PowerPoint from A to Z: Become a presentation expert

What is Microsoft PowerPoint?

Microsoft PowerPoint is powerful software that has become an indispensable tool for creating and presenting information in all areas of life. From school presentations and corporate meetings to conferences and seminars - PowerPoint offers users a wide range of features and options for creating attractive and effective presentations. With its simple controls and user-friendly interface, PowerPoint is a popular tool among professionals and students who want to share their ideas visually with others.

What are the main features of PowerPoint?
   

1) Creating presentations:

•     Create slides with text, images, charts, tables, videos and more.  
•     Save presentations in different formats (ppt, pptx, pdf, images, video).

2) Transitions and animations:

•     Inserting smooth transitions between slides and content.
•     The software allows you to add animations to individual elements of the presentation.

3) Screening of presentations:

•     Function to project prepared presentations.
•     Extended display using multiple monitors.

4) Appearance formatting:  

•     A wide variety of tools for editing the visual aspect of a presentation.
•     Ability to format text, change colors, sizes and styles.

 5) Object Insertion:

•     Add various objects such as tables, images, videos, charts and more.
•     Hyperlinks for easy navigation in the presentation.

 6) Collaboration:

•     Ability to collaborate on presentations with other users.
•     Share presentations, add comments and track changes.

PowerPoint is part of the Microsoft Office software suite.

Microsoft PowerPoint is part of the Microsoft 365 office suite (formerly known as Microsoft Office or Office 365), which also includes other applications such as Microsoft Word (for creating text documents) or Microsoft Excel (for working with spreadsheets and data), among others. Microsoft PowerPoint is a tool that allows users to not only share their thoughts and ideas, but also present their work in a professional and engaging manner.

You have two ways to get the free version of Microsoft PowerPoint:

1. Download Office 365: It offers the entire suite of apps for free for the first month. This option is suitable if you only need to use PowerPoint for a short period of time.
2. Using Office 365 in the browser: Microsoft Office now lets you use all of its apps directly in the browser for free, along with 5GB of OneDrive cloud storage. This way you can easily work with PowerPoint without having to download and install software.

Installing PowerPoint for Windows

Follow these steps:

• Open your web browser and enter www.office.com.
• Log in with your personal or work/school Microsoft account. If you don't have a private Microsoft account with a bundled license or subscription, you can try PowerPoint and the entire Microsoft 365 suite for free for one month.
• Select "Install Apps" and then click on Microsoft 365 Apps to start the process of installing PowerPoint on your computer.
• Launch PowerPoint and accept the license agreement when the program opens.

How to uninstall PowerPoint from Windows:

1. Open "Settings" on your computer and go to the "Applications" or "Apps and Features" section.
2. Search for "Microsoft PowerPoint" or "Office 365" in the list of installed applications, click on it and select "Uninstall". Confirm the action and wait for the application to uninstall from the system.

Quick start guide to installing PowerPoint for Mac

Follow these steps:

• Launch the Mac App Store on your computer.
• Search for PowerPoint by typing "PowerPoint" in the search box.
• The first option should be Microsoft PowerPoint. Then select "Download" and "Install".
• Your Apple ID will allow you to register and begin downloading the app.
• Once the app has finished downloading, click the "Open" button that appears.
• A window will pop up with a welcome screen. Select "Get Started" and either sign in to your Microsoft Office account or sign up for a 1-month trial.

Instructions for removing Microsoft 365 for Mac apps:

1. Open the Finder and navigate to the "Applications" folder.
2. Select all Microsoft 365 for Mac apps by pressing COMMAND + COMMAND and clicking on each app.
3. Hold down the CTRL key and click on the selected app. Then select the "Move to Trash" option.

What is a PowerPoint template?

A PowerPoint template is a design and content pattern intended for specific purposes, such as sales presentations, business plans, or tutorials. This template contains design elements that work together (colors, fonts, backgrounds, effects) and is complete with sample slides and frequently used content that can be expanded upon to effectively tell your story.  

Users have the ability to create their own templates and save them for reuse and sharing with others. Learn more about creating and saving PowerPoint templates. In addition to custom creation, there are also many free PowerPoint templates available for users to use for different types of presentations.

Powerpoint Tutorial - Basic Setup  

Now let's go over the settings that you will probably use most often. Here are a few tips that might be helpful:

• Language settings.You can change the language of the entire PowerPoint application. You can change the language settings for PowerPoint in the Language section of the File > Options > Language tab. For iOS, it's Tools > Language.
• Setting the presentation resolution: The default resolution for an online PowerPoint presentation is 16:9, but you can change it in the Design > Slide Size tab.
• By default, PowerPoint saves your work automatically every few minutes. This can be adjusted in the PowerPoint > Preferences > Saving tab.
• Setting the View Mode: PowerPoint offers different view modes such as Normal View, Presenter View, Reading View and more. These options can be found in the View tab.
• Print Settings: When you print a presentation, you can choose whether to print full slides, speaker notes, or just the text. You can find these options in File > Print.
• Spelling and grammar settings:PowerPoint has built-in spelling and grammar checking that you can turn on or off. These settings can be found in Tool > Spelling.

Note that the specific location of these settings may be different depending on the version of PowerPoint you are using.

How to update PowerPoint effectively - Windows and iOS

The process of updating PowerPoint is very similar on both Windows and iOS platforms. However, there are minor differences in the user interface and the names of some buttons.

On a Windows computer:

• Open PowerPoint and select the "File" tab.
• Select "Account".
• Then click on "Update options" and then "Update now" or "Check for updates".

On a Mac:

• Open PowerPoint and go to the "Help" menu.
• Select "Check for Updates".
• If updates are available, they should automatically install.

iOS users can also download Microsoft's AutoUpdate tool to keep all their Office apps up to date. This tool is very useful as it ensures that not only PowerPoint, but all your other apps are always updated to the latest version. If you want to upgrade to a newer version of PowerPoint, you can purchase a new version from Microsoft or sign up for a Microsoft 365 subscription, which will give you access to all your Office applications, including the latest version of PowerPoint.

Explore the possibilities of PowerPoint, whether you're a beginner or an expert

In this article, we've covered the basics of using Microsoft PowerPoint - from installation and basic setup to interesting features and tricks. We hope this information will help you get the most out of PowerPoint. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced user, PowerPoint undoubtedly has a lot to offer you. And we encourage you to give it a try and discover all its possibilities.