Lesson 1: The Basics of PowerPoint
Help Features to the Rescue
Before we go any further, I would first like to mention the various PowerPoint help features. These features are often underused and can provide help at crucial moments. We are going to discuss the Office Assistant and Online help features. (Refer to Step by Step, Appendix A pg 291-298)
The Office Assistant
Depending on how you have your program options specified, you may or may not have seen the “Office Assistant” appear at the start up of your PowerPoint program. My Office Assistant is an animated paper clip. (Note: You can change the assistant to a different icon.) My friend and office assistant, Mr. Clippy, can be very helpful.
*Note: If your Office Assistant does not appear on startup, you need to summon it. To do this, select “Show the Office Assistant” from the “Help” menu. Your trusty Office Assistant should appear on screen. If, while you are creating your PowerPoint presentation, your Office Assistant is in the way, you can make him hide. Select “Hide the Office Assistant” from the “Help” menu.
Your Office Assistant provides many helpful options. For example, if you have a specific question, you can ask your Office Assistant. We’ll ask a basic question. Let’s say you started a presentation from scratch and you want to know how to create the first slide. Just double-click on the Office Assistant and a smaller window will pop-up, which says “What would you like to do?” Just type your question in the text box. Type the following: “How do I create a new slide?”
After you type your question, click on the “Search” button. The Office Assistant wants to make sure that they can accurately answer your question, so it will normally give you a list of different forms of the question. For example, the search list entries produced a range of slide related options from “Create a new slide” to “Change slide format”. Click once on the option most closely related to your question. A new PowerPoint Help window will appear, which will provide step-by-step instructions. You can print these instructions if they are rather long. When finished using the instructions, you can close the PowerPoint Help window.
Note: Sometimes it may take your computer a few moments to bring up the help information. So remember to be patient!
Further Note: You can also access this help feature by selecting “Microsoft PowerPoint Help” from the “Help” menu or just by pressing the “F1” key. Both options will bring up the text box in which you can type your question.
Online Help Features
There will be times when the PowerPoint help features such as the Office Assistant, can’t seem to provide a suitable answer. For example, you may be trying to do a fancy advanced function.
After you ask the Office Assistant a question, you will notice the last answer option is the following “None of the above, look for more help on the web”. When you select this option, the Microsoft PowerPoint Help window will open with your original question in the window. At the bottom of the window, click on the “Send and go to the Web” option. Your web browser will automatically open up to the Microsoft Web Help page. You should have a diverse range of possible question options.
