PowerPoint For Dummies, Office 2021 Edition

Make PowerPoint the most “power”ful weapon in your Office arsenal and captivate your audience 

Presentations are your opportunity to stand out from the crowd,  impress your colleagues, and be the smartest person in the room. And upping your PowerPoint game is the key to making your next talk one to remember. But where do you start? Luckily, the trusted For Dummies series is here to help you put the umph back in your PowerPoint decks, one compelling slide at a time. 

Don’t worry if you’re completely new to PowerPoint, or even Microsoft Office in general. PowerPoint For Dummies, Office 2021 Edition quickly gets you up to speed on the basics of this world-famous presentation software, starting with understanding and using the interface. You’ll learn to create a new presentation from scratch, leverage free templates to accelerate the making of your next slide deck, and even import data from other applications. 

Already know the fundamentals? Then skip straight to the sizzle with step-by-step instructions on integrating charts and graphics into your next presentation. Knock your audience’s socks off with attention-grabbing videos, special effects that make it impossible to look away, and seamless slide transitions. 

Organized for easy and fast reference, this practical guide walks you through the strategies and techniques you’ll need to: 

• Keep your presentation audiences engaged from the first slide to the very last 
• Collaborate with team members and colleagues, and share your presentation with others 
• Take advantage of all the latest features in the newest version of PowerPoint that will help you drive your deck past the finish line 

Your next presentation is your chance to deliver your best ideas with power, dynamism, and enthusiasm. Get the tools you need to engage your audience in PowerPoint For Dummies, Office 2021 Edition. You’ll soon discover that creating a slide deck, whether it’s your first or your fiftieth, can be fun, easy, and exciting. 

Doug Lowe is a professional IT director who has been managing networks and giving presentations for more than 20 years. He is the author of PowerPoint 2019 For Dummies and PowerPoint 2016 For Dummies.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Part 1: Getting Started with PowerPoint 5

Chapter 1: Welcome to PowerPoint 7

What in Sam Hill Is PowerPoint? 7

Getting PowerPoint 9

Introducing PowerPoint Presentations 10

Understanding Presentation Files 11

What’s in a Slide? 12

Starting PowerPoint 14

Creating a Blank Presentation 14

Navigating the PowerPoint Interface 16

Unraveling the Ribbon 17

The View from Here Is Great 18

Editing Text 19

Adding a New Slide 20

Moving from Slide to Slide 22

Adding Some Style 22

Displaying Your Presentation 24

Saving Your Work 25

Closing a Presentation 25

Getting Help 26

Exiting PowerPoint 27

Chapter 2: Taking the Backstage Tour 29

Welcome to Backstage View 30

Considering Themes and Templates 31

Saving Your Presentation 35

Saving to a location on your computer 36

Saving to OneDrive 37

Saving a copy of a presentation 38

Opening a Presentation 39

Pinning a Presentation for Easy Access 40

Chapter 3: Editing Slides 43

Moving from Slide to Slide 44

Working with Objects 44

Selecting objects 45

Resizing or moving an object 46

Editing a Text Object 48

Selecting Text 49

Using Cut, Copy, and Paste 50

Duplicating an Object 52

Using the Clipboard Task Pane 52

Oops! I Didn’t Mean It (The Marvelous Undo Command) 53

Working with Slide Layouts 54

Deleting a Slide 56

Duplicating a Slide 56

Finding Text 56

Replacing Text 58

Rearranging Your Slides in Slide Sorter View 59

Chapter 4: Working in Outline View 63

Calling Up the Outline 63

Selecting and Editing an Entire Slide 65

Selecting and Editing One Paragraph 65

Promoting and Demoting Paragraphs 65

Adding a New Paragraph 66

Adding a New Slide 67

Moving Text Up and Down 68

Collapsing and Expanding the Outline 68

Chapter 5: Proofing Your Presentations 69

Checking Spelling as You Go 70

Spell Checking After the Fact 71

Using the Thesaurus 74

Capitalizing Correctly 75

Using the AutoCorrect Feature 76

Chapter 6: Don’t Forget Your Notes! 79

Understanding Notes 80

Adding Notes to a Slide 81

Adding an Extra Notes Page for a Slide 82

Adding a New Slide from Notes Page View 83

Printing Notes Pages 83

Displaying Notes on a Separate Monitor 84

Chapter 7: Show Time! 85

The Quick Way to Print 86

Printing from Backstage View 86

Printing more than one copy 87

Changing printers 87

Printing part of a document 88

Using Print Preview 89

Setting Up a Slideshow 89

Starting a Slideshow 90

Working in Presenter View 91

Controlling Your Presentation with the Keyboard and Mouse 93

Using Presentation Tools 94

Using the Laser Pointer feature 95

Scribbling on your slides 96

Rehearsing Your Slide Timings 97

Using Custom Shows 98

Creating a custom show 99

Showing a custom show 100

Hiding slides 100

Showing Your Presentation Online 100

Part 2: Creating Great-Looking Slides 103

Chapter 8: All about Fonts and Text Formatting 105

Changing the Look of Your Text 106

Changing the size of characters 108

Choosing text fonts 109

Adding color to your text 109

Adding shadows 110

Big Picture Text Formatting 110

Biting the bulleted list 111

Creating numbered lists 112

Setting tabs and indents 114

Spacing out 115

Lining things up 115

Making columns 117

Creating Fancy Text with WordArt 117

Chapter 9: Designing Your Slides 121

Looking at the Design Tab 121

Working with Themes 122

Applying themes 123

Using theme colors 124

Using theme fonts 128

Applying theme effects 128

Changing the Slide Size 129

Applying Background Styles 130

Using a gradient fill 131

Using other background effects 133

Using the Design Ideas Feature to Design Your Slides 134

Chapter 10: Animating Your Slides 135

Using the Transitions Tab 135

Creating a slide transition 136

Using the Morph transition effect 139

Using the Animations Tab 140

Using advanced animations 142

Timing your animations 150

Chapter 11: The Art of Inking Your Slides 155

Drawing on Your Slides 156

Using the Ruler 158

Converting Windows Ink to Text 160

Converting Windows Ink to Shapes 161

Converting Windows Ink to a Math Formula 162

Animating Windows Ink 163

Chapter 12: Masters of the Universe Meet the Templates of Doom 165

Working with Masters 166

Modifying the slide master 167

Modifying the handout master 172

Modifying the notes master 173

Using Masters 174

Overriding the master text style 174

Hiding background objects 174

Using Headers and Footers 175

Adding a date, number, or footer to slides 176

Adding a header or footer to notes or handouts pages 177

Editing the header and footer placeholders directly 178

Yes, You Can Serve Two Masters 178

Creating a new slide master 178

Applying masters 180

Preserving your masters 181

Restoring Lost Placeholders 181

Working with Templates 182

Creating a new template 183

Creating a presentation based on a template 183

Working with Presentation Sections 184

Part 3: Embellishing Your Slides 187

Chapter 13: Inserting Pictures 189

Exploring the Many Types of Pictures 190

Bitmap pictures 190

Victor, give me a vector 191

Inserting Pictures in Your Presentation 192

From the web 192

From your computer 194

From the stock library 196

Moving, Sizing, Stretching, and Cropping Pictures 197

Adding Style to Your Pictures 199

Applying a picture border 200

Applying picture effects 200

Applying Artistic Effects 201

Removing picture backgrounds 202

Correcting Sharpness, Brightness, Contrast, and Color 205

Compressing Your Pictures 206

Working with 3D Models 208

Chapter 14: Drawing on Your Slides 211

Some General Drawing Tips 211

Zooming in 211

Displaying the ruler, gridlines, and guides 212

Sticking to the color scheme 213

Saving frequently 213

Remembering Ctrl+Z 213

Drawing Simple Objects 214

Drawing straight lines 215

Drawing rectangles, squares, ovals, and circles 216

Creating Other Shapes 216

Drawing a shape 217

Drawing a polygon or free-form shape 219

Drawing a curved line or shape 220

Creating a text box 221

Styling Your Shapes 222

Setting the shape fill 222

Setting the shape outline 222

Applying shape effects 223

Flipping and Rotating Objects 224

Flipping an object 224

Rotating an object 90 degrees 224

Using the rotate handle 225

Drawing a Complicated Picture 225

Changing layers 226

Line ’em up 227

Using the grids and guides 227

Group therapy 228

Chapter 15: Charting for Fun and Profit 231

Understanding Charts 232

Adding a Chart to Your Presentation 233

Adding a new slide with a chart 233

Adding a chart to an existing slide 237

Pasting a chart from Excel 238

Changing the Chart Type 238

Working with Chart Data 239

Switching rows and columns 240

Changing the data selection 241

Editing the source data 242

Refreshing a chart 242

Changing the Chart Layout 242

Changing the Chart Style 243

Embellishing Your Chart 245

Using Treemap and Sunburst Charts 247

Using Map Charts 249

Chapter 16: Working with SmartArt 253

Understanding SmartArt 253

Creating a SmartArt Diagram 255

Tweaking a SmartArt Diagram 258

Editing the SmartArt Text 259

Working with Organization Charts 261

Adding boxes to a chart 262

Deleting chart boxes 262

Changing the chart layout 263

Chapter 17: Lights! Camera! Action! (Adding Sound and Video) 265

Adding Sound to a Slide 266

Investigating sound files 266

Inserting an audio sound object 267

Setting audio options 269

Adding Video to Your Slides 271

Finding a video to add to your presentation 271

Inserting a video clip 272

Setting video options 273

Compressing Media 277

Chapter 18: More Things to Insert on Your Slides 279

Inserting Tables 279

Creating a table in a Content placeholder 280

Inserting a table on a slide 281

Drawing a table 281

Adding style to a table 283

Working with the Layout tab 285

Inserting WordArt 288

Using Hyperlinks 289

Creating a hyperlink to another slide 291

Creating a hyperlink to another presentation or to a website 292

Adding Action Buttons 293

Assigning button actions 294

Choosing button shapes 294

Creating a button 294

Creating a navigation toolbar 297

Inserting Equations 298

Inserting Icons 302

Part 4: Working with Others 305

Chapter 19: Collaborating on Presentations 307

Understanding Collaboration 307

Working with OneDrive 309

Managing OneDrive features 312

Sharing a OneDrive presentation 314

Working with Teams 319

Collaborating in Real Time 324

Using Comments 325

Chapter 20: Stealing Slides from Other Presentations 327

Misdemeanor Slide Theft 328

Building a Slide Repository 330

Chapter 21: Exporting Your Presentation to Other Formats 333

Creating a PDF File 334

Crafting a Video 335

Adding timings and narration 336

Creating a video 338

Creating an Animated GIF 340

Packaging Your Presentation on a CD 343

Creating Handouts in Microsoft Word 345

Publishing a Presentation to Microsoft Stream 347

Part 5: The Part of Tens 351

Chapter 22: Ten PowerPoint Commandments 353

I Thou Shalt Frequently Savest Thy Work 353

II Thou Shalt Storeth Each Presentation in Its Proper Folder 354

III Thou Shalt Not Abuseth Thy Program’s Formatting Features 354

IV Thou Shalt Not Stealeth Copyrighted Materials 354

V Thou Shalt Abideth by Thine Color Scheme, Auto-Layout, and Template 355

VI Thou Shalt Not Abuse Thine Audience with an Endless Array of Cute Animations or Funny Sounds 355

VII Keep Thy Computer Gurus Happy 355

VIII Thou Shalt Backeth Up Thy Files Day by Day 355

IX Thou Shalt Fear No Evil, for Ctrl+Z Is Always with Thee 356

X Thou Shalt Not Panic 356

Chapter 23: Ten Tips for Creating Readable Slides 357

Try Reading the Slide from the Back of the Room 357

Avoid Small Text 358

No More Than Five Bullets, Please 358

Avoid Excessive Verbiage Lending to Excessively Lengthy Text

That Is Not Only Redundant But Also Repetitive and Reiterative 358

Use Consistent Wording 358

Avoid Unsightly Color Combinations 359

Watch the Line Endings 359

Keep the Background Simple 360

Use Only Two Levels of Bullets 360

Avoid Bullets Altogether If You Can 360

Keep Charts and Diagrams Simple 361

Chapter 24: Ten Ways to Keep Your Audience Awake 363

Don’t Forget Your Purpose 363

Don’t Become a Slave to Your Slides 364

Don’t Overwhelm Your Audience with Unnecessary Detail 364

Don’t Neglect Your Opening 364

Be Relevant 365

Don’t Forget the Call to Action 365

Practice, Practice, Practice 365

Relax! 366

Expect the Unexpected 366

Don’t Be Boring 366

Index 367

Part 4: Working with Others 305

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