PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Apply Reflection Effects to Shapes

Effects are a cool feature in PowerPoint that lets your shapes stand out. No longer you have to be content with flat shapes that appear to be depressed within the slide itself. Having said that, moderation is the key — do not go overboard with the effects! In our series on Shape Effects in PowerPoint 2011, you have already explored how you can apply a Shadow Effect to any selected shape. In this tutorial, you will learn how you can quickly add reflection to a shape. So what’s the difference between a shadow and a reflection? A shadow is typically of one color, normally gray and is influenced by the direction of a light source. Reflection is also dependent on light but it shows all the colors of the original object in a blurred way — as in the reflection on water or glass.

Learn how to apply Reflection effects to a selected shapes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2011
Tagged as: Effects, Office for Mac, PowerPoint 2011, Tutorials

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Resize Text Boxes

Text boxes in PowerPoint need to be moved and resized within different areas of the slide. While you may think that selecting and resizing is all that is to be done, that’s not the entire truth because there’s so much more you can do even with mere resizing — if you know that these options exist! In a previous tutorial, you learnt how to move text boxes on a slide. As suggested in that tutorial, you should only resize text boxes, and not text placeholders on the slide since the positioning of the latter is normally controlled by the Slide Master. Typically text placeholders for regular text content or even slide titles are located in the same position on successive slides — so if you really do need to resize a text placeholder, do it within the Slide Master so that this change of size happens on all slides, providing a consistent look to your presentation.

Learn how to resize text boxes on a slide in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: PowerPoint 2010, Text, Tutorials

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Advanced Shadow Effect Options

Adding a shadow to a shape can give it more depth and you probably get that perfect shadow the first time you use PowerPoint’s default shadow options, as already explained in our Apply Shadow effects to Shapes tutorial. However, there are times when you want that shadow to be a wee bit longer, or just a little less pronounced. Fortunately, that’s possible and quite easy to achieve.

Learn how you can tweak the Shadow effects that you apply to shapes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2011
Tagged as: Effects, Office for Mac, PowerPoint 2011, Tutorials

Learn PowerPoint 2010: Text Box Autofit Options

Have you seen that PowerPoint automatically reduces the size of your text when you type in too much text? Or does the text box itself increase in size when you type in a sentence or two more than what can fit into the text box? Does this automatic hand-holding by PowerPoint drive you crazy and want to hit your head on the wall? Well, you really don’t have to worry because you can make PowerPoint behave itself — and bend it to your will. You can make these changes in two places — and which place you choose to make these changes will depend upon how much control you want.

Learn about text box autofit options in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: PowerPoint 2010, Text, Tutorials

Circlify: The Indezine Review

PowerPoint makes a great drawing program — however it is not too easy to duplicate content such as shapes, especially in a repeated pattern without summoning too many dialog boxes. However, tasks such as these can be made super simple — probably more simple than even doing it in a dedicated drawing program using Circlify, a third party add-in for PowerPoint. Circlify lets you quickly create circular graphics and intricate illustrations for icons, logos, illustrations, etc.

Read the Indezine review of Circlify.

Filed Under: Companion Programs
Tagged as: Add-in, PowerPoint, Review