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Video tutorial: Create a theme in PowerPoint from scratch

June 22, 2015 by Ellen Finkelstein 2 Comments

In my clients’ presentations that we make over (usually together), I see a lot of themes and slide masters that aren’t well prepared — sometimes not prepared at all. Setting up the theme and slide master, while it might seem time consuming, is actually a time saver because you avoid having to fiddle with each slide. And your slides will look better as well.

Here’s a video of a session from Power Pointers Quarter Hour that shows the process of how to create a theme in PowerPoint — similar to one that I often use. By watching it, you’ll learn the process and can then customize it for your own needs.

Setting up a customized theme is a time saver allowing you more freedom during presentations. #backgrounds #themes #powerpoint Share on X

PowerPoint crashed during the session, but I was able to successfully complete the tutorial.

Highlight one part of an image in color

September 25, 2011 by Ellen Finkelstein 4 Comments

Highlighting a part of a grayscale image in color really makes it stand out!

Here are the steps:

Find a photo that you want to use and insert it.
Select the photo, then copy and paste it to duplicate it.
Select the original photo and choose Format tab> Color and choose the first swatch (Saturation 0%) to make the photo grayscale.
Now select the copy, and go to Format tab>Remove Background. I have a video tutorial here. Use the buttons to remove everything that you want to be grayscale. Keep everything that you want to remain in color. (Tip: Zoom in to more precisely choose what you want to keep and what you want to remove.)
Move the copy exactly on top of the grayscale version.
For ease of use, select both photos and group them (Ctrl + G).

Instead of making the original photo grayscale, you can apply other effects, such as blurring or other effects from the Artistic Effects drop-down list. Ric Bretschneider wrote a blog post a while back that uses a similar technique to create a blurred background.

6 steps to create a quick PowerPoint makeover

April 6, 2011 by Ellen Finkelstein 2 Comments

This past month, I did two makeovers–one for a long-time friend who was presenting at an academic conference and the other for a business partner. Since I wasn’t getting paid, I went through them fairly quickly and by the time I had finished both, I realized that I had a simple system that I could share with you.

Do you sometimes want to quickly make a presentation look better without changing the content very much? In these two instances, I wasn’t at liberty to reorganize the content or change the number of slides much, so I had to make simple changes. Yes, I would have liked to do a more thorough job, but …

Step 1: Apply a better theme or template

I have created a PowerPoint theme that has the settings I want for font, font size, title justification and more. It has a plain white background and I find it to be a good place to start. In my tip, “Create a better PowerPoint template,” I describe this template/theme.

This step cleans up a lot of messes.

Step 2: Format the background

If the presenter wants a background other than plain white, I add it here. My preference would be for a simple gradient, but my friend wanted something more interesting than that, so I took the background she had chosen and deleted some of the elements, leaving a simple, textured bar.

Step 3: Reset the slides

People fiddle with their slides too much! I recommend using the layouts that come with PowerPoint (or creating your own if you have 2007 or 2010), but not moving things around too much, unless you’re a designer or unless the slide absolutely requires it.

The result of all this fiddling is:

Slide titles in varying locations, which would be called title jump-itis. As you go from slide to slide, the slides jump a little each time. It gives the audience eye strain!
Inconsistent fonts and font sizes, which make the presentation look chaotic
Pictures and shapes all over the place, which results in jumping objects.
Distorted or grainy photos

Resetting a slide moves everything to match the layout. So I reset most of the slides. I explain how in my tip, “Resetting a slide: A quick fix for awful slides.”

Often, I change the layout, too. I can’t tell you how many times I see a slide with empty placeholders on it. It’s so annoying to work with those empty placeholders on the slide (even though they don’t show up in Slide Show view). By choosing the most appropriate layout, I make my editing easier and ensure consistency.

Step 4: Add images

Images are powerful! A presentation totally without images will seem boring, even if it isn’t. People remember images better than text. Images help people understand concepts. Images are persuasive. So, if possible, I add images.

Step 5: Remove unnecessary text

Often, slides are so full of text that there isn’t room for the images. So I start cutting out text. I find that people include a lot of unnecessary text. Some things that you say don’t need to go on the slide. For example, if your slide shows 4 ways to accomplish save time on your e-mail, you don’t need to include on the slide, “There are 4 ways to save time on your e-mail.” You can just say it. Then show the 4 ways.

Step 6: Turn text into SmartArt, a chart/graph, or a table

SmartArt is a feature of PowerPoint 2007 and 2010. It creates diagrams and is much better than 2003’s diagram feature. When I can’t do anything more with the text, I turn it into SmartArt. A diagram is a visual way of showing text and so it has much more impact on the audience. I often ungroup the SmartArt just to get more flexibility. If the presenter is using 2003, I always ungroup the SmartArt, because otherwise the person won’t be able to edit the text or shapes.

Let me know if these steps work for you. Do you have a system that you use to quickly get slides into shape?

Remove an image background in PowerPoint

June 24, 2010 by Ellen Finkelstein 12 Comments

One of the features of PowerPoint 2010 and later is the ability to remove the background of an image. This is different from making one color in the background transparent, which you can do in earlier versions. (I describe that process in a tip, “Cool contour shadows.”)

PowerPoint 2010 lets you specify which parts of the image you want to keep or discard. It doesn’t always work perfectly, but for the right image — usually one with clear outlines — it’s a great tool.

Watch how it works.

Create a changeable radial gradient background theme

May 24, 2010 by Ellen Finkelstein 2 Comments

I’ve mentioned before (here) that you can create a theme in PowerPoint 2007 that changes as you change the theme colors. This gives you lots of flexibility to create a great background in many circumstances. For example, you can change the background to the branding colors of a potential client is you give sales presentations. If you create presentations for others, you can use this technique to quickly create a background that matches the branding of your clients.

So, create one background and use it many times. I usually use a plain white background, but I do like a radial gradient with its corner at the upper-left of the slide.

Changeable radial gradient background theme

Why do I like this background?

It’s subtle so it doesn’t compete with your content but has just enough interest so that it isn’t boring. (I would probably still use white backgrounds on many slides where I want to add photos.)
The lighter upper-left corner has an uplifting effect for me. The darker lower-right corner is grounding. Well, maybe that’s just my feeling about it.

Follow these steps:

Open the Slide Master (Shift+Normal view button or View> Slide Master.

Click the top, large thumbnail in the left panel of layouts. This thumbnail controls all the rest.

On the slide, insert a rectangle covering the entire slide. (Insert> Shapes)

With the rectangle selected, right-click and choose Format Shape. You’ll see the Format Shape dialog box.

Click the Gradient Fill option.

From the Type drop-down list, choose Radial.

From the Direction drop-down list, choose the rightmost option. The tooltip says From Corner.

Format Shape dialog box in PowerPoint 2007

I added an additional color stop. To do so, click Add in the Gradient Stops section, for a total of four.

Choose Stop 1 and use the Color drop-down list to specify a color. To get predictable results when you change your theme colors, you should choose from the existing theme colors, as you see below.

Gradient settings in PowerPoint 2007

Use the Stop Position slider to set the location of the stop. Repeat for each stop. Here are my position settings:

	Position
Stop 1	0%
Stop 2	18%
Stop 3	43%
Stop 4	98%

If you move the dialog box off the slide, you can see changes as you make them. When you’re done, click Close.

Click the Normal view icon or choose View> Normal.

Click the Design tab, then click the little More arrow in the Themes group to open the Themes gallery.

At the bottom of the gallery, choose Save Current Theme. Give the theme a name and click Save.

You’re done. You can now use the theme in any new presentation you create. When you open a new presentation, click the Design tab and look for your new theme in the Custom section of the Themes Gallery. (If you don’t see it, click Browse for Themes at the bottom. You’ll have to figure out where the themes are and that depends on your operating system. In Windows Vista, for example, they’re in C:\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Document Themes. Whew!)

To change the colors, on the Design tab, click the Colors drop-down list and pass your cursor over the various options to see the results. You can also create custom theme colors.

Go create a changeable theme!