Introduction

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Choose and apply a slide layout
• Add text to a placeholder
• Save and close a presentation
• Exit PowerPoint

Creating a blank presentation

PowerPoint offers three ways to create a presentation: Blank presentation , From Design Template , and From AutoContent Wizard .

The blank presentation option is one of the more commonly used methods. It offers several blank slides with layouts for text and graphics.

To create a blank presentation:

• Open PowerPoint.
• A slide featuring a place for a title and subtitle appears by default. You can begin your presentation with this slide or choose a different slide layout.

• The New Presentation Pane appears on the right side of the screen.
• Under New , click Blank Presentation .
• A list appears.

Choosing a slide layout

As you work on your presentation, think about the type of layout you want. Do you want a slide with text and a lot of clip art or one with text and a chart? PowerPoint offers several layout options.

To choose a slide layout:

• Move your arrow pointer over the layouts or use the scroll bar in the Slide Layout pane .
• A gray bar appears on the right of each layout.
• When you find a layout you like, click the down-pointing arrow and choose Apply to Selected Slide .

You can also click the slide layout to apply it. Notice that the slide you are currently working on has a dark border in the Outline pane.

Placeholders

Once you choose a layout for your slides, you can begin adding text, graphics, and other items. You do this with placeholders —special places within a slide where you can add content.

To add text to a placeholder:

• Click the placeholder.
• Start typing.

You'll learn about inserting clip art and other graphics into placeholders later in this course.

Saving a presentation

You can save, close, and exit presentations in PowerPoint just as you would with other Microsoft applications.

To save a presentation:

• Click File Save (Ctrl+S).

• Choose the location where you want to save your presentation.
• Type a name in the File Name box or keep the one PowerPoint has provided.

Closing a presentation and exiting PowerPoint

Once you've finishing working on your presentation, you can quickly close it.

To close a presentation:

• Click X in the PowerPoint presentation window (Ctrl+W).

• The PowerPoint application remains open and you can start a new presentation.

To exit PowerPoint:

• Click X in the top-right corner.

OR

• Choose File Exit (Alt+F4).

Before you exit PowerPoint, save any work you want to keep.

Creating a new presentation using the traditional method

Remember, after you have closed one presentation, you can easily start a new one while PowerPoint is still open by using the traditional new file creation method.

To start a new presentation:

• Click File New (Ctrl+N).

• In the New Presentation pane , under New choose Blank Presentation .

• Choose the design layout you want.

Remember, if your task pane disappears from the right side of the screen, click View Task Pane .

Challenge!

• Start PowerPoint.
• Choose a slide layout with a title placeholder only .
• Type the following as the title: Learning to Use PowerPoint XP .
• Familiarize yourself with the task pane on the right side of the screen. Click the down-pointing arrow in the top-right corner of the pane.
• Return to the New Presentation pane .
• Close your PowerPoint slide and save it as Learning to Use PowerPoint XP .
• Exit PowerPoint.