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WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: START THE SHOW INSTANTLY We've all seen too much of presenter's laptop screens, full of messy icon-strewn desktops or unread emails, as they try to start a PowerPoint presentation. Get right to it by naming the file with a .PPS (or .PPSX) file extension. That's a PowerPoint Show, and a quick double click on it goes right into the slideshow, not PowerPoint editing mode. Click Esc to exit the slideshow. www.office.com/setup Blogs: There comes a time in almost every young (or old) office worker's life where the cubicle must give way to the boardroom, or worse, to the dais. That means speaking in public, and more often than not, that speaking is usually accompanied by slides. Such presentations are ingrained in the public consciousness, from watching big-name CEOs spew speeds-and-feeds about new gadgets, to fascinating TED talks on every topic under the sun. Even teachers in the classroom give lessons in a way the old blackboard could never convey. It's fair to say that the vast majority of those presentations are created using PowerPoint, the presentation tool that's a staple of the Microsoft Office suite. The site SlideNirvana.com estimates that PowerPoint is on at least 1 billion (with a B!) computers worldwide. If even a third of them use the software, that's still the equivalent of the entire population of the United States making slide-based exhibitions. And most of them suck. Perhaps that's not quantifiable, but so many articles are written on that fact-and so many of us live through them-it's hard to argue the (power)point. Likewise, many, many articles and entire books are written on how to make effective presentations. This is not one of those stories. This collection of tips is all about the vagaries of the powerful PowerPoint software itself. It's meant for those with a grasp of the basics and beyond who are looking for that extra little goose to get the most out of the program. We hope with these tricks-some of which wi

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: A theme is a predefined combination of colors, fonts, and effects. Different themes also use different slide layouts. You've already been using a theme, even if you didn't know it: the default Office theme. You can choose from a variety of new themes at any time, giving your entire presentation a consistent, professional look. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about applying themes in PowerPoint. WHAT IS A THEME? In PowerPoint, themes give you a quick and easy way to change the design of your presentation. They control your primary color palette, basic fonts, slide layout, and other important elements. All of the elements of a theme will work well together, which means you won't have to spend as much time formatting your presentation. Each theme uses its own set of slide layouts. These layouts control the way your content is arranged, so the effect can be dramatic. In the examples below, you can see that the placeholders, fonts, and colors are different. The Frame theme and the Integral theme - www.office.com/setup If you use a unique slide layout-such as Quote with Caption or Name Card-and then switch to a theme that does not include that layout, it may give unexpected results. Every PowerPoint theme-including the default Office theme-has its own theme elements. These elements are: Theme Colors: There are 10 theme colors, along with darker and lighter variations, available from every Color menu. Theme Colors - www.office.com/setup Theme Fonts: There are two theme fonts available at the top of the Font menu under Theme Fonts. Theme Fonts - www.office.com/setup Theme Effects: These affect the preset shape styles. You can find shape styles on the Format tab whenever you select a shape or SmartArt graphic. Theme Effects - www.office.com/setup When you switch to a different theme, all of these elements will update to reflect the new them

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: If you're new to PowerPoint, you'll need to learn the basics of working with text. In this lesson, you'll learn how to cut, copy, paste, and format text. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about the basics of working with text in PowerPoint. TO SELECT TEXT: Before you can move or arrange text, you'll need to select it. Click next to the text you want to select, drag the mouse over the text, then release your mouse. The text will be selected. www.office.com/setup Blogs COPYING AND MOVING TEXT PowerPoint allows you to copy text that is already on a slide and paste it elsewhere, which can save you time. If you want to move text, you can cut and paste or drag and drop the text. TO COPY AND PASTE TEXT: Select the text you want to copy, then click the Copy command on the Home tab. www.office.com/setup Blogs Place the insertion point where you want the text to appear. Click the Paste command on the Home tab. www.office.com/setup Blogs The copied text will appear. TO CUT AND PASTE TEXT: Select the text you want to move, then click the Cut command. www.office.com/setup Blogs Place the insertion point where you want the text to appear, then click the Paste command. www.office.com/setup Blogs The text will appear in the new location. You can access the cut, copy, and paste commands by using keyboard shortcuts. Press Ctrl+X to cut, Ctrl+C to copy, and Ctrl+V to paste. TO DRAG AND DROP TEXT: Select the text you want to move, then click and drag the text to the desired location. www.office.com/setup Blogs The text will appear in the new location. www.office.com/setup Blogs FORMATTING AND ALIGNING TEXT

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: Every PowerPoint presentation is composed of a series of slides. To begin creating a slide show, you'll need to know the basics of working with slides. You'll need to feel comfortable with tasks such as inserting a new slide, changing the layout of a slide, arranging existing slides, changing the slide view, and adding notes to a slide. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about slide basics in PowerPoint. UNDERSTANDING SLIDES AND SLIDE LAYOUTS When you insert a new slide, it will usually have placeholders to show you where content will be placed. Slides have different layouts for placeholders, depending on the type of information you want to include. Whenever you create a new slide, you'll need to choose a slide layout that fits your content. Different slide layouts - www.office.com/setup Placeholders can contain different types of content, including text, images, and videos. Many placeholders have thumbnail icons you can click to add specific types of content. In the example below, the slide has placeholders for the title and content. A slide with empty placeholders - www.office.com/setup TO INSERT A NEW SLIDE: Whenever you start a new presentation, it will contain one slide with the Title Slide layout. You can insert as many slides as you need from a variety of layouts. From the Home tab, click the bottom half of the New Slide command. Clicking the bottom half of the New Slide command - www.office.com/setup Choose the desired slide layout from the menu that appears. Choosing a slide layout - www.office.com/setup The new slide will appear. Click any placeholder and begin typing to add text. You can also click an icon to add other types of content, such as a picture or a chart. The new slide - - www.office.com/setup To change the layout of an existing slide, click the Layout command, then choose the desired layout. Applying a new layout to a

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: As you add more slides to a presentation, it can be difficult to keep everything organized. Fortunately, PowerPoint offers tools to help you organize and prepare your slide show. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about managing slides in PowerPoint. ABOUT SLIDE VIEWS PowerPoint includes several different slide views, which are all useful for various tasks. The slide view commands are located in the bottom-right of the PowerPoint window. There are four main slide views. The different slide view commands - www.office.com/setup Normal view: This is the default view, where you create and edit slides. You can also move slides in the Slide Navigation pane on the left. Normal View - www.office.com/setup Slide sorter view: In this view, you'll see a thumbnail version of each slide. You can drag and drop slides to reorder them quickly. Slide Sorter - www.office.com/setup Reading view: This view fills the PowerPoint window with a preview of your presentation. It includes easily accessible navigation buttons at the bottom-right. Reading View - www.office.com/setup Slide show view: This is the view you'll use to present to an audience. This command will begin the presentation from the current slide. You can also press F5 on your keyboard to start from the beginning. A menu will appear in the bottom-left corner when you move the mouse. These commands allow you to navigate through the slides and access other features, such as the pen and highlighter. Playing a slide show - www.office.com/setup OUTLINE VIEW Outline view shows your slide text in outline form. This allows you to quickly edit your slide text and view the content of multiple slides at once. You could use this layout to review the organization of your slide show and prepare to deliver your presentation. TO VIEW AN OUTLINE: From the View tab, click the Outline View command. Clicking the Outline V

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: Once your slide show is complete, you'll need to learn how to present it to an audience. PowerPoint offers several tools and features to help make your presentation smooth, engaging, and professional. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about presenting your slide show. PRESENTING A SLIDE SHOW Before you present your slide show, you'll need to think about the type of equipment that will be available for your presentation. Many presenters use projectors during presentations, so you might want to consider using one as well. This allows you to control and preview slides on one monitor while presenting them to an audience on another screen. TO START A SLIDE SHOW: There are several ways you can begin your presentation: Click the Start From Beginning command on the Quick Access Toolbar, or press the F5 key at the top of your keyboard. The presentation will appear in full-screen mode. clicking the Start From Beginning command on the Quick Access Toolbar - www.office.com/setup Select the Slide Show view command at the bottom of the PowerPoint window to begin a presentation from the current slide. Switching to Slide Show view from the Status bar in the lower-right corner - www.office.com/setup Go to the Slide Show tab on the Ribbon to access even more options. From here, you can start the presentation from the current slide and access advanced presentation options. starting a presentation from the Slide Show tab - www.office.com/setup TO ADVANCE AND REVERSE SLIDES: You can advance to the next slide by clicking your mouse or pressing the spacebar on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can use or arrow keys on your keyboard to move forward or backward through the presentation. You can also hover your mouse over the bottom-left and click the arrows to move forward or backward. hovering the mouse to access navigation buttons in Slide Show view - www.office

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: Many of the features in Office are geared toward saving and sharing files online. OneDrive is Microsoft's online storage space that you can use to save, edit, and share your presentations and other files. You can access OneDrive from your computer, smartphone, or any of the devices you use. To get started with OneDrive, all you need to do is set up a free Microsoft account if you don't already have one. If you don't already have a Microsoft account, you can go to the Creating a Microsoft Account lesson in our Microsoft Account tutorial. Once you have a Microsoft account, you'll be able to sign in to Office. Just click Sign in in the upper-right corner of the PowerPoint window. signing in to OneDrive - www.office.com/setup BENEFITS OF USING ONEDRIVE Once you're signed in to your Microsoft account, here are a few of the things you'll be able to do with OneDrive: Access your files anywhere: When you save your files to OneDrive, you'll be able to access them from any computer, tablet, or smartphone that has an Internet connection. You'll also be able to create new presentations from OneDrive. Back up your files: Saving files to OneDrive gives them an extra layer of protection. Even if something happens to your computer, OneDrive will keep your files safe and accessible. Share files: It's easy to share your OneDrive files with friends and coworkers. You can choose whether they can edit or simply read files. This option is great for collaboration because multiple people can edit a presentation at the same time (also known as co-authoring). SAVING AND OPENING FILES When you're signed in to your Microsoft account, OneDrive will appear as an option whenever you save or open a file. You still have the option of saving files to your computer. However, saving files to your OneDrive allows you to access them from any other computer, and it also allows you to share files with friends and co

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: Microsoft Word 2016 is a word processing application that allows you to create a variety of documents, including letters, resumes, and more. In this lesson, you'll learn how to navigate the Word interface and become familiar with some of its most important features, such as the Ribbon, Quick Access Toolbar, and Backstage view. Watch the video below to become more familiar with Word 2016. GETTING TO KNOW WORD 2016 Word 2016 is similar to Word 2013 and Word 2010. If you've previously used either version, then Word 2016 should feel familiar. But if you are new to Word or have more experience with older versions, you should first take some time to become familiar with the Word 2016 interface. THE WORD INTERFACE When you open Word for the first time, the Start Screen will appear. From here, you'll be able to create a new document, choose a template, and access your recently edited documents. From the Start Screen, locate and select Blank document to access the Word interface. creating a new blank document - www.office.com/setup Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about the Word interface: the Word 2016 interface - www.office.com/setup WORKING WITH THE WORD ENVIRONMENT Like other recent versions, Word 2016 continues to use features like the Ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar-where you will find commands to perform common tasks in Word-as well as Backstage view. THE RIBBON Word uses a tabbed Ribbon system instead of traditional menus. The Ribbon contains multiple tabs, which you can find near the top of the Word window. tabs on the Ribbon - www.office.com/setup Each tab contains several groups of related commands. For example, the Font group on the Home tab contains commands for formatting text in your document. the Font group on the Home tab - www.office.com/setup Some groups also have a small arrow in the bottom-right corner that you can click for even more option

www.office.com/setup Blogs: While you can always enter data directly into database tables, you might find it easier to use forms. Forms ensure you're entering the right data in the right location and format. This can help keep your database accurate and consistent. This lesson will address the benefits of using forms in a database. You will review examples of different forms and form components. Finally, you will learn how to use forms to enter new records and view and edit existing ones. Throughout this tutorial, we will be using a sample database. If you would like to follow along, you'll need to download our Access 2016 sample database. You will need to have Access 2016 installed on your computer in order to open the example. Watch the video below to learn more about working with forms in Access. WHY USE FORMS? Many of us fill out forms so often that we hardly notice when we're asked to use them. Forms are so popular because they're useful to the person asking for the information and to the person providing it. They are a way of requiring information in a specific format, which means the person filling out the form knows exactly which information to include and where to put it. Illustration of a paper form - www.office.com/setup This is just as true of forms in Access. When you enter information into a form in Access, the data goes exactly where it's supposed to go: into one or more related tables. While entering data into simple tables is fairly straightforward, data entry becomes more complicated as you start populating tables with records from elsewhere in the database. For instance, the orders table in a bakery's database might link to information on customers, products, and prices drawn from related tables. For example, in the Orders Table below the Customer ID field is linked to the Customers table. The Customer ID field links to the Customers table - www.office.com/setup In fact, in order to see the entire order you would also have to look at the

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Once your slide show is complete, you'll need to learn how to present it to an audience. PowerPoint offers several tools and features to help make your presentation smooth, engaging, and professional. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about presenting your slide show. PRESENTING A SLIDE SHOW Before you present your slide show, you'll need to think about the type of equipment that will be available for your presentation. Many presenters use projectors during presentations, so you might want to consider using one as well. This allows you to control and preview slides on one monitor while presenting them to an audience on another screen. TO START A SLIDE SHOW: There are several ways you can begin your presentation: Click the Start From Beginning command on the Quick Access Toolbar, or press the F5 key at the top of your keyboard. The presentation will appear in full-screen mode. clicking the Start From Beginning command on the Quick Access Toolbar - www.office.com/setup Select the Slide Show view command at the bottom of the PowerPoint window to begin a presentation from the current slide. Switching to Slide Show view from the Status bar in the lower-right corner - www.office.com/setup Go to the Slide Show tab on the Ribbon to access even more options. From here, you can start the presentation from the current slide and access advanced presentation options. starting a presentation from the Slide Show tab - www.office.com/setup TO ADVANCE AND REVERSE SLIDES: You can advance to the next slide by clicking your mouse or pressing the spacebar on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can use or arrow keys on your keyboard to move forward or backward through the presentation. You can also hover your mouse over the bottom-left and click the arrows to move forward or backward. hovering the mouse to access navigation buttons in Slide Show view - www.office.com/setup TO STOP A SLIDE SHOW: You can

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: As you add more slides to a presentation, it can be difficult to keep everything organized. Fortunately, PowerPoint offers tools to help you organize and prepare your slide show. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about managing slides in PowerPoint. ABOUT SLIDE VIEWS PowerPoint includes several different slide views, which are all useful for various tasks. The slide view commands are located in the bottom-right of the PowerPoint window. There are four main slide views. The different slide view commands - www.office.com/setup Normal view: This is the default view, where you create and edit slides. You can also move slides in the Slide Navigation pane on the left. Normal View - www.office.com/setup Slide sorter view: In this view, you'll see a thumbnail version of each slide. You can drag and drop slides to reorder them quickly. Slide Sorter - www.office.com/setup Reading view: This view fills the PowerPoint window with a preview of your presentation. It includes easily accessible navigation buttons at the bottom-right. Reading View - www.office.com/setup Slide show view: This is the view you'll use to present to an audience. This command will begin the presentation from the current slide. You can also press F5 on your keyboard to start from the beginning. A menu will appear in the bottom-left corner when you move the mouse. These commands allow you to navigate through the slides and access other features, such as the pen and highlighter. Playing a slide show - www.office.com/setup OUTLINE VIEW Outline view shows your slide text in outline form. This allows you to quickly edit your slide text and view the content of multiple slides at once. You could use this layout to review the organization of your slide show and prepare to deliver your presentation. TO VIEW AN OUTLINE: From the View tab, click the Outline View command. Clicking the Outline

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: Every PowerPoint presentation is composed of a series of slides. To begin creating a slide show, you'll need to know the basics of working with slides. You'll need to feel comfortable with tasks such as inserting a new slide, changing the layout of a slide, arranging existing slides, changing the slide view, and adding notes to a slide. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about slide basics in PowerPoint. UNDERSTANDING SLIDES AND SLIDE LAYOUTS When you insert a new slide, it will usually have placeholders to show you where content will be placed. Slides have different layouts for placeholders, depending on the type of information you want to include. Whenever you create a new slide, you'll need to choose a slide layout that fits your content. Different slide layouts - www.office.com/setup Placeholders can contain different types of content, including text, images, and videos. Many placeholders have thumbnail icons you can click to add specific types of content. In the example below, the slide has placeholders for the title and content. A slide with empty placeholders - www.office.com/setup TO INSERT A NEW SLIDE: Whenever you start a new presentation, it will contain one slide with the Title Slide layout. You can insert as many slides as you need from a variety of layouts. From the Home tab, click the bottom half of the New Slide command. Clicking the bottom half of the New Slide command - www.office.com/setup Choose the desired slide layout from the menu that appears. Choosing a slide layout - www.office.com/setup The new slide will appear. Click any placeholder and begin typing to add text. You can also click an icon to add other types of content, such as a picture or a chart. The new slide - - www.office.com/setup To change the layout of an existing slide, click the Layout command, then choose the desired layout. Applying a new layout to a

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: If you're new to PowerPoint, you'll need to learn the basics of working with text. In this lesson, you'll learn how to cut, copy, paste, and format text. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about the basics of working with text in PowerPoint. TO SELECT TEXT: Before you can move or arrange text, you'll need to select it. Click next to the text you want to select, drag the mouse over the text, then release your mouse. The text will be selected. www.office.com/setup Blogs COPYING AND MOVING TEXT PowerPoint allows you to copy text that is already on a slide and paste it elsewhere, which can save you time. If you want to move text, you can cut and paste or drag and drop the text. TO COPY AND PASTE TEXT: Select the text you want to copy, then click the Copy command on the Home tab. www.office.com/setup Blogs Place the insertion point where you want the text to appear. Click the Paste command on the Home tab. www.office.com/setup Blogs The copied text will appear. TO CUT AND PASTE TEXT: Select the text you want to move, then click the Cut command. www.office.com/setup Blogs Place the insertion point where you want the text to appear, then click the Paste command. www.office.com/setup Blogs The text will appear in the new location. You can access the cut, copy, and paste commands by using keyboard shortcuts. Press Ctrl+X to cut, Ctrl+C to copy, and Ctrl+V to paste. TO DRAG AND DROP TEXT: Select the text you want to move, then click and drag the text to the desired location. www.office.com/setup Blogs The text will appear in the new location. www.office.com/setup Blogs FORMATTING AND ALIGNING TEXT Formatted text can draw your audience's attention to specific parts of a presentation and emphasize important information. In PowerPoint, you have several options for adjusting your text, including size and color. You can also adjust the alignment of the

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: A theme is a predefined combination of colors, fonts, and effects. Different themes also use different slide layouts. You've already been using a theme, even if you didn't know it: the default Office theme. You can choose from a variety of new themes at any time, giving your entire presentation a consistent, professional look. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about applying themes in PowerPoint. WHAT IS A THEME? In PowerPoint, themes give you a quick and easy way to change the design of your presentation. They control your primary color palette, basic fonts, slide layout, and other important elements. All of the elements of a theme will work well together, which means you won't have to spend as much time formatting your presentation. Each theme uses its own set of slide layouts. These layouts control the way your content is arranged, so the effect can be dramatic. In the examples below, you can see that the placeholders, fonts, and colors are different. The Frame theme and the Integral theme - www.office.com/setup If you use a unique slide layout-such as Quote with Caption or Name Card-and then switch to a theme that does not include that layout, it may give unexpected results. Every PowerPoint theme-including the default Office theme-has its own theme elements. These elements are: Theme Colors: There are 10 theme colors, along with darker and lighter variations, available from every Color menu. Theme Colors - www.office.com/setup Theme Fonts: There are two theme fonts available at the top of the Font menu under Theme Fonts. Theme Fonts - www.office.com/setup Theme Effects: These affect the preset shape styles. You can find shape styles on the Format tab whenever you select a shape or SmartArt graphic. Theme Effects - www.office.com/setup When you switch to a different theme, all of these elements will update to reflect the new them

Free writing activities for the classroom

This is an amazing site by Jennifer Myers that has a lot of great step-by-step ideas about teaching language arts effectively in the elementary classroom. It includes things like reading and writing workshops.

This web site has been a best friend to me in some of my education courses. It provides many ideas for lessons, tips on being an effective teacher, how to integrate technology and so much more. This site will be helpful to all of you future teachers and I know I will be using this site when I become a teacher as well.

Education World®. The Educator's Best Friend. The surfing is over. Here you will find the best education links and original content the Net has to offer. Dozens of other features...

This website has many links to websites that give great ideas for teaching children how to write, for example, I searched around and found an idea for creative writing: students sit in circle, start a story, when time is up, pass the story along to have peer continue it.