Getting Started in PowerPoint

- by Tiffany Barnes
July 19, 1999

PowerPoint is a program designed to help you make cool presentations on a computer. With it, you can make slides with beautiful backgrounds, charts, nice big text, and animations. We will be using PowerPoint to present our findings on several investigations in the next two weeks. So let's get started and have fun!

Open PowerPoint

We are using computers with the Windows operating system installed. On any Windows computer, you open programs using the Start menu, and select the program you would like to use:

Move your mouse to the lower left-hand corner of the screen, and click on the button labelled Start.
Move your mouse to highlight Programs. A new menu will appear.
Look for Microsoft PowerPoint on the menu. If you don't find it, select Microsoft Office.
Click on Microsoft PowerPoint.

Open a new Presentation

When PowerPoint begins, it will display a small window in the middle of the screen called a "wizard." This wizard is there to help you get started in PowerPoint.

You can create a new presentation in three ways: the AutoContent wizard, the Template, and a blank presentation. You can also open existing presentations in PowerPoint.
Let's use the template option for making our presentations. This option will help you choose a nice format for your presentation. Click on Template and click on OK.
You will see a lot of icons and a Preview window. Click on each icon to preview the different backgrounds you can choose. If you'd like to see the icons in a list, click on the buttons right above the Preview for different ways to view the list of formats. Find one you like, and click OK.
A window with the title New Slide will appear. This window will help you select a format for your first slide. The first box on the top left is good for a Title slide. Click on that format and click OK.

Adding text

Now you're ready to start making your first slide! There are two boxes on the screen, which say "Click to add title" and "Click to add sub-title." These are called text boxes.

Click on the top text box to make your title. When you click there, a cursor will appear and you can type your title.
Click on the second box to add a sub-title. Make sure you include your name and the date.
Anytime you want to move an object on your slide, such as a text box, move your mouse to the edge of the object, until the mouse pointer becomes 4 arrows. While the mouse is 4 arrows, click on the left mouse button and hold it down. Now when you move the mouse, the whole text box will move with it. Move the box where you'd like it and let go of the mouse button.
To resize an object, such as a text box, click on the object, and a box will appear around it. The box will have little white squares at each corner and in the middle of each side. If you move your mouse over one of these boxes, the pointer will change to a double arrow. Hold the mouse button down and move the border of the box to the size you want. Release the button. See what happens when you select different boxes on the edges.
To see the slide as it will appear on the screen, click aywhere on the background away from the text boxes.

Adding pictures

Pictures can make your slides more fun! To add a picture:

Click on Insert on the top menu, and select Picture. A submenu will appear; choose Clip Art.
A window will appear with several pictures. Click on the one you like, and click on Insert.
The picture will be very big on your slide. Use your mouse on the white squares at the corners of the picture to make it smaller.
When you move your mouse over the picture, it changes to 4 arrows. When that happens, you can click on the picture and drag it where you like.
Click anywhere on the background to go back to editing your slide.

Adding a new slide

From the Insert menu, click on New Slide.
The format window will come up. Select a format by clicking on one you like, and click OK.
Edit the new page just like the title page.
You can move between your slides using the scroll bar at the right, or you can see them all at once by clicking on the button on the lower left hand side of the screen which has four boxes.

Making your presentation

Click on the icon at the lower left-hand side of the screen which looks like a screen on a stand, or click on View and Slide Show.
To move between slides, you can press enter or the space bar to advance slides.
You can use the arrow keys to move between slides.

Have fun!!!

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