As many PowerPoint users have indicated, it isn't a bad idea to have something on the screen before a show begins and again during an intermission.

One PowerPoint user shares this animation tip that he uses for intermissions:

"I like to use the Swivel effect on some WordArt text during an intermission. What I do is put the title of the show on a slide using WordArt. Then I set the Custom Animation to Swivel and the slide timing to 5 seconds. I then run the slide show continuously using just the one slide. The title swivels and then remains still for a few seconds. The whole thing then starts over.

"It's important to allow the title to remain static for a few seconds to allow people a chance to read it. The animation grabs the attention, but without the static portion of the show, the title would be difficult to read."

If you'd like to test this effect for possible use in one of your slide shows:

1. Open a blank slide and choose Insert, Picture, WordArt.
2. When the WordArt Gallery opens, select a style and click OK.
3. Now, in the Edit WordArt Text dialog box, type in your title and click OK.
4. With the WordArt in place, right-click it and choose Custom Animation.
5. When the Custom Animation dialog box opens, click the Effects tab.
6. Next, click the arrow at the right side of the top list box under Entry Animation And Sound. Locate Swivel in the list and select it.
7. Now click the Timing tab and then select the Automatically radio button and enter 0 seconds.
8. Click OK to close the dialog box and record your settings.
9. Now choose Slide Show, Slide Transition.
10. When the Slide Transition dialog box opens, select the Automatically After check box and enter 5 seconds.
11. Click Apply to apply your settings to the current slide and close the dialog box.
12. Next choose Slide Show, Set Up Show.
13. When the Set Up Show dialog box opens, click the Loop Continuously Until Esc check box.
14. Under Slides, select the All radio button.
15. Finally, under Advance Slides select the radio button labeled Using Timings, If Present. Click OK to close the dialog box and save your entries.
16. To view your new slide show, choose Slide Show, View Show. The animation runs continuously until you press Esc (or move to another slide).

Some months ago, we published a tip stating that most viewers are accustomed to seeing objects move from left to right on a slide. We also said (in a different tip) that people are accustomed to thinking of east as being on the right with west on the left. One user comments that he sees no reason for this bias and asks if we could explain in greater detail.

People who live in western countries (Europe, North and South America, Australia, and Northern Africa) are accustomed to writing from left to right. This establishes a bias toward seeing objects move from left to right. We are not saying that you should never move an object from right to left. We are saying that many people in an audience will note that something seems wrong (even if they can't pinpoint what it is) when there's too much movement from right to left.

Now, let's consider east and west. Quite simply, we are all accustomed to looking head-on at a map with the east on our right, the west on our left, north up, and south down. This means if you show a picture with an ocean on the right, people assume the ocean is on the east side of the slide.

Many movies show planes in motion to indicate that one of the movie's characters is traveling from one place to another. In virtually all cases (that we're aware of), the plane is shown flying to the left to get to the West Coast (probably Hollywood), and to the right to go to New York or Europe.

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WIDER SPACING
Changing line spacing in PowerPoint slide text
Version 95, 4.x

This PowerPoint question is from an avid user:

"I like to add text to the bulleted list supplied by PowerPoint templates. The problem is that I sometimes wish the spacing between the lines was a bit larger. Is there any way to change the line spacing of the bulleted text?"

By default, the bulleted lists you find in the PowerPoint templates use single-spacing. However, you can very easily set the line spacing to whatever you want.

Try this:

1. Open a blank slide using one of the bulleted layouts.
2. Click the first line in the bulleted list and then choose Format, Line Spacing.
3. When the Line Spacing dialog box opens, click the Line Spacing spin box to set your new spacing.
4. After you make your selection, click OK to close the dialog box and record your selections. Your new selection will take effect as soon as you close the dialog box.

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Here's a PowerPoint macro that makes the Office Assistant display some text in a balloon when you move the mouse over a specific object.

To enter the macro:

1. Press Alt-F11 and choose Insert, Module.
2. Now enter the code as shown here.

Sub PlayBalloon()
With Assistant.NewBalloon
.BalloonType = msoBalloonTypeNumbers
.Icon = msoIconAlert
.Button = msoButtonSetOK
.Heading = "Simple Simon Pies"
.Text = "Simple Simon Pies are:"
.Labels(1).Text = "Low in Fat"
.Labels(2).Text = "Low in Sugar"
.Labels(3).Text = "Low in Flavor"
.Show
End With
End Sub

3. After you enter all the code, press Ctrl-S to save it and give it a name--say, "pieman."
4. Next press Alt-Q to close the Basic editor and get back to your slide.

Now let's make a slide that uses the macro:

5. Open a blank slide and choose Insert, Picture, ClipArt.
6. Select a picture and click Insert.

For our example, we chose a picture of a pie and sized it to fill most of the slide.

7. Once your picture is in place, right-click it and choose Action Settings.
8. When the Action Settings dialog box opens, click the Mouse Over tab.
9. Select the Run Macro radio button, then click the arrow at the right side of the Run Macro list box and select your new PlayBalloon macro.
10. Click OK to close the dialog box and record your settings.
11. Now choose Slide Show, View Show.
12. When the slide appears, move the mouse over the object to open the Assistant balloon.

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"Is there a way to use PowerPoint animation to move an object from the slide? I'd like to move an object from the left side toward the right, and then have it disappear off the right side of the slide."

You can make an object disappear off the right side of the slide. This animation causes the object to appear on the left side of the slide and then move across to the right, where it will disappear.

If you'd like to try this:

1. Open a blank slide and choose Insert, Picture, ClipArt.
2. Choose a picture and click Insert.
3. Now use the mouse to drag the picture to a position just off the right side of the slide.
4. Right-click the picture and choose Custom Animation.
5. When the Custom Animation dialog box opens, click the Effects tab and then click the arrow at the right side of the top list box under Entry Animation And Sound.
6. When the list expands, select Crawl From Left.
7. Next click the Timing tab and then select the Automatically radio button.
8. Set the time to whatever you want and click OK to record your selections and close the dialog box.
9. When you run the slide show (choose Slide Show, View Show), the object appears on the left side of the slide and slowly moves to the right. It then disappears off the right side of the slide.

Typing text in PowerPoint slides

An interesting way to have text appear on a slide is to make it look and sound as though you're typing it in. If you'd like to try this pair of effects:

1. Open a blank slide.
2. Now click the Text Box tool in the Drawing toolbar (its icon is a page containing some text).
3. Use the mouse to outline your text box and then enter a medium-long sentence so you'll have something significant to work with.
4. Now right-click the text and choose Custom Animation.
5. When the Custom Animation dialog box opens, click the Effects tab.
6. Under Entry Animation And Sound, click the arrow at the right side of the top entry box (Effects) and select Wipe Left from the list.
7. Now click the arrow at the right side of the bottom entry box (Sounds) and choose Typewriter.
8. Click the arrow at the right side of the Introduce Text entry box and choose By Letter.
9. Now click the Timing tab and select the radio button labeled Animate.
10. Next select the Automatically radio button and set the spin box to 0 seconds.
11. Click OK to save your selections and close the dialog box.
12. To see how your effect looks in a slide show, choose Slide Show, View Show.

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Here's a PowerPoint animation tip you might consider using. You can ungroup a clip art picture and then have all the individual parts fly in from the top, bottom, left, and right to assemble themselves in the center of the slide.

If you'd like to give this a try:

1. Open a blank slide
2. Select "Picture" from "Insert" menu
3. Choose  "ClipArt".
4. When the Clip Gallery opens, click a picture to select it and then click Insert.
5. Select the picture by clicking it and then use the mouse to size it.
6. Next right-click the picture and choose Grouping, Ungroup.
7. When you see a dialog box warning you that you're about to convert the clip art object to a PowerPoint drawing, click Yes.
8. With the picture ungrouped, click a blank spot on the slide to deselect it, and then use the mouse to drag each component individually away from the drawing.
9. Repeatedly go back into the drawing and drag single components to corners of the slide in order.  
10. You have to know which component needs to appear first, second, third, and so forth so your picture will look right when it's reassembled.
    • Note that some of the components may prove too small to work with. Just use the mouse to draw a rectangle around these components. This selects all the components under the rectangle, and you can then choose Draw, Group to group these component
11. With all the components you'd like to animate separated, right-click the first one (the bottom layer) and choose Custom Animation.
12. When the Custom Animation dialog box opens, click the Effects tab.
13. Now right-click the top list box under Entry Animation And Sound and choose one of the Fly effects (Fly From Left, Fly From Top, and so forth).
14. Next click the Timing tab and select the Animate radio button.
15. Select the Automatically radio button and enter 0 seconds.
16. Choose OK to apply your settings and close the dialog box.
17. Repeat this procedure with each of the picture components you want to animate.
18. To get all the components ready for your slide show, move each component back into its original position.
19. Now you can run the slide show to see how your animation looks.
20. Select "Slide Show" from "View" menu.
21. When the Slide Show dialog box opens, Choose Show.

CYCLE THE LIGHTING
Using light effects in a PowerPoint slide show

"I sometimes use the lighting effects as a way to introduce some subtle animation into a PowerPoint slide show. I draw an object such as a rectangle or circle, then add 3-D effects to it. Then I choose the lighting angle at the lower left corner and copy the object. I paste the object onto a new slide and choose the next lighting effect in a clockwise direction. Then I copy that object and paste it onto a new slide and increment the lighting again. I continue this procedure until I use all the lighting angles (7)."

To investigate this tip:

1. Open a blank slide and click the Rectangle tool in the Drawing toolbar.
2. Draw a small rectangle.
3. While it's still selected, click the 3-D button in the Drawing toolbar (its icon is a cube) and select a 3-D effect.
4. With the object still selected, you should now see the floating 3-D Settings toolbar.
5. In that toolbar, click the Lighting button (its icon is a spotlight).
6. Select the Light icon at the lower left corner and then press Ctrl-C to copy the object.
7. Next press Ctrl-M to create a new slide and press Ctrl-V to paste the object to the new slide.
8. Now click the Lighting button again and select the next Light icon clockwise of your first selection.
9. Press Ctrl-C to copy the new image and then press Ctrl-M to create a new slide.
10. In the new slide, press Ctrl-V to paste the object and then click the Lighting button.
11. Again, select the next Light icon clockwise of your previous selection and press Ctrl-C to copy the object.
12. Open a new slide and press Ctrl-V.

Repeat this procedure until you have objects using all seven of the lighting positions.

13. Choose View, Slide Sorter and right-click one of the slides (any one will do).
14. From the menu, choose Slide Transition.
15. When the Slide Transition dialog box opens, select the Automatically after check box and enter one second.
16. Now deselect the On Mouse Click check box and click Apply To All. This closes the dialog box and applies your settings to all the slides in the show.
17. Finally, choose Slide Show, Set Up Show.
18. When the Set Up Show dialog box appears, select the check box labeled Loop Continuously Until Esc, then select the All radio button.
19. Make sure the radio button labeled Using Timings, If Present is selected and click OK to record your settings and close the dialog box.
20. Now you can view your slide show. Choose Slide Show, View Show and watch the lighting change as you move from one slide to the next.

Note that you can greatly enhance the effect by choosing your object colors carefully.

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STRAIGHT LINES
Drawing lines in PowerPoint slides
Version 95, 4.x

"I know I can hold down the Shift key to draw a straight vertical or horizontal line. But, is there any way to draw a perfectly straight line on an angle?"

As you noted, you can draw straight vertical and horizontal lines in PowerPoint by holding down Shift while you draw the line. The same technique works for lines at a 45-degree angle. Give this a quick try:

1. Click the Line button in the PowerPoint Drawing toolbar and press Shift.
2. Now, draw a line at approximately a 45-degree angle. You'll find that PowerPoint will draw a perfectly straight line at exactly 45 degrees.

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A number of PowerPoint users ask if there's a way to automate list numbering, as there is in Microsoft Word.

Although you can automatically apply bullets in PowerPoint slides, there is no automatic numbering feature available. The programmers most likely decided that you would never use a really long numbered list in a slide. The only thing you can do is type in a number followed by the associated text.

Using photographs in a slide show

We have discussed using scanned photographs in slide shows. We suggested that you very carefully select photographs that don't require too much in the way of contrast.

To expand on this advice, a user informed us that photographic film has a contrast range of about 10,000 to 1, while your computer screen can only do 100 to 1. This explains why you don't want to use those high-contrast pictures in a slide show. The dark areas will probably look black and the lighter areas may well look washed out.

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"I captured some screen shots using the Print Screen key and pasted them onto a slide. While building the slides they appear normal, but when I run the slide show they are distorted. I have used both Corel Paint and Parsons Tech Screen Shot and get the same result. Is this a flaw in the show function or is there another, more effective way to save and import screen captures into a slide show?"

We tried pasting screen shots onto a PowerPoint slide. Here's what we found.

• When you capture a screen using the Print Screen key, you can go to a PowerPoint slide and choose Edit, Paste to paste the screen shot onto a PowerPoint slide.
• We found that screen captures look their best only when they are displayed in their original size. If you reduce or increase the size significantly, you'll distort the picture.
• After you paste a screen shot onto a slide, run the slide show (choose Slide Show, View Show) and check out your picture.
• Stop the show and resize the picture.
• Then run the slide show again and see how the screen capture looks. You will find that it looks best at (or near) a specific size.
• You may need to crop the screen capture to get it to fit the slide properly.
• To do this, click the picture to select it and then click the Crop button in the floating Picture toolbar (it's the seventh button from the left).
• Now use the mouse to trim the picture to only the part you need.

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Animating shadows in PowerPoint slides
Version 95, 4.x

Here's a suggestion for animating PowerPoint slides:

"One way to add some animation to slides that use drawings is to change the shadows from one slide to the next. This is very easy to do, but the method used for changing the shadows may not be obvious to all PowerPoint users."

Let's step through an example of this tip to see how you can use this animation method.

1. Open a blank slide and click AutoShapes in the Drawing toolbar.
2. Select one of the shapes and use the mouse to draw it.
3. Now, click the Shadow On/Off button in the Drawing toolbar to turn on the shadow.
4. With the object still selected, press Ctrl-C to send a copy to the Clipboard.
5. Now, press Ctrl-Shift-M to create a new slide.
6. In the new slide, press Ctrl-V to paste the object to the new slide.
7. Now, select the object on the second slide and choose Format, Shadow.
8. When the Shadow dialog box opens, select a new shadow location or shadow color.
9. After you make your selections, click OK to close the dialog box and save your changes.

You can run the slide show now to see how your selections look during a show.

1. Choose View, Slide Show.
2. When the Slide Show dialog box opens, select the radio button labeled All.
3. Next, select the check box labeled Loop Continuously Until Esc.
4. Click Show to continue viewing the show. As you move from slide 1 to slide 2, the shadow will shift, providing some animation.

Running a slide show

Users would like to know how to run PowerPoint slide shows using keystrokes.
Many people find it easier to use keystrokes to run a slide show. You can readily run a slide show with keystrokes, and here is a list of the keystrokes you'll need to use.

• If you use PowerPoint, you can use Page Up and Page Down to move to the next, or previous, slide.
• To start the show, you need to choose View, Slide Show (or press Alt-V-W).

Using transparent text in a PowerPoint slide

"I know it's possible to make an object transparent, but is it possible to make just the text transparent? I want to make textured text, and I thought if I used an opaque background with transparent text, I could drop the text box in front of the texture. Is that possible?"

There are no provisions in PowerPoint for making text transparent. However, why not use WordArt? Let's take a look at this approach.

1. Open a blank slide and select "Background" from "Format" menu.
2. When the Background dialog box opens, click the arrow at the right side of the entry box and choose Fill Effects.
3. When the Fill Effects dialog box opens, click the Texture tab, then click one of the textures to select it.
4. Click OK to close the dialog box.
5. Back in Background, click Apply to apply your selection to the current slide and close the dialog box.
6. Now, choose Insert, Picture, WordArt.
7. When the WordArt Gallery opens, click the selection of your choice and then choose "OK". The Edit WordArt Text dialog box will open. 
8. Enter the text and choose "OK".
9. Now, click the WordArt to select it and then click the Format WordArt button in the floating WordArt toolbar (its icon is a bucket of paint and a brush).
10. When the Format WordArt dialog box opens, look under Fill and check the Semitransparent check box (if it isn't already selected).
11. Now click the arrow at the right side of the Color list box (still working under Fill) and choose No Fill.
12. Finally, you can move to Line and click the arrow at the right side of the Color list box and choose a line color. 
13. Choose "OK".

The textured background now shows through your WordArt text.

TEXT AND PICTURES
Working with pictures and text in PowerPoint slides
Version 95, 4.x

"I'm working on a new slide show and I need to place some standard text (not WordArt) over some ClipArt pictures. Can I do this in PowerPoint?"

You will have no problem placing text over pictures of any kind in PowerPoint slides.

1. All you have to do is choose the Text tool (the button's icon is a large A) and draw your text outline.
2. Type in the text and then click away from the text.
3. Now, click the text.
4. When the outline appears, grab the edge with the mouse and move the text over your picture.

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"Is there a way to lock a PowerPoint presentation so it cannot be altered by anyone? I'm thinking there must be a password feature such as Read-Only in MS Word, where the creator of a document can control access."

There is no way to assign a password to a PowerPoint slide show. However, there is a way to provide some file protection. Try this:

1. Close the file you want to protect, then run Windows Explorer.
2. Now locate your slide show file, right-click its icon, and choose Properties.
3. When the Properties dialog box opens, click the General tab (if necessary) and select the check box labeled Read-Only.
4. Click OK to close the dialog box and apply your selection.

Your file is now a read-only file. Anyone can open it, but any attempt to save it will open a dialog box informing you that the file is read-only. You can then use File, Save As to save the file under a new name, but your original file remains untouched.

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File preview when opening a PowerPoint presentation
Version 95

"When I first installed Microsoft Office 95, I would get a preview of the first slide in a presentation whenever I would choose File, Open in PowerPoint. I no longer get the preview. Can you tell me how I can get this feature back?"

When you chose File, Open in PowerPoint, the File Open dialog box appears. This dialog box is set to Preview by default. But, since you no longer get the preview, your File Open dialog box must have been accidentally set to some other view.

To reset your File Open dialog box to preview, select a PowerPoint file and then click the Preview button (it's the second button from the right in the File Open dialog box). Your slide preview should now appear. Once you've selected preview mode, your selection will remain in effect until you decide to change it.

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"How can I copy or import my Web pages into a PowerPoint presentation? I will be doing a class based on my Web pages, and I need to create a PowerPoint presentation because there is no Internet connection in my classroom. I use Office 97 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4."

If you'd like to check out what viewing the pages in PowerPoint might involve:

Save the Web pages on your hard disk ("c" drive) and run PowerPoint.

Now choose File, Open and then click the arrow at the right side of the "Files of type" list box.

Select HTML Document, then locate your Web Pages folder and select a page. This opens the Web page in a PowerPoint slide. You may need to change some references to view any pictures or other graphics from the site.

Although you could import all the text and pictures from your Web pages into PowerPoint, why go to all that trouble? To import the information into PowerPoint would require that your Web pages be on the hard disk. With the Web pages on your disk, you can simply display all the pages in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4. You may need to edit some of the *URLs to refer to the Web pages on the hard disk. Either method will work, but we suspect that using Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 is the easier route.

Wipe Onto The Slide

A PowerPoint user asks this question:

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Using light effects in a PowerPoint slide show

1. To investigate this tip, open a blank slide and click the Rectangle tool in the Drawing toolbar.
2. Draw a small rectangle.
3. While it's still selected, click the 3-D button in the Drawing toolbar (its icon is a cube) and select a 3-D effect.
   With the object still selected, you should now see the floating 3-D Settings toolbar.
4. In that toolbar, click the Lighting button (its icon is a spotlight).
5. Select the Light icon at the lower left corner and then press Ctrl-C to copy the object.
6. Next press Ctrl-M to create a new slide and press Ctrl-V to paste the object to the new slide.
7. Now click the Lighting button again and select the next Light icon clockwise of your first selection.
8. Press Ctrl-C to copy the new image and then press Ctrl-M to create a new slide.
9. In the new slide, press Ctrl-V to paste the object and then click the Lighting button.
10. Again, select the next Light icon clockwise of your previous selection and press Ctrl-C again to copy the object.
11. Open a new slide and press Ctrl-V.
12. Repeat this procedure until you have objects using all seven of the lighting positions.
13. Select "Slide Sorter" from "View" menu and right-click one of the slides (any will do).
14. From the menu, choose "Slide Transition".
15. When the Slide Transition dialog box opens, select the "Automatically After" check box and enter 1 second.
16. Now deselect the "On Mouse Click" check box and click "Apply To All".
    This closes the dialog box and applies your settings to all the slides in the show.
17. Finally, choose "Slide Show", "Set Up Show".
18. When the Set Up Show dialog box appears, select the check box labeled Loop Continuously Until Esc and then select the All radio button.
19. Make sure the radio button labeled Using Timings.   If Present is selected and click OK to record your settings and close the dialog box.
20. Now you can view your slide show. Select "Slide Show", from "View" menu and watch the lighting change as you move from one slide to the next.

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Working with object colors in PowerPoint slides

Check the lighting at all angles to see how your object is affected by the changes. If you don't like what you see, select some different colors for the rectangle and for the 3-D effect until you find a pleasing combination.

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Animate text and objects

Using the pen during a PowerPoint slideshow

In the old days, when we presented a show using overhead transparencies, we'd keep a marker or two handy to highlight certain points in our slides. There's no reason to give up that flexibility just because you now use PowerPoint for your presentations. Try this:

1. Run a slide show in manual mode.
2. With a slide in place, press Ctrl-P. A pen cursor will appear.

You can now use the pen to draw circles around specific objects on the slide as you discuss them. The pen color is black by default, but you can change that if you wish.

1. Right-click the screen again and choose Pointer Options, Pen Color.
2. When the color list opens, click a new color to select it. The color will default to black when you open a new show.

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That Bullet has got a lot of character!

Want to spice up your presentation?  Let's start by getting rid of the same ole'- ho-hum-plain-jane bullets. To change the size, color and style of your bullets:

1. Highlight the text with the bullet character you wish to change.
2. Click Format Bullet.
3. Click the Bullets from drop down menu for additional bullet style options.
4. Select the character you want.
5. Click the color drop down menu to change the bullet color.
6. Click the size arrows to modify the size of your bullet.  

You may find bulleted characters that are representative of your presentation (i.e., baseball bullets for your presentation on Baseball products.)

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Animating a Chart

It is possible to animate individual components in a chart or an imported Excel chart.

• Ungroup the chart.
• Select the chart, choose Draw - Ungroup.
• Press CTRL + A to select all the components.
• Right click one of the bars in the chart.
• Choose Custom Animation.
• Select the Timing Tab and select Animate.
• Select the components to animate, then click the Effects tab.
• Select the animation effect you want for each component.
• After you make all your selections, choose OK to close the dialog box and apply your settings.
• To run the slide show, choose Slide Show - View Show.

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Drawing a Straight Line

• Select  the Line button, located on  the PowerPoint Drawing toolbar while pressing  the Shift key to create a straight line. 

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Inserting a New Slide

To insert a new slide that has the same layout as the current slide:

• Press CTRL + SHIFT + M keys.

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Running a Slide Show Manually

Many people find it easier to use keystrokes to run a slide show.   You can  run a slide show with keystrokes.

• Use the Page Up key to move to the next slide.
• Use the Page Down key to move back to the previous slide.
• To start a slide show,  press ALT + V + W.

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Copy and Paste Objects

To have move control of copying and pasting objects within a slide:

• Simultaneously hold down the SHIFT and CTRL keys while highlighting the object to be copied.
• Notice the plus sign(+) to the right of the cursor.
• Click and drag the pasted object.
• This feature makes it easier to line up objects parallel to each other.

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Perfect Squares and Circles

To produce a perfect circle or square:

• Hold down the SHIFT key while using the mouse to draw a circle or square.

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Switching Between Presentations

If you have several  presentations open and working on them simultaneously.   To switch from one presentation  to another:

• Hold down the  CTRL key and lightly tap the F6 key.
• This will toggle between the open presentations.

NOTE:    This will work in all Microsoft Office applications. 

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