Hello, this week we'll help you get more comfortable with building a presentation in PowerPoint. Familiarizing yourself with the layout of PowerPoint's user interface. And how you can customize the interface to suit your needs will help you work more efficiently. And be more productive in developing presentations of the results of your analysis. Let's look closer at the features of PowerPoint's user interface. We'll start with the ribbon. Consistent with other products in the Microsoft Office Suite, the ribbon is displayed along the top of the work area and contains all PowerPoint functions and commands organized into tabs. On each tab, features and functionality are further categorized into groups. In this image of the Home tab, for example, the slides and font groups are highlighted. On the ribbon, commands and features are grouped into different tabs. For example, the insert tab has all of the objects you might want to insert on a slide. It includes, for example, New Slide, Table, Text Box, Header and Footer and Slide Number. Above the ribbon is the Quick Access Toolbar. This feature allows you to add frequently used functions and commands so they're merely a click away, rather than requiring navigation through the various tabs of the ribbon. We encourage you to add commonly used commands to your Quick Access Toolbar. Some our consultants find it useful to include commands pertaining to formatting, shapes, tables, charts and text boxes to the Quick Access Toolbar. As you refine your personal PowerPoint workflow, you'll determine additional uses for this handy feature. You can add and remove commands. To add a command, right-click on the command that you want to add, left-click on Add to Quick Access Toolbar. To remove a command, right-click on the command, then left-click on Remove from Quick Access Toolbar. You can even change multiple buttons at once. Click on the drop down menu at the right of the Quick Access Toolbar. Tick or untick as required for groups of commands or individual commands. You can also sort the commands in the toolbar. Click on the drop-down menu at the right of the Quick Access Toolbar. Click on More Commands at the bottom of the toolbar. Select a command on the list to the right. Use the up and down arrows to the right of the list to reposition the command in the customized section. PowerPoint offers another convenience function when editing text on a slide. When you select text, a mini toolbar will appear just above the selected text. It provides easy access to a selection of formatting tools. The familiar buttons on this toolbar, perform the same functions as those on the ribbon. You can switch the mini toolbar on and off from the File tab. Navigate to File, then Options, then tick or untick the Show Mini Toolbar on Selection Toolbox. PowerPoint also has a variety of different views that let you edit, arrange, or look at your slides in different ways. To change views, use the buttons on the View tab in the Presentation Views group, or View icons at the bottom right of the screen. The Normal view shows the presentation in the way you'll interact with it most often. The current slide is in the center of the screen, with thumbnails of the slide order displayed down the left. You can create and edit notes in the Normal view. The Notes Page view shows a picture of your slide with the notes area below it. This is how your notes will look when printed. You can also edit and format notes here. Use the zoom buttons at the bottom left to adjust the zoom so you can see the text clearly. In the Slide Sorter view you can quickly arrange your slides in the order that you prefer. Here’s a tip, always check the Notes view before sending your document to anyone, especially a client. There maybe notes on the slides that you want to delete before anyone else sees them. There are some basic functions you need to master in order to create a good slide. These include, aligning, distributing and arranging objects within a slide. Using guides and gridlines. Placing text in text boxes or shapes. And harmonizing presentation components like fonts, bolds, italics, bullets, etc., for consistency. It is important to align objects on every slide. When objects are well aligned and evenly spaced on a page, the page is much easier to read. The Alignment and Distribution menu can be customized through your updated Quick Access Toolbar, or on the Arrange menu on the Home tab. The text alignment features are also on the Home tab. If you want to move text or shapes backwards and forwards on the slide, use the Arrange menu on the Home tab. Now let's talk about guides. Guides are lines you can show on slides to help you align objects both vertically and horizontally. To turn on the guides, go to the View tab and tick Guides. Or you can right-click in the blank space on either side of your slide in the Normal view window and select Grids and Guides from the pop-up menu. To create additional guides, copy them by holding down the Ctrl button and clicking on the line and dragging. Remove guides by dragging them off the screen. Let's explore the Snap to Grid feature. When guides are switched on, objects will align to them automatically. Avoid the snap to grid and move the object more precisely by holding down the Alt key when moving objects near a guide. To be sure an object is aligned to a guide, here are two helpful techniques. Use the alignment function, Or zoom in on the object using the zoom function in the View tab, or at the bottom of the screen. Another useful tool for aligning objects on a slide is the gridlines feature. Gridlines can help you align objects and identify areas of the screen to use for different types of information. To turn on gridlines, select the View tab, tick Gridlines, or untick Gridlines to remove them. You could also set grid spacing and snap-to options. Select the View tab, click on the dialogue box launcher that is the arrow at the bottom right of the Show panel. Ensure grid settings are set to 0.1 centimeters, that is the smallest possible setting. To allow you to align accurately if you want to use the grid. Untick Snap objects to grid and to other objects options for increased accuracy. You can also combine text boxes and shapes. You can insert one or more text boxes into a shape, especially if you put different text in different parts of the shape. You can also change the size of a shape. It can be important to ensure that different shapes are the same width or height so that a slide is easier to read or understand. This is useful when you're trying to for example, align a title with the text box underneath, or make two shapes the same size. There are also drawing tools. You can use the drawing tools Size function to match the shape sizes. Highlight the shapes you want to change, then select the Format tab under Drawing tools and use the Size panel to adjust the shape sizes. Some other things to keep in mind as you use PowerPoint. Consistency, where possible try to be consistent within a presentation. This applies to fonts, formats, bullets and line spacing. Font size, ensure font sizes are fit for purpose. Remember that very small fonts are difficult to read. Think about how the presentation will be used. For example, will it be a handout or will it be presented on screen? If the text is less than 20 points, it will not be legible on large monitors. So many of the audience may not be able to read it. Use capitals, bolds and italics in a consistent way. The size of bullets should also be consistent. Make sure the ruler is set to give the appropriate margin and gutters and use rules and tab points. Never use the space bar to align text. Use bullets in small groups. We like to keep it to a maximum of seven or so in one group. Check your line and paragraph spacing. Spacing text out makes it easier to read. Line spacing less than one, looks squashed. Make changes carefully and consistently. Where spacing is obviously different, in different parts of the same slide, the slide will look odd.
