PowerPoint 2013: 3 Tips For a Better Presentation

what's new in office 2013

In the right hands, PowerPoint can be an extremely useful presentation tool. However, much like Excel, the low barrier to entry for PowerPoint means that anyone can get their hands on the software and that’s where the problems begin. Cue poor presentations and cringe moments. These three tips twinned with our other bite-sized tips will help you on your way to becoming a PowerPoint 2013 pro.

Zoom, Drag & Drop

Zoom in on an image, photograph, table, text and more with the new magnifying glass tool. Great for emphasising important parts of a slide, it’s reminiscent of the pinch and slide function on the iPhone / iPad. Simply click on the magnifying glass and select the area in which you’d like to zoom by hovering your cursor and right clicking. Added to this, you can also move the zoom area by holding down your left mouse button and dragging the highlighted area to another spot.

Magnify

Jump to a slide

Another great feature of the acclaimed Presenter View, the Slide Navigator allows you to switch seamlessly between slides without the kitchen sink being displayed to the audience. Useful for all types of presentations, you’ll never be left flustered again when asked to jump to a slide. Just select the navigator icon and click on the slide you wish to open.

POWERPOINT SLIDE

Laser Pointer

Merging the offline and online, the laser pen tool is a great way to highlight key areas of your presentation that you’re talking about. Particularly handy when talking an audience through a table of data, the pen has an endless number of uses. Simply select the laser tool icon (select cursor colour) and begin using your highlighter.

LASER

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16 Useful Keyboard Shortcuts in PowerPoint

save time in microsoft powerpoint with keyboard shortcutsSome people spend a lot of time working with Microsoft Office, performing the same actions over and over again. Using the mouse is a friendly and easy way to navigate around your presentations, but keyboard shortcuts can really speed up your workflow. Just a couple sprinkled throughout your week can add up to significant time savings. Even if you’re not the kind of person who likes to use keyboard shortcuts in PowerPoint, try some of these out and see how natural they become in a short amount of time.

Editing a Presentation

  • Ctrl + N : Open a new blank presentation
  • Ctrl + M : Insert a new slide
  • Ctrl + D : duplicate an object
  • Ctrl + SHIFT + D :duplicate selected slide
  • Ctrl + F1 : show/hide the ribbon
  • F5 : starts slide show from the first slide
  • SHIFT + F5 : starts slide show from the current slide
  • Ctrl + K : opens hyperlink dialogue box
  • Ctrl + W : close active window
  • Ctrl + Q : close the program
  • F4 : repeats the last action performed
  • F7 : Spell check

When in Slide Show view

  • N = next slide
  • P = Previous slide
  • B = black out the screen
  • W = white out the screen

You’ll be surprised how useful keyboard shortcuts can be once you get used to them.

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