At UNCA, we use PowerPoint software to create presentations.  PowerPoint is part of the MS Office Suite, which comes with Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint.  The following are instructions on how to get started with using PowerPoint and how to perform specific functions for creating a presentation

 To view the video for your browser select X for Explorer or N for Navigator  BROADBAND ONLY!  Click on the page to start in Navigator.
 

Opening PowerPoint  X  N	Using preset animation and slide transitions X N
Selecting a template X N	Running a slide presentation X N
Selecting an autolayout X N	Changing the order of your slides X N
Creating and modifying text attributes X N	Using the Notes feature X N
Creating a new slide X N	Adding sound and movies X N
Inserting clip art and a picture from a file X N	Making a link to a web site X N
Sizing and manipulating a text box, picture file, or clip art file X N	Making buttons for nonlinear presentations X N
Inserting Word Art X N	Saving your presentation X N
Using draw tools and other features X N	Printing your presentation X N

    

Opening PowerPoint   

Follow these steps to open PowerPoint:

1. From a PC with Windows, click on the Start button at the bottom left of your screen.
2. Then select Programs from the pop up menu by putting the cursor over Programs.
3. Move your mouse cursor over to the slide out menu and click on Microsoft PowerPoint.  If you can't find Microsoft PowerPoint, look for MS Office 97 or MS Office 2000.  Put your cursor over MS Office and you should see Microsoft PowerPoint on the slide out menu from this selection.
4. This will open up PowerPoint and you will see a window that gives you a few choices.  You want to click on the button next to Design Template and then click OK.  When you come back to PowerPoint later, you might select Open an existing presentation, but for a new presentation, use the Design Template option.

In PowerPoint, you are creating slides.  Each slide can either have a blank background or you can choose a design template for your slide backgrounds.  A template will ensure that all your slides have the same background.  A presentation in which backgrounds change often are distractive for the learner.  Once you choose a template, you can later change it.  But keep in mind - you can only have one template; all your slides must have the same template; and if you change the template, you change the template for all slides.  Here's how you choose your template:

1. After opening up PowerPoint and then selecting a new presentation with the design template, a "New Presentation" window will open that has some tabs along the top.  If the Design Templates tab is not already selected, then click on the Design Templates tab.
2. You should see a list of the names of several templates.  Click once on a template to see a preview of how it will look.  Click on several templates until you find one you like, then click OK.

1. Go to any slide.
2. Click on Format on the top menu bar.
3. Click on Apply Design Template from the drop down menu.
4. Then a window will open.  Select the new design template and then click on Apply.  Remember, this will change the template for all slides, not just the one you were on.

Once you select the template of a new presentation, a "New Slide" window comes up for you to select the autolayout of the first slide in the presentation.  The autolayout is how the slide is to be layed out, that is, is the slide a title slide, bulleted text slide, text and graphic slide, and so on.  The autolayout helps in that it preselects placement, color, font, and size of text.  You can choose a blank layout, if you wish.  Here's what you do to select the autolayout:

1. For the first slide you create, the title layout will automatically be highlighted.  You can use the scroll bar to see other layouts.  You can click once on a layout and you will see the name of the layout.
2. Click once on the slide layout you want so that the layout is highlighted.  For the first slide you will probably want the title layout.
3. Click OK.

To change a layout after one has been selected:

1. Go to the slide you want to change the layout on.
2. Click on Format on the top menu bar.
3. Click on Slide Layout from the drop down menu.
4. Then a window will open.  Select the new slide layout and then click on Reapply.

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There are a couple ways to create text in PowerPoint.  If you select a slide layout that has text in it, then you can simply click in an already made text box and start typing in text.  The autolayout feature of PowerPoint will select the placement of the text as well as the size, color, and font of the text.  However, you can always modify these preset text attributes as you choose.

Another way of creating text is to add text to any slide, even blank slides.  Using this option, you will need to select your own placement of the text and the text attributes that you want.

Here's how to use the autolayout text:

1. Select an autolayout with text as described in a previous section.
2. Once the slide comes up, you will see a dotted box with text in it, such as Click to add title or Click to add text.
3. Simply click on this text and the text will disappear and you can begin typing in your text.  That's all there is to it.  You can change text attributes, if you wish.

1. Click on Insert from the top menu bar.
2. Click on Text Box from the drop down menu.  This text box can also be selected from an icon at the bottom of your screen.
3. Next, move your cursor and click on the screen where you want to begin your text.
4. This will create a small text box with a blinking cursor.  You simply begin typing.

1. This is done just like you do it in a word processing program.  Highlight the text by clicking at the beginning of the text and drag your mouse so that the text you want changed is highlighted.
2. Next, click on Format from the top menu bar.
3. Click on Font from this drop down menu.
4. This will open a Font window from which you can select the font, size, bold, italics, underline, and/or color.
5. Once you select the text to have the attributes you want, then click OK.
6. That's it.  You can also highlight text and use one of the icons on the toolbar at the top of the screen, just like you do in word processing.

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To create a new slide:

1. Click on Insert from the top menu bar.
2. Click on New Slide from the drop down menu.  (You can do the keyboard shortcut and simply press CTL and M keys at the same time and this will do the same as both of these steps.)
3. This will open up the autolayout screen.
4. Select your slide layout and you have a new slide.

You will definitely want to spice up your presentation with graphics and pictures (text presentations are so boring!).  You can insert clip art from PowerPoint's graphics gallery or you can insert pictures that you have scanned, shot with a digital camera, or copied from the Internet.  I would recommend getting into the habit of saving your pictures as .jpg format.  Jpg is a graphic format that is great quality and usually small in file size.

Here's how you insert clip art from the clip art gallery:

1. Go to the slide that you want to insert the clip art.
2. Click on Insert from the top menu bar.
3. Put your cursor over Picture from the pop down menu and a slide out menu will appear.
4. Click on "Clip Art" from the slide out menu.
5. This will bring up the Clip Art Gallery.  Scroll through these clip art graphics and click on the one you want to insert.
6. Then click on Insert and your clip art will be inserted into your slide.  (NOTE:  If you are using Office 2000, when you click on the clip art you want, a slide out menu comes up and you click on the one for inserting clip art.)
7. Close the clip art window, if it's still open.

1. Go to the slide that you want to insert the picture file.
2. Click on Insert from the top menu bar.
3. Put your cursor over Picture from the pop down menu and a slide out menu will appear.
4. Click on "From file" from the slide out menu.
5. This will open up a window from which you must locate the picture file you want to insert.
6. In a field at the top of the window, called "Look in,"  you must click on the arrow in this field and then click on the drive or folder where you have saved your picture file.  For instance, if you saved your picture file on your floppy disk, you should click on A: to see a listing of files on your floppy A drive.
7. Once you have selected the drive or folder where your picture file is located, then click on the name of the file.
8. Then click Insert and your picture file will be inserted into your slide.

Once a text box, picture file, or clip art file is inserted, you might want to resize it or move it around.  The process is much the same for all text boxes, picture files, and graphic clip art files.  There is just a little difference in moving a text box than in moving a graphic.

To size the object:

1. Click once on the graphic object or text.
2. Notice that there is now a box around the picture or text and the box has small squares in the corners and sides.
3. You want to click and hold down the mouse button on one of the squares in the corners when you see the cursor change to a double headed arrow.  (NOTE:  Using one of the squares in the corner of the box will resize the object proportionately, whereas using one of the squares on the side of the box will resize the object so that it will be distorted, i.e., too thin, too flat, etc.)
4. With the mouse button held down, move the mouse in (to make the object smaller) or out (to enlarge the object).
5. When the object looks like the right size, let go of the mouse button.
6. Repeat this process until the graphic is the right size.

1. Click on the graphic object (anywhere near the center of the object) and hold down your mouse button.
2. Move the mouse to where you want to move the object and let go of the mouse button.
3. This will move your object.

1. Click on the text so it is highlighted and you can see the box lines around the text.
2. Here is the difference in moving text and a graphic object.  If you click in the middle of the text, you can edit it, but you can't move it.  To move the text you have to very carefully click on the line (not one of the square) around the text and hold down your mouse button as you do so.  This is a little tricky, so be sure that you click right on the line around the text box.
3. Move the mouse to where you want to move the text and let go of the mouse.
4. This should move your text.

Word Art is simply fancy text.  It can really jazz up a slide.  Word Art is inserted as an object and can be sized and moved around just like a graphic object.

Here is how you insert Word Art:

1. Move your cursor to the place you want to put the Word Art.
2. Click on Insert (top menu bar).
3. Move your cursor over Picture from the drop down menu and then click on Word Art.
4. A Word Art Gallery window will pop up.  Click on one of the Word Art options and then click OK.
5. An Edit Word Art Text window will come up.  You can change the font type, size, and other text attributes, if you like.
6. Next, you simply type in the text your want and then click OK.

To change the Word Art, just double-click on it and a window will come up for you to make changes.

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PowerPoint has several other features, such as draw tools.  You can add stars, boxes, irregular shapes with and without shadows to your slides.  Once you know where to find these tools, you can experiment with them on your own.

Here's what you do to get started:

1. Click on View from the top menu bar.
2. Put your cursor over Toolbars.  You will then see a slide out menu that lists all the possible toolbars.  If you are ever missing toolbar functions, go here and see if the toolbar you want is checked.
3. Make sure the Drawing toolbar is checked.  If it is not, then click on it to put a check beside it.
4. More than likely, the drawing toolbar was already at the bottom of your screen. If so, you would not need to do the first three steps above.
5. Simply click on a drawing option at the bottom of the screen and then click within your document where you want to draw an object.
6. For instance, you can click on the line, then click in the slide where you want to start the line.  Hold down your mouse button and move the mouse to the spot where you want the line to end and then let go of your mouse button.
7. You can do the same thing with the line that has an arrow head, but in this case, you get a line with an arrow at one end.
8. Once you make a line, you can move it around or size it like any object.  You can also click on it and then click the icons with several arrow heads and change the line to one with different sizes and shapes of arrow heads.
9. Click on AutoShapes in the drawing toolbar.  You will see a list of options, such as lines, basic shapes, block arrows, flowchart, stars and banners, callouts, and more autoshapes.  Simply click on one of these and see all the options you have.  (NOTE:  Callouts are pretty cool.  You can use them as thinking or talking bubbles for characters or pictures you insert.)
10. Select one of the drawing options, then click with your mouse, keep the mouse button down, and move the mouse to create your object.
11. Let go of the mouse when your object is the correct shape.

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Preset animation is not what you might think.  It's not graphic animations.  You can do some limited graphics animations, but that's different from preset animation.  It used to be called a build in earlier versions of PowerPoint.  It is the way in which text or graphics come up on the screen.  You would use preset animation if you wanted one bulleted text to come up at a time - then each time you click on the mouse button, another line of bulleted text comes up.  You can also select how the text appears on the screen.  For instance, you can have each bulleted text fly in from the side or dissolve in.  Without this option, all the text and graphics come up at once.  This option is good when you want to discuss one item at a time and then bring up the next text when you are ready.

You can also use the preset animation feature to pull in text that you created on your own, clip art or pictures, graphic objects that you have drawn, or word art so that they come in one at a time.  When you run the slide show, each time you click on the left mouse button another text or object will come up.

A transition is the way in which the slide itself draws up.  Without any transition, the next slide just pops up.  A transition might be that the whole slide comes in from the left or maybe it draws up like blinds opening.  Transitions make the slide presentation more interesting.  You should try several transitions and when you run the slide presentation, you can see what they look like.

Here's how to do preset animations:

1. Once you put in your text and graphics, go to the slide you want to have the preset animations.  To go to a slide, click on one of the up or down arrow tabs on the far right (near the bottom of the screen) until the slide you want comes up.
2. First, you must click on the text or graphic that you want to come in when you first click on the mouse button (NOTE:  All the text and graphic objects that do not have preset animation will draw up when the slide first comes up).
3. Click on Slide Show from the top menu bar.
4. Move your mouse cursor down so it is over the option for Preset Animation.  This will bring up a slide out menu with several options of how the text will draw up.
5. Move your mouse cursor to the slide out menu and click on one of the options.
6. That's it.  If you selected bulleted text, the text will come up one line at a time after each mouse click.
7. If you want some other text or graphic object to draw up next, then you repeat the process.  Click on the object first and then make it a preset animation.
8. If you have five or six different objects on the slide, you can select one at a time and make them all preset animation.  Remember that they will draw up in the order you make them preset animation.
9. If you want to turn off the preset animation on an object, select the object, select preset animation, and then select Off.

1. Go to one of the slides that you want to have a transition.
2. Click on Slide Show from the top menu bar.
3. From the drop down menu, click on Slide Transition.
4. There are several options here.  Under Effect, click on the box that says No Transition and a drop down menu will appear with several transition options.
5. Click on one of the options.  Try different ones and experiment.
6. You can click on Slow, Medium, or Fast (this is the speed that your transition occurs).
7. Under Advance, the default is On mouse click.  Another option is to have the slide come up for a set number of seconds then automatically advance to the next slide without clicking the mouse button (this is not necessary a good option for teaching because you want to be in control, but it works for some occasions).  You would click off the On mouse click and click on the Automatically after option.  Then click on the up arrow to set the number of seconds until the next slide draws up.
8. Another option is to add some sound when the slide draws up.  Under Sound, click on the text that says No Sound and then click on one of the sound options.
9. After you have selected all your transition options, you can click on Apply or Apply to All.  Apply simply applies these transition options to the slide you are on.  The Apply to All option will apply your transition options to all your slides in your presentation.

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Once you have made your slides and want to test the preset animations and transitions, you will want to run the slide show and check out how the whole thing looks.  Once you run through it, then you might want to go back and change some of the settings.

The slide show view is the view that you use to run your slide presentation when you present it to your audience.  Here's how you do this:

1. Click on View from the top menu bar.
2. Click on Slide Show from the drop down menu.  (A short cut of these two steps is to simply press the F5 key.)
3. This will start up your slide show.
4. To advance to the next slide or the next preset animation, simply click on the left mouse button (you can also press the Enter key on the keyboard).
5. As you are running the slide show, you can also back up to the previous slide.  To do this you could simply press the Backspace key on your keyboard.  Another way to do this is to click on the right mouse button instead of the left button and a menu will come up on the screen.  You would click on Previous to back up.
6. Clicking on the right mouse button gives you other options as well, such as, you can go to any slide you wish, by clicking on Go and then selecting the slide you want to go to.  In this way you can jump to a slide and go out of order.
7. Another option for going to any slide you want, is to use the keyboard.  You can simply type in the slide number, such as 5 and then press the Enter key and this will jump you straight to slide 5.
8. To exit the presentation, you can go through all the slides and then click the mouse button again and this will get you out of the slide show.
9. If you want to exit the slide show early, then you can simply press the Esc key on the keyboard or you can click on the right mouse button and select Exit.

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There are several view options of which you should be aware.  When your slides first appear, you will be in the Normal view.  This is the view that you work on and edit your slides.

There is also a view called Slide Sorter.  In this view you will see all the slides that you have made on the screen at one time.  This is the view you would use to change the order of your slides.  For instance, if you have created 10 slides and then you want to move slide 8 so that it's before slide 3 then this is the view that you would do this.

Here's how you move the order of your slides:

1. Click on View from the top menu bar.
2. Click on Slide Sorter from the drop down menu.
3. This will bring up a view in which you will see all the slides in your presentation.
4. Click on one of the slides you want to move and hold the left mouse button down.
5. Drag this slide in front of the slide that you want to move it to and let go of the mouse button.
6. That's it.  You can move as many slides as you want to in this way.
7. To go back to the Normal view, you can simply double-click on one of the slides or you can click on View from the menu bar and then click on Normal.

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The Notes features is another view.  You can use the Notes Pages view to create instructor notes.  These notes can be printed out and you could then put them in a notebook so that when you give your presentation, you will have a picture of the slide with notes for yourself so you can remember some facts and details that you don't want to forget.

Here's how you use the Notes feature:

1. Go to the slide that you want to add notes for it.
2. Click on View from the top menu bar.
3. Click on Notes Page from the drop down menu.  (If the Notes Page option is not seen, you might need to click on the double arrows at the bottom of the drop down menu to extend the menu choices.)
4. This will bring up a view of the slide (smaller than before) and at the bottom half of the screen is an area for typing notes.
5. If the text area is too small for you to see well, then click on View and then click on Zoom.  Select 100% view and then click OK.  If this is not better, then try other zoom percents until your text is the size you like.
6. Now you can click in the text area and begin typing in your notes for the slide.  You can always come back and add more notes or edit them later.
7. When you finish typing your notes, select View and Normal to go back to the Normal slide view.

You can also add sound and video movie clips to spice up your slide presentation.  These things might seem like they would be difficult to do but they really are not.  The time is in finding the sound and video clips, but once you have them, they are easy to insert into your presentation.  PowerPoint has a feature that allows you to record your own sound clips, so you could talk into a microphone hooked up to your computer and add your own voice, someone else's voice, or any other recorded sounds into your presentation.  You can also add music from a CD into your presentation!

Here is basically how you add sound and movies (you can experiment around with this some on your own as well):

1. Go to the slide that you want to add sound or a video clip.
2. Click on Insert from the top menu bar.
3. Move your mouse cursor over Movie and Sounds.
4. You will see a slide out menu with several options.
5. Select the one you want to do, such as "sound from file" or "movie from gallery" or "Play CD audio track."
6. A window will come up that shows the drives, folders, and files on your computer.  Simply go to the drive or folder where your files are saved and find the movie file or sound file.
7. Click on the sound or movie file and then click OK.  This will insert the file into the slide.
8. To play from a CD, select the track you wish to play.  Of course, you will need the CD in your computer when you run your slide show.
9. You must also have the sound or movie files on your computer or disk when you run the slide show.  Just putting a sound or movie file in the presentation is not enough.  You must also make sure the sound or movie file itself is on the disk or folder with the PowerPoint file.
10. To record a sound file, select Record Sound from the slide out menu options from Movie and Sounds.
11. Then you will see a Record Sound box.  You must have a microphone hooked up to your computer.  Click on the circle and begin talking or play sound into the microphone.  Click on the square to stop recording.  Click on the triangle to hear what you recorded.
12. When you are finished recording, click OK.

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Another nice feature of PowerPoint is that you can be at a slide and then click on a button, text, or graphic and jump off to an Internet site.  This could really be useful in a class in which you want to illustrate a point, pull up pictures from an Internet site, or just show a web site.  Once you finish with the web site, you simply close the Internet browser window and you will go right back to the PowerPoint slide show.  Of course, you must have your computer connected to the Internet when you run your slide show.

Here's how to create a hyperlink to a web site:

1. You can highlight the text you want to be a hyperlink or click on a picture or graphic object to be the hyperlink.
2. Next, click on Insert from the top menu bar.
3. Click on Hyperlink from the drop down menu.
4. An Insert Hyperlink window will come up.
5. Type in the URL (the web page address) for the web page in the box available.
6. Click OK.

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You can make buttons that appear on your screen so that when you click on a button, you will go to whatever slide you want.  In this way, you do not necessarily have to progress through the presentation in a linear fashion.  For instance, you could create a slide that has a menu on it from which you could click on one of the option buttons and go directly to a slide with information about the topic.  Then you could put another button on that slide which would take you back to the menu slide.  You could use this feature to create more options for yourself as a presenter.  You can also create buttons that will take you to web sites, shoot off to another PowerPoint presentation, any other software applications, or run a computer program.

Here's how you create buttons:

1. Go to the slide you want to create the button.
2. Click on Slide Show from the top menu bar.
3. Move your mouse cursor over Action Buttons on the drop down menu.
4. A slide out menu will appear.  Click on one of the options for a button.
5. This will bring you back to the slide and your mouse cursor will be a cross or plus sign.
6. Move your mouse cursor to the spot you would like to put the button.  Click and hold the left mouse button down and drag the mouse to make the size of the button you are creating.
7. Let go of the mouse button and as soon as you let go of the button an Action Settings window comes up automatically
8. In the area that says "Hyperlink to:" you should click on the box and a drop down menu will give you several choices, such as Next Slide, Previous Slide, First Slide, Last Slide, Slide, End Show, Other PowerPoint, and so on.
9. Click on one of these options.  If you want to branch to a slide of your choice, then click on Slide.  This will give you another smaller window with all the names of the slides in your presentation.  You can then click on which ever one you want to link to.
10. Click OK and that's it.  When you run the slide show, you can click on the button and you will be sent to the designated slide.
11. Then, you can put a button on that slide to go back to your original slide, if you wish.

You should save your presentation soon after you get started.  Once you have first saved a presentation, then you don't have to keep naming it.  You should click on Save every 10 minutes or so in order to keep your current changes saved on your disk in case your computer freezes up or you have a power outage.  You need to also keep in mind that PowerPoint presentations can get rather large in file size, which means that you might not be able to save it on a regular floppy disk.  This is why it is recommended that you get a zip disk, which holds 100 MB of data, and save your presentation on it.  You can get zip disks at many stores and in the UNCA bookstore for around $10 to $12.  Zip disks can also be used to save and back up all your work, so they are well worth the money.

To save your presentation:

1. Click on File (top menu bar).
2. Click on Save from the pop down menu bar.  The first time you save, it doesn't matter if you click on Save or Save as.  You would use "Save as" if you have saved your presentation once already and then want to save it again with a different name.
3. A window pops up for you to save your presentation.  First, look in the "Save in" box near the top of the window and see where you are saving your presentation.
4. You can click on the arrow at the end of this field and then select the drive or folder that you want to save your presentation in.  It is important that you see the name of the drive (such as floppy a:/) or the name of the folder you want to save to in the "Save in" box.
5. Next, click in the box field that says "File name" and type in the name of your file.
6. Click Save.

Once you have finished your PowerPoint presentation, you might wish to print it.

Here's how you print your presentation:

1. Click on File (top menu bar).
2. Under Print Range, select All, Current slide, or Slides.  If you only want to print a certain number of slides, you would select Slides and then put the slide range, such as 3-6.  This will print slides 3 through 6.
3. In PowerPoint, you have additional options of printing.  You can print slides, which will print out one slide per page.  You can print Notes Pages, which will print out a picture of the slide at the top of the page and your notes at the bottom.  You can print Outline View, which will print the outline version of your slide text.  You can also print Handouts, which will print your slides 2, 3, 4, 6, or 9 per page (the number depends upon if you have Office 2000 or Office 97).  The Handouts option is great to pass out to your students or you can use this option to save paper.
4. Look for an area called Print What, which is in the lower left corner of the Print window.
5. Click in the box under Print What and you will get a menu of the above mentioned options of printing.  Click on the one you wish to print.
6. If you select Handouts, you then need to click on the number of slides per page.
7. Next, under Copies, you should select the Number of copies you wish to make.  The default is one.
8. If you wish to collate your copies, click on Collate, which is usually the default.
9. Now, simply click OK and your print job will soon begin.  Give slides a little longer to print because they are larger graphic files than most text documents.