Tutorial

Two Versions Of PPT Installed? Launch ‘Wrong’ Version?

I run multiple versions of PowerPoint on my systems – namely PPT 2003 and PPT 2007 (although a few have all versions from 97 to 2007). If you run multiple versions, then the new set of security updates from Microsoft yesterday probably changed your default application.

I still have PPT 2003 set as my default version of PPT. But the latest security updates change the default application to PPT 2007. So now when I double-click on a presentation file it opens in PPT 2007.

The fix is fairly simple – just click here for a post I made all the way back in ’06.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T12:44:53-08:00August 15th, 2008|Tutorial|

Erase Personal Information From Presentation


“The creation date, time and author show up on the document properties of the PowerPoint presentation.” (for the curious, you can read the full story here).

Have you ever been concerned with too much information being included in your presentation? Maybe even information that is not on a slide, but buried in a link or the file properties… I have for years tried to keep my clients out of trouble by removing often removing their personal information, or sometimes the TLC Creative Services information from the file properties.

My tool for doing this – the Shyam’s Toolbox add-in.

Just go to TOOLBOX >> OBJECTS >> ERASE PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM PRESENTATION

No the file properties are clear – no time stamp, no amount record of hours worked, etc.

It is just one of the many tools in the add-in package, which runs approximately $50 – but it can be worth it as the above story points out!

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T12:45:55-08:00August 6th, 2008|Tutorial|

Microsoft’s New Fonts

With Vista Microsoft released some new font, each designed to replace an existing font. The new fonts are designed for onscreen legibility and scaling. Here is what they are and what they replace:

Cambria = Georga and Times New Roman

Calibri = Arial

Candara = Trebuchet MS and Helvetica

Consolas = Lucidia Console and Courier New

Constantia = Georga and Palatino

Corbel = Verdana

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T12:48:56-08:00July 18th, 2008|Tutorial|

PPT2007 Effects Respect .PNG Transparency

A great thing about all of the wonderful visual effects of PPT 2007 is that they respect the transparency/alpha area of a .png image. As example here is a quick sample image. In photoshop I dropped out the background around the little computer guy and saved out the image as .png with transparency.

For this example I added the background image behind part of the computer guy to show the transpency area.

Then I selected the computer guy image and applied a nice PPT 2007drop shadow.

Note the drop shadow contours to the computer guy image, not the rectangle shape of the placed image!

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T12:52:28-08:00July 2nd, 2008|Tutorial|

More Edit Room In PPT2007

If you find the Ribbon taking up to much space, space that would be better used viewing your slides as you edit, there is a great option. Here is the standard Ribbon view.

Right-click to the right of the tabs along the top and there is a “Minimize Ribbon” option.

The result is the ribbon disappears and frees up a lot of editing area.

When you click on any of tabs the ribbon appears. Click away and it disappears again!

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T12:52:48-08:00June 30th, 2008|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Always Open A Recent Document (PPT 2007)

Most people have a handful of presentations that they access routinely. PowerPoint has had the ‘Recent Documents’ feature to make it easier to reopen those presentations – and it is a helpful tool many times. But PowerPoint 2007 has made that feature even more powerful and usable.

Here is the PPT 2007 Start Menu and mine shows 1 Recent Document (okay the list was full, but I cleared it for this tutorial).

The important addition to PPT 2007 is the small thumbtack icon on the right. It is the same icon that has existed since PPT XP on the Master Slides to preserve masters. The one on the Recent Documents does the exact same thing – it preserves that presentation to always be in the Recent Documents list!

By clicking the thumbtack it goes from grey to green – and now you can always open that presentation with ease! (note: works as long as the presentation stays in its original location)

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T12:53:08-08:00June 27th, 2008|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Show Extra Master Slides

Because many templates I develop have additional master slides, I let the end user know what they are by adding a slide that explains and shows each additional master slide.

As example, here is a slide I added to the end of the template sample slides that explains 2 of the additional master slides. It also shows a thumbnail of each and has a quick “how-to”.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T12:53:48-08:00June 25th, 2008|Tutorial|

PPT Graphics for Video

PPT 2007 has some great visual effects. For a recent project I was developing the PowerPoint presentations for speaker support. I was asked by the video production company that was creating videos for the same meeting if I could create a number of graphics that would have a coordinated look with the presentations. Among the graphics I developed these two piecharts (client data removed):

Each was saved out of PowerPoint as a .png which preserved the transparency and allowed the video editor to place the graphic over the motion background. They also animated from 1 piechart to the other showing growth. Pretty cool stuff!

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T12:59:13-08:00June 2nd, 2008|Portfolio, Tutorial|

Master Slide “Slates” (2)

One of the nice elements of PPT 2007 ribbon is the way it previews master slide options. Here is a recent presentation with 4 master slides:

This really shows the slates mentioned in the previous post. For this presentation I only have one background for the speaker content (#1 – Purple) and 3 slates. Of note: I color code the speaker slates so I know what type of information it contains before reading it (especially when viewing slides in slide sorter view). Here the breakdown of each:
1. Content background and the 5 layout options developed for it
2. Video slate: hidden slide that tells me what video is to run at that point of the presentation
3. Speaker slate: hidden slide that tells me which speaker will be on stage (this presentation has numerous presenters)
4. Misc. slate: hidden slide that is used to tell me everything else, from web demo to break

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:00:44-08:00May 28th, 2008|Tutorial|

Master Slide “Slates”

Everyone is familiar with a movie scene slate:

It is used during filming to allow the editors to identify everything. It is not intended for the audience to see, just the behind the scenes people. Well I use similiar idea when developing presenattions. These are hidden slides that are not designed for the audience.

These are used for speakers, videos, or anything special such as sound effects, stage direction, etc.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:01:24-08:00May 26th, 2008|PowerPoint, Tutorial|
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