Some Very Valuable New PowerPoint 2007 Features by Billy Gee

As you probably know, PowerPoint is a powerful tool for creating and delivering presentations. As a Microsoft Office Suite software instructor for over fifteen years, I have enjoyed helping people get the most out of this robust application. It has been improved over the years, some versions showing greater improvement than others. This latest version in the Microsoft Office 2007 Suite has some of the most useful features for presentations yet. This is due not only to PowerPoint-specific additions, but also to some of the great new features Microsoft Office 2007 has to offer.

In regards to PowerPoint 2007, probably one of the most powerful additions is the SmartArt Graphics feature that is now part of Microsoft Office 2007. Being a part of the Microsoft Office Suite makes this feature available to all of the most commonly used Office 2007 applications. However, due to the nature of slide presentations and their extensive use of graphics, you will probably find the most use for SmartArt Graphics in PowerPoint 2007.

SmartArt Graphics replaces the very time-consuming process of manually drawing graphically-enhanced bulleted lists, organization charts, flow charts or other eye-catching graphic items found in many slide presentations. These often-used graphics have now all been laid out in a gallery full of lists, processes, cycles, hierarchies, relationships, matrices, and pyramids from which you can choose. Once you have chosen the graphic you like, you can further customize it by adding text to the items, either directly in the graphic or in a convenient bulleted list displayed next to the SmartArt graphic.

As long as the SmartArt Graphic is selected, two contextual tabs at the top of the ribbon allow you quickly and easily customize the graphic. For really striking graphics, I like to add both color and 3-D effects. There are also a variety of fill and border styles available in a gallery. Remember that as you point to items in most of the galleries, the new Microsoft Office 2007 Live Preview feature displays what the object would look like, should you decide to choose the gallery item by clicking it.

One of the best long-time PowerPoint features, in my opinion, was the quick manner in which you could change the look of one or all of the slides in your presentation using the design gallery. This has been improved in PowerPoint 2007's theme gallery, where you can quickly choose the design background you want and then further customize it by choosing theme colors, fonts, and graphics effects. Live Preview is a great help here too.

Finally, a subtle but constructive change is found in the slide layouts. In prior versions, there were several layouts which had to be created individually for each combination of items. For instance, one layout would have a graphic on the left and a bulleted list on the right, but another layout would be needed for the reverse. Now the layouts are fewer and simpler, because you can choose one of seven possible items - a bulleted list, a table, a chart, a SmartArt Graphic, a picture, clip art, or a media clip in each placeholder to "mix and match" as you please. You can also customize the slide layout to position text boxes and placeholders where you like. Any custom layout you create in the slide master can be uniquely named for use anywhere in the file.