Using Smart Tags

When you move your mouse over certain types of text, a smart tag appears. Depending on the text, a smart tag might offer to perform a variety of actions on that text, such as looking up an address, scheduling a meeting, or getting a stock quote. Smart tags are "smart" in that PowerPoint is able to determine the type of content by its format and then offer appropriate choices. For example, PowerPoint can distinguish dates and telephone numbers from ordinary numbers, based on their patterns.

You can control the specific Smart Tag labels through the AutoCorrect dialog box. Here you can choose what types of recognizers you want to use. A recognizer is a type of data, such as Date,

Financial Symbol, Place, and so on. The types of tags depend on what is installed on your PC. By default, PowerPoint includes the following recognizers:

• Measurement converter: Identifies measurements and offers to convert them to other units.

• Dates: You can display the Outlook calendar and schedule a meeting.

• Financial symbols: You can get stock quotes, company reports, and business news from MSN MoneyCentral.

• People's names: You can send e-mail or instant messages, schedule meetings, open the person's contact information in Outlook (or create a new entry), and insert addresses.

A smart tag appears in a document as a dotted purple underline with an "i" icon. Click this icon for a menu of actions that you can perform, as shown in Figure 8.11.

Figure 8.11: Use a smart tag by clicking its button and selecting from its menu.

Smart tags are not enabled by default, and so you must turn them on if you want to use them. At the same time, you can also configure the tags, and add new tags if desired, by following these steps:

1. Choose Office PowerPoint Options.

2. Click Proofing.

3. Click AutoCorrect Options. The AutoCorrect dialog box opens.

4. Click the Smart Tags tab.

5. To turn the Smart Tag labels on or off, select or deselect the Label Text with Smart Tags option.

6. Select or deselect the options for each individual recognizer type, as shown in Figure 8.12.

   
   Figure 8.12: Configure smart tags from the AutoCorrect dialog box.

7. After enabling or disabling the desired smart tags, click Check Presentation. PowerPoint re-checks the presentation for eligible text.

8. A confirmation box appears when the check is finished; click OK.

9. Browse through the presentation and look for the Smart Tag icon; when you see it, you can click it to access the smart tag.

Other smart tags are available, some for free and some for an additional charge. To see what's available, click the More Smart Tags button on the Smart Tags tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box (Figure 8.12). Then follow the hyperlinks to the various services to learn about their benefits and costs. After you install new smart tags, these new tags might not be available until you exit and restart PowerPoint.