on the slide. You can
select the text and delete it.

• In the second placeholder type in a subtitle

Note: If a word has a wavy red line beneath it, it is a word that PowerPoint does not have in its
dictionary. To add the word, right-click in the word and choose the “Add to Dictionary” option.

The information you typed for your first slide is displayed in Normal view. On the right side of
the Status bar there are three small buttons. These buttons are (left to right):

Normal View
Slide Sorter View
Slide Show

In the left panel there are two tabs: Slides and Outline. We are currently in
Slides view.
Slide View

• Click on the Outline tab to change the view

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 Use this view to develop your content.

• Return back to the Slide view

Use the Slide view to move between your slides or you can use the Next Slide and
Previous Slide double arrows on the bottom of the vertical scroll bar.

Above the Status bar is an area to add notes about the current slide.

There is a printing option that will print your notes with the slides.

Below the Notes section, the Status bar shows the number of the slide you are working on and
the name of the theme you are using and has the Zoom feature to increase or decrease the slide
display.

To select a new design:

• Click on the Design tab

A variety of designs are displayed in

the Themes group.

• Click on the More list arrow

The dialog box indicates your current

theme (if you have one) and many
others to choose from.

• Select one

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 • Click on the Background Styles button in the Background
group

• Choose one

File Formats

Office 2007 uses new file formats named with the extensions .docx, .xlsx and .pptx. These
extensions cannot be read by older versions of Office unless you have the Microsoft Office 2007
Compatibility Pack installed. It is available at http://macalester.edu/its/software/#office. The
Compatibility Pack is not yet available for the Macintosh. If you have a Macintosh, please
contact the Help Desk (x6525, helpdesk@macalester.edu) for assistance in converting
documents.

Office 2007 also has the ability to save documents in the older 2003/2004-compatible file
formats. All College-owned computers will be set to save in the 2003/2004-compatible file
formats. When exchanging documents with students or non-Macalester contacts, you may wish
to remind them to save in the 2003/2004-compatible formats.

Saving

• Click on the Office Button> Save As> PowerPoint 97-2003 Presentation

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 Note: The default folder for saving documents is “My Documents”

• Click on the Desktop button

• In the “File name: field, type your first name; the extension .ppt is automatically
appended

• Click the Save button

Bullet Slide

To insert a new slide:

• On the Home tab, click on the New Slide button in the Slides group

A new bullet slide with a title placeholder is inserted. For different layout choices, click
on the down arrow on the New Slide button.

Note: to change the layout of an existing slide, use the Layout button in the Slides group.

For this slide, you can either just copy the information on the sample slide (below) or substitute
information pertaining to you and your department or major.

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 • Click in the Title area and type your name and department or your major

• Click in the Text area and type one or two words describing your position or major

• Press <Enter> for a new bullet

• Type one or two more words, but do not press <Enter>

• For subtext on the next line without a bullet, press <Shift + Enter>

• Continue with another word or two

Using the Font group buttons on the Home tab you can
change the font, font size, text color, in addition to bolding,
underlining and italicizing.

Clip Art

PowerPoint provides many categories of clip art with a number of pieces in each category.

• Click on the Insert tab and choose the Clip Art button in the Illustrations group

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Searching for Clip Art

• In the “Search for” field box in the Task Pane, type in what
you are looking for; e.g., balloon

• Click the Go button

• Click on the clip art to insert into your document or if you

wish to look for something else, use the Search field again

The Format tab is displayed whenever the graphic is selected

• Experiment with the groups of tools on the Format tab

• Use the handles on the selected graphic to resize your

graphic; drag on the graphic to reposition

Using the Clip Organizer

• In the Task Pane click on the Organize Clip link at the

bottom

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 • Click on the plus sign beside Office Collections or check out the Web Collections

Note: The Web option may be somewhat slow.

• Scroll through the list of categories and select one by clicking on the plus sign beside the
folder

Folders of subcategories are displayed.

• Click on a folder to display the contents

• Scroll through the clip art

• Click on a piece of clip art and press <Ctrl + C>

• Close the Clip Art window

• Press <Ctrl + V> to paste your clip art

To get rid of a piece of clip art, select the clip art and press <Delete>. You may be prompted to
leave the clip art on the clipboard. Respond with Yes.

To add scanned pictures and artwork from CDs, use the Picture button on the Insert tab.
PowerPoint recognizes a number of formats. Check the “Files of type” field for a list of formats.

Drawing Objects

In addition to inserting clip art to enhance your presentation, you can use the Drawing tools on
the Home tab to add more visual effects to your presentation. Using the line, arc and freeform
tools you can draw your own shapes or use the rectangles, ellipses, etc for ready-made shapes.

• Click on the Shapes button list arrow

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The Shapes options are displayed. Move the mouse pointer
across the tools for a description tag.

• Click on one of the buttons in the Callouts section

• Move the pointer (a plus sign now) to above the clip

art and click and drag to create the balloon

• Type some appropriate text

• While your balloon shape is still selected, click on

the Shape Effects button in the Drawing group on
the Home tab and select a shadow effect

• Save your file using Office Button> Save

Multiple Bullet Levels

Depending upon what template design you have chosen, there will be anywhere from one to five
levels of bullets. The ‘bullets’ for the levels will also vary depending upon your template design
choice.

The <Tab> key is used to display the levels and <Shift + Tab> to move back out a level.

• Select the New Slide button on the Home tab

• The layout previously selected (Title and Content) should be inserted; if not click on the
down arrow on the New Slide button and select it

Again, you can either copy the information on the sample slide below or create your own
information pertaining to your position or major.

• Click in the title area and type Documentation

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• Click in the text area and type Windows

• Press <Enter> and <Tab>; type Windows XP Operating System

• Press<Enter> and type Word 2007

• Press <Enter> and type Excel

• Press <Enter> and <Tab>; type Excel 2007

• Press <Enter> and type Excel 2003

• Press <Enter> and then <Shift + Tab>

• Type PowerPoint

• Press <Enter> and <Shift + Tab>

• Press <Enter> and type Macintosh

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Chart Slide

Graphs can be inserted in an existing slide or on a new slide by using the Chart button in thee
Illustration group on the Insert tab.

• Insert a new slide with the title only

• In the title area, type

Computer Store Web Sales

June – September 2006

or any information appropriate for yourself.

• Click on the Chart button in the Illustration group on the Insert tab

The Insert Chart dialog box lists 11 chart types; each with various subtypes.

• Choose one that fits the data you will chart

• Click the OK button

A sample Excel data sheet and graph (hidden behind the data sheet) appears. For those who are
familiar with Excel, the concepts and methods of entry are the same.

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• Change the Series 1 and Series 2 to Notebooks and Desktops

• Delete the Series 3 label

• Replace Category 1, 2 and 3 with Apple, Dell, MPC

• Delete the Category 4 label

• Fill in the following information:

Apple 92 12
Dell 56 17
MPC 5 1

• Return to your chart

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While the chart is selected, the Chart Tools (Design, Layout and Format tabs) appear on the
Ribbon. The chart can be moved and also resized using the handles. To change your data, go
back to the Excel worksheet and make the changes.

Note: See the Excel Chart document for more information on chart editing.

Organizational Chart

PowerPoint includes a feature to assist in creating organizational charts. To insert a sample

organizational chart:

• Click the New Slide button on the Home tab

• In the title box, type Organization Chart preceded by your department name

• Click on the SmartArt button in the Illustrations group on the Insert tab

• Select the Hierarchy category on the left

• Choose the first one (organization chart) and click the OK button

The SmartArt Tools (Design and Format tabs) appears on the Ribbon.

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Your slide looks like the screenshot below.

• Click on the word [Text] in the box labeled “Type your text here”

Everything is done in this area; not on the slide.

• Type the individual’s name; do not press <Enter>

• To move to the next box, click on the next [Text]

• To add a box on the same level, place the cursor at the end of the name and press <Enter>

• To add a subordinate, place the cursor at the end of the name, press <Enter> and then
press <Tab>

Note: Once you have created a box, you can also use the Promote and Demote buttons in
the Create Graphic group on the Design tab.

• To delete a box, select it in the typing area and press the <Delete> key ????

• Click outside the chart to deselect and return to slide mode

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To edit the organization chart, click once on the chart to display the “Type your text here” box.
You can enlarge the chart by clicking and dragging on the dots. To move the chart, move the
pointer anywhere on the line (but not on the dots). The pointer will change to the four-headed
arrow. Click and drag.

Experiment with the buttons on the Design and Format tabs.

Slide Sorter View

In this view you can drag the slides to rearrange them in another order.

• Click the Slide Sorter button on the Status bar

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Transition Between Slides

In addition to rearranging the slides (just drag the slide to a new location), the Slide Sorter view
is used to set up the type of transition between the slides. Transitions are the visual effects you
see when you move from one slide to the next during the slide show.

• Click on the first slide to select it

• Click on the Animations tab

• In the Transition to This Slide group click on the More list button

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 • Scroll down and choose one; the effect will be demonstrated on the selected slide

A transition icon is added below the slide.

Note: It is a good idea to choose the same effect for all of your slides. It is rather
distracting from the message of your presentation when multiple transition effects are
chosen. Experiment with the various effects. When you find the one you want, select the
remainder of the slides (Ctrl + A) and apply the transition.

• To set the speed of the transition, select Slow, Medium or Fast

Notice that sound can be added.

Building Animation Effects for Text

You can create text animation effects where each bullet point appears one at a time rather than
all of the bullets being displayed at the same time. Each bullet point can be set up to appear in a

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fashion similar to the transitions between slides. For example, a bullet point can ‘fly’ in from the
left or drop down from the top.

• Select Slide 2 -- the one with the bulleted information

• Double click on the slide

The Custom Animation button is now available in

the Animations group.

• Click on the Custom Animation button and then

in the text area of your slide

• Click on the Add Effect button in the Task Pane and

choose Entrance and then one of the effects

• Click the OK button and then save your presentation

Previewing the Presentation

To run the slide show:

• Open the presentation (ours is already open)

• Click on the first slide

• Use the Slide Show button on the Status bar or the Slide Show button in the Task Pane

PowerPoint will run through your slide show when you click the mouse to progress to the
next slide or effect. To interrupt the slide show at any time, just press the <Esc> key.

Slide Show Tab

You can change the show type, over-ride the animation effects (bullets appearing individually),
choose a range of slides if you don’t want the entire slide show, etc.

• Select the Set Up Slide Show button the Slide Show tab

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 • Select your preferences and then click the OK button

Printing

• Choose Office Button> Print or press <Ctrl + P>

Notice the options at the bottom of the Print window.

• Click in the “Print what” field

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 You will have to pick a single choice and then repeat again for each format if you want to
provide handouts of the slides or have created notes.

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