Welcome to Introduction to Microsoft PowerPoint. Chances are that if you're taking this course, you're interested in learning how to create eye-catching, compelling, and informative presentations. You may have used PowerPoint or another presentation tool, but you may not have felt completely at ease using the software. It's also possible that you've never used presentation software, and now find yourself being called on to create slides in a hurry.

Whatever your reason for taking this course, I think you'll come out of it with a better understanding of how Microsoft PowerPoint's features and tools can make your presentations sizzle.

We will start with the basics; giving you a tour of the program so that you know where to find the tools you'll be using as we move through the course. From there, I will show you how to build a presentation using templates, text, and graphics. You'll also learn how to reorganize your presentation by manipulating the slides that make it up. Finally, you'll see how a finished presentation should look and you'll learn to use PowerPoint tools to run the presentation.

Let's get started by opening PowerPoint.

There are several ways to launch Microsoft PowerPoint. Depending on your operating system, the most common way to start PowerPoint is:

In Windows 98:

Click Start > Programs > Microsoft PowerPoint

Figure 1-1: Open PowerPoint from the Windows 98 Start menu.

In Mac OS:

Open the Microsoft Office 98 folder on your hard drive, and double-click the Microsoft PowerPoint icon.

No matter how you start Microsoft PowerPoint, you will see the opening dialog box shown in Figure 1-2. This is where you tell PowerPoint how you want to start. You can create a new presentation using the AutoContent Wizard, by using a design template, or by starting from scratch with a blank presentation (a blank canvas). At this point, you are also given the choice of opening an existing presentation. On the next page, we'll learn what these different options mean.

Note: In the opening dialog box, you are given a choice of whether to display this box when you open PowerPoint. During the first lesson, we will be utilizing this opening dialog box frequently. After you've learned the basics of file management and creating new presentations, you can choose not to display this box if you find it easier to navigate directly from PowerPoint's main File menu.

Figure 1-2: PowerPoint's opening dialog box listing the presentation choices.

You can start a new presentation in several ways. Going back to the opening dialog box, let's go through our choices one by one.

If you're new to PowerPoint, the AutoContent Wizard is a great place to start! The AutoContent Wizard provides you with completed, full presentations that you can customize with your own text. They carry a theme and design that are consistent with your message. Let's start by creating a certificate. (Don't worry if you don't have the "certificate" option -- you can follow along with any available content template.)

Click on the AutoContent Wizard radio button, then click OK. You will now see the AutoContent Wizard dialog boxes that will guide you through the process of building your presentation.

Figure 1-3: The AutoContent Wizard opening screen and options.

Click Next to proceed through the AutoContent Wizard to select Presentation type.

In the scrolling window to the right, click on Certificate (you may need to click the All button to make this choice available), then click Next. If you don't have a Certificate option, choose any content template -- the steps will be the same.

Figure 1-4: A listing of presentation types in the AutoContent Wizard.

At this point, PowerPoint asks what type of media you will be producing. For our lesson, choose On-screen presentation, and then click Next to select Presentation style.

Figure 1-5: AutoContent Wizard options for different presentation styles.

PowerPoint then asks for a title for your presentation. This title will appear as the "headline" on your certificate. You also have the option to include a footer, the date your presentation was last updated, and the slide number. This information will appear on your slide when you print it out. Choose the options you would like, then click Next to finish your presentation setup.

Figure 1-6: AutoContent Wizard options for naming and formatting a presentation.

That's it. You're done! Now, click Finish to view your work.

If you were able to follow along using the certificate template, your presentation should look similar to Figure 1-7. Don't worry about the dialog box on the left of your screen, if there is one. That's your outline view, and we'll discuss it in Lesson 2.

Figure 1-7: A certificate template presentation.

If you want more freedom in your text structure and direction of your message, you can choose to use a template that is provided with Microsoft PowerPoint.

Templates give you more freedom in your text content because you aren't prompted to put a particular message in a particular place. Templates provide many options for background designs and color schemes and have been created by Microsoft's graphic designers. So, if you want to concentrate on the content and leave the design up to someone else, a template is the perfect tool for you to use!

To get to a template, you can either choose Design Template from the opening dialog box, or, if you've started PowerPoint without the opening dialog box or canceled this box, then:

In Windows:

• Choose File > New
• Select the Design Template tab
• Click on a template name and look at the Preview box on the right side of the screen to see the design
• When you find one you like, click OK

Figure 1-8: A list of design templates to choose from for a new presentation.

In the Mac OS:

1. Choose File > New
2. Select the Presentation Designs tab
3. Click on a template name and look at the Preview box on the right side of the screen to see the design
4. When you find one you like, click OK

Next, PowerPoint will ask you to choose an AutoLayout for your first slide. You can choose any layout you prefer. AutoLayouts are templates that give you a choice of where to place your text and what objects to insert into your slide. We'll talk about the different layouts when we discuss creating a presentation in more detail in Lesson 3. Click on an AutoLayout, then click OK.

Figure 1-9: The AutoLayout screen.

A slide with a chosen background is displayed. You can also see how AutoLayout works. Depending on which AutoLayout you chose, you will see text boxes that (in Lesson 3) we'll use to place our slide titles and body text.

A blank slide allows you complete freedom over content, graphical look, and color scheme. To create a presentation from a blank slide, you have two choices.

Choose Blank Presentation from the opening dialog box.

or

Choose File> New, select Blank Presentation under the General tab of the New Presentation dialog box, and click OK.

Figure 1-10: The General tab of the New Presentation screen showing the Blank Presentation file icon.

Again, you'll be asked to choose an AutoLayout for your first slide. Choose one of the layouts presented.

A completely blank slide appears, free of any design or content elements.

Congratulations! You have learned three ways to create a new presentation. Now, let's learn how to save your work for future use and how to exit PowerPoint.

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To practice saving your work, let's save the Blank Presentation that you now have on your screen. We'll use this blank presentation again in Lesson 3.

1. Choose File > Save As
2. Type a descriptive name in the File name box (Windows) or in the Save as box (Mac OS)
3. Choose the directory and/or drive to which you wish to save your file (if you don't want to use the default directory)
4. Click Save

Figure 1-11: The Save As dialog box.

Remember to save your work frequently in PowerPoint. It's good practice to save after each new slide is created, and even more often to prevent data loss. Also, make sure that AutoSave is enabled by selecting Tools > Options, and then clicking on the Save tab. Choose to Save AutoRecover info every 10 minutes or less. In the event of a power failure, the next time you open PowerPoint, the last version of your AutoSaved file will be available to open. You may have lost the last few minutes of work, but you will have saved the majority of your efforts!

To close your presentation, choose File > Close, or click the Close button (Windows 98) or close box (Mac OS) in the presentation window.

To close PowerPoint, choose File > Exit.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts for saving your work are Ctrl+S (Windows 98) or Command+S (Mac OS).

In this section, you will need to reopen the presentation you just saved. Launch PowerPoint and choose Open an Existing Presentation in the opening dialog box. When you click on Open an Existing Presentation, a list of files becomes available to you. The file that you just saved is more than likely the first file listed. If it is, go ahead and highlight the file, and then click OK.

Figure 1-12: Opening an existing presentation by choosing the file.

If you don't see your file listed, choose More Files from the top of the dialog box window and click OK.

Figure 1-13: Opening an existing presentation by choosing More Files.

If you've chosen More Files from the opening dialog box, then you'll be taken to PowerPoint's Open menu. Find the file that you just saved, click on the file name to highlight it, verify that what you see in the Preview window is your file, and then click Open.

You should now be in your workspace, which is PowerPoint's main window while creating a presentation. Your blank presentation should be in view.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts for opening a presentation if you are already in your workspace are Ctrl+O (Windows) or Command+O (Mac OS).

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Now that you've created your first presentation, let's see what it looks like in print.

1. Choose File > Print
2. Select the Print range (choose which pages to print)
3. Specify the number of copies you want printed (default is one)
4. In the Print what box, make sure Slides is selected. (We'll discuss the numerous other print options later)
5. Click OK (Windows) or Print (Mac OS)

Figure 1-14: Options on the Print dialog box.

You can also click on the Print button on your toolbar.

However, clicking the Print button does not open the print dialog box; instead, printing defaults to the parameters you set the last time you viewed the dialog box and prints your presentation accordingly.

Congratulations! You have created your first presentation while learning the basics of PowerPoint. Not bad for your first time. For the next lesson, let's take a tour of PowerPoint's Windows, Menus, and Toolbars to learn about all the options you have to enhance your presentation.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts for printing are Ctrl+P (Windows 98) or Command+P (Mac OS).