My 8 Best PowerPoint Hacks

I live in PowerPoint. Over the thousands of hours I have invested in typing to get this somewhat frustrating program to behave I have discovered some tricks and techniques that help me get to where I need to go. Here are my favorite eight.

  1. Avoid reformatted slides from another computer. One of PowerPoints most frustrating problems is that when you are copying slides from one deck to another it reformats your slides to conform with the new theme. You can head this off by using the PASTE > KEEP SOURCE FORMATTING command. You can access it with a right mouse click as you paste or HOME > PASTE > down arrow > KEEP SOURCE FORMATTING.
  2. Avoid font substitutions – use paste as graphic. PowerPoint does not play nice with fonts. If you transfer your deck to another computer your non-standard or decorative fonts will not go along for the ride. There are two solutions. 1) Go to FILE > OPTIONS > SAVE Scroll to the bottom and select EMBEDDED FONTS IN FILE. This will embed your TruType fonts and they will be available on other PCs. They will not be available on Macs.

Another solution is to copy the shape your decorative text is in to the clipboard and then right clip > PASTE as PICTURE. The text will now be a graphic and will copy to any other computer. NOTE: You will not be able to edit the text once you have converted it so be sure of what you want. (You can also keep a copy of the live text in the margins on the original computer in case you have to go back and change something.)

  1. Setup slides for screen size, audio and video. Before your audience ever walks in you should test everything. These 3 slides will help you head of some nasty and embarrassing snafus especially if you are using a different computer than the one your deck was created on.
  • The first is simply a slide with a black rectangle filling the entire slide. There is a medium thick white border around the rectangle. Add 2 similar white lines to make an “X” in the center of the slide to help you focus. This is my first slide. It helps me focus and frame the projector and screen if it is a portable setup.
  • The second setup slide is simple a copy of any slide that has an audio embedded in it. I want to check the sound hookups and levels to make sure my audience will be able to hear it clearly without it being too soft or loud.
  • The third setup slide is a copy of any slide that has a video embedded in it. If there is more than one video make a copy of each slide and test each one. Many systems do not have all the necessary video drivers. Best to know that before you start.
  • While you are running through these setup slides why not go through the entire presentation and look for strange formatting and font substitutions.
  1. Use glow to separate text from background. I love to use full screen images and photographs for their powerful effect. When I want to overlay type on that image it can be hard to read. One solution is to put the type in a rectangle or other shape with a suitable fill color. Another very attractive technique is to create a glow effect behind the type (you can do the same thing with a graphic). Select the shape the type is in and then FORMAT > TEXT EFFECTS > GLOW. Scroll to the bottom of the pop up and select GLOW OPTION. Then play with the various options and colors to see the best effect. I usually default to a white glow.
  2. Move items between layers. Many PowerPoint users don’t know that the program builds slides based on layers. You can easily move elements between layers by selecting FORMAT > BRING FORWARD or FORMAT > SEND BACKWARD.
  3. Semitransparent shapes. This is another of my go to techniques to separate text or graphics from a confusing underlying graphic. You simply place a rectangle or other shape between the top layer and the background. Move the shape between the correct layers by using the FORMAT > BRING FORWARD or FORMAT > SEND BACKWARD described above. The cool effect of this is to make the in-between layer semitransparent. Select the shape and the select FORMAT > SHAPE FILL > MORE FILL COLORS. The pop up allows you to select a color plus there is a transparency slider at the bottom. I generally prefer white or black and I start experimenting at 30%
  4. Use picture > format > corrections for minor images adjustments without photoshop. If you have imported an image and it needs a little contrast or lightness tweaking use this: FORMAT > CORRECTIONS. You will be able to select from a range of contrast and brightness options without needing to edit the original image.
  5. Video setup slide. It is not uncommon for presenters to be surprised when they click the next slide and suddenly, they are in the middle of a running video before they have had a chance to verbally set it up. To solve this, I create a still from that video and paste it into a slide just before the video. Then when the speaker gets to the slide with the still they know they should introduce it and they know the next slide will be the video itself. Create the still this way: Run the video and then create a screen grab WINDOWS KEY > PRT SC. Then paste it into another slide.