PowerPoint Basics:
Settings

Step-by-Step: Settings

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What you will learn:

to change settings in Page Setup dialog to change settings in Options dialog to customize toolbars in Customize dialog to change settings in AutoCorrect dialog

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Start with:  (PowerPoint open to a blank document)

Dialog: Page Setup

The Page Setup dialog has fewer choices than in many other programs. The proportions of your slides will change depending on your choice in the Slides sized for: box!

Page Setup choices apply only to the current presentation.

There does not seem to be a way to change the margins on your print-outs.

1. Open PowerPoint, if necessary, to a blank presentation.
    

2. From the File menu, select  Page Setup... . The Page Setup dialog appears.
   
    
   The default settings should be just fine for you.

   • Slides sized for: On-screen Show

   • Width: 10 inches

   • Height: 7.5 inches

   • Number slides from: 1

   • Orientation - Slides = Landscape

   • Orientation - Notes, Handouts, Outline = Portrait

   The Slides sized for: choice changes the proportions of your slide, depending on what media you choose. The default is On-screen Show.  The dimensions of the slide are important to your layout! Choose based on your primary use for the presentation - on screen, on paper, as 35mm slides, etc.

    

   On-screen

   A4

   35mm

   Overhead

   Printing: PowerPoint seems to set the margins on your paper to half an inch on all sides. There does not seem to be a way to adjust this.
    

3. Click on Cancel to close the dialog.

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Dialog: Options

The Options dialog has several tabs. The default settings are usually fine. We will check on just some of the settings.

Options: View Tab

The View tab controls some of aspects of the PowerPoint window, the Windows Taskbar, and PowerPoint slide shows.

1. From the menu select  Tools  |  Options . The Options dialog appears.
    

2. If necessary, select the View tab.
    

3. PowerPoint 2002:
   Click on the Dialog Help button on the Title Bar. The mouse pointer changes to a select arrow with a question mark.
   
   Click on the first item on the View tab - Startup Task Pane. A popup tip appears with some information about this item.
   
   Click somewhere else to close the popup tip. The pointer returns to its normal Select shape .
   
   Repeat for each item on the tab to see what PowerPoint can tell you about it.
   
   Be sure you have a checkmark in each item on this tab.
    
   PowerPoint 2003:
   Click on the Help button. A Help panel appears. Click on each link and read what it says about the topic of each of the tabs in the Options dialog. This is not as directly helpful as in PowerPoint 2002.

The Startup Task Pane or dialog appears when you are opening PowerPoint with a blank presentation, but not if you are opening an existing presentation directly.

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Options: General Tab

1. Click on the General tab.
    

2. Use the Dialog Help pointer to check out the items on the General tab.
    

3. Set Recently used file list: to at least 4, which is the default. The maximum is 9.
    

4. If necessary, change the User information to your name.

Changing the User information here changes it for all future Office documents, not just PowerPoint presentations. The Name is recorded as the Author in the document's Properties. To change the Author for a particular presentation or another Office document, use the document's own properties
  File | Properties | Summary .

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Options: Edit Tab

1. Click on the Edit tab.
    

2. Use the Dialog Help pointer to check out the items.
    

3. Put a checkmark in each item in the top three sections: Cut and Paste, Text, and Charts.
    

4. Undo: The default of 20 may be OK for you, but you can increase that to as high as 150. How many Undo's your computer can handle depends on its memory.
    

5. Remove any checkmarks from the section Disable new features.
    

 

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Options: Spelling and Style Tab

1. Click on the Spelling and Style tab.
    

2. Use the Dialog Help pointer to check out the items.
    

3. Be sure to have a checkmark in:

   • Check spelling as you type

   • Always suggest corrections
      

4. Do not have a check mark for Hide all spelling errors.
    
5. For now have Check style not checked.
    
6. Click the Close button to close the Options dialog.

The Check style option requires that Office Assistant be turned on. We will work with the Check Style feature later, after a presentation is nearly done. Office Assistant gets annoying and is in the way when turned on all the time!

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Dialog: Customize (Toolbars)

Microsoft has a separate Customize dialog for managing the toolbars and Menu bar. In this dialog you can change what bars are showing, what items are on the bars, and how the bars display on the screen.

Customize: Toolbars Tab

1. From the Tools menu, select  Customize.... The Customize dialog appears.
    

2. If necessary, click the Toolbars tab to select it.
    
   The bars with checkmarks are the ones currently being displayed. The default bars are:

   • Standard

   • Formatting

   • Drawing

   • Menu Bar
     

If you find later that your bars contain different items from mine, you can use the Reset button to return all the bars to their original state, if you wish. Be courteous - Don't do this on a computer that is not yours!

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Customize: Commands Tab

With the Commands tab open, you can edit your menu bar or any displayed toolbar by simply dragging a command to the location on the toolbar that you want or by dragging it off while this dialog is open. We will assume that no one has been playing games with your bars!

 
 

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Customize: Options Tab

1. Click the Options tab.
    

2. Use the Dialog Help pointer to check out the items.
    

3. Be sure to check the boxes for:

   • Show Standard and Formatting toolbars on two rows.

   • Always show full menus.

   • List font names in their font.

    

4. Click the Close button to close the Customize dialog.
    

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Dialog: AutoCorrect

As you work with your slide text and placeholders, PowerPoint may make some changes automatically. This can be quite startling if you are not aware of the AutoCorrect and AutoFormat features.

AutoCorrect: AutoCorrect Tab

The AutoCorrect tab is very much the same in all Office programs. These settings are supposed to correct the most common typing errors.  You can also uses this feature to automatically replace some short text that you type with longer text.

1. From the Tools menu, select  AutoCorrect... The AutoCorrect dialog opens. It has two different tabs: AutoCorrect and AutoFormat As You Type.
   PowerPoint 2003 also has a tab for SmartTags.
    

2. If necessary, select the AutoCorrect tab.
    

3. Use the Dialog Help pointer to check out the items.
    
   
    
   You can add to the list under Replace text as you type. You would enter a short set of characters and have your Office applications replace them with a long phrase or even a whole paragraph. Very helpful for long business names or often-used standard paragraphs.
    

4. Check all of the checkboxes.
   

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AutoCorrect: AutoFormat As You Type Tab

The AutoFormat choices do not replace your text. They just change the look, like changing 1/2 to ½ and 1st to 1^st.

The AutoFit and Automatic layout choices are special to PowerPoint.

1. Click on the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
    

2. Use the Dialog Help pointer to check out the items.
    

3. Check all of the boxes.