Page 148 of PowerPoint tutorials, presentation essentials, personality interviews, and PowerPoint news.
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Product/Version: PowerPoint
September 25, 2013
Any typical chart inserted in PowerPoint contains two types of data -- one of these show as the Series within your charts, and the second data type ends up representing Categories. By default, the Series are shown as the individual chart elements -- for example as individual columns in a column chart. Also, the Series show up as the Legend for the chart. Categories on the other hand constitute the groups of these individual columns. If needed, you can quickly swap the visual representation of Series and Categories in the chart.
Learn how to switch data for your Series and Categories in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.
September 24, 2013
In this issue, we first explore this new set of Sticky Tape graphics, all with a distinctive polka dot pattern. We then bring you a list of rarely known keyboard sequences that work almost like keyboard shortcuts -- learn how you can use these sequences to change views and align objects in PowerPoint. PowerPoint 2013 for Windows users can learn how to space objects, group shapes, and nudge them. PowerPoint 2011 for Mac users can explore tricks with chart series. And finally, do not miss the new discussions and templates of this week!
Read Indezine's PowerPoint and Presenting News.
September 24, 2013
If your PowerPoint slide has umpteen shapes or slide objects, you may find that some of these objects are hidden or overlapped. Or you probably do not know if there are any objects hidden behind the large shape or picture on your slide? How can you tackle this issue? It's easy to solve this problem if you know how to work with the Reorder options. These Reorder options allow you to bring forward any shape or slide object so that it stays right on top of all other objects. Similarly, you can send any shape or slide object behind everything else on your slide.
Learn how to change the order of shapes and other slide objects in PowerPoint 2013.
September 23, 2013
Sam Horn, well known as the Intrigue Expert delivered the first keynote session for this year's Presentation Summit on Monday morning. She started with three questions we all need to ask ourselves: Are you eager to get up in the morning? What are you good at that you can point at? How do you know that you are making a difference?
September 23, 2013
OK, so you want to change the order of your data series? Let's say your data series are Grapes, Apples, and Bananas -- and these show up in exactly the same order. Now, what if you want to change this order to Grapes, Bananas, and Apples? Yes, you could make these changes in the Excel sheet that contains the data for your PowerPoint chart -- but there must be an easier way? Indeed, there is -- read further to learn.
Learn how to change the order in which chart data series display in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.
September 20, 2013
These "sticky tape" graphics have polka dot patterns and are already placed in PowerPoint slides – just copy them and paste within your slides to create a look that makes a picture, shape, or anything else appear as if it has been stuck on a surface, board, or wall with tape! These ready-made sticky tape segments are already within PowerPoint slides -- and have been provided in 10 different colors – and all colors have various transparency variations.
Download these sticky tapes, and use them in your slides.
September 20, 2013
Nudging a shape or any other slide object is essentially moving it just a wee bit, preferably using the arrow keys on your keyboard rather than the mouse. The Move option is different from a Nudge -- it is more of a super-nudge, and you can also use the mouse to move rather than just nudge. PowerPoint provides more than one way to nudge or move any selected shape or slide object.
Learn how to nudge or move shapes in PowerPoint 2013.
September 19, 2013
In PowerPoint 2011, the entire data that shows up on your chart in the form of series and categories is stored within an Excel sheet. These series and categories may show up on your chart in different ways -- sometimes as an individual column or a set of columns within a column chart. For some charts, this data may also be represented as values or a legend. However, almost any chart type -- even if it is not a column chart compares a set of values. Once you delete any of these values, they no longer show on your chart -- so the level of comparison reduces. However deleting is not always the best option, especially if you want to retrieve those values later whenever required. The solution is to temporarily hide values you no longer need -- and then unhide as and when you want to expose those values.
Learn how to hide Series and Categories for charts in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.
September 18, 2013
Many users are familiar with keyboard shortcuts -- yet there are no real shortcuts for tasks users need to perform all the time -- this includes changing PowerPoint 2007's views or even aligning or reordering slide objects. Thankfully, there are many keyboard sequences that work for these tasks. Most sequences entail that you press two buttons -- and then press a third button after a moment. So if the keyboard sequence is listed as Alt+S > H -- then you must press the Alt and S keys together -- let go those two keys and then press the H key.
Explore our listing of keyboard sequences for PowerPoint 2007.
September 18, 2013
So what exactly does grouping mean? And what is ungrouping and regrouping going to do further? The moment you select a slide object such as a shape on a PowerPoint slide, you will see some selection handles -- this indicates that the shape is selected. Select another shape while the first one is still selected and you see two sets of selection handles. If you need to similarly select many shapes on a slide fairly often, this sort of selection may become cumbersome -- and waste so much time. In that case, it's best you select all the shapes you need to work with, and then combine them into one "group".
Learn how to group, ungroup, and regroup shapes in PowerPoint 2013.
September 17, 2013
In this issue, we bring you our revamped Sticky Tape collection – this works like the real sticky tapes but is limited to your slides! Have you wondered why there are no keyboard shortcuts to change views or even align objects in PowerPoint? We have no solutions but we got something close enough to work – we call these keyboard sequences! And we have an amazing interview with Tom Howell on how he creates fancy videos using PowerPoint. Claudyne Wilder is featured again with an awesome article on holding your audience’s attention. PowerPoint 2013 for Windows users can learn about aligning and distributing shapes. PowerPoint 2011 for Mac users can learn about using proofing dictionaries of foreign languages – and how they can edit chart data. And finally, do not miss the new discussions and templates of this week!
Read Indezine's PowerPoint and Presenting News.
September 17, 2013
Any new chart that you add within PowerPoint 2011 has its roots in Excel -- all the data for the chart is also stored within an Excel sheet. Editing chart data within Excel involves a little more than just changing values. There may be times when you want to add a new Series or Category -- in chart terminology, Series are represented by individual columns within your Excel sheet -- these show up as the columns within a typical column chart. Categories on the other hand are essentially a set of series. Let's now learn how we can add and delete Series and Categories.
Learn how to add and delete Series and Categories for charts in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.
September 16, 2013
Many users are familiar with keyboard shortcuts -- yet there are no real shortcuts for tasks users need to perform all the time -- this includes changing PowerPoint 2010's views or even aligning or reordering slide objects. Thankfully, there are many keyboard sequences that work for these tasks. Most sequences entail that you press two buttons -- and then press a third button after a moment. So if the keyboard sequence is listed as Alt+S > H -- then you must press the Alt and S keys together -- let go those two keys and then press the H key.
Explore our listing of keyboard sequences for PowerPoint 2010.
September 16, 2013
With many objects, your slide may end up looking crowded -- and that's certainly something you do not want to happen. At times though, your slide may appear cluttered even if you really do not have too many objects -- and this can happen because the objects are not spaced out well in relation to each other. You obviously want your slide objects to be properly spaced -- and in earlier versions of PowerPoint, you could achieve proper spacing with the help of Align and Distribute options -- and these options are still available. However, you can now space your objects merely by dragging them around in PowerPoint 2013, with the help of Smart Guides.
Learn how to space objects equally in PowerPoint 2013.
September 13, 2013
Many users are familiar with keyboard shortcuts -- yet there are no real shortcuts for tasks users need to perform all the time -- this includes changing PowerPoint's views or even aligning or reordering slide objects. Thankfully, there are many keyboard sequences that work for these tasks. Most sequences entail that you press two buttons -- and then press a third button after a moment. So if the keyboard sequence is listed as Alt+S > H -- then you must press the Alt and S keys together -- let go those two keys and then press the H key.
Explore our listing of keyboard sequences for PowerPoint 2013.
September 13, 2013
When you insert a chart in PowerPoint 2011, you might notice that Excel pops up with some dummy data for your chart -- you then change the data within the Excel sheet to auto-update the chart within PowerPoint. However, this Excel instance that stores your data has no separate existence -- there's no separate Excel sheet that contains your data. In fact, this Excel sheet is stored within your PowerPoint presentation itself. Now, what do you do when you want to edit the underlying data?
Learn how to edit chart data in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.
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