Hello there, welcome to this video! Let's discover quickly and easily
everything you need to know to start using Microsoft PowerPoint 2019!
Leave us tips and suggestions on comments to improve our next video guides
dedicated to Microsoft Office!
PowerPoint is a professional software used to realize static or
animated documents called presentations. A presentation is a list of
pages called Slides, each collecting independent objects called
Elements, containing written explanations, interactive media files,
tables and charts. This is made to show, describe and interpret
thoughts, data results and analysis regarding any idea or subject in
front of other people, making it very common in academic and business
environment. This version works just on Windows 10.
In this video we are going to see how to create a basic presentation.
You can download an example through the link in the video description.
When opening PowerPoint, a start-up page opens. On the left you can
start from an existing presentation made; on the right you get a list
of ready templates you can use to start with a new presentation.
In order to see how to use PowerPoint, let's start with the basic Blank
Presentation template.
At this point, the main workspace shows up. On top you have the Ribbon,
with all the tools and features of the software; on the left the list
of the Slides inside the presentation; and then you have the Preview,
used to check, manage and edit the Slides.
At first, a new presentation is made by a single Slide where you can
click and write a title and a subtitle. To add other new slides, go to
the New Slide button above, under the Home tab, and choose the ready
template you need. Some of these include text, some others buttons
to insert images, tables or charts directly. You can change the slide
layout anytime by going to the Layout button. To change the basic
presentation design, size and background, just go to the Design tab.
The new Slides will be added on the left side in order, and shown as
thumbnails. Click on one to select it and show it on the preview. To
cut, copy, paste, delete or duplicate a Slide, just right-click on it.
To change the order, just click and drag the Slides through the list.
Once the Slide design and layout are set, you can edit the elements
available inside it, or just add new ones by using the Insert tab
above.
There are four kinds of elements: the shapes, the tables, the media
files and the charts. Despite showing different content, the way to
edit these on the preview is the same. Click on an element to select
it, and click and drag from its borders to move it. Use the white
nodes to scale, and the white arrow to rotate. To cut, copy and paste
an element, just right-click on it. Remember that you can use CTRL+Z
to undo any action if you make any mistake.
Whereas if you need to change the element appearance or adjust its
content, you can either use the options available on the Ribbon or
use the Format panel on the right, that you can open by right-clicking
on the element and going to Format.... So let's see how to edit the
different elements inside a Slide.
The Shape element is a visual object with different shapes. To add one,
open the Insert tab, go to Shapes, and click and drag the chosen
shape on the workspace. Use the yellow nodes to customize the shape as
you need.
These Shapes can also welcome pieces of text. If you right-click on
these and go to Edit Text, you type inside the shape itself. You can
also use the Text Box shape to import a rectangular shape without any
fill, in order to import just text directly. This is the kind of
element you find inside the Slide templates.
This title is also linked to its shape. If you move the shape, the
text gets moved; if you scale it, the text distribution is adjusted
accordingly.
To adjust the font family, size, style and color, use the Font section
of the Home tab; to correct the text distribution, use the Paragraph
section. These act on the whole piece of text, unless you select any
part of it.
You can also type special content within your pieces of text. On the
Insert tab, use Equation to import math equations and Symbol to import
special characters from the Symbol dialog box. Use Link to add direct
links to web addresses, other files or the same slides inside the
current presentation.
On the Home tab, use Bullets or Numbering to add bulleted or numbered
lists, useful to highlight points and summaries. Every time you create
a new line, a symbol or an increasing number is added on the left. To
change their shape, just use the arrow button from the top. To adjust
the space between symbols and text, go to View, then to Ruler, and
move the Ruler markers you see on top.
To edit the shape and the text appearance, you can use the Format
panel on the right. This is divided in Shape Options and Text Options.
Under Shape Options you edit the shape appearance: use Fill & Line to
adjust the fill and line color or kind; Effects to add special visual
effects; and Size & Properties to move and scale the shape accurately.
Under Text Options you change the text appearance: use Text Fill &
Outline to adjust the text color and add any border to each character;
Text Effects to add special effects; and Textbox to set the text
alignment, distribution and orientation within the shape.
The Table is another important element, used to show information
through columns and rows. To insert a table, just click on Table under
the Insert tab, and fix the number of columns and rows. Click inside a
cell to type, and adjust the column width and the row height by
clicking and dragging from the cell edges.
Each cell inside the Table is treated just like an independent shape
object, with the same identical properties seen for these: use the Font
section on the Home tab to adjust the text properties; and the Format
panel to adjust the appearance through the Shape Options and the Text
Options. You can also edit multiple cells by selecting these first, by
clicking and dragging on these.
The Table Tools tab above collects other advanced options not present
on the Format panel. Under Design, use Table Styles to pick a ready
template to use, and Borders to add and manage the contours separating
each cell from the others. Remember to choose No Border to remove any
contour.
You can also use the Draw Table button to draw borders directly on the
table, or create cells within cells. Use the Draw Borders section to
adjust line style, size and color to use on the borders.
Under Layout you can manage, add or remove rows and columns, split or
merge cells together and adjust the text alignment inside the cells
you have selected.
Inside the slides you can also import media files by using the options
inside the Insert tab. Use Pictures to browse and import photos, Video
to add videos, and Audio to import sound. Videos and audio show a
player when selected, in order to playback their content.
Despite the different media content, the way to manage and edit these
is the same. On the Format panel, all the options from the Fill & Line
to Size & Properties are the same ones seen on the shapes. Whereas the
forth section, called Picture or Video, collects several sliders and
templates to correct brightness and saturation on the media content.
In case of audio files, these affect the icon connected to it.
The Tools tab above shows additional options inside the Format tab and,
in case of videos and audio, inside the Playback tab.
Inside Format, go to the Styles section to pick several templates to
add borders to the media file; and to the Adjust section to apply
adjustments and effects on the media content. On the right, under Size,
enable the Crop tool to crop the picture, the video frames or the audio
icon, by using the black nodes on it. In case of videos, you can also
use Video Shape to apply a customized shape on the video frames.
Inside Playback you can manage the content of videos and audio files.
Under Editing you can cut part of the content and add transitions with
Fade In and Fade Out. Inside Options, adjust the volume level and
manage several options to playback the content as you like.
The chart is another important element, showing a graphic
representation of databases to interpret and understand these in an
easier way.
To import charts, go to the Insert tab, and then to Chart. Choose the
chart type to use and go to OK. At this point the chart is created,
with default data taken from a small Excel interface in green color.
From the Design tab above, change the template to use on Chart Styles,
edit the data series through Edit Data, and change the kind of chart
with Change Chart Type.
The way to edit the chart format and appearance is the same as it is
inside Microsoft Excel. If you want to know more, check our dedicated
video inside this guide!
In case the slide elements get overlapped, you can adjust their order
of visibility by using the Arrange button under the Home tab.
To get a complete preview of your presentation just click on the forth
button in the top left corner. This opens the presentation in full
screen, starting from the current slide to the following ones in order
as you click or press the Arrow keys. Use the Escape key to exit.
By default the presentations are completely static with no effects or
motion applied. You can add special effects between slides (called
transitions) and between elements with a same slide (called
animations).
To add transitions, select the slide interested and go to the
Transitions tab. This adds a special effect between the previous slide
and the current one selected.
On top, select the kind of transition and check it on the preview. On
the right side, adjust the Effect Options, add any sound, or set the
Duration of the transition in seconds. Use the Preview button on the
extreme left to get a complete preview. To remove the transition, just
select None from the effects list on top.
To add animations to an element, just select the element and go to the
Animations tab. You can pick and apply a single one directly from the
Animation section, or use Add Animation to add multiple animations.
There are four kinds of animations: the Entrance animations (in green
color) that make the element appear; the Emphasis ones (in yellow),
that change the element appearance in time; the Exit ones (in red) that
make the object disappear; and the Motion Paths, that move the element
in time from the green point to the red one.
To manage the animations of all the elements inside the current slide,
you can use the Animation Pane. This shows all the animations with
their color and ordered in time from top to bottom. You can select an
animation by clicking on it or on its number from the preview.
To playback all animations use the Play From button. The animations
will be played in order from the selected animation, restarting the
marker position at each animation. To change the animations order, just
click and drag one up or down.
The Animation Pane is also used to manage the animation timings,
according to the timeline at the bottom, measured in seconds. You can
add delays to an animation by clicking and moving its rectangle, or
change its duration in time by dragging their edges.
To edit the animation effect, just select it and choose another effect
from the Animation list.
Slides with transitions and effects applied show a star icon next to
them on the left side of the workspace.
To save your presentation, go to File and then to Save As. Choose where
to save the document, its File name and then its file format. Choose
.pptx to save all as a PowerPoint presentation, in order to edit its
options, content and effects any time. Whereas choose .pdf to export it
as a printable document, without any transition or animation.
Thanks for watching this video! Please check out our guide to learn and
discover more about Microsoft Office 2019!