PowerPoint Tutorials

Just like Powerpoint 2007 lets you voice record a narration for a presentation so that people can hear it on their own time, well the other component to making this happen is to create a stand alone presentation that narrates and moves by itself without having a presenter clicking through the slides. In this short tutorial, I will show you how to create a “User Run” presentation for those times when you want the user to see the presentation on his/her own time.

Go to Start>Programs>Microsoft Program to open the program. Open the presentation that you want to convert to “User Run.” Go to Slide Show>Set Up Slide Show and the “Set Up Show” pop up window box will appear.

Under “Show type,” select “Browsed by an individual (window)” and also click the “Show scrollbar” box – This is so that the viewer can click on the scrollbar to move across the slides. Under “Show Slides,” click the “All” button.

Finally, click OK.

That’s it! You just made a presentation that can doesn’t need a presenter.

We’re all excited about the many features and possibilities that Powerpoint 2007 gives us, but what about those key charts and graphs that were created in previous versions of Powerpoint? Are you going to have to redo them? No, Powerpoint 2007 can also convert those charts in no time. In this tutorial, I will show you how to change a graph from a previous version to Powerpoint 2007.

Go to Start>Programs>Microsoft Program to open the program. Now open the older version presentation that has the graph created in pre-2007 software. You will see that the old graph opens up in Microsoft Graph – this is the program that Powerpoint used to create graphs in versions prior to 2007. You opened the old presentation in 2007 and the actual graph appears in Microsoft Graph and so it looks the same. Remember that Powerpoint 2007 does not convert automatically, in fact, if you like using Microsoft Graph, you can continue using it in 2007 since it’s compatible. But, if you want to use the cool new graph features in 2007, then this is how you do it.

Next, go to the slide where the old chart lies, select the graph and right click it, then go down to Chart Object and select Edit. Next click View>Datasheet, so you can see the source data for the graph. Now select all the graph source data and copy it to the clipboard.

Next de-select the graph area to deactivate Microsoft Graph, and go to Insert>Chart – you are going to create a brand new chart with the same source data. Now in the “Insert Chart” pop window box, find the same graph type as the original and select it. Next, delete the sample data in the Excel sheet that opens up. Please note that to get this step right, you can’t click in highlighting area of the sheet. Finally, place the cursor in the first cell and paste the source data that you had copied from the original graph Excel sheet.

Next, go to Design>Select Data. The “Select Data Source” pop up window box appears, and click on the “Chart Data Range.” Now, go to the sheet and select the source data needed to create the new chart – remember just click and drag all the information that you just pasted on the new Excel source sheet. Then, hit Enter or click Close. Then, click OK to close the “Select Data” pop up window box.

You’re done! You’ll see the new version of the graph with all the original information.

Great! Now you have the option to convert old graphs and not have to recreate them.

If you want your presentation to be a stand alone and be able to forward it to many people, you can use the voice narration feature to record your voice giving the presentation but without actually being there. This is great if you want to disseminate a presentation to large groups of people in different locations and when you don’t have the manpower and money to conduct the presentations in person. In this tutorial, I will show you how to record your voice on a presentation.

Please Note: Before using this feature, there are four things you need to think about so that you can do this as quickly and efficiently as possible. You need to think about the voice that will be used (yours or someone else), a script, and the sound card and microphone capabilities of your computer. First, you need to decide if your voice is good enough for narration or if you can ask a buddy to do the voice over for you. Second, you need to write down what’s going to be said – You need to have the material ready to be read in order not to waste time and focus. Lastly, check out that the microphone and the sound card in your computer work. Go ahead and do a test recording and play it back before actually doing the voice narration for your presentation. Once all these things are ready to go then just follow the next quick steps.

Go to Start>Programs>Microsoft Program to open the program. Open the presentation that you will be working on. Click on the first slide where you want to start the voice narration, now go to Slide Show>Record Narration.

The “Record Narration” pop up window box appears. Here you can adjust the microphone level and set the “Change Quality” of the recording. First, click the “Set Microphone Level” button and test the microphone, and after you’re done click OK. Then click the “Change Quality” button, and select the sound quality of the recording – you can make it sound like a “CD, Radio or Telephone Quality.” Make your selection and hit OK.

Now the presentation changes to Slide Show view and you can start recording your narration. Remember to click from one slide to the next when you’re ready. Once you’re done, save the presentation. A tiny sound icon will appear on the lower hand right corner of the slides to remind you that the slides have a voice recording.

Fantastic! Play it back and put it to good use.

Can you imagine using one of your favorite songs in one of your powerpoint presentations for school or work? Well with 2007 Powerpoint, you can and it’s so easy. In this tutorial, I will show you how to insert a sound file into a slide within a Powerpoint presentation.

1. Go to Start>Programs>Microsoft Program to open the program. Open the presentation that you will be working on. Find the slide where you want to insert the sound clip. Remember to keep the sound files in the same folder as the presentation so they have the same location in your computer. Please Note: You can use either one of the following sound files: .MIDI, .MID, .MP3, .WAV, and .WMA.

2. Go to Insert>Sound, hit the “Sound” button and find the sound file and click OK.

3. Finally, you will be asked if you want the sound file to be played automatically or when you click the Sound clip, so depending on your need, click “Automatically” or “When Clicked.”

4. Now, whenever this particular slide with the sound file comes up, you will notice a little sound icon on the slide indicating that the slide has sound files embedded on it.

Good Job! Now your slides can play music and your audience will certainly enjoy it.

One of the coolest functions in Powerpoint 2007 is adding all kinds of media clips to a powerpoint presentation. This was unheard of back in the 1990s but nowadays you can spice up your presentations with videos, music or your voice recording. In this tutorial, I will show you how easy it is to add a video clip to your presentation. You can add the video to an actual slide and let it run on that specific slide.

Please Note: You need to remember two important things so that you don’t run into any problems when adding a video to a slide. First, you don’t actually insert a video into a slide, you tell a slide the location of the video and then it plays it from that location. The video is never really inside of the presentation, so the most important thing to remember is to keep the video file in the same location as your presentation – specially if you’re planning to travel or give the presentation to someone else. Second, the video file needs to be compatible with the programs that Microsoft uses to run video clips. Powerpoint uses these two programs to play video clips: MCI (Media Control Interface) and Windows Media Player. Finally these are the video format files that can run in MCI and Windows Media Player: .AVI (Audio Visual Interleaved), .MPEG, .MPG (Motion Picture Experts Group) and .WMV, .ASF (Windows Media Video).

Go to Start>Programs>Microsoft Program to open the program. Open the presentation that you will be working on. Find the slide where you want to insert the video. Remember to keep the video files in the same folder as the presentation so they have the same location in your computer.

Go to Insert>Movie. The “Insert Movie” pop up window will appear, find the video that you want to insert and hit OK.

Now you can either select the “Automatically” or “When Clicked” buttons. If you want the video to play automatically when the slide appears pick this option or if you want the video to play when you click on it, then select the “When Clicked” option.

Finally, you can go back to the slide and have fun viewing the video.

Fantastic! See how easy it is and what a great impact your presentation will have on your audience by adding a video feature.

With the many new features available in Powerpoint 2007, one of the most fun ones is creating a photo album. We always think of using Powerpoint for work but this is one of the features that can be used for personal enjoyment. We all keep our photos in digital format these days, so a great way to organize them by subject and share them with people is by creating photo albums. In this tutorial, I will show you the basics of creating a photo album in Powerpoint 2007.

First, try to keep you pictures in a picture folder to make it easy to find them. Go to Start>Microsoft Powerpoint to open the program. Next go to Insert>Photo Album and select it.

Now you will see the Photo Album pop up window. And in here it’s where you will do most of the work. Next click on the “File/Disk” button right under “Insert picture from.” Next find the folder where you have the saved pictures and select the ones that you want to include in this particular photo album (Press Control Key while selecting more than picture to move a group of pictures at once). Now you will see the pictures under “Pictures in Album.” You can preview them by clicking the specific picture and reviewing it in the “Preview” window to the right hand side of the pop up window. Also if you want to add text to the pictures you can do that by clicking the “New Text Box” button right under “Insert Text” sign.

Next go to the bottom of the pop up window box, and select a layout for your pictures – you have the option to put one picture or several pictures per slide. In this example, we’ll select “Fit to Slide” so that you have one picture per slide.

Finally, click the “Create” button to create your photo album.

Great! You just created a photo album in a couple of clicks. Remember, you can always go back and have fun adding features to the photo album.

We all know that using Powerpoint makes our presentations flawless and captivating. The program helps us organize information and present it to an audience in an organized and eye catching kind of way. But the other great things that we can do with Powerpoint are the fun part. After you take care of the writing and organization of the information, then you can really have fun jazzing up a presentation. In the 2007 version, you have the ability to add a picture or graphic as background to an actual graph or chart. In this brief tutorial, I will show you how easy and fun it is to add a picture or graphic to the background of a chart in a Powerpoint slide.

Go to Start>Programs>Microsoft Program to open the program, and open the presentation to the slide that you will be working on.

First, make sure the picture that you want to add to the background of the chart is saved, and ensure you have Powerpoint open with the chart in the slide. Next, click on the chart to select it, and go to Insert>Picture.

Next, look for the picture you want to insert and click on it.

Finally, hit the Insert key to add the picture to the background of the chart.

Once you have the picture in the back of the chart, don’t panic if it does not look perfect right away. You may have to either resize it, actually send the picture to the back of the chart by clicking on the picture to select it, go to Format>Send to Back, or you may need to tweak the transparency or the color of the picture – both of which can customized by using the Format menu.

Fantastic! Now you know how to jazz up those boring charts and graphs.

If you use Excel often, you’ll probably know how to save a chart as a template to reuse it and only have to change the source data. Well, the same concept holds true in Microsoft Powerpoint 2007. For example, if you have created a really powerful chart and find yourself in the position of having to reuse it, then why not save it as a template so that the next time you need to use it, it will be quickly accessible. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to save a chart as a template so that you can later use in another Powerpoint presentation.

1.Go to Start>Programs>Microsoft Program to open the program, and open the presentation to the slide that you will be working on.

2.First, make sure you have the chart open in a Powerpoint slide. Next click on the chart to select it and go to Design Tab>Save As Template.

3.Next, give the chart a name you will remember and save it in a location that will be easy to remember also.

4.If you want to retrieve this chart template to reuse it go to Insert>Chart>Templates. After selecting Templates from the “Create Chart” pop up window box, a listing of templates will appear.

5.Finally, find the template and hit OK.

Great Job! People will be impressed with your powerful charts and how quickly you can put them together.

There are some wonderful features only available in Powerpoint 2007 that will blow your mind away. One of these super cool functions is the SmartArt button. In a nutshell, you can take any bulleted list in your presentation and with a click magically turn it into a diagram graphic. In this short tutorial, I’ll show you the steps to accomplish this.

Go to Start>Programs>Microsoft Program to open the program, and open the presentation to the slide that you will be working on.

Let’s pretend that you have a bulleted list in one of your slides. Let’s call the slide title “Top Beverages Sold” and under the title in a text box you have the following four items in bullet points: Tropical Soda, Lime Soda, Cola and Root Beer. Next, click on the text box with the bulleted items to select it.

Now go to Home>Convert to SmartArt button, and select it.

Now you can choose from a list of diagram options. Review them and select the one that would best depict the bulleted list in a diagram format, and click OK.

Great Job! This is truly done with a click of your mouse.

Before putting together a fantastic presentation in Powerpoint, read the following quick tips that will save you time and energy. This tutorial also includes the steps in creating a presentation from scrath.

Gather all data and information that you will be presenting – including printed materials, notes and any other pertinent piece of information.

Do a brief outline on a piece of paper. The outline doesn’t have to be fancy, but write out at least four to five general bullet points that you can break into smaller chunks of information. Also think of a title, a look for the presentation and determine if you’re going to be using any charts, diagrams, graphics, pictures, audio or video. If you’re planning to use any of these features, write in your paper outline the place where you are planning to use them.

Now that you have the information and outline ready, go to Start>Programs>Microsoft Powerpoint to open the program. You can now build the presentation from scratch or use one of the many presentation templates available. I recommend you use one of the templates – 2007 version offers many choices in presentation templates.

Go to Office>New>Installed Templates, and search for a template and when you decide on one double click it to open it. Now you can start working on the presentation. Remember to save it in a location that will be easy to remember.

Great! Now you’re on your way to dazzling audiences with your presentation.