BASIC POWERPOINT INSTRUCTIONS

Microsoft PowerPoint 2000/XP/2003

TO CREATE A NEW BLANK PRESENTATION:

1) Open the PowerPoint program.

2) Click on File, then on New, then on Blank Presentation.

3) Click on the Slide layout you want. Click on OK.

TO INSERT A NEW SLIDE:

1) Click on the tiny button in the lower left-hand corner of the screen that says, “Normal View” on it (unless you are already in Normal View). Move your mouse pointer on the buttons to find the one that has Normal View on it. (It’s the far left button.) Normal View shows you a large slide in the main window and smaller “thumbnails” of each slide in a column on the left.

2) Click on the slide above where you want to insert a new slide.

3) Click on Insert, then on New Slide.

4) Click on the Slide layout you want.

5) Click once on the Title part, then type the title you want.

6) To change the size and/or font of the text, click & drag over the text with the I-Beam cursor (it looks like a Capital-I), or click once on the frame around the text to select it.

7) Click on the size of the font you want (such as 36) and the font type (such as Times New Roman).

8) Click anywhere else to remove the highlighting on the text.

TO INSERT A PICTURE:

1) Click on Insert, then on Picture, then on From File.

2) Find the picture you want (for example, they might be in the C:\My Documents\My Pictures folder).

3) Click once on the picture.

4) Click on Insert.

5) To make the picture bigger or smaller, move the pointer to the tiny “handle” at the lower right-hand corner of the picture until it changes into a diagonal, Double-Headed Arrow, then click & drag the handle down or up diagonally.

6) To move the picture around on the slide, click & drag the picture from the middle of the picture.

7) To move the Title bar, click once on the Title to make its frame visible, then move the pointer on the frame until it changes to a Four-Headed Arrow, then click & drag the frame around.

TO MOVE FROM SLIDE TO SLIDE:

1) Click on the Normal View button, which is the tiny button that is the farthest to the left in the lower left-hand corner of the PowerPoint window.

2) Scroll up or down, and click on the slide you want to change. (You can also press Page Down and Page Up on the keyboard to move from slide to slide.)

TO CHANGE THE TEXT IN A SLIDE:

1) Click with the I-beam cursor where you want to change the text. (You can also use the Up, Down, Left, and Right Arrow keys on the keyboard to move the blinking cursor to where you want it.)

2) Use the Backspace key on the keyboard to delete the character to the left of the blinking cursor. (The Backspace key will move the blinking cursor one space to the left.)

3) Use the Delete key to delete the character to the right of the blinking cursor. (Notice that the blinking cursor doesn’t move when you use the Delete key.)

4) Type the character(s) you want to insert.

TO SEE THE “MASTER” SLIDE:

1) Click on View, then on Master, then on Slide Master.

2) Any changes you make on the Master Slide will affect all of the slides in your presentation.

TO SORT YOUR SLIDES:

1) Click on the tiny Slide Sorter button in the lower left-hand corner of the window. (It’s the second button from the right and has 4 tiny blank slides on it.)

2) Click & drag a slide to its new position.

3) Repeat for any other slides.

TO CHANGE THE BACKGROUND COLOR:

1) Click on Format, then on Background.

2) Click on the Down Arrow next to the color stripe you see in the Color box, then click on More Colors.

3) Click on the Custom tab.

4) Click on the color you want (on the “Color Wheel”), then click & drag the vertical slider at the right to select the shade or intensity of that color.

5) Click on Apply or Apply to All to apply the color change to all of the slides in your presentation.

TO SAVE THE CHANGES YOU’VE MADE: 

1) Click on the tiny button at the top of the PowerPoint window that looks like a floppy disk (i.e., the third button from the left on the Button Bar.) You can also click on File, then on Save.

2) The blue “progress” bar will flash up on the bottom of the screen and rapidly move across the area allotted to it. When you see this progress bar, this means that you’ve successfully saved the changes you’ve made to your file.

TO SAVE YOUR POWERPOINT PRESENTATION FILE:

1) Click on File, then on Save As.

2) Type in a new filename such as: My Presentation.ppt (the .ppt part lets the computer know that this is a PowerPoint presentation).

3) Note the folder name next to Save in:.  Click on the Down Arrow and change it to the My Documents folder or the Desktop (or wherever you want to save it).

4) Click on the Save button.

TO PLAY THE PRESENTATION:

1) Click on the tiny Slide Show button at the lower left-hand corner of the window (it’s the far right button).

2) To go from slide to slide, you can click on the slide anywhere, or press the Enter key, or press the Page Up and Page Down keys on the keyboard.

3) There is also a small button in the lower left-hand corner of each slide that looks like a window. (You may not see this button until you move the pointer into its general vicinity.) You can click on this button, then select a command such as End Show, Next, Previous, etc.

4) When you see the last slide, just click once more to return to the PowerPoint program window where you can make changes to your slides.

5) You can also press the Esc key at any time to end the Slide Show and return to the PowerPoint program window.