How to copy, duplicate, drag to align, deplicate formatting, change font size, and group objects quickly in PowerPoint.

CTRL+SHIFT formatting magic

Spent a few minutes creating a nicely coloured, formatted shape? Perhaps you’ve added a shading style, special line style and formatted text? Don’t spend all afternoon trying to design all your other shapes the same way. Just highlight the object that has the formatting you want, press CTRL+SHIFT+C, draw and highlight a new shape, and press CTRL+SHIFT+V to paste the formatting style to the new object.

CTRL+SHIFT copying magic

If you have created a shape and formatted it just the way you want, but need copies of the same shape, just hold down CTRL and SHIFT and click/drag the original. You will find that PowerPoint will only let you position the new copy along a perfectly straight line (either vertically or horizontally) relative to the original. No more fiddling around lining up your new shapes equals time saved for special effects!

Drawing with SHIFT and CTRL

Holding down SHIFT while drawing a new shape will ‘regulate’ its scale: an oval will become a perfect circle, a rectangle will become a perfect square etc. When drawing a line, holding down SHIFT will make sure it is perfectly straight (either horizontal, vertical or diagonal). Holding down CTRL whilst dragging your new shape will extend the shape ‘from the centre’ instead of from one corner, allowing you to accurately position the new shape or line more accurately.

Setting the build order of shapes right first time.

Once you’ve finished placing all of the shapes, pictures and text boxes onto the slide, hold down CTRL and click on the objects in the order you want them to animate. Then, click SlideShow, Custom Animation and Add Effect and choose an Entry animation. PowerPoint will remember the order you clicked on the objects and apply the animation settings in the same order.

Reducing the file size of your presentation

We love putting images in our presentations, but chances are you will end up with a huge file that is difficult to store and email. If you are using PowerPoint 2003, just double click on any photo, click the ‘Picture’ tab in the box that appears, and click the ‘Compress…’ button. Check the ‘All pictures in document’ box, and the ‘Web/Screen’ box, and keep the bottom two boxes checked too. OK all the boxes and then resave your presentation. Depending on the number and quality of the photos you have used, it should now be a much smaller file .

Quickly changing from capital letters to lower case (or vice versa)

Select a text box or a shape with text inserted, then hit Shift + F3 to toggle the text case between ALL CAPS, lower case and Initial Capital. You’ll be surprised how often you use this once you get the hang of it!

Skip to your Killer Slide

Imagine you’re presenting to a panel and the chairman walks in asking what your presentation is all about. Ever wished you could skip forward or back to your value proposition slide, or return to a slide to answer clarification questions, without escaping from the show and looking unprofessional? You can! Simply remember or write down the slide numbers of the slides you might need and during the show just type the number on the keyboard and hit Enter to skip straight to that slide. Magic!

Quickly selecting text for editing

Click on a shape that contains text and hit F2 to instantly highlight the text within the shape so you can edit it. This is much quicker than trying to click inside the shape and select the text by dragging. On the other hand, if you need to highlight the shape and not the text (for example when deleting or copying a shape), holding down SHIFT when you click on an object ensures that you don’t accidentally select the text.

Topics include importing information into PowerPoint, creating toolbars, keyboard shortcuts, quality guidelines, and setting up slide shows.