Dandy Designs


Okay, we've got the stars where the aliens came from, and we've got a picture of the goldfish that they stole. But what about the potato resembling Jessica Simpson that they left in the fish's place? I bet you don't have that in your clip art library!


You're right, Jim. As much as I wish I had a picture of that potato, I don't. But I'm an agile program. If you can scan it, draw it, or take a picture of it with a camera, I can use it in a presentation. Anything goes. Here, let me show you.


Adding your own works of art
You are not restricted to using clip art or pictures from the Clip Art gallery. PowerPoint lets you insert images from other sources.

Let's say you've used a graphics program to create an amazing logo for your school, and you want to insert the logo into your PowerPoint presentation. Here's how to do it:

    1. Click the Picture button in the Illustrations Group in the Insert tab. The Insert Picture dialog box will appear.

Inserting your own image

    2. In the Look in box, find the drive and folder where the artwork is located.

    3. In the File name box, enter the name of the file. Then click the Insert button.

Insert Picture dialog box

    4. The drawing is inserted on the slide.


Okay, but what if we're working with images and they get piled up on top of each other? Then the image you need is in the back and you can't get to it!


Oh, I hate it when that happens. That's why I have an ordering function that solves the problem. After all, if you have a picture of a pizza and another picture of some sliced pepperoni, you're going to need that picture of the pepperoni on top. Am I right?


Of course you're right. Who likes their pepperoni under their pizza? Yuck!


Layering images
Sometimes you may end up with images overlapping each other on a slide. Let's say you've created a design where three different colored squares are layered on top of each other: a blue square at the back, a yellow square in the middle, and an orange square in front.

You want to send the orange square to the back layer. How do you get it there?

Moving a layer

Try these steps:

    1. Click the orange square to select it.

    2. In the Drawing Group in the Home tab, click on the Arrange button. A drop-down menu appears.

    3. From the list, click on Send to Back. Alternatively, click the Drawing Tools tab or Format tab, go to the Arrange Group and then click the Send to Back button.

Send to back command

    4. Although the orange square has been moved to the back layer, its actual position on the slide remains the same. If you want to see it located behind the blue square, you need to actually move the orange square.

Orange square is now in the back


To bring the orange square back to the front.

    1. Click the orange square to select it.

    2. In the Drawing Group in the Home tab, click the Arrange button and from the drop-down menu select Bring to Front. Alternatively, click the Drawing Tools tab or Format tab, go to the Arrange Group and then click the Bring to Front button.

Move forward command



Note:
When you have several objects layered in a slide, you might only want to move it forward or back by one layer, rather than bring it all the way to the front or back. To do this, use the Bring Forward and Send Backward options in the drop-down menu of the Arrange button. You can also access these commands by clicking the arrow beside the Bring to Front and Send to Back buttons in the Arrange Group.


One other thing... You can add shadows to shapes. It's just another cool feature I have.


This is just amazing. My producer is telling me to cut to a commercial, but I'm ignoring him. Please, tell me more!


Adding shadows to images
Let's try adding a shadow to a shape using the Shadow button.

    1. Click the shape to select it.

    2. In the Shape Styles Group located in the Drawing Tools tab, or in the Drawing Group in the Home tab, click the arrow beside the Shape Effects button. From the drop-down menu, click Shadow.

    3. Another window appears beside the drop-down list with all the style options you can choose from for a shadow. Hold your mouse over any style to see an instant preview of it on the selected shape. Click on the style you like and it will be applied.

Selecting a shadow style

Cool shadows!


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