Getting Started with PowerPoint


The most common way to start PowerPoint is to use the Start button on the Windows taskbar. When you start PowerPoint, its program window displays the components and features common to all Microsoft Office programs, as well as some that are unique to Office 2003 and some that are unique to PowerPoint.

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Tip  

What you see on your screen might not match the graphics in this book exactly. The screens in this book were captured on a monitor set to 800 x 600 resolution with 24-bit color and the Windows XP Standard color scheme. By default, the Standard and Formatting toolbars share one row, which prevents you from seeing all their buttons. To make it easier for you to find buttons , the Standard and Formatting toolbars in the graphics in this book appear on two rows. If you want to change your setting to match the screens in this book, click Customize on the Tools menu. On the Options tab, select the Show Standard and Formatting toolbars on two rows check box, and then click Close.

Displayed within the program window is the presentation window , the area in which you create slides by typing text, drawing shapes , creating graphs, and inserting objects. The insertion point , the blinking vertical line that appears when you click in the presentation window, indicates where text you type or an object you insert will appear.

On the right side of the program window, PowerPoint displays a task pane that you can use to quickly choose commands appropriate to a specific task. For example, when you first start PowerPoint, the Getting Started task pane appears with the commands you commonly use to open an existing presentation or create a new one. When you add a new slide to a presentation, the Slide Layout task pane appears, with common slide designs from which you can choose. If you want to use a task pane other than the one displayed, you can click the Other Task Panes down arrow at the right end of the task pane s title bar to display a drop-down list of the available task panes, and then click the one you want to see. You can hide the task pane to free up valuable screen space, or display it if it is hidden, by clicking Task Pane on the View menu. (This type of on/off command is called a toggle .) To close the task pane, click the Close button at the right end of the task pane s title bar.

Tip  

The task pane opens each time you start PowerPoint. If you don t want the task pane to appear when you start the program, click Options on the Tools menu, click the View tab, clear the Startup Task Pane check box, and click OK.

In the lower-left corner of the presentation window are view buttons that enable you to look at a presentation in different ways. By default, PowerPoint opens in Normal view , the main view used to write and design presentations. This view is made up of three panes:

  • The Outline/Slides pane shows tabs that you use to alternate between seeing an outline of your slide text (Outline tab) and seeing the slides displayed as thumbnails (Slides tab).

  • The Slide pane shows the slide selected in the Outline/Slides pane as it will appear in the presentation.

  • The Notes pane provides a place for entering speaker notes.

You can size any of the panes by dragging the gray bars that separate them.

As with any Microsoft Windows program, you can temporarily hide the PowerPoint window with the Minimize button, and adjust the size of the window with the Restore Down/Maximize button. You can close a presentation with the Close Window button at the right end of the menu bar; and you can quit PowerPoint with the Close button at the right end of the title bar.

To find out the name of an item on the screen, you can display its ScreenTip . To see the name of a toolbar button, for example, you point to the button for a few seconds (this is called hovering ), and its ScreenTip will appear.

In this exercise, you will start PowerPoint, explore various task panes, and then close the task pane.

BE SURE TO start your computer, but don t start PowerPoint yet.

  1. On the taskbar, click Start , point to All Programs , point to Microsoft Office , and then click Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 .

    Tip  

    You can also start PowerPoint by creating a shortcut icon on the Windows desktop. Simply double-click a shortcut icon to start its associated program. To create a shortcut, click the Start button, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office, right-click Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003, point to Send To, and then click Desktop (create shortcut).

    The PowerPoint window opens with a blank presentation in the presentation window and the Getting Started task pane displayed.

  2. At the right end of the task pane s title bar, click the Other Task Panes down arrow.

    A menu of available task panes appears.

  3. Press the [Esc] key, or click an empty place in the presentation window.

    PowerPoint closes the menu.

  4. Click the Close button at the right end of the task pane s title bar (not the one at the right end of the menu bar or the program window s title bar).

    The Getting Started task pane closes, and the presentation window expands to fill the width of the program window.

  5. On the View menu, click Task Pane .

    Troubleshooting  

    If you don t see the Task Pane command on the View menu, it is hidden. PowerPoint personalizes your menus and toolbars to reduce the number of menu commands and toolbar buttons you see on the screen. When you click a menu name on the menu bar, a short menu appears, containing only the commands you use most often. To make the complete menu appear, you can hover over the menu name for a second or two, double-click the menu name, or point to the chevrons (the double arrows) at the bottom of the short menu.

    The Getting Started task pane opens, and the presentation window contracts to make room for it.




Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Step by Step
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))
ISBN: B003D3OG7E
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 145

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