Tutorial Archives - Page 15 of 57

Office 365: Change to First Release Channel

The big, and confusing question, is how to change from CURRENT CHANNEL version of Office 365 to FIRST RELEASE version. This is accomplished in the Office 365 Admin Console – so you will most likely need to be an administrator on the account to access these options. One of the confusion points is Office 365 Admin Console itself. If you search the web for tutorials on where to find the settings, the older tutorials often reference an older build of Office 365, which shows how quickly Microsoft is changing and updating things. I have been using Office 365 to run TLC Creative Services since its release in 2011 and the Admin area has had many overhauls during that time, which makes things difficult to keep things running smooth when the entire interface changes.

Based on the 2016 Office 365, Business Premium account admin console, here are the steps to change which Office Channel you have:

Log into your Office 365 account
Click the “checker board” selection button in the upper left
Find and click the ADMIN button
In the Admin Center > HOME > OFFICE SOFTWARE > click SOFTWARE DOWNLOAD SETTINGS
The SOFTWARE DOWNLOAD SETTINGS dialog will open. In the SOFTWARE FOR PC section, confirm 2016 VERSION is on, and the “How often do you want users to get feature updates for Office apps” is set to EVERY MONTH (CURRENT CHANNEL)
Click SAVE
Someone with Admin Rights to the Office 365 needs to complete these next 3 steps
1. Log into the Office 365 Account
2. Go to SETTINGS > ORGANIZATION PROFILE
3. In the RELEASE PREFERENCES section, click EDIT
4. Select a RELEASE TRACK (a “track” is going to be the “channel” option) and go through the settings process
When the above items are complete, go to this web page: https://portal.office.com/OLS/MySoftware.aspx
Log into your Office 365 account
If the above steps were completed, you will see this message that your Office 365 account can be changed to the FIRST RELEASE CHANNEL
Note: if you already have Office 2016 installed (which I am guessing most everyone will), this next step is installing the First Release version, but it will not (at least from my testing and use) affect your current install – it automatically upgrades the current install and keeps all settings, files and data
Close all Office apps (PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.)
Click INSTALL
The Office installer will run
Open PowerPoint, go to FILE > ACCOUNT > OFFICE UPDATE and it should now list FIRST RELEASE

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-07T15:34:57-08:00November 7th, 2016|Resource/Misc, Tutorial|

PowerPoint’s “What’s New” Dialog

The Office 365 version of Office Apps, including PowerPoint, is on a continuous update cycle. Often, it is difficult to know what is new. Well, there is a newer dialog option within all office apps to give you a summary of “What’s New.”

To see what the new features are in PPT, simply go to the file tab, scroll down to account, and click on the What’s New Dialog below the “Office Updates” box.

Once clicked, a window will pop up either asking the user to update PPT or simply show what new features have been added.

What's New Dialog 1

What's New Dialog 2

Click the LEARN MORE link to open a web browser and get the full details and history of all feature updates.

What's New Dialog 3

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-09-20T09:28:11-07:00September 30th, 2016|Resource/Misc, Tutorial|

Vector Editing Inside PowerPoint for Text Boxes

In the previous portfolio sample of a recent PowerPoint template for HCV Treatment Research, the Section Divider layout had some customized formatting.

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 1

One of the TLC Creative Design Team objectives is to do as much formatting within PowerPoint to preserve future editing options (vs. doing all design in external programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and importing a series of uneditable images). The Section Divider in this template is a great example of our process of future proofing templates.

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 2

Photoshop developed background image
PowerPoint color block
PowerPoint shapes, with custom semi-transparent gradient fill, thick outline, and drop shadow effect
Duplicate of #3, resized
PowerPoint text box with semi-transparent fill, text formatting preset
PowerPoint text box with semi-transparent fill, text formatting preset

The Hexagon accent title boxes actually have a lot of customized PowerPoint formatting in putting them together.

Add 2 PowerPoint text boxes, with semi-transparent fills and text formatting options preset (including a custom left margin to move text away from left edge).

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 3 width=

Add PowerPoint hexagon shapes with semi-transparent gradient fill, thick outline, shadowing and other styling applied. The position and size was determined by the text boxes. Each was sized to have the outline within the text box shape.

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 4

The dilemma is, even with the text boxes sent to back, the semi-transparent gradient fills of the hexagons show the text box edge.

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 5

Using PowerPoint’s Vector Shape Editing capabilities, we can customize the text boxes further in order to meet the visual needs of the template. Step 1 is selecting a text box and EDIT the vector POINTS.

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 6

The text boxes are simple rectangles with 4 points, these two are the ones we are customizing.

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 7

Right-click the red shape outline and ADD 2 additional vector points to the vertical left of the rectangle (location is arbitrary).

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 8

The thick (4.5 pt) shape outline was a nice styling accent, but it also makes this vector customization much easier by providing lots of area to “hide” the text box shape under. We moved the 2 new vector anchor point to sit in the middle of the hexagon outline and making the text box shape, when sent to back under the hexagon, hidden from view.

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 9

Temporarily removing the hexagon shapes, here are the customized text box shapes with their new left edge.

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 10

The end results, Title and Subtitle custom text boxes for the Section Divider layout, are all developed within PowerPoint and maintains template color scheme colors and editability.

Vector Editing inside PowerPoint 11

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-09-19T15:09:09-07:00September 26th, 2016|Tutorial|

PowerPoint Layer Order Explained

How do you describe what is on top or bottom for slide content?

Z-ORDER_5

Let’s look at a simple explanation of 2D design. With presentation design, this is very easy to visualize by looking at a chart. A standard bar chart has two axes: left-right (X) and up-down (Y).

Z-ORDER_7

To expand on things, here is a simple explanation of 3D design. In 3D design, there are 3 axes; left-right (X), up-down (Y) and front-back (Z).

Z-ORDER_6

Similarly, PowerPoint slides can have 3 axes for content. Slide content is 2D, which is left-right and up-down. But, it can also be layered on top of each other, which is the Z-axis. So, content that is layered on top of each other is referred to as the “Z Order.” Here is an exploded view of a slide. The Z-order has the text on top, so no other slide content is going to block it – but the text may overlap other content.

Z-Order 02

Z-order is adjusted with PowerPoint’s ARRANGE > ORDER OBJECTS tools. These are the “bring to front” and “send to back” buttons. The SELECTION PANE shows all slide objects in their Z-order with items at the top of the list on top and items lower on the list having the other items on top of them.

Note: PowerPoint cannot have objects on the same layer, so as soon as there is 1 object on a slide, something is always layered on top.

Z-Order 4

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-31T10:09:54-07:00September 8th, 2016|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Section Zoom Photo Collage

One last Zoom demo to wrap up the month of August. Many thanks to Wanda, on the TLC design team, for taking my idea and turning it into a great presentation. Section Zoom 02

The concept is to create a Section Zoom, then stylize the each thumbnail into a photo collage layout.

Section Zoom 04

Here is the slide deck with sections for each photo gallery. It would be very easy to add photos to sections over time, or by multiple people.

Section Zoom 01

The presentation becomes an interactive digital photo album, and the same concept can easily be applied to touch enabled digital signage! Of course, when you see the layered thumbnail layout in action, it is (painfully) obvious there are some modifications needed to Zoom to make this great option actually usable…

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-29T09:59:12-07:00August 31st, 2016|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Inception Effect with Zoom

Impractical – yes. A cool thing you can do in PowerPoint – yes!

Using the Zoom tool, you can create a slide that zooms into itself endlessly – an Inception effect. Here is my single slide presentation. First, I use the Zoom > Insert > Slide Zoom, and then I use the Drag-and-Drop way to make a slide a linked Zoom image (the music is what I hear when I think of an endless Inception loop).

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-29T09:07:01-07:00August 29th, 2016|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Zoom Thumbnail Formatting Tips & Tricks

Microsoft released Zoom with a lot of great formatting options and features for linked thumbnails. Here is a list of several tips & tricks we learned working with the Zoom thumbnails.

When creating a Slide Zoom (link to a specific slide, not a section), you can drag and drop a slide from the left navigation pane onto any slide!

Thumbnails have dynamic live content. For example:

Create a Summary Zoom
Update one of the link slides (in this case, add a giant pink circle)
Navigation slide thumbnail is instantly updated with the new slide content (amazing!)

Any Zoom thumbnail can use a different image. Much like a video Poster Frame image, a Zoom thumbnail can be set to any external image.

Select a thumbnail
Either right-click thumbnail and select CHANGE IMAGE > CHANGE IMAGE or go to FORMAT > ZOOM OPTIONS > CHANGE IMAGE > CHANGE IMAGE
In the pop up dialog, select any external image and OK to change thumbnail image

If the custom image is not wanted, it is easy to return the thumbnail to using the slide image. Just right click Zoom thumbnail and select CHANGE IMAGE > RESET IMAGE or go to FORMAT > ZOOM OPTIONS > CHANGE IMAGE > RESET IMAGE.

Also, any image styling options, such as drop shadows, outline, bevel, rotate, 3D perspective, etc., can be applied to a thumbnail. Note: 3D perspective is an example of a formatting option that can be applied, but does not always provide a nice transition effect.

Remove Background of thumbnails. This is a great design feature! Using the FORMAT > ZOOM OPTIONS section > ZOOM BACKGROUND and only the content on the slide will remain a part of the thumbnail. All slide master content (background image, logos, etc.) are removed from the thumbnail.

As example, here I have added a .png image of flower pots on the slide (and the flower background is set as the background image).

Next I added a SUMMARY ZOOM, which adds a new navigation slide with thumbnail navigation images of each slide selected.

Selecting the right thumbnail and going to FORMAT > ZOOM OPTIONS section > ZOOM BACKGROUND to do an image ‘remove background’ effect.

All content that is on the master layout and/or set background image are removed from the thumbnail and what is left on the navigation slide is a .png with transparent background that has only the content actually on the slide (this is great!!).

There are a lot of styling options and “hidden” features. Enjoy finding creative ways to develop non-linear presentations using Zoom!

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-25T08:23:16-07:00August 26th, 2016|Portfolio, Tutorial|

Hide the PowerPoint Ribbon

The PowerPoint Ribbon is super helpful in being in the same place on all installs of PowerPoint. Sometimes, it uses valuable screen real estate. Luckily, it is easy to hide the Ribbon, just click the small upper arrow on the right.

PowerPoint Ribbon 1

When the Ribbon is turned off, PowerPoint frees up all that space just by displaying the menu bar (and on my install, the QAT that is below the menu bar).

PowerPoint Ribbon 2

Any time a menu item is clicked, the Ribbon temporarily displays.

To make the Ribbon stay visible, click any menu item, then click the small thumbtack icon on the right.

PowerPoint Ribbon 3

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-12T10:51:19-07:00August 17th, 2016|Tutorial|

PowerPoint Content vs. Picture Placeholders

Inserting an image using the preset Picture Placeholders seems like a super shortcut, until things get frustrating with why images do not insert the same way every time a Picture Placeholder is used. The reason, almost always, is knowing there are two types of Placeholders – and each handles images differently.

Here is an explanation and example using a Content Placeholder vs. Picture Placeholder – and as a side note, neither option works the way I feel it really should…

CONTENT PLACEHOLDER

Inserting an image in the Content placeholder, identified by this icon, offers the option of inserting various elements: Tables, Charts, Smart Art, Video, and Images.

Insert Content icons

Inserting an image in the Content placeholder adjusts the layout to the size of the actual image. If you insert a small image, the placeholder shrinks to the small size image. If you insert a large image, the image will at maximum be the size of the slide and the placeholder will grow to that size. The downside is the preset position and size on the master layout is ignored and the slide content needs to be manually repositioned and sized.

Content placeholders

PICTURE PLACEHOLDER

Inserting an image in the Picture placeholder adjusts image to fill the size of the layout. The downside here is the image is often cut off and needs to be repositioned and resized using the Crop tool.

Picture placeholders

While both Placeholder options are pro’s and con’s, at least now you have an idea of what PowerPoint is doing and what to expect.

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-09T18:15:45-07:00August 15th, 2016|Tutorial|

Using Morph for Animations

The PowerPoint Morph transition is PowerPoint’s best new animation feature!

using morph for animations

We have been leveraging the fantastic new transition in lots of presentation projects since its release, including using Morph for animations. Here is another example where we used Morph as the animation effect. Our client wanted to show the above three statements. The real request was to emphasize each as they were addressed. Our first step was to convert the provided bullet list into a dynamic visual; the end result was the above slide.

For the “emphasize each” request, using the Morph transition as our animation, we created a dynamic “flip” animation effect. It also was something that did not look like “PowerPoint.” Below is a video of the final animation effect:

After the slide layout was approved, we duplicated the slide 3X.
On the first slide, we added the animated entrance effect for the 3 circles and text.
On the second, third and fourth slides, we simply horizontally flipped each circle. No animation on these slides. The Morph transition created the nice twirl, or flip, animation.
Done!

using morph for animations

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2025-12-19T13:32:51-08:00August 5th, 2016|Portfolio, PowerPoint, Tutorial|