The look and feel of your presentation has a lot to do with the individual choices you
make when working with text. That includes things like formatting, adding text boxes
to your slides, and modifying text boxes to change their size and location.
Just like placeholders, text boxes are a place for you to enter, edit, and display text.
In fact, a placeholder IS a kind of text box - the only difference is that placeholders
often contain specific formatting (like this title placeholder) because they're part of
the slide layout. Inserting extra text boxes allows you to add to the layout, so you can
include as much text as you like. Why don't we see what we can do to finish the last slide
of this presentation?
To insert a text box, you'll want to go to the Insert tab, and then the Text Box command.
Your cursor will look like a tiny upside-down cross as long as the command is active. Now
you can click, hold, and drag to draw your text box release your mouse, and you're
ready to type. I'm going to type the letters S T A R for "Study, Take notes, Ask questions,
and Review with a friend."
The default text isn't quite how I want it, so I'm going to take advantage of some of
the formatting options in the Font group. How about Bold, a different font color, a
different font, and a much larger size - 80 should do it.
Now I'd like to experiment with the options in the Paragraph group. How do you think the
text would look if it were going in a different direction? Click the Text Direction command,
and in addition to Horizontal (or normal), you can choose from Rotated, or Stacked. I
think I'd like to rotate the text this way. I'll admit, this doesn't look right but
maybe if we resize the text box using one of these sizing handles - just click, hold
and drag. You can do this with any text box or placeholder. Much better! It fits perfectly.
Moving a text box or placeholder is just as easy. Position your mouse on the edge (notice
how the cursor changes) and again, click, hold, and drag to get your text box exactly
where you want it go.
This slide is really coming together. One of the last things I'd to show you is how
to change the alignment of your text. Aside from Left, Center, Right, and Justified (which
can be used to align paragraphs), you can also click the Align Text command to position
your text at the at the Top, Middle, or Bottom of the box. Aligning this text at the top
right should give it some nice graphic impact.
Now for the finishing touch - adding bullets. I thought I'd point out the command before
we start working with lists later in their own separate lesson. All you have to do is
select the text or the text box that you want to format, then click the Bullets command.
And there we go! What a difference it makes for your presentation to know how to work
with text, including modifying text boxes, and formatting.