You’ve probably been working with PowerPoint for a while. If so, you’re familiar with the basics of creating, editing, and delivering presentations on the app. You are also familiar with how a presentation on PowerPoint helps you stand out.
But have you ever considered how much more you could achieve if you learned a few extra tips and tricks?
Shortcuts and hacks make our lives easier. It’s no wonder that apps that go beyond the basics get lots of recommendations. And this is no different from the PowerPoint shortcuts. PowerPoint hacks deliver valuable presentations in the business world. They are effective for saving time and making your operations easy.
In this article, we’ll discuss the top ten PowerPoint hacks you probably didn’t know about. We’ll also take a close look at how they work and how they elevate your marketing strategies.
1. Turn Your Document into a Presentation
Thanks to PowerPoint, you can now convert a document into a presentation. There are two ways you can do this; first, you can click Home > New Slide < Slides from Outline.
Next, select the document you want to convert and click the “Insert” button. The document will upload to PowerPoint and convert to a presentation.
An alternative would be converting the document directly from Microsoft Word. To do this, you have to go to Microsoft Word and open the document you want to change. Next, select the “File” menu, then click “Send to” and hit the “Microsoft Powerpoint” option to turn the document into a presentation.
Note: When converting the documents, PowerPoint will use your H1 as the title. The H2s will convert to the first level of each text. If you have other headings, they become the top level of subsequent texts.
2. Compress Images Together
It’s all fun when creating presentations until you discover your graphics are too big to be shared. Luckily, PowerPoint has a solution. You can compress images one at a time or adjust all pictures in a presentation.
For both options, here’s how you can do it. Select the image you want to change,and press “Picture Format”, then “Compress Images”.
This step allows the change of specific images. If you are compressing several objects, consider deselecting the “Apply Only to this Picture” option. Deselecting the option saves time since all images in your presentation will compress without you having to move from one object to the next.
3. Convert Your Presentations to Videos
The use of videos for marketing has steadily gained in popularity. It’s for this reason that including videos in your presentation is necessary for boosting engagement. If you are looking for a simple way to turn your presentation into a video, here’s how you can do it.
First, click Files > Export > Create Video. Next, check the timing to ensure the slides run at the right speed. After recording the video, you can move to the next step of setting it to autoplay.
If you want your videos to autoplay in your presentation, first include them in your document. Next, click Playback > In Click Sequence then set to “Automatically”. This will automatically start your videos when you open the specific slide.
4. Align and Distribute Items
Aligning items on your slides gives order to your presentation. It helps your audience focus better on objects you want to showcase. If you are aligning objects and texts on multiple slides, here’s a hack that could help.
Go to your “Home” menu and select Arrange > Align > Select your preferred alignment. The types of alignments you can choose include:
- Align Left
- Align Right
- Align Center
- Align Top
- Align Middle
- Align Bottom
- Distribute Horizontally
- Distribute Vertically
To confirm that your alignment is in order, check the Ruler, Gridline, and Guide option. This will indicate where your objects are placed and if they are in the right positions.
5. Create Your Animations
Each of us has some level of creativity we’d like to showcase. If you have enough time on your hands, consider creating your own animations. You can do this by clicking Custom animation > Add effects > Motion Paths > Custom paths. The next step would be to draw your animations and save the changes.
Once you are done creating the animation, remember to press the ESC button to avoid overruns when you start a new slide.
Another trick to creating your animations is editing an existing motion path. When doing this, make sure to check on the green and red buttons to understand the state of your animation. The green represents the initial phase, while the red indicates a complete animation.
6. Create an Invisible Hyperlink
Hyperlinks are important for boosting digital marketing campaigns. But at times, highlighted hyperlinks may not work well in presentation. They can create inconsistency and confusion that hinder proper delivery of your message.
To ensure uniformity between your text and hyperlinks, here’s a hack you can use. First, select a shape you would like to use. For this, I’d advise you to pick a rectangle. Next right click on “Shape” and click “Format Shape”. Select the “No fill” and “No line” option and press the CTRL+K buttons.
Next, paste the link into the box and press OK. After this process, your hyperlink will appear with no lines and no highlights.
7. How to Embed Your Fonts
A clear font will set apart a successful presentation from a not so successful one. It’s a fact that easy-to-read fonts draw audiences. Consistency in your font design is also essential for improving engagement.
Also, if you share your presentation with someone who doesn’t have all the font typefaces, embedded fonts make it easy for them to view your information.
To avoid inconsistent fonts, move to “Files”, then click the “Options” button.
Move to the “Save” menu and go to the “Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation”. Choose the level of embed that you need. This selection will give better consistency and format to your documents’ fonts.
Alternatively, save and send your presentation as a PDF. PDF formats ensure that the composition of your fonts does not change during delivery.
8. Include Transparent Images
Creating transparent images involves overlaying a graphic with another to create a transparency effect. The transparency effect ensures that the top and bottom images integrate to offer context and enrichment to your presentation.
The first step to creating transparent visuals is choosing high-resolution images. Next, click on the image and select on the “Picture Format”. Once done, move to the “Color” option and desaturate the picture.
Next, pick the image you want to overlay. PowerPoint allows you to change one color of the image. To create transparency, you can change the background of the top image.
After setting a transparent color, resize the image to cover the whole slide.
Once done, insert a rectangle and fit it into the image. Cut the image(CTRL+V) to save the picture to the clipboard. Once done, select Shape > Format Shape > Picture or Texture Fill. Lastly, adjust your transparency percentage.
Here’s how the image looks after transparency.
Another technique that’s easier to apply is clicking on “Format”, then transparency, and selecting the desired level. However, this hack has limitations. You can only use the trick on the latest PowerPoint updates.
9. Create Custom Templates
If you want to stand out, it’s essential to learn how to create custom templates.
To create custom templates, select Views > Master Views > Slide Master.
Go ahead with editing the slides until you achieve your desired template. Click on the “Close Master” tab, and the new changes will automatically be saved in your templates folder.
If you don’t have time to create custom templates, you can opt for downloadable templates for PowerPoint that you can find on the Internet. This is a good option for people who don’t have the creative hands to make custom templates. It can also save you some time to help you focus on the content of your presentation.
10. Add Audio to Your Presentation
You will never understand the magic in audio until you add one to your presentations. Audios improve your affect by helping you share more content in your presentation.
To include audio in your presentation, press Insert > Audio > Audio in my PC/ Record Audio.
After including the audio, it’s important to select the play in background option so the app knows where to play the sounds. A point to note with this hack is that it only works during the presentation. The audio automatically turns off when in editing mode. Also, you can choose to play the audio when presenting specific slides.
Wrapping It Up
There you have it. The top ten PowerPoint hacks that will change your presentations for the better. For both beginners and experts, the above hacks will help you create and deliver amazing presentations. Most of these tricks take minutes to complete and will save you a lot of time.
