This week’s hint and tip is looking at how you can use the presenter view in PowerPoint when you are presenting your presentations. We do cover this on our Basic PowerPoint training course but we also decided to do a hint and tip on it.  We are going to go through it now below.

Running a presentation

There are several ways to run your slide show presentation, some being:

• Pressing F5
• Clicking on the small slide show button (bottom right corner of screen)
• The options on the slide show tab

The option you choose will depend on how you want to start off your presentation. Once you start it, there are then further options for how you progress through it. We are going through this now below.

Slide show view

Your screen will look slightly different depending on how many screens you have linked up. If you just have the one screen (a laptop screen or a desktop monitor) then it will look like the print screen shot below.

Here you can see just the presentation slide itself. At the bottom of the screen you can see buttons when you hover your mouse over it. These buttons give you other options available for use during your presentation. You can also still use your right-hand mouse click for options too. You can run your presentation in this view even if you have two screens if you prefer.

Presenter view

However, if you have a monitor plugged into a laptop/desktop screen, you will get two different screens. The monitor screen will look like the slideshow one above and then the print screen below seen on your laptop/desktop screen. This screen on your laptop/desktop is called presenter view and can be seen below.

This second screen gives you the same options as the slide show view, but it gives you a bit more of a detailed view. This is optimised for presenting on a projector as it gives the presenter more options without interfering with the appearance of the presentation itself.

This two-way view can be altered through the display settings option at the top. Here you can choose to duplicate the screen so that both screens will look like the slide show view.

The video below shows you what the presenter view is in PowerPoint and how it can be used in your presentations. The presenter view is a great aid that can be used when you are presenting.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

The post Presenter View in PowerPoint – how you can use it in your presentations? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is on screen recording in PowerPoint. We have previously done a hint and tip that mentioned this feature but we didn’t go into a lot of detail about it. This feature is a really useful one in PowerPoint and is easy to set up and use on your computer. We don’t cover this feature in either our Basic PowerPoint or Intermediate PowerPoint training courses so we decided to do a hint and tip on it. We are going to go through in more detail now on how to use this feature in PowerPoint below.

Where do I find the feature

The screen recording option can be found on the Insert Tab. It can also be found on the Record Tab if you have this one in your version of PowerPoint. The Screen Recording option is found in the Record section on both of these tabs. On the Insert one, it can be found on the far right hand side. On the Record one, it can be round near the beginning on the left hand side.

How to use this feature

When you click on the Screen Recording option, it allows you to draw the area you want to record on the screen.

The bar at the top that appears has the options for recording. Once you have drawn the window and pressed Record, the countdown window seen on the right below appears.

Once press stop, inserts video and can edit on the Format and Playback tab at top. These two tabs allow you to make changes or formatting edits to the video itself.

Saving the video

Once you have made any edits or changes you can then save the video as a mp4 media file. The file can then be used or uploaded in this format to wherever you want it to be used.

The video below shows you how you can use this feature to then insert it in a presentation. This screen recording option is very useful and can often be used to demonstrate something to someone in a quicker way.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on the screen recording in PowerPoint feature. Why not take a look at our previous video hint and tip on the date picker option you can insert into a table in Word?

The post Screen Recording in PowerPoint – how do I use this feature? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is looking at inserting hierarchy SmartArt diagrams into a slide within the PowerPoint package. This is covered on our Basic PowerPoint training course but we also decided to do a hint and tip on it.  We are going to go through it now below.

Inserting a Hierarchy SmartArt Diagram

Here we shall show you two ways you can insert a hierarchy SmartArt diagram into a PowerPoint presentation slide. SmartArt diagrams can be a useful way to visually demonstrate or explain something. Similar to shapes, but the ‘Smart’ part allows them to automatically adapt and change as you add to or remove from it.

First Way – using the Insert Tab

Here we will go through the first way to insert a cycle SmartArt diagram. This is through the use of the Insert Tab.

Firstly, insert a new slide into your presentation and choose the Title Only slide layout or blank if you don’t need a Title box.

To insert a SmartArt diagram, click on the Insert Tab and then click on the SmartArt button on the ribbon.

After you have clicked on this button, a pop up window below should appear on your screen. From here click on the hierarchy option from the list that appears on the left hand side. From the list, choose the Organisation Chart option and then click OK.

A SmartArt diagram will then be inserted into your presentation for you. Now that it is on the slide, you can resize it so that it fits in the slide under the title box. From here you can edit the text by clicking on the text pane option on your ribbon or by selecting a box and typing in it. This will bring up a pop up box where you can then edit the text. We will cover how to add shapes further down in the post

Second Way – Using the Insert a SmartArt Graphic option in the content box

This second way will show you how to insert a hierarchy SmartArt diagram through the use of the content box on your slide. This content box is useful as it has several icons that you can use to insert something into your slide. In this example we are going to use the insert SmartArt graphic icon.

In the content box on your slide, hover over the 4th icon on the first row (the words Insert a SmartArt Graphic should appear when you hover over it).

Click on the icon and a pop up window will appear with options of SmartArt graphics to choose from as it did in the first way mentioned above. From here, follow the same steps as covered above in the first way to choose the SmartArt graphic and insert it into your slide. Same as previously, we will go through adding shapes further down in the blog post.

Adding shapes to a SmartArt graphic

Once you have inserted the diagram, you can now add in extra shapes to your diagram. To add a shape to your diagram, firstly select a shape in your diagram and then click on the ‘Add Shape’ button on the SmartArt Design Tab. To see all the options available for adding in shapes, click on the drop down arrow next to the button.

For the hierarchy diagram there are a few more options you can choose from. For this type of diagram you are able to add a shape before or after, above or below and also assistant. Before or after, will insert a shape to the left or right of the one you selected in the diagram. Above or below, will insert a shape above or below the level of the shape you have selected in a diagram. Finally assistant will add an assistant shape to the shape that you have selected.

Formatting a SmartArt graphic

Once you have inserted the SmartArt graphic, you can then format it. You can format the appearance of the graphic by changing the colours used by using the SmartArt Styles gallery or by clicking on the Change Colours button on the ribbon on the Chart Design Tab. You are also able to manually format it by using the Format tab.

The video below shows how to insert the hierarchy SmartArt diagram using the ways mentioned above in your PowerPoint presentations. SmartArt diagrams are a great tool to use to display processes or data in a more visual way.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

The post Inserting Hierarchy SmartArt Diagrams in PowerPoint – how do I insert them into my slides? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is looking at inserting cycle SmartArt diagrams into a slide within the PowerPoint package. We cover this on our Basic PowerPoint training course but we also decided to do a hint and tip on it.  We are going to go through it now below.

Inserting a Cycle SmartArt Diagram

We are going to show you two ways you can insert a cycle SmartArt diagram into a PowerPoint presentation slide. SmartArt diagrams can be a useful way to visually demonstrate or explain something. They are similar to shapes, but the ‘Smart’ part adds to them and allows them to automatically change and adapt as you add to or remove from it.

First Way – using the Insert Tab

Here we shall go through the first way to insert a cycle SmartArt diagram. This is through the use of the Insert Tab.

Firstly, insert a new slide into your presentation and choose the Title Only slide layout or blank if you don’t need a Title box.

To insert a SmartArt diagram, click on the Insert Tab and then click on the SmartArt button on the ribbon.

Once you have clicked on this button, the pop up window below should appear on your screen. From here click on the cycle option from the list on the left hand side and then select the Basic Cycle option and then click OK.

A SmartArt diagram will then be inserted into your presentation for you. Once inserted you can resize it so that it fits in the slide under the title box. From here you can edit the text by selecting a box and typing in it or by clicking on the text pane option on your ribbon. This will give you a pop up box where you can then edit the text. We will cover how to add shapes further down in the post

Second Way – Using the Insert a SmartArt Graphic option in the content box

The second way we are going to cover for inserting a cycle SmartArt diagram is through the use of the content box on your slide. This content box is very useful and it has several icons that you can use to insert something into your slide. In this example we are going to use the insert SmartArt graphic icon.

In the content box on your slide, hover over the 4th icon on the first row (the words Insert a SmartArt Graphic should appear when you hover over it).

Click on this icon and a pop up window should appear with options of SmartArt graphics to choose from as it did in the first way mentioned above. From here you follow the same steps as covered above in the first way to choose the SmartArt graphic and insert it into your slide. Same as above, we will go through adding shapes further down in the blog post.

Adding shapes to a SmartArt graphic

After you have inserted the diagram, you can add in extra shapes to your diagram. To add a shape to your diagram, firstly select a shape in your diagram and then click on the ‘Add Shape’ button on the SmartArt Design Tab. To see all the options available for adding in shapes, click on the drop down arrow next to the button. For this type of diagram you are able to add a shape before or after. This will insert a shape to the left or right of the one you selected in the diagram.

Formatting a SmartArt graphic

After you have inserted the SmartArt graphic, you can then format it. The appearance of the graphic can be formatted by changing the colours used by using the SmartArt Styles gallery or by clicking on the Change Colours button on the ribbon on the Chart Design Tab. You can also manually format it by using the Format tab.

The video below shows you how to insert the cycle SmartArt diagram using these the ways mentioned above in your PowerPoint presentations. SmartArt diagrams  are a great tool to use to display processes or data in a more visual way.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

The post Inserting Cycle SmartArt Diagrams in PowerPoint – how do I insert them into my slides? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is looking at inserting process SmartArt diagrams into a slide within the PowerPoint package. We cover this on our Basic PowerPoint training course but we also decided to do a hint and tip on it.  We are going to go through it now below.

Inserting a Process SmartArt Diagram

We will show you two ways in which you can insert a process SmartArt diagram into a PowerPoint presentation slide. SmartArt diagrams are a good way to visually explain and demonstrate something. Similar to shapes, but the element of ‘Smart’ adds to them and allows them to automatically adapt and change as you add to or remove from it.

First Way – using the Insert Tab

We are going to go through the first way to insert a process SmartArt diagram now. This is through the use of the Insert Tab.

Firstly, insert a new slide into your presentation and make sure that the slide layout applied is Title Only or blank if you don’t need a Title box.

To insert a SmartArt diagram, firstly click on the Insert Tab and click on the SmartArt button on the ribbon.

After clicking on this button, the pop up window below should appear on your screen. From here you click on the process option from the list on the left hand side and then select the Basic Process option and then click OK.

This will then insert a the SmartArt diagram into your presentation for you. Once inserted you can resize it to fit in underneath the title box. From here you can edit the text by clicking into the boxes themselves or by clicking on the text pane option on your ribbon where it will give you a pop up box where you can also edit the text. We will cover how to add shapes further down in the post

Second Way – Using the Insert a SmartArt Graphic option in the content box

The second way we are going to look at for inserting a process SmartArt diagram is through the use of the content box on your slide. The content box on your slide is very useful and has a number of icons that you can use to insert something into your slide. For this example we are going to use the insert SmartArt graphic icon.

In your content box hover over the 4th icon on the first row (the words Insert a SmartArt Graphic should appear when you hover over it).

Click on this icon and a pop up window should appear with options for the type of SmartArt graphic you want as it did in the first way mentioned above. From here you follow the same steps as the first way above to choose the SmartArt graphic and insert it into your slide. Same as above, we will go through adding shapes further down in the blog post.

Adding shapes to a SmartArt graphic

Once you have the diagram inserted, you can then add extra shapes to your diagram. To add a shape to your diagram, firstly select an existing shape and then click on the ‘Add Shape’ button on the SmartArt Design Tab. Clicking on the drop down arrow next to the button shows you the options you can choose from. For this type of diagram you can add a shape before or after. This will insert a shape to the left or right of the one you selected in the diagram.

Formatting a SmartArt graphic

Once your SmartArt graphic is inserted into the slide, you can then format it. You can format the appearance of the graphic by changing the colours used by clicking on the Change Colours button on the ribbon or by using the SmartArt Styles gallery on the Chart Design Tab. You can also manually format it by using the Format tab.

The video below shows you how to insert the process SmartArt diagram using these two ways in your PowerPoint presentations. SmartArt diagrams are a good way of displaying data or processes in a more visual way.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

The post Inserting Process SmartArt Diagrams in PowerPoint – how do I insert them into my slides? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is looking at inserting charts into a slide within the PowerPoint package. We cover this on our Basic PowerPoint training course but we also decided to do a hint and tip on it.  We are going to go through it now below.

Inserting a Chart

We are going to cover two ways in which you can insert a chart into a PowerPoint presentation slide. Charts are a great way of being able to visually display your data, rather than just including a lot of numbers on a slide. They can also be a good way of showing trends in figures, for example sales.

First Way – using the Insert Tab

The first way to insert a chart is through the use of the Insert Tab.

Insert a new slide into your presentation and make sure that the slide layout applied is Title Only or blank if you don’t need a Title box.

To insert a chart, firstly click on the Insert Tab and click on the Chart button on the ribbon.

Once you click on this button, the pop up window below should appear on your screen. From here you can choose the style of chart you wish and then click OK.

This will then insert a chart in to your presentation for you. You will notice from the screenshot that it inserts a chart for you and gives you a small window of a simple Excel spreadsheet with some sample data in it. This data is there to just show what the chart will look like.

You are then able to edit the category and series names and values to what you need them to be. As you do this in the spreadsheet, it will automatically update in the chart on your slide.

Once you have typed in all the data you need for your chart, you can click on the cross in the top corner of the Excel spreadsheet to close down that window. This will then leave your chart by itself in your presentation slide ready to add any further details to it or a title to the slide itself.

Second Way – Using the Insert Chart option in the content box

The second way to insert a chart is through the use of the content box on your slide. The content box on your slide is very useful and has a number of icons that you can use to insert something in to your slide. For this example we are going to use the insert chart icon.

In your content box hover over the 8th icon on the second row (the words Insert Chart should appear when you hover over it).

Click on this icon and a pop up window should appear with options for the type of chart you want. Choose the style of chart you require and click OK.

This will now insert in a ‘template’ chart as well as give you a small Excel window with the data that your chart has been created from. From here you can now edit the Series and Category names and also the figures to match your data. As you do this, it should update the chart behind on your slide.

Once you have done this, click on the cross to close down the small Excel window. This will then leave your chart by itself in your presentation slide ready to add any further details to it or a title to the slide itself.

Formatting a Chart

Once you have your chart inserted into the slide, you can then format it. You can format the appearance of the chart by using the Chart Styles gallery on the Chart Design Tab. You can also manually format it by using the Format tab.

As well as formatting the chart, you can now add more detail to your chart. This is done via the Add Chart Elements option which is found either on the far left of your Chart Design Tab or by clicking on the cross top right hand corner of your chart itself. From here you will see that there is a list of options that you can add to your chart, for example axis titles or data labels.

The video below shows you how to insert charts using these two ways in your PowerPoint presentations. Charts are a good way of displaying information in your slides more visually or for showing trends in your data.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

The post Inserting Charts in PowerPoint – how do I insert them into my slides? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is looking at inserting tables in to a slide within the PowerPoint package. We cover this on our Basic PowerPoint training course but we also decided to do a hint and tip on it.  We are going to go through it now below.

Inserting a Table

We are going to cover three ways in which you can insert a table into a PowerPoint presentation slide.

Firstly you need to make sure you have a slide inserted into your presentation. Make sure that the slide layout you have is Title and Content. Once you have the slide in the right layout you can now insert a Table.

First Way – using the Insert Tab, white boxes

The first way to insert a table is through the use of the Insert Tab.

Insert a new slide and make sure that the slide layout is Title Only.

To insert a table, firstly click on the Insert Tab and click on the Table option on the ribbon. When clicking on this option, a drop down style menu will appear with a lot of small white boxes at the top of it. As you hover over these, you will see a preview of the table on the slide.

Once you have the correct number of boxes hovered over for the table, click on the box. This will then insert the table into the slide for you.

Second Way – using the Insert Tab, insert table option

The second way to insert a table is still through the use of the Inert Tab but using the ‘insert table’ option listed in the drop down menu. Click on the Table option on the insert tab and from the drop down menu that appears, click on the ‘insert table’ option listed.

This will produce a small pop up window where you can type in the number of columns and rows you want for your table. Once you have done this, click ok.

This will now insert the table in to your slide same as it did in the first way mentioned above.

Third Way – Using the Insert Table option in the content box

The third way to insert a table is through the use of the content box on your slide. The content box on your slide has a number of icons that you can use to insert something in to your slide. For this example we are going to use the insert table icon.

In your content box hover over the 7th icon on the second row (the words Insert Table should appear when you hover over it).

Click on this icon and a little box will appear. This box allows you to type in the number of columns and rows you want to be in your table. Once you have typed the numbers in, click OK to insert it in to your slide.

Once you have done this, you will find that the content box has disappeared and there is now a table in its place. Here you can re-size the table to the size you need it to be.

Formatting a Table

Once inserted, there are other formatting options you can use (as shown below) for editing your picture. These options are found on the Table Design and Layout Tabs which appear at the top of your screen when you click onto your table. These tabs are the same no matter which method you choose to insert your table via.

The video below shows you how to insert tables using these three different ways in your PowerPoint presentations. Tables are a good way of summarising information in your slides, especially if you are doing comparisons.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

The post Inserting Tables in PowerPoint – how do I insert them into my slides? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is on inserting shapes in PowerPoint. When you are creating your presentations, you want them to be interesting and so need more than just text in them! There are a number of options that you can insert into your presentations with shapes being one of them. How to do this is covered in our Basic PowerPoint training course but we also decided to do a hint and tip on it. We are going to go through them now below.

Inserting a Shape

Shapes are a great way of adding something a bit different to your presentation slides, so that it isn’t just text on them. There are quite a few different shapes you can insert into your slides and there are also a few ways in which you can do it. We are going to go through them all now.

First Way – Using the Home Tab

The first way in which you can insert a shape is from the Home Tab.

On the Home Tab on the right hand side there is a Drawing gallery. In this gallery there is a Shapes button. Clicking on this button brings a drop down menu with all the different shapes that you can insert.

Select from this menu the shape that you want. Clicking on the shape will then allow you to draw this shape on your slide using your mouse.

Once you have drawn your shape out, letting go of your mouse button will then insert the shape into your slide. From here you can then move the shape to wherever you need or want it on your slide.

Second Way – Using the Insert Tab

The second way that you can insert a shape is from the Insert Tab.

On the Insert Tab there is an Illustrations gallery. In this gallery there is a Shapes button. This is the same button as found on the Home Tab in the first way mentioned above. From here you can click on the button as done previously to see the selection of shapes to choose from.

The rest of the steps to insert the shapes are the same as previously. By clicking on the shape, this will allow you to draw the shape onto your slide.

Once the shape is inserted, you are able to then move it to whatever position you want it on your slide.

Third Way – On the Shape Format Tab

Finally the third way of inserting a shape is from the Shape Format Tab.

This tab only appears at the top when you have a current shape selected on your slide. When you have an existing shape selected, on the tab there is an Insert Shapes gallery.

From here you can select the shape from the box. To view more shapes, either click on the down arrow to cycle through the rows or click on the bottom arrow to see them all.

Once selected, same as the previous two ways, you can then draw the shape on your slide and then move its position to wherever you want it to be.

The video below shows you how to insert shapes using these three different ways in your PowerPoint presentations. Shapes are a good way of adding something to your slides to go alongside any text you have.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

The post Inserting Shapes in PowerPoint – how do I insert them into my slides? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is on PowerPoint aligning and sizing shapes. This hint and tip covers different ways in which you can align and resize shapes on a PowerPoint slide. This isn’t necessarily covered in detail in our Basic PowerPoint training course so we decided to do a hint and tip on it. We are going to go through it now below.

Aligning Shapes

On the slide below the 1 text box and 2 blue shapes are neither the same size nor properly aligned! We are going to show you how to align and resize all three so they are the same.

Method 1 – Using the Align button on Shape format tab

This method uses the align button that can be found on the Shape Format Tab when you click on the shapes. Clicking on it will give you options to choose from for aligning.

Method 2 – Using red gridlines

This method is quicker in method 1. Select a shape (say shape 2) and move it upwards towards the top alignment of shape 1. As you do this, red align gridlines appear. These gridlines appear to let you know they are both aligned. Similarly you can repeat this with shape 3. You can also distribute horizontally using this method too as you’ll see in the picture below the horizontal distribution lines with their arrows

Sizing Shapes

To get all 3 shapes including the text box the same height and width you first need to take off ‘lock aspect ratio’. This is found on the pane called Format Shape. Right hand click on one of the shapes and select size and position from the list.

Now you can type in a height and width to suit (in this case 4cm height by 6cm width). So now you have the shapes all aligned and sized the same!

The video below shows you how you can use these methods to alter the alignment and size of shapes in your PowerPoint slides.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on PowerPoint aligning and sizing shapes. Why not take a look at our previous video hint and tip on copying values from the Status Bar in Excel?

For more information on PowerPoint features visit our hints and tips features here or attend one of our courses which you can view details of here.

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This blog is really a “double whammy”. Firstly it demonstrates a particular page on our website and it was created by using the new Recording feature in PowerPoint 365. We are going to go through it now below.

Recording feature in PowerPoint

PowerPoint has lots of new features. One of these is the ability to record a presentation with narration and video and screenshots. You can then turn the presentation into a video which you can put online or send to whoever.

To create the video, we went through these steps:

1. Opened up a blank presentation
2. Created slide 1 and inserted a video of John talking to introduce the presentation. The video has been trimmed and reduced in size
3. For slide 2 we inserted a screen recording from PowerPoint’s Insert Tab (or the Recording Tab) of John talking you through the new hints and tips PowerPoint blog page
4. We went into Rehearse timings from the Slide Show Tab, generated the correct transitions times and finally exported it all to a video .mp4 file

Tabs we used in PowerPoint

Below are some of the ribbons for the tabs we used buttons from in PowerPoint when creating this hint and tip post with video.

Insert Tab

Recording Tab

Slide Show Tab

The video below shows you how to find PowerPoint hints and tips on our website and how to actually use the recording feature in a presentation. We hope that you find the video useful and enjoy learning about it!

Take a look below at the video to find out more!

For more information, please see our course information by clicking on the images below or on contact us on johnlegge@jplcomputer.co.uk

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on PowerPoint hints and tips. Why not take a look at our previous one on the some common features in Office 365?

The post PowerPoint Hints and Tips – where to find them and the recording feature in PowerPoint! appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.