Understanding PowerPoint Views

PowerPoint operates in several different views. Each view is useful for a different type of activity.

Normal view is the default view. In Normal view, you'll see the following panes:

• Slides pane. Thumbnail images of the slides in the presentation appear here. The other tab at the top of this pane is for the Outline pane, discussed in Chapter 4, "Organizing the Presentation Outline."

• Current slide. A single slide at a time appears here. It's enlarged so you can work on it.

• Notes pane. Any speaker notes you type for the slide appear here. These notes aren't visible to the audience.

• Task pane. This pane changes depending on what you're doing. You can also click its Close (X) button to give you more room.

Note 

A presentation file containing several slides is shown here for example purposes. You'll learn how to open and create presentations of your own starting with Chapter 3, "Learning About Presentations."

Changing to a Different View

There are two other views: Slide Sorter and Slide Show. Slide Sorter view shows thumbnail images of all the presentation slides at once. Slide Show view shows full-screen images of each slide.

1. Click on the Slide Sorter View button. PowerPoint will switch to Slide Sorter view. You might use this for a bird's-eye view of the presentation, or to rearrange the slides more easily.

   

2. Click on the Slide Show View button. PowerPoint will switch to Slide Show view.

   

3. Press the Esc key. Slide Show view will close and the screen will return to Slide Sorter view.

4. Click on the Normal View button. PowerPoint will switch back to Normal view.

   

5. Click on the Outline tab. The presentation outline will come to the front.

   

Note 

You'll learn how to create an outline in Chapter 4, and you'll learn how to rearrange the slides in Chapter 5, "Organizing and Improving the Presentation."