Understanding Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program included with most versions of Microsoft Office. We'll look at the latest version of the program, PowerPoint 2003.

The PowerPoint Workspace

As you can see in Figure 16.1, PowerPoint looks like most other Microsoft applications. You have the Standard and Formatting toolbars at the top of the screen, your main document (actually your current slide) in the middle of the screen, and a Task pane at the far right.

Figure 16.1. The PowerPoint workspace, in Normal view.

Opposite the Task pane, on the left side of the workspace, is the Outline/Slides pane, which displays all the slides in your presentation in either text (Outline) or graphic (Slides) views. Below the current slide is a Notes pane, which lets you enter presentation notes. And at the very bottom, in the left-hand corner, are the View buttons, which you use to switch between different views of your presentation.

Changing Views

This default view of the PowerPoint workspace is called, not surprising, Normal view. PowerPoint offers three different ways to view your presentation, all selectable from either the View buttons or the View menu. These views include

• Normal, which is the default view complete with Outline/Slides and Notes panes.

• Slide Sorter, which displays thumbnails of all the slides in your presentation.

• Slide Show, which launches a live full-screen "slide show" of your entire presentation.