Book description
If you're vexed and perplexed by PowerPoint, pick up a copy of Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances. This funny, and often opinionated, guide is chock full of tools and techniques for eliminating all the problems that drive audiences and presenters crazy.
There's nothing more discouraging than an unresponsive audience--or worse, one that snickers at your slides. And there's nothing more maddening than technical glitches that turn your carefully planned slide show into a car wreck. Envious when you see other presenters effectively use nifty features that you've never been able to get to work right? Suffer no more! Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances by Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Echo Swinford rides to the rescue.
Microsoft PowerPoint is the most popular presentation software on the planet, with an estimated 30 million presentations given each day. So no matter how frustrated you get, you're not about to chuck the program in the Recycle Bin. Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances, presents smart solutions to a variety of all-too-familiar, real-world annoyances.
The book is divided into big categories, with annoyances grouped by topic. You can read it cover to cover or simply jump to the chapter or section most relevant to you. Inside its pages you'll learn how to create your own templates, work with multiple masters and slide layouts, and take advantage of various alignment and formatting tools. You'll also learn how to import Excel data; insert graphics, PDF, and Word content; create, edit, and format organization charts and diagrams; use action settings and hyperlinks to jump to other slides; and add sound, video, and other types of multimedia to spark up your presentations.
Entertaining and informative, Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances is filled with humorous illustrations and packed with sidebars, tips, and tricks, as well as links to cool resources on the Web.
Publisher resources
Table of contents
- A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
- Copyright
- Introduction
-
1. Presenting Your Presentation
- 1.1. SETTING UP YOUR EQUIPMENT
-
1.2. VIEWING YOUR PRESENTATION
- 1.2.1. Presentation Keeps Locking Up
- 1.2.2. Video Doesn’t Show on Projector
- 1.2.3. PowerPoint Opens Minimized
- 1.2.4. Use White Backgrounds for Acetates
- 1.2.5. Use Contrasting Text and Backgrounds
- 1.2.6. Learn How to Navigate Your Presentation
- 1.2.7. Navigating to Hidden Slides
- 1.2.8. Back Up During the Presentation
- 1.2.9. Get Rid of Slide Show Starting Screen
- 1.2.10. Get Rid of End of Slide Show Screen
- 1.2.11. Hide the Arrow
- 1.2.12. Draw Straight Lines with the Pen
- 1.2.13. Access Files from Your Presentation
- 1.2.14. Avoid the Hyperlinked Files Message
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1.3. THINGS THAT DRIVE PRESENTERS CRAZY
- 1.3.1. Change Note Size in Presenter View
- 1.3.2. Practice with Only One Monitor
- 1.3.3. Start Slide Show from the Current Slide
- 1.3.4. Create a Self-Running Presentation
- 1.3.5. Kiosk Mode Is Broken
- 1.3.6. Loop Your Presentation Continuously
- 1.3.7. Show a Range of Slides
- 1.3.8. Add Current Date and Time
-
2. Dumb Defaults
- 2.1. STUFF KEEPS MOVING AROUND
-
2.2. CUSTOMIZE POWER POINT TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS
- 2.2.1. Restore Missing Images and Charts
- 2.2.2. Restore Grayed-Out Commands
- 2.2.3. Restore New Animations
- 2.2.4. Bring Back Color Views
- 2.2.5. Make Sure You Have a Qualifying Product
- 2.2.6. Change the Username in Comments
- 2.2.7. Avoid Saving in Notes Page View
- 2.2.8. Add Save as HTML to the Menu
- 2.2.9. Outline View Icon Gone
- 2.3. WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THESE FILE SIZES?
-
2.4. SLIDES, TEMPLATES, AND OTHER RELATED DEFAULTS
- 2.4.1. Specify a Default Template
- 2.4.2. Specify a Default Slide Layout
- 2.4.3. Create a Default Chart Style
- 2.4.4. Add a Placeholder to the Slide Layout
- 2.4.5. Find a Template on the Task Pane
- 2.4.6. File → New Doesn’t Do Anything
- 2.4.7. Turn Off Snap to Grid
- 2.4.8. Make PowerPoint Rulers Show Centimeters
-
2.5. ACTIVATION, VERSIONS, AND CORRUPTION
- 2.5.1. Transfer Your Settings to a New Computer
- 2.5.2. Office Tells Me to Reactivate
- 2.5.3. Edit PPS Files
- 2.5.4. Help Files Only Available Online
- 2.5.5. Understand the Background Printing Setting
- 2.5.6. Dealing with Different Versions of PowerPoint
- 2.5.7. Password-Protect Your Presentations
- 2.5.8. My Presentation Is Corrupt
-
3. Formatting and Editing
-
3.1. TEMPLATES AND MASTERS
- 3.1.1. Locate Your Templates
- 3.1.2. Force Templates to Show in the Task Pane
- 3.1.3. Find More Templates
- 3.1.4. Create a Template
- 3.1.5. Add a Title Master
- 3.1.6. Slide Thumbnail View Disappears
- 3.1.7. Create Multiple Masters
- 3.1.8. Distinguish One Master from Another
- 3.1.9. Apply a Template to Only a Few Slides
- 3.1.10. Masters Disappear from the Presentation
- 3.1.11. Deleting Slide Masters
- 3.1.12. Font Size Changes on Title Master
- 3.1.13. Add Placeholders to the Masters
- 3.1.14. Add a Color Scheme to a Template
- 3.1.15. Add Color Schemes Without Applying Color Schemes
- 3.1.16. Apply Multiple Masters in a Presentation
- 3.1.17. Determine Which Master Will Apply
- 3.1.18. Can’t See Text When You Type
- 3.1.19. The Automatic Contrast Is Ugly
- 3.1.20. Set a New Default Template
- 3.1.21. Set a New Default Master Slide
- 3.1.22. Set Default Graphs and Org Charts
- 3.1.23. Determine Default Colors for Charts
- 3.1.24. Add Filename to Every Slide
- 3.1.25. Number Slides XX of YY
- 3.1.26. Numbers Still Show on Title Slide
- 3.1.27. Add Slide Numbers
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3.2. FORMATTING
- 3.2.1. Move Slide Layouts
- 3.2.2. Reapply a Slide Layout
- 3.2.3. Set Default Font
- 3.2.4. Set Default Text Box and AutoShape Settings
- 3.2.5. When You Draw a Line or a Rectangle, Nothing Shows Up
- 3.2.6. Not All Slides Appear After You Paste
- 3.2.7. Changing Font Locks PowerPoint
- 3.2.8. Group Objects
- 3.2.9. Align Objects
- 3.2.10. Make Grid Visible
- 3.2.11. Change the Grid Setting in PowerPoint 97 and 2000
- 3.2.12. Arrow Keys Jump by Leaps and Bounds
- 3.2.13. Text Ends Up in Placeholder
- 3.2.14. Change Text Case
- 3.2.15. Change Text Case Adds Strange Capitalization
- 3.2.16. Go from Word to PowerPoint
- 3.2.17. Set Hanging Indents on Bulleted Text
- 3.2.18. Using Bulleted and Non-Bulleted Text Together
- 3.2.19. Create Small Caps
- 3.2.20. Line Spacing Cuts Off Text
- 3.2.21. Set Font Size Increments
- 3.2.22. Set Tabs on a Slide
-
3.1. TEMPLATES AND MASTERS
-
4. Importing
-
4.1. GRAPHICS
- 4.1.1. Don’t Drag and Drop or Paste Graphics
- 4.1.2. My Presentation Tries to Connect to the Internet
- 4.1.3. Inserted Pictures Are Really Big
- 4.1.4. Can’t Make Part of a Picture Transparent
- 4.1.5. Too Much of the Picture Is Transparent
- 4.1.6. Transparent Parts Turn Black
- 4.1.7. Rotate Images
- 4.1.8. Batch Import Images
- 4.1.9. Crop Images Before Insertion
- 4.1.10. Add Pictures to a Photo Album
- 4.1.11. Flippin’ Graphics Flip
-
4.2. EXCEL
- 4.2.1. Excel Data Cut Off
- 4.2.2. Colored Text Turns Black
- 4.2.3. Get Rid of Gridlines
- 4.2.4. Extract Data from an Embedded Excel Chart
- 4.2.5. Paste the Whole Workbook with the Chart
- 4.2.6. Font Size Goes Wacky When I Resize
- 4.2.7. Create Separate Chartsheets
- 4.2.8. Fonts on Chart Not Visible
- 4.2.9. Excel Headers and Footers Don’t Transfer
- 4.3. CLIP ART
-
4.4. WORD, PDFS, AND STUFF FROM THE WEB
- 4.4.1. Change the Default Paste Action
- 4.4.2. Use Animations from the Web
- 4.4.3. What Does the Little Blue Circle with a Question Mark Mean?
- 4.4.4. Pasted Buttons Don’t Work
- 4.4.5. Use Animated GIFs
- 4.4.6. Import a Word Outline
- 4.4.7. Insert a Gantt Chart from Microsoft Project
- 4.4.8. Import PDFs into PowerPoint
-
4.1. GRAPHICS
-
5. Organization Charts, Diagrams, and Drawing Tools
- 5.1. ORGANIZATION CHARTS
- 5.2. DIAGRAMS
-
5.3. OTHER DRAWING TOOLS
- 5.3.1. Connect Connectors
- 5.3.2. Make Selected Tool “Sticky”
- 5.3.3. Draw a Half-Circle
- 5.3.4. Edit Points Refines Drawings
- 5.3.5. Edit Points Not Available
- 5.3.6. Alignment Tools Are Grayed Out
- 5.3.7. Use Alignment Tools to Distribute Objects
- 5.3.8. Rotate Objects with Precision
- 5.3.9. Rotate Objects on the Fly
- 5.3.10. Format One Object in a Group
- 5.3.11. Spellcheck WordArt Objects
- 5.3.12. Where Are Outlined Fonts?
- 5.3.13. Create Mirrored Text
- 5.3.14. Word Wrap Around an AutoShape
- 5.3.15. Change the Color of a Shadow
- 5.3.16. Give a Photo Soft Edges
- 5.3.17. Add a Watermark to a Slide
- 5.3.18. Create a 3D Object
- 5.3.19. Fill an AutoShape with the Slide Background
- 5.3.20. Save Drawings for Later
- 5.3.21. Make Overlapping Pieces Transparent
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6. Charts and Graphs
-
6.1. TEXT ISSUES
- 6.1.1. Y-Axis Titles Truncated
- 6.1.2. Control Axis Label Line Breaks
- 6.1.3. Axis Labels Missing
- 6.1.4. Align Axis Labels
- 6.1.5. Fonts Appear Distorted I
- 6.1.6. Fonts Appear Distorted II
- 6.1.7. Keep Chart Font Sizes the Same
- 6.1.8. Pie Charts Appear Jagged
- 6.1.9. Fonts Appear Jagged
- 6.1.10. Change the Datasheet Font
- 6.1.11. Font Changes on a Pasted Excel Chart
- 6.1.12. Default Chart Font Is Wrong
-
6.2. CREATING AND FORMATTING CHARTS
- 6.2.1. Use Dates on the X-Axis
- 6.2.2. Create a Combination Chart
- 6.2.3. Create a Secondary Axis
- 6.2.4. Add Error Bars to Data Points
- 6.2.5. Create an Axis Break
- 6.2.6. Remove Percent Markers from Y-Axis
- 6.2.7. Add Percent Markers to the Y-Axis
- 6.2.8. Reverse Order of Categories
- 6.2.9. Insert Picture Fills
- 6.2.10. Change Chart Colors
- 6.2.11. Create a Default Chart
- 6.2.12. Reset the Default Chart Style
- 6.2.13. Charts Recolor When Pasted into Presentations
- 6.2.14. Change Settings for Printing in Black and White
- 6.2.15. Charts Appear Flipped
- 6.2.16. Charts Resize When Opened
- 6.3. DATA
- 6.4. EXCEL CHARTS
-
6.1. TEXT ISSUES
-
7. Animations, Action Settings, and Hyperlinks
-
7.1. ANIMATIONS AND TRANSITIONS
- 7.1.1. Animation Plays Differently in Different Versions
- 7.1.2. Animate Individual Bullet Points
- 7.1.3. Make the First Bullet Visible
- 7.1.4. Apply Options to Animation Effects
- 7.1.5. Animate Text by Levels
- 7.1.6. Apply More Than One Animation to an Object
- 7.1.7. Objects with Motion Paths Animate Twice
- 7.1.8. Edit Motion Paths
- 7.1.9. Object Jumps Before Starting Motion Path Animation
- 7.1.10. Unlock a Motion Path
- 7.1.11. Find the End of a Motion Path
- 7.1.12. Animate a Chart by Series or Category
- 7.1.13. Limits to Credit Animations
- 7.1.14. Exit Objects in PowerPoint 97 and 2000
- 7.1.15. Animate Two Objects at Once
- 7.1.16. Reapply Animations
- 7.1.17. Dealing with Way Too Many Objects on a Slide
- 7.1.18. Determine Which Objects Are Animated
- 7.1.19. Input a Custom Spin Angle
- 7.1.20. Change the Fulcrum of a Spin
- 7.1.21. Animate One Word in a Text Box
- 7.1.22. Show a Formula During a Presentation
- 7.1.23. Repeat a Sequence of Animations
- 7.1.24. Go from Animation to Transition
- 7.1.25. Keep Slide on Screen After Animation
- 7.1.26. Slide Transitions Don’t Work Right
- 7.1.27. Show Advanced Animation Timeline
- 7.1.28. Change After Previous to With Previous
- 7.1.29. Honey, I Shrunk the Pictures
- 7.1.30. Zoom In on an Area
-
7.2. ACTION SETTINGS AND HYPERLINKS
- 7.2.1. Remove Underline from Hyperlinked Text
- 7.2.2. Hyperlinked Text Changes Color
- 7.2.3. Slides Don’t Animate on Return
- 7.2.4. Slides Don’t Appear When Linking
- 7.2.5. Hyperlinks Stop Working
- 7.2.6. Absolute Versus Relative Links
- 7.2.7. Hyperlinks Don’t Work in PowerPoint Viewer 97
- 7.2.8. Hyperlinks Don’t Work in PowerPoint Viewer 2003
- 7.2.9. Force Navigation Via Buttons
- 7.2.10. Kiosk Mode Doesn’t Reset
-
7.1. ANIMATIONS AND TRANSITIONS
-
8. Sound and Video
-
8.1. SOUND
- 8.1.1. Hide the Sound Icon
- 8.1.2. CD Track Doesn’t Play
- 8.1.3. CD Track No Longer Plays
- 8.1.4. Sound Disappears When I Email My Presentation
- 8.1.5. WAV File Not Embedded
- 8.1.6. Shrink Your WAV File
- 8.1.7. Add Sound from iTunes
- 8.1.8. Add Sound from Clip Organizer
- 8.1.9. Add Background Music
- 8.1.10. Use CD Tracks for Background Music
- 8.1.11. Start Sound Partway Through
- 8.1.12. Background Sound Won’t Play in PowerPoint Viewer 2003
- 8.1.13. Sound Starts Over When Slides Advance
- 8.1.14. Change the Sound Volume
- 8.1.15. Synchronizing Sound
- 8.1.16. Extract Sound from PowerPoint Files
- 8.2. WEB PAGES AND FLASH
-
8.3. VIDEO
- 8.3.1. My Old Video Won’t Play on My New Computer
- 8.3.2. Put Text on Top of Movies
- 8.3.3. Use Video in the Background
- 8.3.4. Controls for Video Show on Slide
- 8.3.5. Click to Pause Movie
- 8.3.6. Play Movie Across Multiple Slides
- 8.3.7. Mouse Dies When Playing MPEGs
- 8.3.8. Play MPEG-2 Files in PowerPoint
- 8.3.9. Insert Video from a Digital Camera
- 8.3.10. White Box Shows Instead of Video
- 8.3.11. Play QuickTime Files
- 8.4. VIDEO AND PROJECTORS
- 8.5. OTHER VIDEO STUFF
-
8.1. SOUND
-
9. Printing and Distribution
-
9.1. PRINTING
- 9.1.1. Print Button Grayed Out in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003
- 9.1.2. Print Password-Protected Files
- 9.1.3. Pictures Print Twice
- 9.1.4. Landscape File Prints Portrait
- 9.1.5. Margin Prints Around Slides
- 9.1.6. Print Slides in the Center of the Page
- 9.1.7. Print Slides on Notes Pages
- 9.1.8. Stubborn Slide Refuses to Print
- 9.1.9. Gradient Transparency Won’t Print
- 9.1.10. Print Spool Becomes Huge
- 9.1.11. Turn Off Background Printing
- 9.1.12. Print from PowerPoint Viewer
- 9.1.13. Print Posters from PowerPoint
- 9.1.14. Specify Global Print Settings
- 9.1.15. Pattern Fills Don’t Print
- 9.1.16. Print Slides Plus Notes
- 9.1.17. Update Page Numbers
- 9.1.18. Number Slides on Printouts
- 9.1.19. Omit Objects from Slides When Printing
- 9.1.20. Print Animated Objects
- 9.1.21. Line Prints on Filled Text Box
- 9.1.22. Send Black and White Slide Thumbnails to Word
- 9.1.23. Create PDFs from PowerPoint
- 9.2. IMAGES
- 9.3. VIDEO, DVDS, AND FLASH
- 9.4. WEB PAGES
- 9.5. PACK AND GO
- 9.6. CDS
-
9.1. PRINTING
- About the Author
- About the Author
- Colophon
- Copyright
Product information
- Title: Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
- Author(s):
- Release date: February 2006
- Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
- ISBN: 9780596100049
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