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The Symbols tab of the Media Browser provides access to all the symbols for keyboard characters, foreign languages, registered and copyright symbols, currency, etc. -- these symbols typically need to be inserted with a combination of keystrokes, and getting to add them to your slides with a single-click access can be a boon. Figure 1 shows the Symbols tab of the Media Browser in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.


Figure 1: Symbols tab within the Media Browser

The options within the Symbols tab of Media Browser are explained below (refer to them as marked in Figure 1 above):

1. Drop-down list: Click to bring up a drop-down list, as shown in Figure 2. Within this list, you can filter the symbols shown by choosing pre-selected categories such as Currency, Fractions, etc.
   
   
   Figure 2: Categories drop-down list
   
   
2. Preview Pane: Displays the Symbols depending upon the category you choose in the drop-down list.
3. Vertical Scroll Bar: Placed towards the right of the Media Browser window, this may not be visible when there are a few symbols -- if there are more symbols than what the Preview Pane can display, the vertical scroll bar allows you to scroll the window and view more symbols. Click one of the double-headed arrows at the bottom of the vertical scroll bar, or drag the handle box in the vertical scroll bar to move up or down several symbols at a time.
4. Zoom Slider: Drag the slider to resize the Symbol previews within the Preview Pane.
5. Number: Lists the number of symbols in your Preview Pane -- this value changes depending upon the category you are browsing.
   

Inserting Symbols

There are two ways of inserting a symbol into your presentation slide:

First, simply click a symbol, it will be inserted as text into your slide at the insertion cursor's position, as shown in Figure 3.


Figure 3: Symbols inserted at the cursor insertion position

The other way is by selecting the symbol you want to insert and just drag it on the slide (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: Symbol being dragged and inserted onto the slide area

You can also right click (or Ctrl+click) on the selected symbol, and choose the Copy option from the resultant menu, as shown in Figure 5.


Figure 5: Copy the symbol

Then right click (or Ctrl+click) on the slide, and from the contextual menu chose the Paste option, or just press Command+V (see Figure 6).


Figure 6: Paste the symbol on the slide

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