PowerPoint: The Basics

These materials will guide you through creating and formatting a presentation, working with images and video, and applying animations and transitions. We'll also cover creating handouts, rehearsing and delivering a presentation, packaging a presentation, and addressing accessibility concerns.

Learning Objectives

Add, rearrange, and delete slides
Import slides from another presentation into a slide show
Apply layouts, themes, and QuickStyles
Work with text, bullets, images, and video
Apply simple animations and transitions
Create presentations that are accessible for individuals with disabilities
Create audience and presenter handouts
Rehearse and deliver a presentation
Package a presentation for use on other computers

Prerequisite Skills

Use a mouse
Work with windows, menus, dialog boxes, and the Ribbon

For a more in-depth look at the content of PowerPoint: The Basics, view the title contents below.

PowerPoint: The Basics Contents

Expand the accordion folds to see a detailed description of the content.

Explore the contents of PowerPoint: The Basics:

Explore the PowerPoint interface.

See the full content for Introducing PowerPoint.

Learn how to add content and speaker notes to a blank presentation.

See the full content for Beginning a New Presentation.

Explore how to add previously created slides to the presentation.

See the full content for Inserting Slides from Another Presentation.

Use a theme to add color and design elements to the presentation.

See the full content for Applying a Theme.

Modify the size and color of text using both the Ribbon and the Mini toolbar.

See the full content for Editing Text.

Explore how to add an image to a slide, add alternative text to the image, and check the reading order of the slide.

See the full content for Inserting an Image.

Learn several ways to format images including adding a picture style, recoloring an image, setting transparent color, and removing the background from an image.

See the full content for Formatting an Image.

See how to link a video to a slide.

See the full content for Using Video.

Use the Shapes gallery to add a callout to a slide, then add alternative text to the callout.

See the full content for Using the Shapes Gallery.

Learn how to add a hyperlink to a slide.

See the full content for Adding a Hyperlink.

Create and format a table. Add text, alternative text, and a table style.

See the full content for Creating a Table.

Work with the ruler and tab markers to organize text, then see how to to customize bullets and apply a Quick Style.

See the full content for Working with Tabs.

Explore how to apply and modify animations and transitions.

See the full content for Adding Animations and Transitions.

Learn about the different views in PowerPoint.

See the full content for Working in Different Views.

Add slide numbers to the bottom of the slides.

See the full content for Inserting Slide Numbers.

Explore how to add slide timings both manually and automatically, then see how to rehearse a presentation, create speaker notes, and save audience handouts as a PDF.

See the full content for Preparing a Presentation for Delivery.

Learn about the tools available when delivering a presentation including navigation techniques and annotation tools.

See the full content for Delivering the Presentation.

Run the Accessibility Checker to find possible accessibility issues.

See the full content for Using the Accessibility Checker.

Learn how to package a presentation for storage or for delivery on another computer.

See the full content for Saving and Packaging a Presentation.

All UITS IT Training course content is available for reuse via Creative Commons licensing (CC BY-NC-SA).

Back to PowerPoint: The Basics Contents