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PowerPoint Basics: Home

A beginner's guide to creating PowerPoint presentations

Introduction

It's easy to create a PowerPoint presentation; you simply click in the part of each slide where you want to add content and type or paste in your material. Once you know how to navigate the tabs, it becomes even easier. The guide below explains where the find the most useful tools for creating a presentation.

The Home Tab

A few functions under the Home tab may be new to you: 

New Slide:  Add a new slide, with a variety of styles to choose from (can also be accessed under the Insert tab) 

Designer: Shows design suggestions on the right-hand side of the screen (can also be accessed under the Design tab)

The Insert Tab

Many functions under the Insert Tab also mirror Word functions:

  • Text box: Draw a text box onto a slide
  • Tables: Design and insert tables
  • Pictures: Insert pictures stored on your computer or another device, use stock images, or search for pictures online
  • Videos: Insert videos from your computer or from the internet
  • Images: Offers a wide variety of stock images and icons
  • SmartArt: Offers options for graphically organizing information

The Design Tab

Themes: Change the style and color scheme for the entire presentation

Background: Use a color or a picture as the background to the text

Designer: Offers design suggestions at the right-hand side of the slide

The Slide Show Tab

Under this tab, you can play your presentation from the beginning or from any slide. Additional functions include:

  • Present in Teams: Lets you present the slide show during a meeting in progress 

  • Rehearse with Coach: Times the presentation and offers feedback  

If you are using the desktop version of PowerPoint, there is also a Record function, which lets you add narration to your presentation.

The View Tab

  • Notes: Add text that only you as the presenter will see
  • Slide Sorter: View the entire presentation in one pane; provides an easy way to change the order of the slides