Using the Toolbars

To make things easier PowerPoint provides Toolbars which include buttons for everything you can do. The Toolbars that are visible at the beginning are:

The Top bar is the MENU bar. It is the same as MENU bars in many other programs, so is probably familiar to you.

The next bar is the standard formatting bar. It is also familiar, although it has a few different features like the Common Tasks button.

Near the bottom of the screen is the View Change Bar. This one is important. Clicking on each of the buttons will give you a different view of your project. From left to right the buttons are: The frame view (which is the one you start out in), The Outline View (makes the outline frame larger and the other windows smaller), The One Slide View (makes the slide take up most of the screen with just a little frame on the left for the Outline, The Multiple Slide View (shows your whole presentation), finally The Preview View (gives you a chance to look at your presentation as it will look on the screen) NOTE: exit the Preview View by pressing ESC.

You can work in each of these views except the Preview View.

The drawing toolbar is at the bottom. It will allow you to make your own drawings, shadow elements, and create word art.

At the very bottom of the screen is the Information Bar. It shows you how many slides you have and what Design you are using. It also has a button for a quick spell check.