Interface in PowerPoint 2007 for Windows

Here's a quick walkthrough of the PowerPoint 2007 interface, unlike PowerPoint 2002 & 2003 (XP), PowerPoint 2007 doesn't looks the same anymore. The menus and toolbars are replaced by the Ribbon tabs, a Quick Access Toolbar, and the mini toolbar. The task panes are still available, and most of the PowerPoint views also remain the same.

Figure 1 shows a screenshot of the interface, each part of the interface is explained later in this page.

Figure 1: The PowerPoint 2007 interface

1. Office Button

Choose this button to open a new presentation, save the presentation, and access PowerPoint options. A complete coverage of the options available through the Office Button can be found here.

2. Quick Access Toolbar

Also known as the QAT, this is a customizable toolbar placed by default next to the Office Button, you can add icons for your often used commands to this toolbar. Learn more about the Quick Access Toolbar here.

3. Ribbon

The Ribbon has tabs which in turn contain groups of buttons for various options, some groups also contain galleries (for example galleries for Themes and Theme Colors). Learn more about the Ribbon here.

4. Slides/Outline Pane

Normally placed on the left side of the interface, this pane contains two tabs, the Slides tab and the Outline tab. The Slides tab shows thumbnails of all the slides in the open presentation. The Outline tab shows the same slides in outline view. Learn more about the Slides/Outline pane here.

5. Status Bar

A horizontal strip that provides information about the open presentation like slide number, applied Theme, etc. It also includes the view and zoom options. The View buttons are explained later in this page. Learn more about the Status Bar here.

6. Notes Pane

Directly below the active slide, this is where you input speaker notes for the current slide. None of this content is visible on the actual slide while presenting, although it is visible in both Notes Page view and Presenter view. Learn more about the Notes Pane here.

Look at the PowerPoint 2007 Views page for more info on the Notes Page view.

7. View Buttons

Essentially there are three view buttons displayed right beneath on the status bar with zoom-in and zoom-out.

• Normal View - Clicking this enables Normal view, Shift-clicking this gets you to Slide Master view.
• Slide Sorter View - Clicking this displays zoomable thumbnails of every slide in the open presentation. Shift-clicking this button gets you to Handout Master view.
• Slide Show from current slide - Show the presentation as a full screen slideshow from the current selected slide. Shift-clicking brings up the Set Up Show dialog box.

8. Slide Area

Displays the active slide. Learn more about the Slide Area here.

9. Task Pane

The Task Pane contains more options and appears when you choose an option in one of the Ribbon tabs, for example if you click the Clip Art button on the Insert tab of the Ribbon, the Clip Art task pane opens (as shown in the figure above on this page). Learn more about the Task Pane here.

10. Mini Toolbar

This toolbar is not shown in the figure above, it's a semitransparent floating toolbar that spawns right next to the cursor, and it is also available instantly with a right-click. Here's a detailed article on the Mini Toolbar.