Using Ink in Slides, Outlines, and Notes

You can use three methods to write things in PowerPoint, but right off the bat you have to decide whether you want text to look like text or look like a digital version of your own lovely handwriting. You can write on the Writing Pad tab of the Input Panel and send your writing to PowerPoint as text; or you can use the Write Anywhere feature to write in the PowerPoint environment and have it convert to text automatically. Finally, you can insert a Drawing and Ink object and write or draw and have your handwritten content preserved as a graphic object.

Remember Keep in mind that, no matter how you enter it, content entered in placeholders on slides in PowerPoint is copied to the outline automatically, and content entered in the outline is similarly reflected in slides.

Using the Writing Pad to enter slide contents

What’s unique with PowerPoint is that you have three possible areas to enter text: the Outline tab, the Notes pane, and on slides themselves (as shown in Figure 11-1).

click to expand
Figure 11-1: The Normal view in PowerPoint contains three areas where text can be entered.

Before you begin writing input, you have to open a placeholder for editing or place your insertion point in the Notes or Outline tab by tapping the location where you want to add content. Only after you perform this action can the Writing Pad know where to put the text you enter.

Remember In PowerPoint, before you can enter text into a title or text placeholder, first you have to tap the text; then anything you enter replaces the placeholder text.

In addition, you can draw text boxes on slides. First, create the text box, and then tap the box to create an insertion point. As with placeholders and the Outline and Notes areas, once the insertion point is active, you can input text with either the Keyboard or Writing Pad area of the Input Panel.

Text boxes differ from placeholders mainly in that whatever you enter into them is not reflected in the presentation outline. So text boxes are typically used to add text that is more of a design element on a slide (for example, the word FREE!!! in large green letters above a product image), rather than text that conveys the concepts and points of the speaker.

Tip You can also enter text or ink objects in an area of PowerPoint called Slide Master (choose ViewðMasterðSlide Master). When you use the methods covered in this section to add presentation elements in the Slide Master, they will appear on every slide in your presentation.

Follow these steps to use the Writing Pad in the Input Panel to add text to slides and text boxes:

Choose StartðAll ProgramsðMicrosoft PowerPoint to open the program with a blank title slide displayed.
Tap the Input Panel icon on the Windows taskbar to open the Input Panel and display the Writing Pad tab.

Your screen should now look like the one shown in Figure 11-2.

Figure 11-2: The PowerPoint screen shrinks to allow the Input Panel to be displayed beneath it.
Tap in the Title placeholder (the one that says Click to add title).
Write some text (the title of your presentation could go here) in the Writing Pad.

After a moment the text appears in the title placeholder.
Tap in the subtitle placeholder (the one that says Click to add subtitle).
Write a city and date for the presentation in the Writing Pad.
Tap the Send button in the Input Panel to immediately send the text to the slide.

The text appears in the subtitle placeholder.
Tap the Text Box tool on the Drawing toolbar.

This tool looks like a little document with an A in the upper-left corner.
Tap above the title placeholder and drag to draw a text box.
Write a theme (such as Striving for Excellence!) in the Writing Pad (as shown in Figure 11-3) and tap the Send button.

Figure 11-3: The text box delivers a motivational message that won’t be included with the speaker’s main points in the outline.

The text appears on the slide.
If you want to save this masterpiece, choose FileðSave and save it as you would any other Word document.

Tip There are two options that appear when you tap the Send button on the Writing Pad of the Input Panel: Send as Text (automatically converts handwriting to text) and Send as Ink (sends your handwriting to a document).

Remember You can’t use the Send as Ink option on the Send button when sending handwriting to a slide placeholder, text box, outline, or notes. Content sent to these areas is always converted to text.

Write your outline anywhere

Computer users have personalities, too. Do you hate being confined to the Input Panel? Then you’re probably a Write Anywhere type of personality. These W-A types like the freedom that Write Anywhere gives them to write directly on the PowerPoint screen. (What you write still appears wherever your insertion point is resting, such as in the outline or in a slide placeholder.)

Tip One of the biggest benefits of using Write Anywhere to enter text is that you can minimize the Input Panel while you write, allowing PowerPoint to fill much more of the screen. When you’re building slides, this capability helps you to see the overall look and balance of design elements, text, and objects on the slides more clearly.

You can make the Write Anywhere function (discussed in Chapter 4) available through the Input Panel options and then activate it by tapping the Write Anywhere button displayed in the Input Panel title bar (it looks like a little pen).

Remember When you enter text in a slide in PowerPoint, that text also appears on the Outline tab — and vice versa. When you enter text in the outline in the following steps, you see the upper-level text for each slide appear in the title placeholder; indented text in the outline appears in the subtitle placeholder on the slide (refer to Figure 11-3).

Follow these steps to use Write Anywhere to enter text into a presentation outline:

Choose FileðNew to open a new PowerPoint presentation with a blank title slide displayed.
Tap the Input Panel icon on the Windows taskbar to open the Input Panel.
Choose ToolsðOptions.

The Options dialog box appears.
Tap the Write Anywhere tab, as shown in Figure 11-4.

Figure 11-4: In this dialog box, you can also control the time delay for sending handwriting to a document and the thickness and color of ink.
Make sure that the Show the Turn on Write Anywhere Button on the Title Bar check box is selected; then tap the Close button.

A button with a symbol of a pen on it now appears on the title bar of the Input Panel. This is the Write Anywhere button.
Tap the Write Anywhere button to activate it.

A dialog box appears, explaining how to turn off Write Anywhere.
Tap OK to close this dialog box.
Make sure that the Outline tab (refer to Figure 11-2 to identify this tab) appears to the right of the Blank Slide icon.

This tab must be in this position to activate your insertion point on the Outline tab.
Move your pen around the screen.

As you do so, an entry line appears and moves around (as shown in Figure 11-5). You can write on this entry line anywhere it appears on the screen; what you write appears wherever your insertion point is located on the Outline tab.

Figure 11-5: The line moves around the screen; wherever you write, the text appears where your insertion point rests— whether in an outline, slide, or note.
Write some text (such as Annual Meeting) on the entry line of Write Anywhere.

After a moment, the text appears in the outline and in the slide title placeholder (which matches the upper level of the outline for each slide).
Tap the Enter key on the Input Panel to move to the next line.
Tap the Tab key to indent the line.
Enter a date on the Write Anywhere entry line.
Tap the Write Anywhere button to turn the feature off.

Adding handwritten objects

Imagine that you’re making a presentation to employees about your company’s renewed dedication to employee satisfaction. What could be better than to show a sentence, such as “I promise that our employees are #1,” on a slide and include the president’s signature under that promise?

Or perhaps you want to show handwritten quotes of customer testimonials to give your sales presentation that personal touch.

Whatever your use for handwritten text or hand-drawn graphics, you can take advantage of the Ink and Drawing feature in PowerPoint to add text and drawings as graphic objects.

Tip The Writing Pad and Write Anywhere are the only methods of entering text on the Outline tab and Notes pane; you can insert Ink and Drawing objects only on slides.

Warning! Because Ink and Drawing objects are objects, the text within them won’t appear in the PowerPoint outline when you add them to a slide.

To insert an Ink and Drawing object on a slide and enter content into it, follow these steps:

With the Normal view displayed in PowerPoint (the one that opens when you open a new presentation), choose InsertðInk and Drawing Object.

A new object appears on your slide with an Ink toolbar on top of it, as shown in Figure 11-6.

Figure 11-6: This object can be moved around your slide and resized.
Write your signature in the object.

Or write someone else’s signature, or the Gettysburg Address, if you like.

I drew a heart because I’m so sweet and I like to practice drawing things.
Tap the Eraser tool on the Ink toolbar.
With the pen tip touching the screen lightly, move your pen over a word you wrote; move the pen tip gently back and forth to erase that word.
Tap the arrow on the Pen tool and choose HighlighterðPink from the drop-down menu that appears.
Move your pen on the screen over the heart to highlight it with a pink color.
Tap the arrow on the Line Thickness tool and choose 6 pt.
Tap the arrow on the Ink Color button and choose a red color from the drop-down palette that appears (as shown in Figure 11-7).

Figure 11-7: The few tools on this toolbar let you use different styles of pen, different colors, and different line thicknesses.
Draw a line under a word you wrote in the object with your pen.
Tap anywhere outside the object, and it appears alongside other objects in your slide.

Remember The object doesn’t appear in your outline.

To edit the Ink and Drawing object again, simply double-tap it. The Ink toolbar reappears, and you can use its tools to make changes or add more content to the object.