You can use PowerPoint's templates to help you create a new presentation. PowerPoint installs with a wide variety of templates featuring different types of designs and color schemes. For example, you might use the Financial Overview template to create a slide show about your company's financial status.

Create a Presentation with a Template

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Where can I find more presentation templates?

You can download additional presentation templates from the Microsoft Office Web site. To view available templates, open the New Presentation dialog box and click the Microsoft Office Online template category that you want to view, such as Presentations or Agendas. Click the template that you want, and then click the Download button to start downloading the file.

How do I navigate between slides in a new presentation?

Click the Outline tab to view the new presentation in outline form. This allows you to build the slide show by typing text into the Outline pane. You can also type text directly onto a slide. Click the Slides tab to view individual slides in the presentation. You can click a slide to view the larger slide in the work area and add your own presentation content.

You can create a blank presentation, containing just one slide, and add your own slide show elements and formatting. This technique allows you the freedom to create your own color schemes and design touches. You can use PowerPoint's layouts to quickly assign a layout to any blank slide.

By default, PowerPoint opens a blank slide for you whenever you start the program. You can use the slide as the first slide in your presentation and add more slides as you go along. See Chapter 15 to learn more about working with slides.

Build a Blank Presentation

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How do I add a design theme to my blank presentation?

To add a theme to your blank presentation, simply click the Design tab on the Ribbon, and then choose a theme from the Themes group. PowerPoint themes include a preset color scheme and font scheme for the presentation. When you select a theme, it is applied only to the current slide. If you have already created several slides for the presentation, you can assign the theme to the whole slide show by right-clicking over the theme on the Ribbon and clicking Apply to All Slides.

How do I save a slide show as a template?

You can turn any presentation you create into a template file that you can reuse to make new slide shows. Simply click the Office button, and then click Save As to open the Save As dialog box. Navigate to the folder or drive to which you want to save the template, and then click the Save as type

You can use PowerPoint's views to change how your presentation appears on-screen. The PowerPoint view modes can help you with the various presentation elements that you want to edit. By default, PowerPoint displays your presentation in Normal view, which displays a single slide. You can switch to Outline view to see your presentation in an outline format, or Slide Sorter view to see all of the slides at the same time.

Change PowerPoint Views

USE OUTLINE VIEW

USE SLIDES VIEW

USE SLIDE SORTER VIEW

USE NORMAL VIEW

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How do I zoom my view of a slide?

To zoom your magnification of a slide, you can drag the Zoom bar on the Status bar at the bottom of the PowerPoint window. You can also click the View tab on the Ribbon, and then click the Zoom button to select a zoom percentage. You can click the Fit slide to current window button (

Can I resize the PowerPoint pane areas?

Yes. You can resize any of the panes shown in the PowerPoint program window, including the task pane and the tabs pane. Simply move the mouse