Changing the Background

Another way to change the appearance of your presentation is to modify the background of your slides. PowerPoint provides predefined background themes that you can choose. To choose a background theme, follow these steps:

1. Click the Design tab.

2. Click Background Styles under the Background group.

3. Click a background style. PowerPoint applies your chosen background style to every slide in your presentation.

Choosing a solid color background

Rather than choose a theme, you might want to choose a solid color. If you choose a solid color background, you must make sure that any text or graphics that appear on your slides can still be seen. For example, if you choose a dark red background, any text or graphics on your slides should appear in light colors to make them visible against the dark red background. To make sure solid background colors don’t obscure your text and graphics, you can also adjust its transparency to make the color appear darker or lighter.

To change the background to a solid color, follow these steps:

1. Click the Design tab.

2. Click the Background Styles icon in the Background group. A pull-down menu appears.

3. Click Format Background near the bottom of the menu.

4. Select the Solid Fill radio button.

5. Click the Color icon. A pull-down menu appears, listing a palette of colors.

6. Click a color. PowerPoint fills your slide background with your chosen color.

7. (Optional) Drag the Transparency slider left (0%) or right (100%). The higher the transparency value, the lighter the background color appears.

8. (Optional) Click Apply to All to change the background of every slide

in your presentation. If you don’t click the Apply to All button, PowerPoint changes only the background of the currently selected slide.

9. Click Close.

Choosing a gradient background

A gradient displays one color that gradually fades into another color, such as green to orange. To define a gradient, you can define one or more stops, transparency, and the gradient direction. Stops define where the colors in the gradient start and end. Transparency defines how opaque a color appears. The gradient direction defines how the gradient appears, such as vertically or diagonally. To define a gradient background, follow these steps:

1. Click the Design tab.

2. Click the Background Styles icon in the Background group. A pull-down menu appears.

3. Click Format Background near the bottom of the menu.

4. Select the Gradient Fill radio button. The Format Background dialog box displays additional options for defining a gradient. If you click the Preset Colors icon, you can choose from a variety of predefined gradients.

5. Click in the Stop list box under Gradient Stops and choose Stop 1.

6. Click the Color icon. A color palette appears.

7. Click on a color. PowerPoint displays your chosen color as a gradient on the current slide.

8. Drag the Stop Position slider left or right. The far left and far right positions of the stop position slider define where the gradient begins and ends on the slide.

9. Drag the Transparency slider left or right. The far left position (0%) displays your chosen color in full strength, and the far right position (100%) displays your chosen color to the point where it disappears from view completely (100% transparency).

10. Click in the Type list box above the Gradient Direction group and choose an option, such as Radial or Linear.

12. Repeat Steps 5–8 to define the position of Stop 2.

13. (Optional) Click Apply to All if you want to apply your gradient to apply to every slide in your presentation. If you don’t click the Apply to All button, PowerPoint displays only the background of the currently selected slide.

14. Click Close.

Choosing a picture background

A picture, such as clip art or a photograph captured with a digital camera, can appear in your background. After you use a picture for the background, you can also adjust its transparency so that you can read any title or subtitle text that appears on each slide. To add a picture background to slides, follow these steps:

1. Click the Design tab.

2. Click the Background Styles icon in the Background group. A pull-down menu appears.

3. Click Format Background near the bottom of the menu. The Format Background dialog box appears.

4. Select the Picture or Texture Fill radio button. The Format Background dialog box displays options for adding a picture to your background.

5. Click one of the following buttons:

• File: Retrieves a graphic image stored on your computer, such as a digital photo. When the Insert Picture dialog box appears, click the picture you want to use and then click Open.

• Clipboard: Pastes a previously cut or copied graphic image from another program, such as Photoshop.

• ClipArt: Displays a library of clip art images you can choose. When the Select Picture dialog box appears, click the clip art image you want to use and then click OK.

6. Drag the Transparency slider to the left or right until you’re happy with the way the picture appears.

7. (Optional) Click Apply to All if you want to apply your picture to every slide in your presentation.

If you don’t click the Apply to All button, PowerPoint displays only the background of the currently selected slide.

8. Click Close.

Adding Graphics to a Slide

Another way to spice up the appearance of your presentation is to include graphics on one or more slides. Such graphics can be informative, such as a chart that displays sales results; or they can be decorative, such as a cartoon smiley face that emphasizes the presentation’s good news. Three common types of graphics you can add to a PowerPoint slide include

 Picture files: Includes clip art images as well as images you may have stored on your hard disk, such as photographs from your digital camera

 Charts: Displays bar, column, line, pie, and other types of charts

 WordArt: Displays text as colorful text

Placing picture files on a slide To liven up a presentation, you can add pictures you may have already stored on your computer. To add a picture to a slide, follow these steps:

1. Click a slide (in either Slide or Outline view) to which you want to add a picture.

2. Click the Insert tab.

3. Click the Picture icon in the Illustrations group.

4. Click the picture file you want and then click Open. PowerPoint displays your chosen picture on the currently displayed slide. You may need to resize or move your picture.

Placing clip art on a slide

Clip art consists of drawings that come with PowerPoint. To add a clip art image to a slide, follow these steps:

1. Click a slide (in either Slide or Outline view) to which you want to add a picture.

2. Click the Insert tab.

3. Click the Clip Art icon in the Illustrations group. The Clip Art window appears on the right side of the screen.

4. Click in the Search For text box and type a word that describes the type of image you want to find.

5. Click Go. The Clip Art dialog box displays all the clip art images it could find that matched the descriptive word you typed in Step 4.

6. Click the clip art image you want to use. PowerPoint displays your chosen image on the current slide. (You may need to move or resize the image.)

7. (Optional) Click the Close box of the Clip Art pane to make it go away.

Creating WordArt WordArt provides another way to display text. Unlike ordinary text that you can format, WordArt lets you create graphically oriented text to use as headlines for added emphasis. To create WordArt, follow these steps:

1. Click the slide (in either Slide or Outline view) to which you want to add WordArt.

2. Click the Insert tab.

3. Click the WordArt icon in the Text group. A WordArt menu appears.

4. Click a WordArt style to use. PowerPoint displays a WordArt text box on the current slide.

5. Click in the WordArt text box and type text.

Resizing, moving, and deleting graphic images

When you add graphics to a slide, you may need to resize or move them to another location. To resize a graphic image, follow these steps:

1. Click the graphic (picture, clip art, or WordArt) that you want to resize. PowerPoint displays handles around your chosen object.

2. Move the mouse pointer over a handle. The mouse pointer turns into a two-way pointing arrow.

3. Hold down the left mouse button and drag (move) the mouse. PowerPoint resizes your chosen graphic image.

4. Release the left mouse button when you’re happy with the new size of your graphic image.

To move a graphic image, follow these steps:

1. Move the mouse pointer over the edge of the graphic image you want to move. The mouse turns into a four-way pointing arrow.

2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag (move) the mouse. PowerPoint moves your graphic image.

3. Release the left mouse button when you’re happy with the new position of your graphic image.

After you add a graphic image to a slide, you may later decide to delete it. To delete a graphic image, follow these steps:

1. Click the graphic image you want to delete. PowerPoint displays handles around your chosen graphic image.

2. Press Delete. PowerPoint deletes your chosen graphic image.

Rotating graphics

You may want to rotate graphic images for added visual effects. To rotate images or to flip them vertically or horizontally, follow these steps:

1. Click the graphic image you want to rotate. PowerPoint displays handles around your image along with a green rotate handle.

2. Move the mouse pointer over the rotate handle. The mouse pointer turns into a circular arrow.

3. Hold down the left mouse button and move (drag) the mouse. PowerPoint rotates your graphic image. If you hold down the Shift key while dragging the mouse, you can rotate an image at 15 degree increments.

4. Release the left mouse button when you’re happy with the rotation of the image.

Layering objects

PowerPoint treats graphics and text boxes as objects that you can move around on a slide. If you move one object over another, it may block part of another objec.

When one object covers another one, PowerPoint considers the first object to be on top and the other object (the one being obscured) to be on the bottom. By moving objects from top to bottom (or vice versa), you can create unique visual effects (or just cover up parts of other objects by mistake). To move a graphic image to the top or bottom when layered over another object, follow these steps:

1. Click the graphic image you want to move. The Format contextual tab appears.

2. Click the Bring to Front or Send to Back icon in the Arrange group.