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Introducing the Task Pane
How the Task Pane works

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Introducing the Task Pane

The Task Pane is a docked window within the PowerPoint 2007 interface that provides more options than normal dialog boxes -- also unlike most dialog boxes, you can view both the active slide(s) and the Task Pane at the same time -- thus the task panes provide a more streamlined workflow.

Task Panes made their debut with PowerPoint 2002 (XP) -- and for most of the time, they work in exactly the same way in PowerPoint 2007 except for one big difference -- you can now have more than one Task Pane visible at the same time.

Usually, the Task Pane is docked on the right side of the interface without covering the slide area. Also, the Task Pane is not visible all the time -- it appears only if you select Task Pane options like Custom Animation, Clip Art, Research, Selection and Visibility, etc.

Figure 1 shows the PowerPoint 2007 interface without any Task Pane. Later in this page, I'll show you how you can summon the Task Pane.


Figure 1: PowerPoint 2007 interface

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How the Task Pane Works

To make the Task Pane visible, follow these steps:

1. Open any presentation in PowerPoint 2007.
   
   
2. Choose the Animations tab of the Ribbon as shown in Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: Animations tab
   
   Now click the Custom Animation button from the Animations group.
   
   
3. This brings up the Custom Animation Task Pane that you can see in Figure 3 (highlighted in red) -- on the right side of the interface.
   
   
   Figure 3: Custom Animation Task Pane
   
   
4. Select any object on the slide to find more options in the Task Pane as shown in Figure 4.
   
   
   Figure 4: Custom Animation Task Pane
   
   
   Tip - You can drag the Task Pane anywhere you want -- this works great if you have a dual monitor set up -- in that case, drag the Task pane to the other monitor so that you have a larger area for your slide.

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