UNIT 3 Making Changes Tame Text Whizzy Words Picky Points Bold Backgrounds Shipshape Spelling Cool for School
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Help us out here, Power. Let's say you've got a text box about worms centered in your slide. Maybe you decide you want to move it to the left... Can you do that?

Hey, they don't call me Power for nothing. But if you want to make the following changes to text boxes, make sure you're in Slide View. Moving a text box If you don't like where a text box is positioned on a page, you can move it to a new location. First you select it, then you move it. 1. Click the text you want to move. The text box, with dashed line border, appears around the text. Now click anywhere on the dashed border. A thin, solid gray border will appear around the text box. 2. Place the pointer on the border. The pointer will change into a four-headed arrow. 3. Hold down the mouse button and drag the box to the new location. 4. Release the mouse button.

Power, let's say I have a text box listing my great qualities. How can I increase the size of that text box to fit everything?

You'll also need to resize the text box that holds your ego, Jim.

That's some good chemistry! No wonder you two get such high ratings.

Resizing a text box The gray border that appears around an object when you select it has round handles on its corners and square corners on its sides. These are called selection or resizing handles. You can click and drag these handles to resize text boxes. 1. Click the text you want to move. The text box, with dashed line border, appears around the text. Now click anywhere on the dashed border. A thin, solid gray border will appear around the text box. 2. Place the pointer on a resizing handle. The pointer will change into a two-headed arrow. 3. Hold down the mouse button and drag the resizing handle until the box is the size you want. Drag outwards to make the box larger. Drag inwards to make the box smaller.

Now let's say I have a text box about this guy I like. Then I meet another guy I like. How do I add a text box to talk about him?

Talk about being fickle. Here, let me show you how...

Adding a new text box Sometimes, you may want to add text to a slide without using a built-in text box. For example, you may want to type a label for a drawing, or you may want to add text to a blank slide layout. In PowerPoint, you can add your own text boxes to any slide using the Text Box tool in the Text Group in the Insert tab. 1. Click the Insert tab. Then in the Text Group, click the Text Box button. The pointer will change to a cross. 2. Click on the slide where you want to place the text. A small text box will appear. 3. Type a word in the text box. As you type, the box will expand to fit the text. 4. After you finish typing, click outside the text box. The border around the box will disappear.

How about copying text boxes? Do I have to type the whole thing over again?

Jim, come on, I'm a computer program. Why do you think we were invented?!! To prevent you humans from having to do repetitive tasks.

Oh, I like that...

Copying a text box 1. Click the text box to select it. 2. Place the pointer on the box's border and click again. The insertion point will disappear from the text box. 3. In the Clipboard Group in the Home tab, click the copy button. 4. Also in the Clipboard Group, click on the Paste button. A copy of the text box is now pasted on top of the original box. 5. Click and drag the new text box to the location you want.

How about deleting? Can you delete a text box you don't need anymore?

Piece of cake.

I wish deleting dirty dishes were this easy!

What do you do if your text boxes look drab? If someone's doing a presentation on something important like preserving the rainforest, they want it to catch the eye.

I would suggest color... You can make your text box any color of the rainbow, and then some.

Adding color to a text box 1. Click the text box to select it. 2. In the Drawing Group on the Home tab, click the arrow beside the Shape Fill button, then click the green color box. The text box will turn green. Note: There are 2 other ways you can access the Shape Fill button. The first way is to right-click on your mouse once a text box is selected. The formatting menu appears which includes the Shape Fill button. The other place to find the Shape Fill button is in the Shape Styles Group in the Drawing Tools tab. The Drawing Tools tab is a Contextual Tool which appears along with the Format tab when you click on a shape such as a text box.

What if you want to further offset your text box? Can you give it an outline?

You sure can. And you don't even need a ruler...

Outlining a text box As you have seen, the thin gray border that appears around a text box is temporary and disappears when the text is deselected. If you want a permanent outline around your text box, create one using the Shape Styles Group in the Drawing Tools tab (or the Drawing Group in the Home tab). Try adding a blue dotted outline to a text box. 1. Click the text box to select it. A border will appear around the text box. The Format tab with the Drawing Tools tab above it will also appear. Click on Drawing Tools or Format to make its Groups visible. 2. In the Shape Styles Group, click the arrow beside the Shape Outline button, then click the blue color box. 3. Next, click on the arrow beside the Shape Outline button again, then select Weight, and then click 3 pt. 4. When you click on the arrow beside the Shape Outline button, there is also the Dashes option in the drop-down list. Click on it, and then click the square dot dash option. The outline around the text is now a dashed line. 5. Click outside the text box to deselect it. You can access all the options in the Shape Fill and Shape Outline buttons in a single dialog box. To open the Format Shape dialog box, click on the little box with the downwards pointing arrow inside that is found in the corner of the Drawing Group in the Home tab, or in the Shape Styles Group in the Drawing Tools tab. Note: If you're in a hurry, PowerPoint 2007 has a QuickStyles feature which gives you a selection of outlines and fills you can quickly apply to your text box (or any other kind of shape). QuickStyles is found in the Drawing Group in the Home tab, or in the Shape Styles Group in the Drawing Tools tab. Click on its arrow to see all the preset styles to choose from. Holding your mouse over a style will preview it in the text box (or shape) that is selected. Click on a style you like and it's applied. Simple as that. Add special effects to a text box You may have noticed the Shape Effects button beneath the Shape Outline button in the Drawing or Shape Styles Group. This PowerPoint 2007 feature lets you quickly add a variety of neat effects to make the outline of your text box (or any other kind of shape) stand out even more. Click the arrow beside Shape Effects and a drop-down menu will appear. You can apply one or more of these effects: Preset, Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Soft Edges, Bevel or 3D Rotation. Select any of these and you will be shown a bunch of choices. As usual, holding your mouse over one will create a preview of it on your selected text box. Click on an effect to apply it. So that text box outline might wind up looking like this: A more advanced user can tweak the Shape Effects settings by opening the Format Shape dialog box.

Quick question. Let's say your text box is about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Is there anything you can do to make it look more medieval?

For starters, you could change the font to something gothic, you know, to make it fit the King Arthur theme. I'll show you how to do that next. Any chance you can get me tickets to Spamalot on Broadway?

Changing your font 1. Click anywhere on the text. The text box becomes selected with the resize handles and dashed border showing. 2. In the Home tab, the Font Group now becomes active. 3. Click on a Command button, like B for Bold, in the Font Group and it will be applied to all of the text in the selected text box automatically. To use some of the Command buttons, you need to click the arrow beside them to see the options available, such as the Font Color and Font Size buttons. 4. Try clicking the Bold button, then try changing the size to 36 and the color to green. All the text in your text box is now green, bolded, and a font size of 36. If you don't like the changes you've made, you can remove all the formatting - make the text plain again - by clicking the Command button in the top right of the Font Group. Note: There are 2 other ways you can access the Font Command buttons. The first way is to right-click on your mouse once the text box is selected. The formatting menu will appear. Only the most commonly used Command buttons are available here though. The other way is to use the Font dialog box. You can make all the font changes you want to do within the dialog box and then click OK to apply. To open the Font dialog box, click on the little box with the downwards pointing arrow inside that is found in the corner of the Font Group in the Home tab. Alternatively, you can select the Font option in the Formatting Menu when you do a right-click within the selected text box. Add special effects to your text Just as you can add effects to your text box, PowerPoint 2007 has effects you can add to your text too. When you click on text, the text box it's in becomes selected. As you saw in Whizzy Words, when selected, the Format tab appears along with the Drawing Tools. Click on Format or Drawing Tools and among the activated Groups you'll see one called WordArt Styles. This is where the text effects are. The three large letter A icons in the WordArt Styles Group is where you go to quickly apply a built-in text style. Click on the downwards arrow to see all the built-in types. Holding the mouse over one will give you an instant preview on the selected text. Click on one to apply it. In the area on the right in the WordArt Styles Group are 3 smaller A icons. They have similar functions to the 3 Shape buttons in the Shape Styles Group that was covered in Whizzy Words. The top right one is Text Fill which lets you apply a solid color, gradient, picture or texture to your text. The middle button is Text Outline which lets you specify the color, width, and linestyle of the outline of your text. The last button is the Text Effects button. Click the arrow beside Text Effects and a drop-down menu will appear. You can apply one or more of these neat effects: Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Bevel, 3D Rotation, or Transform. Select any of these options and you will be shown a bunch of choices. As usual, holding your mouse over one will create a preview of it on your selected text box. Click on an effect to apply it. Note: You can access all the options in the Text Fill, Text Outline and Text Effects buttons in a single dialog box. To open the Format Text Effects dialog box, click on the little box with the downwards pointing arrow inside that is found in the corner of the WordArt Styles Group. The Format Text Effects dialog box is also where an advanced user can further adjust the properties of a given text effect such as it's distance, transparency and angle.

Now my teleprompter is telling me to ask about changing the bullet style. Does this mean I'm going to have to put on a tie?!!

Relax, Jim. A bullet is a symbol or small graphic you can use to offset a list of text. I'm sure your viewers have seen them before. It's very easy to change bullets to suit your style.

Selecting a new bullet style 1. Click anywhere in the bulleted text. The dashed line box appears around the bulleted text. Click anywhere on the dashed line to change it to the solid line border so that all of the bulleted text is selected. 2. In the Paragraph Group in the Home tab, click on the arrow beside Bullets Command button (top left button). From the drop-down list, select Bullets and Numbering. The Bullets and Numbering dialog box will appear. 3. Click one of the bullet styles shown. 4. If you want, select a new color for the bullet in the Color list box. 5. Click OK. The new bullet style will appear in your bulleted text. Note: If you only want to change the bullet style, you don't have to use the Bullets and Numbering dialog box. Just use the drop-down list that appears when you click on the arrow beside Bullets Command button.

I liked being able to change the text box color. Can I do the same thing with the background? That will really spice things up!

Changing your background color In PowerPoint it's easy to change the background color of the slide you are working on. Let's say you want to change the color of the slide to light blue. Here's what to do: 1. Click on the Design tab. In the Background Group, click on the little box with the downwards pointing arrow inside that is found in the corner. The Format Background dialog box will appear. 2. In the Fill section, select Solid fill. 3. Click on the arrow beside the paint can button, then select More colors from the drop-down list to open the Colors dialog box. 4. In the Colors section, click a light shade of blue. 5. Click OK to close the Colors dialog box. The background color of the slide is now light blue. 6. If you like what you see, click Close. If you do not like the color, you can pick a new color using the same process. To leave the background as it originally was, click Reset Background to undo the change you made and then click Close. If a solid fill color isn't a vivid enough background for you, try out the Gradient fill, or the Picture or Texture fill options in the Format Background dialog box. With the Picture fill you can import one of your own images or use a Clip Art. You can even design a pattern with it using the Tile as texture option.

Another question. I'm a terrible speller. What happens if I'm giving a school presentation on Michael Jackson, and I say he's basically a pretty "norml" guy? People are going to think I'm the strange one.

That's why I offer a spell checker. It will flag those words and offer a correct spelling.

Checking your spelling It's a good idea to check the spelling in your presentation before the audience sees it. Let PowerPoint's spelling checker check the presentation for you. When you activate the spelling checker, it checks the spelling in all of your slides. 1. Click on the Review tab. In the Proofing Group, click the Spelling button. 2. If a spelling error is detected a Spelling dialog box appears. 3. The Spelling Checker suggests an alternative spelling in the Change to box. An additional list of suggestions may also appear below the box. 4. If you want to continue without changing the spelling, click Ignore. 5. If you want to change the spelling, enter one of the suggested alternatives in the Change To box, then click Change. After you've made your selection in the spelling dialog box, the spelling checker will continue checking the remaining slides. When it has checked all the slides in your presentation, a message box will appear telling you that the spell check is complete.

But what if for some reason you wanted to purposely misspell a word? What if my pet turtle's name was "Norml"?

PowerPoint is all about choices. You can refuse to change the spelling or even turn the spelling checker off.

Turning the automatic spell checker off PowerPoint 2007 also has an automatic spelling checker. As you type, a red wavy line appears under misspelled words. If you want to correct the spelling immediately, you right-click your mouse on the word, and a menu appears suggesting spelling alternatives. If you don't want to see wavy red lines under misspelled words as you type, you can turn the automatic spelling checker off. 1. Click on the Microsoft Office Button, then click on the PowerPoint Options. The PowerPoint Options dialog box opens. 2. Select Proofing from the list of options on the left. 3. Under When correcting spelling in PowerPoint, click the check box next to "Check spelling as you type" to deselect it. The check mark disappears. 4. Click OK to close the PowerPoint Options dialog box. The automatic spelling checker is now deactivated. Note: The automatic spelling checker is turned off, but the main spelling checker still works. You can check the spelling in your presentation at any time by clicking the Spelling button in the Proofing Group in the Review tab.

PowerPoint Pretty Frugal Fonts It's lots of fun to try out different fonts. Sometimes it can even be a bit too fun. Considering there are thousands of fonts out there, you can end up making some pretty wacky choices for your presentations - and if you are tempted to do this, imagine how your students are going to feel. Making an entire presentation in Funky Chicken Scratch may be fun for the creator, but it could end up being difficult - if not impossible - for your audience to comprehend. For this reason, it's important to choose your fonts very carefully. If a presentation contains a lot of text, it's good to use a font such as Times New Roman, which is known as a "serif" font. A "serif" is a small, decorative mark that finishes off the stroke of a letter. There are also other fonts called "sans-serif" - which means: without serif. "Sans" - as you may recall from French class - means "without." In general, it is easier to read a large amount of text when a serif font is used. Sans-serif fonts also tend to create a more casual, less-formal impression. Designers often recommend using font styles that contrast with headers from the rest of the text. A common practice is to use a sans-serif font for the header and a serif font for the body - for example: Helvetica for the header and Courier for the body. If you want to use different fonts within the same presentation, it's best to keep it down to only two or three. Using a smaller number of fonts will keep things orderly; too many different types may make it all a bit too chaotic. Like so many things in life, you'll just have to experiment before you know what works best. When you are trying to decide which fonts to use, consider how they will look on screen. Some fonts - like Verdana - tend to look better on a computer monitor. Other fonts are more suited to print. Think about which method of presentation you will use and test your font in that medium to see if it is legible. Is it visible on a computer screen or digital projector? Does the font still look good when your presentation is printed out? Tasteful Tiles When it comes to text colors and background colors and patterns, you are once again given a dizzying array of choices. While it is possible to go crazy with them, it's best to stay on the more conservative side and create something your audience can actually read. It's good to choose a high contrast between text and background colors. For example, black text on a white background is most legible. Other good combos include white text on a dark blue or purple background - or dark blue text on a yellow background. If you want to use backgrounds, avoid patterned ones. It's best to keep the background pattern as subtle as possible. Some patterns make it very difficult to read text - and we doubt you want to make your audience dizzy or nauseous. To spell check or not to spell check That is the question... Each way of going about it has its own advantages. Using the spell checker is a good way to maximize the use of time - that most precious of resources. It's pretty nice to just sit back as the computer scans the document. The downside is that you may have used a wrong word - spelled correctly - and the computer cannot point out such errors for you. The advantage to not using spell check is that it forces your students to be more careful about their spelling. The spell checker can often be a crutch that allows people to develop poor spelling habits, and that's just no good. Ultimately, however, the choice is up to you!