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Editing and Enhancing a PowerPoint Presentation

Editing and Enhancing a PowerPoint Presentation

LEARNING OUTCOMES

  • Add, delete, and move slides
  • Insert text boxes
  • Change theme on a presentation

Now that you’ve created a presentation, let’s start adding to it! If you closed your presentation after saving, you can reopen it by starting PowerPoint and selecting your presentation (i.e., To-the-Bank Retail Trends) listed under Recents.

Adding Slides

You can add a slide from either the Home tab, Insert tab or Thumbnail pane.

From the Home Tab

Screenshot of Home Tab in PowerPoint. Red circles indicate icons used to add new slides or duplicate a slide.


Figure 1. Home Tab.

  1. Click on New Slide (or Duplicate Slide, to copy the current slide layout)
  2. If you clicked New Slide, select a layout that best fits your content
  3. Press enter
Screenshot of choosing a new slide layout. The "title and content" option is selected.

From the Insert Tab

Screenshot of main PowerPoint screen. There is a column on the left showing the slides that have been created. Square in the center shows slide template.
  1. Click on New Slide
  2. Select a layout
  3. Press enter

From the Thumbnail Pane

Screenshot of main PowerPoint screen. There is a column on the left showing the slides that have been created. Square in the center shows slide template.

You can also add slides from the thumbnail pane, the lefthand column of your screen when you’re in the default or Slide view.

  1. Select (highlight) the slide you want the new slide to follow
  2. Right-click on the slide
  3. Select New Slide for the default content slide layout or Duplicate Slide to copy the slide layout and content

OR, to use a shortcut to duplicate the slide layout (not content)

  1. Select (highlight) the slide you want the new slide to follow
  2. Press Ctrl + M (PC) or Cmnd + M (Mac)

Note that your layout choice isn’t final, so don’t overthink the decision. If you’re just trying to get your thoughts down on slides, select Duplicate Slide and fine-tune later.

Deleting a Slide

As with most operations, there are multiple ways to delete a slide:

  • Highlight the slide in the thumbnail pane and press delete
  • Highlight the slide in the thumbnail pane and press the delete icon (Home tab)
  • Highlight the slide in the thumbnail pane, right click and select Delete Slide

Organizing Slides

To move a slide, simply drag and drop in the thumbnail frame.

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Inserting Text Boxes

There are multiple ways to insert text into your slides. One of the ways to enter text, as discussed earlier, is to click inside a placeholder box and enter your text. However, you may want to add text to a blank slide or in a place where there is no placeholder. To do so, select the Insert tab on the ribbon, and choose Text Box.

Screenshot of Home Tab in PowerPoint. Red circles indicate icons used to add a new textbox on a slide.

A text box will be inserted in your slide with a Click to insert text message similar to the placeholder Title and Subtitle boxes discussed earlier. The text box will expand to fit your text. If you decide you want to reposition the text box, you can click and move the text box/text around the slide. If you want to modify the width of the text box, click on a corner and drag it out as desired. The circular icon at the top of the text box activates the drawing and formatting options and allows you to rotate the text box.

Changing the Theme on a Presentation

Themes are one of the formatting options within PowerPoint. A theme is a slide design that contains pre-set colors, fonts, formatting and/or images. To view formatting options, click on the design tab and scroll through the available themes.

Screenshot of main PowerPoint screen. The top home bar shows different slide design themes. A column on the left showing the slides that have been created. A square in the center shows slide template.

Clicking on a theme’s thumbnail applies the formatting to your slides, so you can evaluate potential fit. A second group of options in the ribbon provides color variations on that design. A third option, exclusive to the online version of PowerPoint, is Design Ideas, providing additional variations; this feature is still being built out. To revert to your original format, click Undo.

One caveat: given the limited number of templates and the number of people using PowerPoint, using a standard template doesn’t do anything to distinguish you or your message. Instead of selecting a standard template, use thoughtful images and complementary fonts to add design impact.

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

 

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