PowerPoint contains a large assortment of customizable program settings. Some of these settings make purely cosmetic changes to the interface, whereas others enable or disable timesaving or safety features. You can access most options by selecting Office PowerPoint Options and working in the PowerPoint Options dialog box, as you saw in Figure B-1. Click a category in the PowerPoint Options dialog box along the left side, and then set the options that you want. Table B.1 lists all of the options, divided by category (or most of them, anyway; depending on the language, you may have a few extra options or be missing a few).
Section | Option | Description |
---|---|---|
Category: Personalize | ||
Top Options for Working with PowerPoint | Show Mini Toolbar on Selection | Shows or hides the floating mini toolbar when you select text. |
ScreenTip Scheme | Determines how detailed the ScreenTips are when you hover the mouse pointer over a command or button. | |
Enable Live Preview | Shows a preview of a setting when you move your mouse pointer over it in a gallery. For example, if you hover over a different theme on the Design tab, the slide shows it in the background, behind the open menu. | |
Show Developer Tab in the Ribbon | Turns the Developer tab on or off, from which you can access commands for macros and ActiveX controls. | |
Color Scheme | Enables you to apply different color schemes to PowerPoint (and all Office programs), independently from your color scheme in Windows. | |
Personalize Your Copy of Office | User Name | Your name appears here; changing this name affects the username that is associated with comments and file properties. |
Initials | Same as the username, except that it uses only your initials; for example, your initials appear on comments. | |
Choose the Languages You Want to Use with Office | Installs additional language-editing packs, so that you can use spell-checkers and research tools in other languages than your default language. | |
Category: Proofing | ||
AutoCorrect Options | Change how PowerPoint Corrects and Formats Text as You Type | Click the AutoCorrect Options button here to access and configure AutoCorrect, as described in Chapter 8, Correcting and Improving Text. |
When Correcting Spelling in Office Programs | Ignore words in UPPERCASE | Use these check boxes to adjust the spelling check, as described in Chapter 8. The options here affect all Office applications. |
When Correcting Spelling in PowerPoint | Check spelling as you type Use contextual spelling Hide spelling errors | Use these check boxes to adjust the spelling check, as described in Chapter 8. The options here affect only PowerPoint. |
Category: Save | ||
Save presentations | Save files in this format | Sets the default file format for new presentations. |
Save AutoRecover information every XX minutes | Enables PowerPoint to AutoSave your changes, so that PowerPoint may be able to restore them in the event of a system crash. | |
Default file location | Sets the location that appears by default in the Save As dialog box. | |
Offline editing options for document management server files | Save checked-out files to | When you check out a file from a document server, this option allows you to specify whether the draft is stored locally or back to the Web. |
Server drafts location | When you check out a file from a document server, and you choose to save a local copy, this option determines the location of that local copy. | |
Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation | Embed fonts in the file | Packages the fonts with the presentation file so that when the presentation is shown on a computer that does not have these fonts, it still displays correctly. |
Category: Advanced | ||
Editing Options | When selecting, automatically select entire word | Extends the selection to entire words when you drag to select. |
Allow text to be dragged and dropped | Enables drag-and-drop moving and copying. | |
Maximum number of undos | Sets the number of undo operations. | |
Cut, copy, and paste | Use smart cut and paste | Automatically adjusts sentence and word spacing, table formatting, and table formatting, as well as other formatting details. |
Show Paste Options buttons | If this option is enabled, then when you paste, an icon appears that opens a menu where you can specify paste options. | |
Display | Number of documents in the Recent Documents list | Controls the number of documents that appear on the right side of the Office menu. |
Show all windows in the taskbar | Uses a separate icon for each presentation in the taskbar. | |
Show shortcut keys in ScreenTips | Includes shortcut keys when you move your mouse over a command or button. | |
Show vertical ruler | Includes the vertical ruler when the Ruler is enabled (from the View tab). | |
Open all documents using this view | Chooses the default view with which to open presentations. | |
Slide Show | Show menu on right-mouse click | Enables the right-click menu in Slide Show view. |
Show popup toolbar | Enables the pop-up toolbar in Slide Show view. | |
Prompt to keep ink annotations when exiting | When exiting from Slide Show view after using ink annotations, this option asks whether you want to save them. | |
End with black slide | Displays a black screen after the final slide (otherwise, it returns to Normal view). | |
| Print in background | Enables print spooling, so that PowerPoint is freed up faster to continue working. |
Print TrueType fonts as graphics | Sends TrueType fonts to the printer as graphics rather than as fonts. | |
Print inserted objects at printer resolution | When an object has a different resolution than the printer, this changes the object to match the printer resolution. | |
High quality | Enables high-quality printing, including minor improvements such as printing text shadows. | |
When Printing This Document | Use the most recently used print settings OR Use the following print settings | Selects whether to remember print settings or to use settings that you specify. |
Save | Link sounds with file size greater than | Sets a threshold over which a sound file will not be embedded in the PowerPoint file. |
General | Provide feedback with sound | Enables sound with visual notifications, such as alerts when a process is complete. |
Show add-in user interface errors | Turns on RibboxX-related error messages. | |
Web Options | Opens a dialog box where you can adjust settings for saving in HTML format. | |
Service Options | Opens a dialog box for setting customer feedback options. | |
Category: Customization | ||
Customization | Customize the Quick Access Toolbar | Customizes the QAT, as described earlier in this Appendix |
Category: Add-Ins | ||
Add-Ins | (List) | Displays the installed add-ins. |
Manage | Selects an add-in category. You can then click Go to manage this category. | |
Category: Trust Center | ||
Protecting Your Privacy | Show the Microsoft Office PowerPoint privacy statement Microsoft Office Online privacy statement Customer Experience Improvement Program | Hyperlinks to information, regarding how Microsoft collects information from you as you use the product |
Security & More | Microsoft Windows Security Center Microsoft Trustworthy Computing | Hyperlinks to information about security on Office Online |
Microsoft Office PowerPoint Trust Center | Trust Center Settings | Opens a dialog box in which you can configure the Trust Center, as described later in this Appendix |
Category: Resources | ||
N/A | Check for Updates | Connects to Microsoft Office Online to look for program updates, and offers to install any that it finds. |
Diagnose | Checks your Office installation for problems, and offers to repair them. | |
Contact Us | Displays information about how to contact Microsoft for free or for-pay technical support. | |
Activate | Connects to the activation server to activate your copy of Office. You are periodically reminded to connect to the server until you do it, and a certain number of uses, Office will not work until you do it. | |
Go Online | Opens the Microsoft Office Online Web site in your default browser. | |
About | Displays information about your copy of PowerPoint, including serial number, version number, and registered owner. |