Overview of Menus and Toolbars 

Activity 1: Overview of Menus and Toolbars  

1. Start PowerPoint by clicking on the PowerPoint icon in the Start-Programs menu.

2. Explore the buttons and menus. Notice that when you point to a button PowerPoint presents a white  tool tip box giving you the name of the button or feature.

The Office Menu

Activity 2: The Office Menu

The user interface has been significantly redesigned in the following 2007 Microsoft Office system programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook (in the composing and reading windows). The Microsoft Office Button replaces the File menu and is located in the upper-left corner of these Microsoft Office programs.

When you click the Microsoft Office Button , you see the same basic commands available in earlier releases of Microsoft Office to open, save, and print your file.

However, in the 2007 Office release, more commands are now available, such as Finish and Publish. For example, in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint by pointing to Finish, and then clicking Inspect Document, you can check a file for hidden metadata or personal information.

In Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 when you read or create a message, task, contact, or calendar item, you see the new Microsoft Office Button .

1. Click on the Microsoft Office Button to view available commands.

2. Explore the Quick Launch Toolbar.

Remember the File Menu? 

The Office Menu displays a list of commands that include New, Open, Save, and Print. Some of the commands have images next to them so you can quickly associate the command with the image. 

To the right of the Office Button is a customizable Quick Launch Toolbar.  This gives instant access to common commands.

Remember the Standard Menu?...the Formatting Menu?

Menus are now transformed into ...The Ribbon...Tabs allow you to change the menu sets that are shown on The Ribbon.  The tabs are:

Home...Insert...Design...Animations...Slide Show...Review...View

The Ribbon: Home Tab - Clipboard, Slides, Font, Paragraph, Drawing, Editing

Activity 3: The Ribbon Menus - The Home Tab 

 The primary replacement for menus and toolbars in Office Word 2007 is the Ribbon, a component of the Office Fluent user interface. Designed for easy browsing, the Ribbon consists of tabs that are organized around specific scenarios or objects. The controls on each tab are further organized into several groups. The Office Fluent Ribbon can host richer content than menus and toolbars can, including buttons, galleries, and dialog box content.

1. Click on the Home Tab.

2. Explore the various Groups and Commands available.

Working Views - Overview

Working Views - Normal View

Activity 5 - Normal View - working panes: 

1. Start PowerPoint by clicking on the PowerPoint icon in the Start - Programs menu. PowerPoint opens to a blank slide. 

2. Choose Open a Presentation – More Presentations from the Task pane. If the task pane is not visible, go to the view menu and click Task Pane to show it.  

3. Open the practice file Sample PowerPoint Presentation.ppt (Right click and choose save Target As)

We will use this sample presentation  to demonstrate several PowerPoint navigation techniques, views, menu options, toolbars etc.

Normal view

Normal view contains three panes: the outline pane, the slide pane, and the notes pane. These panes let you work on all aspects of your presentation in one place. You can adjust the size of the different panes by dragging the pane borders.

Outline pane:   Use the outline pane to organize and develop the content of your presentation. You can type all of the text of your presentation and rearrange bullet points, paragraphs, and slides.

Slide pane:   In the slide pane, you can see how your text looks on each slide. You can add graphics, movies, and sounds, create hyperlinks, and add animations to individual slides.

Notes pane:   The notes pane lets you add your speaker notes or information you want to share with the audience. If you want to have graphics in your notes, you must add the notes in notes page view.

In the lower right-hand portion of the window, you see the following toolbar

This is called the Views toolbar. The first button is applied by default and indicates the Normal view. Moving right, you see Slide Sorter view, and Slideshow. If you click on a button, your working view changes.

Working Views - Slide Sorter View

Activity 6 - Slide Sorter View 

1. Switch to Slide Sorter view. (You may also do this from the View menu at the top of your page).

In slide sorter view, you see all the slides in your presentation on screen at the same time, displayed in miniature. This makes it easy to add, delete, and move slides, add timings, and select animated transitions for moving from slide to slide.

2. Rearrange the slides in your presentation by dragging and dropping. Click and hold slide 4 and then drag it to the beginning of the presentation. When you drop (release the mouse button) it becomes slide 1 and all the other slides move to their new positions.

In the lower right-hand portion of the window, you see the following toolbar

This is called the Views toolbar. The first button is applied by default and indicates the Normal view. Moving right, you see Slide Sorter view, and Slideshow. If you click on a button, your working view changes.

Working Views - Outline View

Activity 7 - Outline View 

1. Switch to Outline View (Go back to Normal View and click on the Outline Tab in the left-hand pane)..

Working in Outline view allows you to concentrate on the content of the slide instead of the appearance. Slide View is better when you are concerned with design and visual characteristics.

2. Practice switching from one view to another by using the views toolbar and tabs and the View Tab on the Ribbon.

Insert Tab - Tables, Illustrations, Links, Text, Media Clips

Activity 8: The Ribbon Menus - The Insert Tab 

1. Click on the Insert Tab.

2. Explore the various Groups and Commands available.

Design Tab - Page Setup, Themes, Background

Activity 9: The Ribbon Menus - The Design Tab 

1. Click on the Design Tab.

2. Explore the various Groups and Commands available.

Animations Tab - Preview, Animations, Transition to This Slide

Activity 10: The Ribbon Menus - The Animations Tab 

1. Click on the Animations Tab.

2. Explore the various Groups and Commands available.

Slide Show Tab - Start Slide Show, Set Up, Monitors

Activity 11: The Ribbon Menus - The Slide Show Tab 

1. Click on the Slide Show Tab.

2. Explore the various Groups and Commands available.

Review Tab - Proofing, Comments

Activity 12: The Ribbon Menus - The Review Tab 

1. Click on the Review Tab.

2. Explore the various Groups and Commands available.

View Tab - Presentation Views, Show/Hide, Zoom, Color/Grayscale, Window, Macros

Activity 13 The Ribbon Menus - The View Tab 

1. Click on the View Tab.

2. Explore the various Groups and Commands available.

Format Tab - Insert Shapes, Shape Styles, WordArt Styles, Arrange, Size

Activity 14 The Ribbon Menus - The Format Tab 

1. Click inside a block of text and then click on the Format Tab.

2. Explore the various Groups and Commands available.

You have now completed this module. Take a few minutes to review and practice what you have learned. If you are through for this session, close all programs, being sure to save any work. You may now begin the next module by clicking on the Back to Index link on this page and then clicking on the next module on the homepage of this course.