PowerPoint 2010 Slide Basics
Author: mety Labels:: PowerPoint 2010 Slide Basics
PowerPoint 2010
Slide Basic
Introduction
PowerPoint includes all the features you need to produce professional-looking presentations. When you create a PowerPoint presentation, it is made up of a series of slides. The slides contain the information you want to communicate with your audience. This information can include text, pictures, charts, video, sound, and more.
Before you begin adding information to slides, you need to know the basics of working with slides. In this lesson, you will learn how to insert new slides, modify a layout, change your presentation view, and more.
Slide Basics
Watch the video (3:58). Need help?
Watch the video to learn about the basics of working with PowerPoint slides.
About Slides
Slides contain placeholders, which are areas on the slide that are enclosed by dotted borders. Placeholders can contain many different items, including text, pictures, charts, and more. Some placeholders have placeholder text, or text that you can replace. They also have thumbnail-sized icons that represent specific commands such as Insert Picture, Insert Chart, and Insert Clip Art. In PowerPoint, hover over each icon to see the type of content you can insert in a placeholder.
PowerPoint slide with placeholdersAbout Slide Layouts
The placeholders are arranged in different layouts that can be applied to existing slides, or chosen when youinsert a new slide. A slide layout arranges your content using different types of placeholders, depending on what kind of information you might want to include in your presentation.
In the example above, the layout is called Title and Content and includes title and content placeholders. While each layout has a descriptive name, you can also tell from the image of the layout how the placeholders will be arranged.
Slide layout menuCustomizing Slide Layouts
To Change the Layout of an Existing Slide:
- Select the slide you wish to change.
Selecting a slide
- Click the Layout command in the Slides group on the Home tab. A menu will appear with your options.
Layout command
- Choose a layout from the menu. The slide will change in the presentation.
Choosing a layout
To Delete a Placeholder:
You can easily customize your layout by deleting unwanted or "extra" placeholders from any slide.
- Position your mouse on the dotted border of the placeholder so it changes to a cross with arrows
.
- Click the border to select it.
A selected placeholder
- Press Backspace or Delete on your keyboard. The placeholder will be removed from the slide.
To Add a Text Box:
Text boxes allow you to add to your current layout, so you can place text wherever you want on your slide.
- From the Insert tab, click the Text Box command.
Text Box command
- Your cursor will turn into an upside-down cross
.
Text Box cursor
- Click, hold, and drag your mouse to draw a text box. A text box will appear.
A text box
Explore our Text Basics lesson to learn more about inserting and using text boxes in PowerPoint 2010.
To Use a Blank Slide:
For more control over your content, you may prefer a blank slide (a slide without placeholders) over one of the existing layouts. Blank slides can be customized by adding your own text boxes, pictures, charts, and more.
- Select Blank from the menu of layout options.
- From the Home tab, click the bottom half of the New Slide command to open the menu of slide layout options.
New Slide command
- Select the slide you want to insert.
- A new slide will be added your presentation.
- On the Slides tab in the left pane, select the slide you wish to copy.
- Click the Copy command on the Home tab. You can also right-click your selection and choose Copy.
Copy command
- In the left pane, click just below a slide (or between two slides) to choose the location where you want the copy to appear. A horizontal insertion point will mark the location.
Slide insertion point
- Click the Paste command on the Home tab. You can also right-click and choose Paste. The copied slide will appear.
Paste command
- Select the slide you wish to duplicate.
- Click the New Slide command.
- Choose Duplicate Selected Slides from drop-down menu.
Duplicate Selected Slides command
- A copy of the selected slide appears underneath the original.
A duplicated slid
- Select the slide you wish to delete.
- Press the Delete or Backspace key on your keyboard.
- Select the slide you wish to move.
Choosing a blank slideWorking with Slides
To Insert a New Slide:
To instantly add a slide that uses the same layout as the one you have selected, simply click the top half of theNew Slide command.
New SlideTo Copy and Paste a Slide:
To select multiple slides, press and hold Ctrl on your keyboard, and click the slides you wish to select.
To Duplicate a Slide:
An alternative to Copy and Paste, Duplicate copies the selected slide and, in one step, pastes it directly underneath. This feature does not allow you to choose the location of the copied slide (nor does it offer Paste Options for advanced users), so it is more convenient for quickly inserting similar slides.
To Delete a Slide:
To Move a Slide:
Slide insertion pointRelease the mouse button. The slide will appear in the new location.
