Goodwill Community Foundation creating
opportunities for a better life I've
been working with a local animal rescue
and I think a PowerPoint presentation is
just what we need to showcase some
information about their adoptable pets
but how do we get from this
to a presentation that looks like this
the key is understanding how slides
layouts and placeholders work let's take
a look at placeholders first when you
start with a new slide it'll usually
contain one or more placeholders
placeholders can contain text pictures
charts and all kinds of different
objects to find out what you can do with
the placeholder just hover over the
icons here or simply click and start
typing to add text
the arrangement of these placeholders is
controlled by the slide layout this way
out happens to include one placeholder
for the title and two more for content
you can choose your way out when you
first insert a slide or you can change
it later depending on the type of
content you're working with to insert a
new slide look to the new slide command
on the Home tab you can use the top half
to add a slide in the same layout as the
one that's currently selected or use the
bottom half to open the menu and choose
the exact layout you want you can even
insert a blank slide and add your own
text boxes and objects later
changing the current layout is just as
easy all you have to do is click the
layout command and make a new selection
from the menu this time we're going to
choose the section header layout
at this point instead of inserting more
placeholder slides I'd like to try
copying and pasting some of the slides
I've already created this can really
save you time when the slides you need
are so similar to the ones you already
have
just select the slide you want to copy
then click the copy command on the Home
tab or press ctrl C on your keyboard
next click in between or below the slide
where you want the copy to appear
then go back to the ribbon and click
paste alternatively you could press ctrl
V on your keyboard
and you can paste as many copies as you
need
now that I have these copies to use as a
sort of template I no longer need those
two content slides that we started with
so I'm going to delete each slide by
selecting it and then pressing backspace
or delete on my keyboard
I'm also going to move this section
header so it appears a little later in
the presentation to do this click and
hold the thumbnail then just drag and
drop it into place now we're going to
take a closer look at this slide itself
along with some ways that you can
customize it the important thing to
remember is that nothing is set in stone
here you can always adjust your layout
and change the look of your slides any
way you want to delete a placeholder for
example all you have to do is select it
then press backspace or delete on your
keyboard
placeholders can also be moved using the
drag-and-drop method
and resize using any of the sizing
handles here
and let's just add some text here before
we continue
of course if you need to
an additional textbox to your slide
there's a way to do that too this can
come in handy when you're working with a
blank slide or with a presentation
that's already been highly customized
just go to the insert tab select the
text box command now you can click and
drag to add a text box anywhere you want
you'll want to be careful not
too much though especially depending on
your level of design experience if you
stray too far from the built-in layouts
it can be difficult to get your
presentation looking consistent
sometimes it may be better to try a
different slide layout instead in other
words one that already has the content
arranged the way you want or you could
choose a different theme using the
options on the design tab here's how
they work
all you have to do is hover over the
thumbnails for a preview as you can see
each theme uses a slightly different
layout so you can easily try out
different designs and change the look of
your slides without moving or deleting
any placeholders I think I'm going to go
with this one
now that looks really good there are
still a couple more features on the
design tab that will let you customize
your slides for example over here on the
right you can change your format your
current slide background you can also
adjust the size and dimensions of your
presentation if you're not using a
widescreen monitor okay now you know how
to work with slides placeholders and
layouts including a few simple tricks
for changing your presentations design