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
The eye perceives when things are out of balance, even if the brain cannot identify the cause of it. This is even more evident when the slides are projected on a large screen. Take these images for example:
First, let’s look at how I made these elements. Each consists of two PPT autoshapes, a rounded corner box and a text box with a semi-transparent fill.
So what’s wrong with them? The left box’s text box is a few pixels lower than the others. The right rounded corner box is a few pixels higher than the others.
To fine tune this set of objects I would first select the 3 text boxes and use the ALIGN MIDDLE tool to have them all vertically line up – to the pixel. I would then do the same thing by selecting the 3 rounded corner boxes.
The end result is something that is in balance – and your eyes know it (or at least do not focus on it).
– Troy @ TLC
No more importing an Excel chart and not having it play nice with PowerPoint. All of Offices uses a single charting engine, so a chart can be designed in Excel, Word or PowerPoint and be used (and edited) in all three with no issues.
When you go to format a “PowerPoint” chart is now opens an excel window with the data. Here is the data used to create the sample chart for this series.
– Troy @ TLC
Individual elements can also be adjusted not only with easy, but using the new visual effects. Here I am selecting the horizontal gridlines of the chart. I can go to FORMAT >> SHAPES STYLES >> and choose any of the preset effects and colors:
Just like earlier the horizontal options are the colors from the Theme. The vertical options progress from simple/flat to rich/beveled designs.
With just a few clicks the gridlines can easily be updated to these:
– Troy @ TLC
More two-click adjustments are found when a chart is selected and going to teh LAYOUT tab.
Each of these choices have a drop down to instantly adjust the entire chart. As example, if I want to format the chart legend I SELECT the chart >> LAYOUT tab >> LABELS section >> click LEGEND >> CHOOSE from any of these formatting options:
It is just as easy to adjust the data labels, axes, gridlines and more!
– Troy @ TLC
One of the biggest improvements for charts comes in the ability to update them more effortlessly. No need to double-click the chart, right-click the area to format and then work through a series of dialog boxes.
With PPT 2007 just select the chart, go to >> DESIGN tab >> Chart Styles section.
By choosing one of the options the color scheme and style of visual effects are instantly updated!
In using this feature it is helpful to understand how it is designed:
1. The horizontal shows all of the color options. Colors are based on the Theme Colors (think template color scheme).
2. The vertical starts with simple visual layout at the top and progressively adds more visual effects as you go down.
Troy @ TLC