Learn PowerPoint Quickly

15 minutes read

@ tutsplus.com

Trying to figure out how to use PowerPoint? This PowerPoint tutorial for beginners will help get you started. Learn basic tools and how to use PowerPoint templates.

In this PowerPoint tutorial for beginners, I’ll help you get up and running in Microsoft PowerPoint. Ever wanted to know how to use PowerPoint templates? You’ll learn how to use PowerPoint to build a presentation in less time than you ever thought possible. We’ll also cover some PowerPoint best practices to make sure you’re doing things the easy way.

Guide to Making Great Presentations (Free eBook Download)

Before you read on, be sure to grab our free eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations. It’ll help you master the presentation process, from initial idea through to writing, design, and delivering with impact.

How to Learn PowerPoint Quickly (Beginner Tutorial With Tips Video)

Are you ready to start learning PowerPoint? Watch this quick screencast to learn all about what PowerPoint is and how to use it. It’s a perfect PowerPoint tutorial for beginners.

Or study the complete written tutorial below.

What Is PowerPoint?

Microsoft PowerPoint is undoubtedly the most popular app used to give presentations. You’re likely to see PowerPoint presentations being used for everything from presentations at the world’s largest companies to grade school teachers sharing lessons.

PowerPoint is often the butt of the joke. Many decry PowerPoint as boring and a crutch for poorly prepared speakers. Only a bad carpenter blames the tools. And like any tool, PowerPoint is incredibly useful when used properly. Use it as an aid on your speaking engagements to build comfort and drive points visually with your audience.

In this tutorial, we’re going to focus on working inside of PowerPoint to build a presentation. This PowerPoint guide has everything you need to get comfortable in the app. To master the app, we’ll talk about and cover the most common steps a rookie PowerPoint user needs to know.

Key Actions in PowerPoint

Here are the key actions you’ll need to take to build a PowerPoint presentation:

Add Slides: The individual pages in the presentation.
Add Content: Such as text boxes, images, charts, and graphs.
Change Themes and Styles: To make your presentation look professional and fit the occasion.
Prepare Presentation Aids: Like Speaker Notes and Presenter View to help you feel comfortable with presenting.

We’ll cover each of these in this PowerPoint tutorial so that you can get up and running quickly.

How to Use PowerPoint’s Ribbon

To get up to speed with PowerPoint, it helps to understand the layout of the app. Let’s walk through the key menu options so that you can learn PowerPoint quickly. If you understand the way that the app is laid out, you’re likely to find any feature you need quickly.

The Ribbon

The ribbon menu is found across many of Microsoft’s apps, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It lives above the main area of the application. In this example, “Home” is the selected tab in the Ribbon.

The ribbon contains a series of tabs that you can switch between. Each of these has a unique set of tools to work with your presentation differently. When you switch tabs on the ribbon, you’ll see new buttons and options to change your presentation:

Home: A general-purpose collection of the most common tools that you’ll use in PowerPoint.
Insert: An all-in-one tool to add every imaginable type of content, such as tables, pictures, charts, video, and more.
Draw: Use this tab to draw elements in your presentation.
Design: Controls the look and feel of your presentation with theme and style settings.
Transitions: Add animations when you switch slides.
Animations: Controls the order and style that objects will enter or exit your slide.
Slide Show: Control settings related to how your presentation appears when sharing it with an audience.
Review: Check spelling, check accessibility, and leave comments on your presentation here.
View: You can choose multiple ways to view your work from this tab.
Record: Record video, audio, or take a screenshot here.
Tell Me: Click this to ask a question—it’s an easy access help space.

Now that you understand the layout, you’ve got a better idea of how to jump to the feature you need. Let’s dive a bit deeper into how you can use several of these key tabs.

The Home Tab

Use it for: A general selection of the most popular tools in PowerPoint.

I usually stay on the Home tab when I’m working in PowerPoint. The reason is that it’s got practically every tool you need. From adding a new slide to changing text and paragraph settings, the Home tab is the default for most users.

The Insert Tab

When you’re working on adding content to a slide, the Insert tab has every possible tool to add new content to a slide. Choose one of these types of objects to add it to the slide.

Views

PowerPoint has a variety of views that are simply different ways to work with the same presentation. Change the view to get a different perspective on your content.

In the screenshot below, you can see the difference between the default Normal view and Slide Sorter view. Normal view shows each slide front and center, while Slide Sorter view creates thumbnails that you can drag and drop to reorder the presentation.

The Design Tab

An attractive presentation can really grab your audience’s attention. We use themes and styles in PowerPoint to add visual appeal to the presentation, and the Design tab really controls these settings.

On the Design tab, click one of the themes to restyle the presentation. Or try out a different Style thumbnail to overhaul the color theme.

The Steps to Create a PowerPoint Presentation for Beginners

We’ve tackled the interface of PowerPoint, so you should be feeling comfortable with how to get around the app. Now, let’s talk about the actions you’ll find yourself using repeatedly and how you can do that in PowerPoint. Whether you want to know how to use PowerPoint templates or how to build a presentation from scratch, these will be handy.

How to Add Slides

Think of slides as the individual units in your presentation that you can fill with content. To insert a new slide, go to the Insert tab on PowerPoint’s ribbon. Then, click on the New Slide button to add a new slide to your presentation.

Each of the thumbnails that you’ll see on the sidebar represents a slide. Then, you’ll add content to each slide.

There’s no practical limit to the number of slides that your PowerPoint file can contain. But you should consider how many slides it actually takes to make your point.

How to Add Content

Content is what defines each slide. PowerPoint accommodates a wide range of content like text, graphs, tables, charts, and more.

The easiest way to add content is to start by choosing a Layout, which you can select from the Home tab. This PowerPoint template comes with premade layouts we can choose from too.

These layouts have content boxes that are easy to add your own content to. Simply choose a layout, and then start adding your content.

How to Choose a Theme and Style

After you build out your presentation’s content, it’s a great idea to think about adding visual style. For this, you’ll jump over to the Design tab and click on one of the thumbnails for a theme. Choosing a new theme in this PowerPoint template made it easy to switch from an orange to a green theme. Check it out.

Using a PowerPoint theme is the preferred alternative to adding backgrounds, color, and type styles to each slide. Changing the theme typically will adjust the entire presentation simultaneously. This greatly reduces the time involved with building a presentation.

With just these three steps, you’ve got the repeatable sequence of actions needed to build a presentation.

How to Power Up PowerPoint

With every creative app I’ve ever learned, there are always those insider tricks of the trade that you learn many months later. They make you wish that you had known them all along and think about the many hours you wasted on the learning curve.

PowerPoint is no exception to this rule. It’s especially important that you can cut to the chase when you’re rushing to prepare for your presentation.

The best way to save time on your presentation is to start with a pre-built PowerPoint theme. And you can find those on Envato Elements, which is an unlimited download service for creatives.

Discover simple PowerPoint template designs with powerful features on Envato Elements. The right premium PPT template will help you make a great presentation quickly.

Now, most of the files that you’ll grab from the Elements PPTX themes will appear to be finished presentations. You might be wondering how to use these pre-built presentations for your own needs.

Curious about how to use PowerPoint templates? To use Elements themes, it’s really all about cutting it down to the slide designs that you’ll use. A premium theme is really about the ideas that are included as part of it. Simply use these ideas as starting points that you can add your own content to.

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Again, the value of Elements is that you can download as many files as you want while you’re a subscriber. And if you stop subscribing, you’ll still have the right to use the creative assets you grabbed. It’s much faster than building every slide from scratch.

How to Customize a Premium PPT Template Quickly (In 5 Simple Steps!)

When you contemplate how to use PowerPoint, don’t imagine building slide decks from scratch. That’s where premium PPT templates come in. They take the hard work out of using PowerPoint.

You can take advantage of designer styles in a simple format. That’s the ultimate PowerPoint lesson to take to heart. Let’s look at just how easy it is to customize premium PPT templates in this quick PowerPoint training tutorial!

If you want to follow along, download the beautiful Agio PowerPoint template from Envato Elements.

Let’s get started:

1. Choose Slides for Your Presentation

Premium PowerPoint PPT templates often include hundreds of handcrafted slides. For you, it’s best to select only a handful to build a slide deck. In PowerPoint, find Slide Sorter on the View tab.

In Slide Sorter view, click and drag on the slide thumbnails to reorder them. Hold down Shift, click, and press Delete to remove unwanted slides. Jump back and start working by clicking Normal on the View tab.

2. Add Your Own Text

The PowerPoint basics include text and images. Adding custom text is one of the easiest and most common edits to make.

Pre-built layouts include text boxes already arranged on the slide. To add your own words, highlight the contents of any text box. Then, simply start typing. Repeat throughout the presentation.

3. Add Images

Wondering how to add PowerPoint presentation images? The easiest way is to turn to premium templates with image placeholders. Identify them by finding the image icons on a given slide. Jump to where images are stored on your computer.

Then, simply drag and drop them onto the placeholder. Not only will all your photos import automatically, they’ll also size and scale to fit perfectly!

4. Change Object Colors

Changing theme colors is a fast way to adjust the visual look of your slides. For example, change object colors to add a bit of contrast.

To get started, click on any object, like a shape, to select it. Choose Format at the top menu, to view your formatting options. Try Format Object to open the Format Pane.

In the Format Pane, you can choose things like a new Fill Color for this shape.

5. Customize Fonts

No Microsoft PowerPoint tutorial would be complete without customizing fonts. Sometimes, it’s easy to overlook text as a design element, but with a few quick edits you can make your words really stand out.

Highlight a block of text, then go up to the Font section of the Home tab. You’ll see drop downs to change the font style, size, and color. After that, add quick effects like bold letters, italics, and more!

PowerPoint Tools to Learn (For Presenters)

The content and design will vary greatly from one presentation to another. But, no matter what the goal of your presentation is, there are common tools that every presenter can benefit from using. We’ve developed PowerPoint lessons for those tools.

Let’s focus on the most valuable tools for speakers in this PowerPoint tutorial. I always mention these tools as a way to build confidence and comfort for presenters.

1. Speaker Notes

Forget writing out note cards or keeping a printed outline nearby. Speaker notes are a way to add the things you need to say to each slide.

Speaker notes are added to each individual slide, and the best way to add them is from Normal view. Click on Notes below the presentation area and type your slide-specific notes.

2. Presenter View

Another feature that’s a must-use is Presenter View, which is perfect for two-screen setups while presenting. Your audience will see the presentation you’ve built on the projector or LCD screen, while you’ll have your own private view with speaker notes, upcoming slides, and more.

Turn on Presenter View from the slideshow tab by clicking Use Presenter View.

3. Spelling and Grammar Check

There’s nothing worse than missing a key typo before you give your presentation. To avoid this problem, it’s a great help to run a spelling and grammar check before you give your presentation.

To check for common spelling issues, simply jump to the Review tab and click Spelling. PowerPoint will check for the most common issues and allow you to correct them as needed.

4. Insert Multimedia

You can use multimedia in your PowerPoint presentations, and it can really enhance the experience. Remember, you can find these tools in the Ribbon, via Insert. For example, how about inserting a short audio clip of a quote or maybe a short video relevant to your topic? If you’d like to make these additions, Insert makes it very easy to do.

5. Add Bullet Points

How you organize your content can make a huge difference—both for your audience and for you, as the presenter. Presenting a long passage of text can be difficult and even boring for the viewer. Consider breaking your content up into easy-to-read and easy-to-digest bullet points.

PowerPoint makes this easy. When you edit your text, select Home in the Ribbon. There, again, you’ll see your text options.

6. Transitions and Animations

PowerPoint has many options for transitions and animations. You can have specific transitions from slide to slide, and you can animate specific elements in your presentations.

Keep animations and transitions as a subtle, complementary part of your presentation. Don’t overdo it. Plus, they can add a finishing touch to your work and add emphasis at key places.

5 Tips and Tricks for a Successful PowerPoint Presentation

In this PowerPoint tutorial for beginners, you’ve learned how to use PowerPoint presentation templates and customized them. But you may be wondering: *is that enough to deliver a winning PowerPoint presentation? *

Part of PowerPoint training comes from adopting the tips and tricks used by the best presenters. Follow these, and you’ll have a happy (and engaged) audience every time!

1. Have a Clear Objective

Let’s face it: we’ve all endured lengthy, boring PowerPoint presentations that seem to drift without a clear purpose. When you build your own PowerPoint, start with a goal in mind. Typically, that goal will be to inform or persuade an audience. It pays to outline that goal in advance and work towards your objective with a series of clear and concise slides.

2. Illustrate Concepts With Infographics

A key PowerPoint lesson for beginners is this: never get bogged down trying to talk through concepts. Visual aids are essential, and audiences demand them today. Infographics are a successful presenter’s best friend.

3. Be Subtle with Animations and Transitions

Animations and transitions are fundamental elements of any deck; they should be used sparingly. When carefully applied, they create beautiful segues between slides and can help introduce new ideas in exact sequence.

4. Be Interactive to Engage the Audience

No matter how compelling your narrative, you can’t simply talk to an audience and expect full participation. Instead, you need to engage your audience. A quick and fun way is with a quiz slide. They get the audience involved and help your slide deck stay focused.

5. Close Strong for an Enduring Message

The very best PowerPoint presentations make a great first impression. But equally (and perhaps even more) important is the winning last impression. It’s critical to conclude with a strong close. Leave on a memorable anecdote, recap your key points, or make a big “ask.”