A guide to using PowerPoint

PowerPoint PowerPoint is a program that creates slideshows. These shows can be controlled by you or set to run automatically. They can incorporate text, picture and animations.

Creating a slideshow When you open PowerPoint there will be one slide in the show and you will be asked to choose the layout for your slides. This provides text and picture boxes which will allow you to type or cut and paste straight into your show. This menu can be accessed at any time through the format drop-down menu by clicking on slide layout.

Opening screen Shows the slides in your show Shows options for the slide layout The slide you can edit with text boxes already inserted

Adding new slides Additional slides can be added by clicking on the Insert drop down menu and selecting new slide. The program will automatically select the same layout as the previous slide but new layouts can be selected for each slide from the format menu as before.

Editing your slide Depending on the layout you have chosen you will now be able to edit your slide in different ways. If you have a title or text box you can type directly into it and format the text as you would in word, changing font, size and colour. Text boxes will automatically create bulleted lists Non-text boxes will offer you direct links to adding clipart, charts or graphs. Or pictures can be cut and pasted from the internet or another program on your computer.

Slide layout Title box: will automatically put in larger text and will be recognised as a heading Picture box: provides a direct link to PowerPoint’s clip art collection Text box: will automatically create bulleted lists.

Editing a slide on a blank layout If you prefer you can begin with a blank slide and add in your own pictures and text boxes. Pictures can be imported from other programs, clip art or the internet. Text boxes can be inserted by selecting the text box button in the drawing toolbar.

Changing the appearance of your slide - background PowerPoint allows you to change the background of your slide or the whole show. To change the background of your slide right click on a blank area of the slide and select background from the menu. The drop-down menu allows you to choose from a block of colour or fill effects such as graduated colour/s, textures, patterns or pictures.

Changing the background of your slide Select whether you want to apply the background to one slide or all If you choose fill effects you can choose from gradients of colour/s, textures, patterns or pictures Select whether you want a solid colour or a fill effect

Changing the appearance of your slide - animation You can add animations to your slide show in different ways. You can change the transitions between slides and how different parts of your slides appear or disappear. Animation can be added through the Slide Show drop-down menu; animation schemes allow you to apply the same animation to a slide as a whole and to your whole show, custom animation allows you to add different elements to different parts of your slide.

Custom animation On the Slide Show drop-down menu select custom animation. Select an element of your slide to which you would like to add animation and click on the ‘Add Effect’ button. Choose how you want that element to appear or disappear, whether you want it emphasised and the direction across the slide you want the animation to happen. Select the style of animation you want, a preview will be shown. You change the order elements appear by dragging and dropping in the animation box. To view the animations click on the play or slide show button at the bottom of animation box.

Customising animation Choose the type of animation you want Select custom animation from the Slide Show drop-down menu Click on the Add Effect button Choose the style of the animation from the list Select the element you want to animate Change the order of animations by dragging and dropping in this list View what the animation will look like

Adding a hyperlink Hyperlinks can enable you to jump to another page in your presentation, to another file on the computer or the internet. Text and pictures can be hyperlinked by clicking on this button or by right clicking on the object and selecting hyperlink.

Adding a hyperlink Select or highlight the object you want to hyperlink Click on the hyperlink button Choose the exact place to link to, an image of it will be shown. Choose whether to link to another slide, another file or the internet.

Watching your finished show When you want to view your show click on the Slide Show drop down menu and select ‘View Show’ or press F5. Then use your fantastic interactive creation!!!