PowerPoint Basics:
Task Pane

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PowerPoint 2002/03 and the other Office XP/2003 programs add the Task Pane to the application window. This pane displays at the right of your workspace and changes as you work. Its purpose is to give you easy access to frequently used commands related to what you are doing.

PowerPoint 2002 - Task Pane = New Presentation

Different Panes for Different Tasks

There are several different sets of commands that display in the Task Pane. Some are available for all the Office programs, and some are specific to the program you are in. Most panes can be opened from the drop list at the top of the task pane.

Sample Office Task Panes By default, only certain Task Panes have a menu command or toolbar button that opens the pane. The appropriate Task Pane should appear automatically as you work. You can add a command or button to the menus and toolbars, if you wish, for the Task Panes that don't already have one.
New Presentation - Lists recent documents and links for new documents and templates. Menu: File | New New button : Creates a new blank presentation with the default settings and opens the Slide Layout pane, instead of the New Presentation pane.		New Presentation - Links to create a new blank presentation or to create from a template, AutoContent wizard, or an existing presentation. Also offers to search for a template and lists the most recently used templates.
Getting Started - Links to recently opened presentations and Microsoft Office Online.		Clipboard - The Office Clipboard keeps track of up to 24 selections or images that you copied or cut in Office programs. This is not the same as the Windows Clipboard, which only remembers the last thing you copied. Menu: Edit | Office Clipboard The Office Clipboard may need to be open to track your actions.
Basic Search Basic File Search Allows you to search selected folders or your own online sites. Searches for the text you specify, but primarily in Microsoft Office files or web pages. You need to let Office index your documents for this to work.   Button:Search Menu: File | Search or File Search		Insert Clip Art Clip Art Opens a search form to look for images. Then it shows thumbnails of the results. Not all image formats will show thumbnails. Menu: Insert | Picture | Clip Art
Sample PowerPoint Task Panes These panes are very similar between PowerPoint 2002 and 2003.
Slide Layout- Shows choices for the layout of the slide: title, subtitle, text box, picture, chart Menu: Format | Slide Layout		Slide Design: Design Templates Shows choices for templates that control background, fonts, font sizes, bullets Button: Menu:  Format | Slide Design
Slide Design: Color Schemes - Choices for combinations of colors for text, charts, and AutoShapes. Menu: Format | Slide Designs | Color Schemes		Slide Design: Animation Schemes - Choices for animating your slide parts, like fade in or wipe from right. Menu: Slide Show | Animation Schemes
Custom Animation - Allows you to choose animation for parts of a slide. Menu: Slide Show | Custom Animation		Slide Transition - Allows you to choose an effect for the transition from one slide to the next. Menu: Slide Show | Slide Transition

Managing the Task Pane

Default pane

PowerPoint 2002 and Office XP: New Presentation task pane
Other Office programs use a name that is  appropriate for that program, such as New Document for Word, New Workbook for Excel and New Page or Web for FrontPage.

PowerPoint 2003 and Office 2003: Getting Started task pane

Switch panes

As you work, the pane will change if you use certain menu commands or toolbar buttons. You can customize the toolbars to show a button for a pane that doesn't have a button in the default toolbar.

You can switch what the pane shows from the pane itself. Clicking the down arrow at the top of the pane will open a list of available panes for you to choose from. First in the list are the standard Office panes, then come any panes that are special to the particular program.
 

Hide pane

You can hide the Task Pane by clicking its Close button. Be careful not to click the button that closes the document, or the one that closes PowerPoint. So many Close buttons!
 

Show pane

If the Task Pane has been closed, you can show it again with the menu command  View  |  Task Pane .

You can also open the Task Pane by right clicking a toolbar and selecting it from the popup list of toolbars.
 

~~  1 Cor. 10:31 ...whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  ~~

Last updated: 30 Apr 2012