Getting Started with Microsoft PowerPoint 2003

Getting Started

To launch PowerPoint 2003 on a computer with this version of the program, click on the Start menu > All Programs and select Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 from the list.

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Every time PowerPoint 2003 is started on your computer, a new blank slide in a new presentation is created.You can modify this slide using the information found in the PowerPoint 2003 documentation.

The Tri-Pane View

PowerPoint 2003's default or "Normal" view is called the Tri-Pane View. This view opens automatically when you launch PowerPoint, and allows you to see several aspects of the presentation simultaneously.

The primary pane is the large Slide Editing pane that appears almost in the center of your screen. There you can add all your content and format your presentation. Below the Slide Editing pane is the Notes Pages pane where it reads "Click to add notes". You can type additional comments for your presentation that will not appear on-screen during a slide show, but will only show up if you print out Notes Pages from the PowerPoint printing options. On the left of the Slide Editing pane is a column-shaped pane with two tabs. The Outline tab will be labeled "Outline" as shown above. This tab allows you to display the outline of the text in your presentation in that column. The Slides tab will be labeled "Slides". Clicking on this tab displays thumbnail-size slides from your current presentation.

The Task Pane

The Task Pane is a rectangular window that may appear on the right side of the screen when PowerPoint opens. It acts as an open menu, giving you a list of functions and commands to perform depending on what you are doing at the moment. For example, when you first launch a new presentation, the Task Pane will be labeled New Presentation (as pictured at left). From this pane you can choose your design template, open a new or existing presentation, access your most recent work, as well as a few other functions.

If the Task Pane does not show up: To reopen a Task Pane that has been closed, go to the View menu > Task Pane and it will reappear to the right of your screen.

Closing the Task Pane: If you want to close the Task Pane, click on the X on the upper right corner of the pane. To reopen it, go to the View menu > Task Pane.

If you do not want the Task Pane to open each time you launch PowerPoint: Select the Tools menu > View tab > uncheck the Startup Task Pane box.

You can go to any of the Panes by clicking on the down-arrow that appears on the upper right of the Task Pane. This arrow brings up a menu of the panes to select from. Otherwise, the Task Pane will change to the appropriate task as you choose items and commands from the menus or toolbars.

Other Task Panes are:

• Clipboard: contains a list of the items you have recently cut, pasted, or copied.
• Search: does a search of your hard drive for files with content matching the search keyword. You can also search by locations and file type.
• Insert Clip Art: allows you to search the Clip Art Gallery using keywords and displays the Clip Art in thumbnails for you to choose.
• Slide Layout: displays thumbnails of all the various slide layouts available to insert.
• Slide Design - Design Template: displays thumbnails of all the design templates available to you.
• Slide Design - Color Schemes: displays the various color schemes possible for a the slide design template you have chosen to use.
• Slide Design - Animation Schemes: shows all of the animations that can be applied to the title and text in each slide. Scroll down to view all.
• Custom Animation: allows you to set animation effects for each element of your slide separately and preview them.
• Slide Transitions: allows you to set the slide transitions for each slide.
• Revisions Pane: allows you to view a unified list of every comment and change suggested for the presentation, and the ability to accept and reject them individually or all at once.

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Menus and Toolbars

The toolbars in PowerPoint 2003 are reduced in size and have slightly different button styles from PowerPoint 97 or 2002. PowerPoint 2003 toolbars are configured to only display the most commonly used commands, yet can easily be expanded. If you click on the small, black arrow (also called the "More Buttons" arrow) at the right end of the toolbar, a menu expands to show additional commands that are usually found in that toolbar. If you use one or more of the buttons in the menu repeatedly, PowerPoint will automatically add that button to the visible part of the toolbar. Another option is to show all buttons on one row versus two rows.

Personalized Toolbars

Only the items that you use the most are prominently featured on the new personalized menus and toolbars in Office 2003. You can easily customize your toolbars by dragging buttons to different areas on your toolbars while pressing the ALT key.

You can also customize your toolbars and menus by adding and removing buttons, or creating entirely new toolbars of your own design. In order to customize a toolbar, you must first access the Customize window. The three different ways to access this window in PowerPoint 2003 are:

• From the Tools menu by selecting Customize.
• By clicking on the black "More Buttons" arrow at the end of the toolbar and then clicking on Add or Remove Buttons
• From the View menu > Toolbars > Customize...

Add/Remove Buttons

1. Select Customize to open the dialog box from any of the options above.
2. In the Categories: window, select a category.
3. In the Commands window, click on the commands you want to add to your toolbar and drag them one by one to your toolbar. You can drag as many commands from as many categories as you want, and you can drop the buttons in the exact order you want them in on the toolbar. You can also remove commands from your toolbar by dragging the command button off of the toolbar.
4. For a description of any command, highlight the command and click the Description button.
5. When you are done adding buttons, click OK to close the Customize dialog box.

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Views

PowerPoint has five views from which you can choose to create and edit your slides. To access the views, you can go to the View menu. You can also click icons that are located on the bottom left corner of the tri-pane window. Each view will have a different set of icons from which editing can be done. Each view also displays the slide in a unique way. To select a view, click on the appropriate view icon.

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The first view is the Normal View. In this view, you edit one slide at a time. With the current slide, you can add text, draw graphics, add clip art, and change the layout. This is the default view. It allows you to see and work with several aspects of the presentation simultaneously, including the slide, the outline/slide sorter section, and the task pane.

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The second view is the Slide Sorter View. This view shows a miniature of your slides. Under each slide it shows the slide number, transition between slides, body text animation and display time. All of these attributes can be modified from this view. The toolbar above the slide window contains the functions for setting the slide attributes. You can access this view by going to the View menu > Slide Sorter.

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The third view is the Slide Show From Current Slide. This view runs your presentation from the slide you were currently editing, filling the screen with your slides. With this view, you can see the slide transitions and timing. To get out of the Slide Show view and back to one of the edit views, press the ESC key.

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	The Notes page view is accessible from the View menu. While the notes for each slide are available in the Normal view, this view shows your slide in the upper half of the window and your notes in the bottom half in a new window. This is a useful view for correlating your notes with a particular slide. The notes you enter for each slide can be used as notes during your presentation since they do not appear when the slide show is running. You can also print this view. Information on printing can be found on the Presenting PowerPoint 2003 page. Back to Top
	An outline of your slides is accessible by clicking the Outline tab in the left pane while you are in Normal View. You can switch between the Slides tab and the Outline tab. Back to Top
	A thumbnail version of your slide show is available in the Slides tab while you are in Normal View. You can access it by selecting the Slides tab in the left pane. Back to Top

Creating A New Presentation

When you launch PowerPoint 2003, it automatically creates a new blank presentation with a title slide for you. You can begin creating your presentation or click New Presentation in the Task Pane to select a slide layout for your slide.

If you wish to create a new presentation once you are in PowerPoint, go to the File menu and select New. You can also click on the Blank Presentation button and click OK. Then follow the previous directions for selecting a slide layout.

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Opening an Existing Presentation

To open an existing presentation, select the File menu > Open; then select the name of the file you wish to open. Alternatively, choosing the Open button from the menu will also open the selected file.

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Saving Presentations

Selecting the File menu > Save will save the current presentation. If this is the first time you have saved this presentation, PowerPoint 2003 will ask for a file name. If the presentation has been saved before, PowerPoint will find and replace the older document.

To save a presentation with a different name or in a different folder, select the File menu > Save As... from the menu. PowerPoint will then ask for the new name and folder for the presentation.

You also have the option of saving your presentation in different formats. In the Save As window, there is a pull down menu under the Save As Type field. This allows you to save your presentation as a Windows Metafile, a JPEG, or whatever format suits your fancy.

There is also an option to save the presentation as html, enabling you to save it as a format that can be put on the Internet. This option can be useful as a back up method in case something goes wrong with your presentation or if PowerPoint is not installed on the computer you are presenting on. Be aware that some of the PowerPoint features will not be available as a webpage.

To Save As Webpage:

1. Select the File menu > Save as Webpage...
2. In the Save In field select the folder you wish to save your webpage in.
3. In the File Name Field, type a name for your file
• Make sure the file extension is .html
4. In the Save As Type Field select Webpage (*.htm, *.html)
5. Click on the Publish button .
6. In the new dialog box that appears choose whether to export your entire slide show, certain slides, and other features you may wish to include.
7. When you have selected all of your options, click on the Publish button again.

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Undo an action

To cancel or undo your most recent action,select the Edit menu > Undo or click the button. To see the most recent actions you can undo, select the arrow next to the Undo button . You can scroll to see more actions. Click the action you want to undo and it will undo it. When you undo an action, you also undo all actions listed above it. If you change your mind after you click Undo, you can click Redo to restore the action.

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How to Quit

From the File menu, select Quit.

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