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|

Preserve Master Slides (2)

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

By |2016-11-17T13:02:09-08:00May 21st, 2008|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Preserve Master Slides

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

By |2016-11-17T13:02:37-08:00May 19th, 2008|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Line Spacing PPT 2003 vs 2007

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

By |2016-11-17T13:03:28-08:00May 15th, 2008|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Animated Object Goes Opaque (2)

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

By |2016-11-17T13:07:12-08:00April 30th, 2008|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Animated Object Goes Opaque (1)

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

By |2016-11-17T13:07:45-08:00April 28th, 2008|PowerPoint, Tutorial|
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