Starting PowerPoint Presentation from scratch

One way to start your presentation is to start from scratch. In this way, you are starting out with a blank presentation. You can then design your own background choices. You would not be using a template design. To start a presentation from scratch follow these steps:

1.      Open up PowerPoint.

2.      A PowerPoint dialog box will open.

3.   Click on the radio button that says blank presentation.

4.      Click OK.

5.      Your new presentation will open. Choose your slide layout and click OK.

6.      You can now start working on your presentation or start designing the background that you would like to use for this show.

I. Open Existing Presentations

To continue working on a previous presentation you would have to open that file instead of starting a new one. To open up an existing file follow these steps:

1. Open up PowerPoint.
2. A PowerPoint dialog box will open.
3. Click on the radio button existing presentation.
4. If your presentation is listed in the box you can just double click on it to open it up. If they don't show up in the box just leave more files selected and click on OK.
5. The Open dialog box would then open. Choose your file and click on Open.
6. You can then continue working on your file.

II. Save a PowerPoint Presentation 

Changes you make to a document are not saved to disk until you issue a Save command. Saving is quick and easy, and you should save often to minimize the loss of your work. PowerPoint has two save commands, Save and Save As, that work similarly. Both commands are on the File menu.

Save

When you save a new presentation for the first time, PowerPoint displays a dialog box similar to the Open dialog box. Select the disk in which to save the presentation and specify a name for the file. When you save an existing document that you have been editing, the newly saved version replaces the older version.

Save As

This command displays a dialog box where you can choose a document name and destination folder or disk. Use the Save As command whenever you want to save a copy of the current document with a different name or in a different folder or disk. The newly saved copy becomes the active document.

III. Moving Slides

You may find that as you or your students are working on your presentation you may need to move the slide order around. To best do this you should be in the slide sorter view. Once in that view follow these steps:

Click on the slide that you want to move and hold the mouse button down while you move the slide to the desired location. You will see a vertical bar as you move the slides. When the bar is in front of the slide where you want to position your slide release the mouse button and the slides will be moved to the new position.

To start a new slideshow:

• Open Microsoft PowerPoint by selecting it from your Start Menu, under All Programs.
• Choose the slide layout you would like to use. OR
• Click on the Design button to choose from one of the templates. OR
• Click on the Auto-Content Wizard hyperlink on the right.
• To add addition slides, click the New Slide button.

Using Design Templates

• Microsoft has created several "prepackaged" templates you can use. These templates create your background, fonts, animations and transitions. Great for when you are short on time.
• Click on the Format Menu.
• Select Slide Design.
• Select the template of your choice from the window on the right side of the screen

Changing the Background in a blank layout

• Click on the Format menu.
• Select Background (you may have to click on the chevron on the bottom of the Format menu to see more options).
• This will bring up the Background window.
• Click on the drop down menu in the bottom left of the Window.
• You can select Colours or Fill Effects.
• If you choose a colour you will have the option to choose one of several standard colours, or you can click on the Custom tab and you can choose any colour.
• Once you have a colour click OK.

• If you choose Fill Effect the Fill Effect window will come up where you can choose between gradient, texture, pattern or picture.
• Once you choose your fill effect click OK.
• You should be back at the Background window, where you can choose to apply your selected background to all your slides, or just to the one slide.

To add text:

• Depending on the Slide Layout you choose, different text boxes will appear on your screen (i.e. Title, buttons).
• Click on the box and the previous text (Click here to add title) will disappear and you can begin typing your own text.
• If you want to add a new text box click on the Insert menu, then select Text Box.
• Click where in the slide that you would like to add the text box. A resizable box will appear. Begin typing.

To format text:

• Highlight the text you would like to change.
• Click on the Format menu, select Font.
• A box will appear that will let you change the font, the style, the size, and also add a few key effects (such as shadow).

To insert an image:

• Click on the Insert menu, select Picture – From File.
• This will bring up a window that will allow you to select the image that you would like to insert. Once found Click Insert.
• To resize the image click on it so that it is outlined by white circles.
• Click and drag any of the white circles to resize the picture.
• To move the picture click in the picture and drag the picture to the location you want it.