This blog is for the non-designer that wants to know a few things to make their reports and presentations visually appealing. The aim is to provide tips that take no longer than 5 minutes to learn how to use.
For instance, when you have to create PowerPoint decks on top of your regular workload it is time consuming to make everything look great. PowerPoint is easy enough to use but can be incredibly frustrating when making widespread changes. Some of these tips also apply to other Office applications like Word. Here are the Top 5 Tips in PowerPoint.
1. Replace Fonts.
Using the 'Master Template' is the key to having consistent fonts but when you bring in slides from other decks new fonts get introduced. So in order to get rid of fonts that you don't want use the 'Replace Fonts' function. The tool is located under the 'Home' tab in the 'Editing' panel. Click on 'Replace' and you will get the 'Replace Fonts' selection. Then you can replace the incorrect fonts with the correct ones.
2. Use guides.
Make sure text and objects are aligned. This seems like a small detail but is huge for creating a professional look for your presentations. When titles are shifting from one place to another it looks very untidy. The best way to keep objects aligned is to use the 'Auto Layouts' that were created with your master PowerPoint template. But sometimes, you adopt slides from someone else's deck and things go awry. Turn on guides by going to the 'View' tab then 'Show' panel and select the options box at the bottom of the 'Show' panel. That will launch a pop-up menu. Click on 'Display drawing guides on screen' which will allow you to create an invisible line that will help you see where objects should align. Don't worry these dotted guides don't show in slide show mode or in print. Then click on 'Display smart guides when shapes are aligned' which will show an invisible line when one object is aligned to another. Click OK.
To create more than one guide you simply click on a existing guide and hold down 'CTRL' while dragging the new guide.
3. Format painter.
Applying the same attributes like drop shadows or fill colours to many objects on many slides can be cumbersome. The 'Format Painter' will alleviate some the pain of doing that by picking up the formatting, like fill colour, and applying it to a different object that you select. The 'Format Painter' is located on the 'Home' tab in the clipboard panel. Select the object you want to pick up the formatting from and then click on the 'Format Painter' icon once. This will set that style so that you can then apply it to another object. For formatting many objects you have to double click the 'Format Painter' icon so that it doesn't release the style. Then you can paint that format to as many objects as you want. When you are done just hit ‘ESC’ and it will go back to the cursor.
4. Animation Painter.
The same idea as the 'Format Painter' in number 3 above. Use this to pick up the style of an animation and apply it to another object. The 'Animation Painter' is located in the 'Animations' tab. Choose the object you would like to pick up the animation from and then apply to another object. Single click the 'Animation Painter' icon for single use or double click to use the tool multiple times.
5. Screen clipping.
This is the easiest way to bring a screenshot into PowerPoint. No more 'ALT+PrtScr'. Simply have the image you want open and go into your PowerPoint file. Under the 'Insert tab' in the Images panel click on 'Screenshot'. Then click on 'Screen Clipping'. This will now give you a crosshair that will allow you to select the portion of the image you want. It copies, pastes and crops the image in one step. Now that is efficient.
Note: Be sure to review your slides to ensure that everything looks good. And if your presentation needs a little more assistance reach out to us so we can help.