Unit 1 PowerPoint Basics

Trusty Toolbars Handy Help Techie Terms Cool for School

Finding the toolbars

The toolbars contain graphically illustrated buttons that you click to

perform specific tasks in a program. PowerPoint has four main

toolbars, which can help you create your presentations quickly and

easily.

The Standard Toolbar is located at the top of the PowerPoint

window, below the menu bar. It has buttons for common tasks such

as saving, printing, checking spelling, and inserting charts and

tables.

The Formatting Toolbar is located just below the standard

toolbar. Most of its buttons are for formatting text. Use these

buttons to change the font type or size, make text bold or

italic, indent text, and insert bullets.

The Drawing Toolbar is located at the bottom of the

PowerPoint window. It has tools for drawing shapes, adding

lines and curves, and inserting text boxes and WordArt. It also

has buttons for manipulating and formatting the objects you

draw.

Moving the toolbars to new locations

All PowerPoint toolbars can be moved or docked to any side of

the PowerPoint window. Also, docked toolbars, including the

Standard Toolbar, the Formatting Toolbar, and the Drawing

Toolbar, can be converted to floating toolbars.

Here's how to move one of the

toolbars to a new location:

1. Click the move handle on a

docked toolbar, or click the title

bar on a floating toolbar.

2. Holding down the mouse

button, drag the toolbar to the

new location.

Watch this technique in action!

Docking a toolbar

Try docking a toolbar to the top of the PowerPoint window. This

will give you more working area on your PowerPoint window.

1. Click the title bar on the

toolbar.

2. Drag the toolbar upwards,

until the toolbar outline

snaps into place along the

edge of the program window.

If you see move handles on the toolbar, you know it is successfully docked.

Adding and removing toolbars

PowerPoint has several other toolbars to help you accomplish

your tasks.

The Picture Toolbar has several buttons that are useful when

you work with images. There are buttons for Contrast,

Brightness, and Cropping. This toolbar will automatically

appear when you insert clip art or pictures.

The Animation Effects Toolbar has buttons for working with

animations, and the Web Toolbar helps you create

presentations on the Internet. There's also a Reviewing Toolbar,

a WordArt Toolbar, and a Control Box Toolbar. When you're a

more advanced user, you may wish to add some of these

toolbars to your PowerPoint window. Let's say you want to add

the animation effects toolbar. Here's what you do:

1. Click the View menu, and

then point to Toolbars.

2. In the submenu, click the

check box next to

animation effects. An

animation effects toolbar

appears in the PowerPoint

window.

Removing a toolbar

PowerPoint lets you remove toolbars you don't need. Try

removing the animation effects toolbar you just activated.

1. Click the View menu, and then point to Toolbar.

2. In the submenu, click the check box next to

animation effects to deselect it.

The check mark disappears and the animation effects toolbar

is removed from your PowerPoint window.

Activating and Using the Office Assistant:

The Office Assistant is an animated help system that answers

your questions, and offers tips and helpful suggestions as

you work. The standard Office Assistant character is Mr. Clipit

an animated paperclip but you can change the Office

Assistant's character at any time.

To activate the Office Assistant, click the Office Assistant

button on the Standard Toolbar.

Or click the Help menu, then click Microsoft PowerPoint Help.

The Office Assistant appears, ready to assist you.

Once the Office Assistant is activated, it "observes" your work and

offers tips or suggestions. A yellow bulb above the Office Assistant

indicates that it has a tip.

You can ask the Office Assistant to help you perform tasks in

PowerPoint. Let’s say you want to find out how to insert a

graphic. Here's what you do:

1. Click the Office Assistant. A callout appears, asking you what you want to do.

You can ask the Office Assistant to help you perform tasks in

PowerPoint. Let’s say you want to find out how to insert a

graphic. Here's what you do:

2. Type in your request. For example, type "insert a graphic.” A list of related help topics will appear.

You can ask the Office Assistant to help you perform tasks in

PowerPoint. Let’s say you want to find out how to insert a

graphic. Here's what you do:

3. Select a help topic from the list. (Click See More for more options.) The help topic is displayed.

Using PowerPoint Vocabulary

Here are some terms in PowerPoint 97 that are useful to

know.

Slide: An individual screen in a slide show.

Presentation File: The file you save to disk that contains

all the slides, speaker’s notes, handouts, etc. that make

up your presentation.

Object: Any element that appears on a PowerPoint slide,

such as clip art, text, drawings, charts, sounds, and video

clips. You can refer to a clip art object, a text object, a

title object, a drawing object, etc.

Slide Show: A series of slides displayed in sequence. A

slide show can be controlled manually or automatically.

Transition: A special effect used to introduce a slide

during a slide show. For example, you can fade in from

black, or dissolve from one slide to another.

UNIT 1

Obviously you are a teacher with a pioneering spirit. So, no

doubt, you'll want to teach your students how to create

multimedia presentations using PowerPoint. Before you get your

students all excited about funky animations and nifty sound

effects, you'll have to equip them with a few PowerPoint

essentials.

First and foremost, you have to talk the talk. Introduce your

students to PowerPoint vocabulary by doing a live demonstration

of all the different terms you will be using. Explain the difference

between a slide and an object. Show how a transition is a part of

a slide show. To make sure everyone is on the same wavelength,

follow-up your demonstration with a worksheet.

PowerPoint comes with many toolbars-fifteen of them, to be exact.

Don't worry about introducing your students to all of them. Concentrate

on the four main toolbars that appear when you first open the program.

You might want to consider introducing the toolbars one at a time. To

start, you can hide all of the toolbars. When your students need to

format text or add graphics, show them how to add the appropriate

toolbar and teach them the function of each button.

The toolbar-by-toolbar approach sounds radical, but what better way to

prevent your students from clicking every button in sight. Teaching

PowerPoint one toolbar at a time also keeps your students focused and

gives you a nice, systematic way of introducing the program's features

and functions.

Before you introduce the Office Assistant to your students, consider whether it will be

beneficial to them. Will your students be able to read and comprehend the words in

Office Assistant. Can they navigate through the Help files without your assistance? Do

you have enough class time to let students explore this feature? Will your students

become as addicted to animating with the Office Assistant as you are?

Note: If you haven't discovered this yet, hold your mouse over the Office Assistant and click your

"right" mouse button. Choose Animate from the pop-up menu and be prepared for a surprise.

Take the Quick Quiz to test your knowledge!

UNIT 1:  PowerPoint Basics

1. You know a toolbar is successfully docked

when…

a. it moves to the side of the page.

b. it turns a different color.

c. move handles appear on it.

d. a loud whistling sound comes from your computer

speakers.

Click on the correct answer.

A toolbar is successfully docked when move handles appear on it.

2. The standard toolbar does NOT perform which

of the following tasks?

a. Saving your presentation

b. Changing the font size

c. Inserting charts and tables

d. Printing your presentation

Click on the correct answer.

The standard toolbar completes tasks such as saving and printing your presentation and inserting charts and tables. However, it is not used to change font size.

3. The toolbar that includes tools to insert shapes,

textboxes, lines, and textboxes.

a. Formatting

b. Standard

c. Picture

d. Drawing

Click on the correct answer.

The Drawing Toolbar has tools for

drawing shapes, adding lines and

curves, and inserting text boxes

and WordArt.

4. An individual screen in a slide show is called

a(n):

a. Object

b. Slide

c. Presentation file

d. Picture

Click on the correct answer.

A SLIDE is an individual screen

in a slide show.

A slide

5. A special effect used to introduce a slide during

a slide show is called a(n):

a. Turn

b. Transition

c. Animation

d. Flash

Click on the correct answer.

A TRANSITION is a special

effect used to introduce a

slide.

you have successfully completed the Quick Quiz!