PowerPoint offers new shortcuts for dressing up slide shows and sharing them safely.
2 of 17 CNET Networks
It's easier to work with images and multimedia content in Microsoft's updated presentations software than with older editions of PowerPoint. The various Office 2007 applications share an interface theme that wraps features into a thick Ribbon toolbar.
3 of 17 CNET Networks
When you create a new document, you can choose from among many templates offered both in the software itself and at Microsoft online.
4 of 17 CNET Networks
Right-clicking the mouse when hovering over text within a slide will display a formatting mini-toolbar and drop-down menu.
5 of 17 CNET Networks
Right-clicking the mouse within a chart brings up editing tools specific to the chart.
6 of 17 CNET Networks
From the Insert tab, you can add audio files that play sounds when you turn to or click on a specific slide.
7 of 17 CNET Networks
The Sound Tools tab appears only when you are working with embedded audio.
8 of 17 CNET Networks
When we clicked away from the audio icon, we had a hard time later finding the sound to edit it. An audio icon appears within the center-pane view of a slide, but it's hard to see within the thumbnails when you're scrolling through the pages.
9 of 17 CNET Networks
Right-clicking the mouse on the audio icon doesn't offer options for editing or playing back the recording. Instead, you get tools for editing the graphical icon itself.
10 of 17 CNET Networks
If your computer already has software installed that integrates with Office 2007, PowerPoint and other apps will display an Add-Ins tab. In this case, the Add-ins tab contains commands from a third-party video capture application.
11 of 17 CNET Networks
PowerPoint's dynamic galleries let you preview how animated transitions will play before you apply them to slides.
12 of 17 CNET Networks
Galleries of effects also let you roll the mouse over a style so you can quickly reject it or add it to your presentation.
13 of 17 CNET Networks
The Insert tab is your first stop for dropping images and drawing tables into a slide, as well as for integrating content with files from Word and elsewhere.
14 of 17 CNET Networks
Before you send a PowerPoint sales pitch to a client, you'd be wise to scan its hidden metadata. Just click on the Microsoft Office button, choose Prepare, and then Inspect Document.
15 of 17 CNET Networks
When you choose Inspect Document, Document Properties will appear below the Ribbon toolbar so you can change the author name, comments, and more.
16 of 17 CNET Networks
You can quickly restrict user permissions from the Review tab.
17 of 17 CNET Networks
The Publish options from the Microsoft Office button include many choices, especially for networked Enterprise users. Unfortunately, there's no easy way for most consumers to instantly post their presentation to the Web and show it off to anybody.
