As follow up to the previous post. If you have several master slides that do not have the thumbnail icon such as this:
You can select them all, right click any of the selected, choose ‘Preserve Master’:
All of the selected master slides have the thumbtack icon applied simulataneously:
– Troy @ TLC
Multiple master slides are fantastic! But every now and then you have a presentation with multiple masters and go to use one that you know is a part of the file and it’s not to be found – ahhh! Well you can prevent this from happening by first assuring that all master slides are set to be preserved – which is another way of saying ‘do not delete, even if not used’.
Here is my sample presentation with 3 master slides:
Notice that master slides 1 and 3 have a little thumbtack icon:
This indicates the master slide is preserved and will not be deleted unless you specifically remove it (that is good!). There are 2 easy ways you can preserve a master slide and add the thumbtack icon to it.
1. Use the ‘Preserve Master’button on the master slide toolbar:
2. Right click the master slide and from the pop up menu choose ‘Preserve Master’.
– Troy @ TLC
The new line spacing tools were a bit confusing until I figured out how to correlate the new layout to the more familiar PPT 2003 tools.
To access line spacing tools in PPT 2003 – go to FORMAT >> LINE SPACING.
To access line spacing tools in PPT 2007 – go to the HOME tab >> PARAGRAPH section >> LINE SPACING button.
In PPT 2003 there are 3 options: Line Spacing – Before – After. In PPT 2007 there are a number of tools combined into one interface (which is good).
All 3 of the PPT 2003 options are in the lower section. Using the BEFORE and AFTER tools are intuitive and work the same in both versions. But LINE SPACING offers a number of options:
For me the key was figuring out that MULTIPLE is the same as PPT 2003’s LINE SPACING tool.
To use, select MULTIPLE. The “at” number is the same as the number in PPT 2003’s tool.
The confusing part is the default number in this box is 3, which is much larger than the typical .5 to 2 range. Adjust to something like .9 and you should see results you are expecting.
– Troy @ TLC
Another emphasis animation that just does not work with images that have transparent, or semi-transparent areas is the VERTICAL HIGHLIGHT. Here is our sample image, which as a nice drop shadow and no background so it will work on any color background.
We then apply the VERTICAL EMPHASIS animation:
But when animated the nice transparent background becomes opacue/solid:
An alternative is to create the same effect with some advanced animation. First is to apply a GROW/SHRINK animation:
In the animation setting on the EFFECTS tab we need to:
1. Size needs to be greater than 100, how much will depend on your slide
2. Turn on SMOOTH START
3. Turn on SMOOTH END
4. Turn on AUTO REVERSE
The key to this effect is to use the drop-down and change the animation from BOTH to VERTICAL only:
– Troy @ TLC
Many of the emphasis animations do not respect the transparent properties of an image – whether it be a .png with alpha channel transparency or an image where PPT ‘Set Transparent Color’ tool was used. In most cases you can use some more advanced animation to create the same effect and not have the opacity problems.
Here is our image. It is a .png image created in Photoshop and it has no background.
But if we apply the TEETER emphasis animation
When animated the background changes from transparent to a solid color (blue in this instance)
We can create the same effect with some custom settings on the SPIN emphasis animation. So the first step is to apply the SPIN emphasis.
Then go into the animation properties and on the EFFECT tab change:
1. Amount from 360 to 5
2. Turn on Smooth Start
3. Turn on Smooth End
Then in the TIMING tab change:
1. The speed to VERY FAST (or faster)
2. Repeat to 3 times
Now the object will “teeter” and maintain its transparent background!
– Troy @ TLC
Much of my time is spent interpretting information and creating a visual design that simplifies and makes it look ‘nifty’. Here is a quick before-&-after from a recent presentation.
Before:
After:
– Note: slide loses a bit of visual aesthetics as client content and template removed. Also, the animation is not seen, which helped emphasize the yellow section remained consistent over the 2 years. My slide was also built using PPT2007 visual effects.
– Troy @ TLC
Another nifty keyboard shortcut is like an instanteous undo. Say you are adjusting the size of an image and while adjusting you see it really is not what you want to do.
At this moment you have 3 choices:
1. Try to resize to the original and then unclick
2. Unclick and use the Undo button or CTRL+Z to undo the resizing
3. Click the ESCape key while still holding your mouse click. Whatever action you started (move object, resize object, crop object, etc.) is ended you are instantly back where you started before the mouse click!
– Troy @ TLC
I made reference to this in the previous posts “option 2” solution. A way to stop many editing actions at the exact point you want is to use the space bar.
Adding or adjusting a line can be tricky right now in PowerPoint 2007. Because some mice tend to be a bit jumpy when you release the click the line has moved a bit from your ideal location.
What you can do is click and drag to the length you want (can be longer or shorter). Then press the space bar. Using the space bar is the same as releasing, or unclicking.
Also works with adjusting images or autoshapes size, including using the crop tool.
It is bit difficult to figure this action out without doing it. Open PowerPoint 2007 and try using the space bar instead of unclicking.
– Troy @ TLC
To Infinity and Beyond! or at least that may be what the programmer was thinking when it comes to adjusting straight lines in PowerPoint 2007.
If you have not experienced this bug, here a quick overview:
– Add a straight line to slide
– Hold down shift key (to keep it on a 90′ axis) and click the end point.
– ZOOM, the line immediately extends forever
But there are solutions! Note: be sure all updates to Office 2007 are installed. A fairly recent update/hotfix has made the below solutions work. So if they do not work on your computer, you may be missing an update.
Option 1 – Get on the Line
– If working with thicker lines this bug does not act as “buggy”.
– Continue to hold down the click when you try to extend a line and it has shot off into the next universe
– Carefully postion the cursor at the desired length and exactly in the middle of the width of the line it will snap back to the cursor
– Thicker lines are easier to position cursor in the middle, thin lines have a smaller middle and are more difficult
– This is much easier when using a trackball style mouse where you can maintain the click and not have the cursor move even 1 pixel as long as the trackball is not touched. I do this fairly easily with my LogicTech Trackman, but almost impossible with my Wacom tablet
Option 2 – Space Bar
Many thanks to PPT MVP Jean-Pierre for getting my brain wrapped around this work around. Here is what you do:
– Add a straight line to slide
– Hold down shift key (to keep it on a 90′ axis) and click the end point and ignore it zooming off into infinity
– Don’t let go of your mouse/unclick!
– Position cursor to where you want the lines new length to be
– Press the SPACE BAR and the line snaps to that position!
– Troy @ TLC
Recently while watching a presentation here is one of those little pet peeves that I just experienced. A movie plays on a slide and the computer mouse appears onscreen – usually sitting right on top of the movie.
Don’t panic, just click the “A” key to quickly and gracefully make it disappear. The “A” stands for Appear, or in this case disAppear.
– Troy @ TLC