PowerPoint Blog
Labels: photos, powerpoint_2007, powerpoint_2010, tutorials
One of the worst things that you can do to your PowerPoint presentation is to add a busy, multi-colored background to your slides. However, people do that all the time and in the process, they compromise the subtlety and contrast of any content on their slides. One option is to recolor your backgrounds to make them more understated, and I do agree that this is a slightly difficult task to accomplish unless you use the new Recolor options available for pictures in both PowerPoint 2007 and 2010.
Learn more here...
Categories: photos, powerpoint_2007, powerpoint_2010, tutorials
Labels: add-in, charting, interviews, powerpoint, powerpoint_2007, powerpoint_2010
Pallav Nadhani is the co-founder and CTO of InfoSoft Global. He co-authored a book on combining the power of Flash and .NET called 'Flash.NET' at the age of 17 and has written several technical articles for international journals ever since. An MS in Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh, he is the founder and lead developer of FusionCharts, the industry's leading Flash charting component.
In this conversaton, Pallav talks about oomfo, an add-in for PowerPoint that adds animated and interactive charts.
Geetesh: What exactly is Oomfo, and how does it work within PowerPoint?
Pallav: oomfo is a charting add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint (2003, 2007 and 2010) that helps render animated and interactive charts within PowerPoint, all using a simple to use GUI. It is powered by FusionCharts Suite which is the industry leader in Flash Charting.
oomfo allows you to import data from Excel, CSV, HTML tables and many other data sources. You can use its smart GUI to enter data or convert data from various sources into a chart. The wide gamut of configuration option lets you configure the chart to look exactly like you want it to.
oomfo offers a variety of 2D and 3D chart types that are highly interactive. All charts support tool-tip. Pie and doughnut charts support dynamic rotation, slicing and transformation from 2D to 3D. The True 3D chart supports dynamic camera angle rotation. Plus, there are business oriented charts like waterfall/cascade charts which are not present in PowerPoint, as well as charts that let you visually drag-drop-n-change data during the course of your presentation - this is just perfect in scenarios like when you're collectively trying to decide on sales projection for the next quarter.
Geetesh: How does Oomfo compare to PowerPoint�s native charts � and are they editable once inserted? Also how do they work within the upcoming PowerPoint 2010 version?
Pallav: PowerPoint has always offered charts and graphs as default. But then, there was only so much you could do with it. No matter how hard you tried, boring could never be beautiful. The need of the hour? To add some real oomph � oomfo. So, there you go! oomfo transforms mundane data into stunning visuals and adds the oomph quotient to your presentations. While at it, oomfo lets you edit and manipulate your data with incredible ease. It helps you captivate your audience in a unique way.
The charts are totally editable even after insertion. In fact, even when you export the charts to run on another machine (without oomfo), once oomfo is installed on that machine, you can edit those exported charts as well. Such is the flexibility and portability offered by oomfo. Additionally, you can also export the charts generated by oomfo within your slides as image if you want to upload to sites like SlideShare.
We're currently also working on enabling drill-down charts within PowerPoint. Say for example, you've a chart that shows yearly sales of three years (say 2007,2008 and 2009). Now, in a typical PowerPoint slide, if you were to show detailed data of the year 2007, 2008 and 2009, you'll possibly add one slide per such chart. With oomfo, you can create linked charts (containing detailed data of 2007, 2008 and 2009) that show up in your presentation when a particular year is clicked in the main chart. This lets you build full dashboards and reporting within your PowerPoint slides without the need for your IT team. And this can be shared with anyone across the world.
oomfo works flawlessly with PowerPoint 2010 as well.
Categories: add-in, charting, interviews, powerpoint, powerpoint_2007, powerpoint_2010
Labels: maps, office_online, powerpoint_2007, powerpoint_2010, tutorials
In a previous tutorial I showed you how to download vector map files from the Microsoft Office website. In this tutorial you'll learn how to ungroup these files. Our example looks at a map of the United States of America that also shows each individual state -- your map may be different but the principles explained below will be useful. With your downloaded file ready, follow these steps to place the downloaded file in PowerPoint 2007 - 2010 and ungroup it.
Read more here...
Categories: maps, office_online, powerpoint_2007, powerpoint_2010, tutorials
Labels: maps, office_online, powerpoint_2007, powerpoint_2010, tutorials
One of the most frequently asked questions in the PowerPoint forums is about having access to a map of the United States of America on a slide that has each state available as a separate selectable shape. In this tutorial you'll learn how to do just that by first downloading a suitable map clip art file from Microsoft Office.com website.
Learn more here...
Categories: maps, office_online, powerpoint_2007, powerpoint_2010, tutorials
Labels: animation, powerpoint_2010
The PowerPoint 2010 team has put up this new video on their YouTube channel that shows how effective the new hardware accelerated animation engine is compared to what you could expect in PowerPoint 2007. Very cool stuff!
Categories: animation, powerpoint_2010
Labels: powerpoint_2010
I created this poll for all of us to know how many have tried the new PowerPoint 2010 beta, and if others are considering playing with this new beta version -- so do vote and see what every one is responding with!
As one respondent on my LinkedIn group responded: "Yeah, my company is on 2003, and here I am with 2007 at home, and beta testing 2010 :)"!!!!!
Vote and view responses here...
Categories: powerpoint_2010
Labels: office_2010, powerpoint_2010
The Office 2010 Beta is now available for everyone! You can download the Office 2010 Beta applications and run it on your computer, or even try out the online Office Web Apps.
The Office 2010 Beta site has more info including video clips, lists of new features, etc.
Just in case you do download the Office 2010 Beta, do remember that this is beta software. Don't run it on a system that's your main work environment! You can however use the wonders of virtualization to run Office 2010 Beta on Virtual PC or VMware.
Virtual PC is a free virtualization software from Microsoft that runs on Microsoft Windows. VMware offers its Workstation and Fusion products that can run a separate, virtual instance of Windows on Windows or Mac.
Getting back to Microsoft Office 2010 Beta, here's the official press release. And look out for PowerPoint 2010 related info here...
Categories: office_2010, powerpoint_2010
Labels: interviews, powerpoint_2010
Microsoft Talk is a new podcast series from Abhishek Baxi and Manan -- and Geetesh Bajaj has been featured in the second episode of this series as a guest. Hear this podcast to know more about PowerPoint, Indezine, Geetesh, and the upcoming Office 2010 -- also get some free templates for PowerPoint by sending some comments!
Get headed here...
Categories: interviews, powerpoint_2010
Labels: office_2010, powerpoint_2010
PowerPoint 2010 is so much awaited, and it's great to know that Microsoft has unwrapped some information on what's new in this upcoming release of the world's leading presentation program.
The new Office 2010 site has videos that show new features for all of the Office 2010 programs including PowerPoint. PowerPoint 2010 provides cool Artistic Effects for photos with live previews. New transitions have been added, and the Animation Painter option copies animations from one slide object to another, and that's so cool if you have added and fine-tuned your animation sequences and timings for one object and want it repeated on another! There are new video options including reflections for video clips, video trimming capabilities, and new navigation controls. File compression works better and you can save your PowerPoints as video clips. New Slide Sections lets you organize your slides into logical sections. SharePoint integration gets better with the Broadcast feature for slide shows that lets you show your presentations to other in their web browsers!
This embedded video from YouTube shows you more.
And I cover the rest of the Office 2010 applications in my new Techmazine site: see What's New in Office 2010?
Categories: office_2010, powerpoint_2010
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