Ressources Powerpoint

In this unit we will look at the main types of content that might be included on a slide.

Getting Started explained how to add text and simple shapes to a slide. Here we will insert a new ‘Title and Content’ slide but, rather than type in any text, we will look at the 6 content icons that appear in the middle of our slide. In this unit we will just cover the basic uses of these content types. Later units will examine their more detailed properties and capabilities.

The six content icons allow us to add the following types of object:

• Table
• Chart
• Graphic
• Picture
• Clip art
• Media clip (movie)

We will set up six new slides, each including the different content types in turn.

Table

For each of our new slides we will type in an appropriate title and then click on the relevant content type icon. First we want to insert a table. This is often used to present financial information in a series of columns and rows but can be used whenever you need to include text or numbers in a grid

For a table you will be asked to choose the number of columns and rows

When you click 'OK' the table will be created ready for you to enter the required text

Chart

Charts are an alternative way to present numeric information and are particularly useful when you need to show the underlying message revealed by a large set of numbers or statistics

For a chart you first need to choose the type of chart. (Of course, Excel is the real ‘home’ of the charting functionality in the Office applications and our sister course on Excel goes into far greater detail on the whole area of creating and using charts.)

Once you have selected the most appropriate chart type to convey your message, you will see an Excel spreadsheet containing some default data that the chart is based on

You will need to overwrite the data with your own data. You can delete or insert columns or rows as required, then resize the data range by dragging the bottom right hand corner of the blue rectangle

Your PowerPoint chart will show the new data

Graphic

SmartArt Graphics have evolved from the rather more limited business diagrams available in Office 2003 and before. Whenever you want to present information diagrammatically, or in any kind of structured way, it’s probably worth considering SmartArt

Here is the gallery of potential SmartArt diagrams. Note that the ‘Picture’ category was introduced in the 2010 version and wasn’t available in the 2007 release

You can choose whichever type of graphic you want. Here we have chosen an organisation chart from the 'Hierarchy' section

SmartArt has its own set of editing and formatting tools included in the Design and Format contextual ribbons which appear whenever a SmartArt graphic is selected

Picture From File

You can use several methods to include a picture on your slide. If the picture exists as a file somewhere on your system you can use the ‘Picture from File’ option. There is also an indexed ‘Clip Art’ gallery that includes a wide range of different content types, including pictures. The benefit of using the gallery is the ability to search for a relevant picture – so, if you want to emphasise a point you are making about ‘change’ you could search the Clip Art gallery for ‘change’. You can also paste any copied picture or graphic directly to a slide from the clipboard (e.g. by pressing Ctrl V).

In this unit, we are covering the content icons so we’ll start with the Picture From File option

We then need to browse to locate the picture to include

Just like the SmartArt graphic, the Picture Tools options have their own ribbon and are common to the other office applications

Here's an example of some of the effects available. Here we have used the Recolor option, Brightness, a Picture Style and then Reflection and 3D Rotation effects

Clip Art

Here we have used the Clip Art task pane ‘Search for:’ box to find an illustration of ‘change’

Once again the Picture Tools ribbon tab is available to edit our object.

Media Clip

Just like when inserting a picture from a file, the ‘Insert Media Clip’ lets you browse through your system to find the video or movie file that you want to use.

There is a Video Tools ribbon to control the Format of the video and a Playback ribbon to set playback options