Choosing the Best Method to Start a Presentation

To begin working with PowerPoint, you can create a new presentation or you can open one that you've already worked on. You can use the New Presentation task pane as your starting point. The option that you choose on the task pane depends on how you want to start a presentation. If you need help with content and a presentation look, choose the From AutoContent Wizard option. If you have content ready but need help with a presentation look, choose the From Design Template option. If you have content ready and have a design in mind, choose the Blank Presentation option. If you have an existing presentation and want to make design and content changes to it for a new presentation without altering the original, choose the From Existing Presentation option. The following table describes the methods available to you when you start or open a presentation from the New Presentation task pane.

New Presentation Task Pane Options

Click	To
From AutoContent Wizard	Create a new presentation using the AutoContent Wizard, which prompts you for a presentation title and information about the presentation. After you choose a presentation style and type, PowerPoint provides a basic outline to help you organize the content into a professional presentation.
From Design Template	Create a new presentation based on a design template, which is a presentation with predefined slide colors and styles. After you click this option, the Slide Design task pane appears, in which you can choose a template.
Blank Presentation	Create a new, blank presentation. After you click this option, the Slide Layout task pane appears with 27 predesigned slidelayouts from which you can choose to create a new slide.
From Existing Presentation	Create a copy of an existing PowerPoint presentation in order to make design and content changes to it for a new presentation, without changing the original presentation. After you click this option, the New From Existing Presentation dialog box appears, from which you can browse to find the presentation that you want to open.