Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances

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I hate sitting in an audience and having to squint, crane my neck, or turn my head sideways just to make heads or tails of a slide. What's the point of having slides if nobody can read them?

Whether you're an audience member or a presenter, presentations are chock-full of annoying issues. In this chapter, you'll learn how to set up your equipment and navigate your slides to keep your audience focused on your presentation—not on you. You'll also tackle sound issues and other problems you may face when working with hyperlinks, hidden slides, and custom and self-running presentations.

THE ANNOYANCE: I got the projector up and running without any trouble, but I notice that my slides are cut off at the bottom of the screen.

THE FIX: You just need to adjust the height and distance of the projector. Either move the projector away from the screen, screw the projector feet out some, or do a combination of both.

If you can't move the projector, or if the feet are as far out as they'll go, prop the projector up on something—a folded piece of paper under each front foot will often do the trick.

If you've never attached a projector to your laptop, don't worry. Simply plug the projector into an available outlet. If you can, plug your laptop into an outlet as well, to keep the battery from dying during your presentation.

Cable the laptop and the projector together. The projector usually comes with a cable; plug it into the projector and the video-out port on the laptop.

Turn on the projector, and then turn on the laptop. If you're lucky, the laptop will recognize the projector, and your screen will display on both your laptop and through the projector. Otherwise, press Fn+ the appropriate F key to toggle between displays: projector only, monitor only, or both projector and monitor. For example, on a Dell Latitude, press Fn+F8. On a Toshiba, it's often Fn+F5.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I got the projector up and running without any trouble, but I notice that my slides are cut off at the bottom of the screen.

THE FIX: You just need to adjust the height and distance of the projector. Either move the projector away from the screen, screw the projector feet out some, or do a combination of both.

If you can't move the projector, or if the feet are as far out as they'll go, prop the projector up on something—a folded piece of paper under each front foot will often do the trick.

If you've never attached a projector to your laptop, don't worry. Simply plug the projector into an available outlet. If you can, plug your laptop into an outlet as well, to keep the battery from dying during your presentation.

Cable the laptop and the projector together. The projector usually comes with a cable; plug it into the projector and the video-out port on the laptop.

Turn on the projector, and then turn on the laptop. If you're lucky, the laptop will recognize the projector, and your screen will display on both your laptop and through the projector. Otherwise, press Fn+ the appropriate F key to toggle between displays: projector only, monitor only, or both projector and monitor. For example, on a Dell Latitude, press Fn+F8. On a Toshiba, it's often Fn+F5.

THE ANNOYANCE: I got the projector set up, but the slide image looks like a trapezoid on the wall. I mean it's wider at the top than at the bottom. What's happening?

THE FIX: This trapezoidal look is called keystoning, and you can adjust it in the settings of most modern projectors. Simply hit the Menu button on your projector or its remote and look for the keystoning option.

If you don't see a keystoning option on the projector, you'll need to raise the height of the projector by mounting it on some books or other objects.

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THE ANNOYANCE: Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! My presentation locks up when I try to view it in Slide Show mode. Help!

THE FIX: This problem is often related to the "fade through black" transition, which seems to be very hard on video drivers in PowerPoint 97 and 2000 especially. Switching to another transition will often cure the lockups.

To change your slide transition in PowerPoint 97 or 2000, select Slide Show → Slide Transition, choose another transition from the Effect drop-down menu, and then click the Apply button. If you want this new transition to apply to all slides in your presentation, click the "Apply to All" button. If you don't want a transition, choose No Transition, and each slide will simply appear on the screen with no change or movement between slides (see Figure 1-1).

Figure 1-1: Use the Slide Transition dialog box to remove or change slide transitions.

If removing or changing the slide transition doesn't resolve the problem, update your video drivers and change your hardware acceleration.

If you're running Windows 98 or Me, do the following:

Choose Start → Settings → Control Panel.
In Control Panel, double-click the System icon.
Click the Performance tab and click the Graphics button.
Drag the Hardware Acceleration slider one notch to the left (see Figure 1-2).

Figure 1-2: Drag the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left to correct display problems.
Click OK to return to the desktop.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I'm using Presenter view, and I swear, I think I'm blind as a bat! How can I change the size of the notes area in Presenter view?

THE FIX: Presenter view on the PC cannot be changed. (It can be changed on PowerPoint 2004 for the Mac, though.)

If you need this capability, download the PowerShow add-in from Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Chirag Dalal (http://officeone.mvps.org/powershow/powershow.html). This add-in lets you use PowerPoint's views during a presentation, and it keeps the view on the "presenter monitor" synchronized with the view on the "presentation monitor." To set it up, simply install the add-in, select Slide Show → PowerShow, click the Session tab, and check the "Slide design view follows slide show" box (see Figure 1-9).

Figure 1-9: PowerShow lets you increase the font size on speaker notes, plus a whole lot more.

Since PowerShow uses PowerPoint's own design views, you can increase the size of your speaker notes by zooming in on them or increasing the font size in PowerPoint. You might also want to download the Shortcut Manager (http://officeone.mvps.org/ppsctmgr/ppsctmgr.html), which lets you assign the up and down arrow keys to navigate slides during a PowerShow session.

THE ANNOYANCE: I'd really like to practice with Presenter view, but PowerPoint won't let me use it unless I have a second monitor attached. I don't have a second monitor. Any suggestions?

THE FIX: Select View → Notes Page, and then hold down the Ctrl key while you click the Slide Show button in the lower-left corner of the screen (see Figure 1-10). This opens Slide Show view in 1/4 of the screen, so you can still see your speaker notes if you want. You'll have to advance the notes pages independently from the small slide show, but it may be enough to let you practice without having to hook up another monitor.

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The development team for every computer application has to decide how the program will act straight out of the box. Sometimes they get the default behavior right, and sometimes they don't.

PowerPoint is no exception. In many places, the PowerPoint development team made very wise decisions regarding the default behavior for the program settings. In other places, well, let's just say those decisions were less than inspired.

In this chapter, we'll discuss some of the default settings in PowerPoint. You'll learn how to keep stuff from moving around when you don't want it to, how to restore some items that seem to be missing, and how to deal with file size issues.

THE ANNOYANCE: Here I am typing along in a placeholder, and my text keeps getting smaller and smaller! How can I make the font size stay put?

THE FIX: You want to turn off "AutoFit body text to placeholder." In PowerPoint 2003 and 2002, select Tools → AutoCorrect Options, click the AutoFormat As You Type tab, and uncheck the "AutoFit body text to placeholder" box (see Figure 2-1). In PowerPoint 2000 and 97, select Tools → Options, click the Edit tab, and uncheck the "Auto-fit text to text placeholder" box.

Figure 2-1: Uncheck the "AutoFit body text to placeholder" and "AutoFit title text to placeholder" boxes to prevent your text from shrinking.

The AutoFit feature not only decreases the font size as you type, it also decreases the line spacing in the placeholder at the same time. This can be a problem, especially in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003: on a crowded slide, the line spacing can quickly drop to well below .8 lines, at which point the ascenders and descenders of many letters start getting cut off.

AutoFit works less aggressively in PowerPoint 2000 and 97. In those versions, the font size will only decrease one "level," so you will not see nearly as much adjustment as you will in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003.

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THE ANNOYANCE: Here I am typing along in a placeholder, and my text keeps getting smaller and smaller! How can I make the font size stay put?

THE FIX: You want to turn off "AutoFit body text to placeholder." In PowerPoint 2003 and 2002, select Tools → AutoCorrect Options, click the AutoFormat As You Type tab, and uncheck the "AutoFit body text to placeholder" box (see Figure 2-1). In PowerPoint 2000 and 97, select Tools → Options, click the Edit tab, and uncheck the "Auto-fit text to text placeholder" box.

Figure 2-1: Uncheck the "AutoFit body text to placeholder" and "AutoFit title text to placeholder" boxes to prevent your text from shrinking.

The AutoFit feature not only decreases the font size as you type, it also decreases the line spacing in the placeholder at the same time. This can be a problem, especially in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003: on a crowded slide, the line spacing can quickly drop to well below .8 lines, at which point the ascenders and descenders of many letters start getting cut off.

AutoFit works less aggressively in PowerPoint 2000 and 97. In those versions, the font size will only decrease one "level," so you will not see nearly as much adjustment as you will in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003.

If you notice this type of AutoFit adjustment happening when you type slide titles in the Title Placeholder in PowerPoint 2002 or 2003, return to the AutoFormat As You Type tab, and uncheck the "AutoFit title text to placeholder" box.

THE ANNOYANCE: Every time I insert a picture into a slide, PowerPoint goes crazy and moves all my stuff around on the slide. Make it STOP!

THE FIX: This behavior first appeared in PowerPoint 2002. To turn it off in 2002, just go to Tools → AutoCorrect Options, click the AutoFormat As You Type tab, and uncheck the "Automatic layout for inserted objects" box. Now when you insert any type of object (image, diagram, table, etc.) onto a slide with text, the existing content will no longer move.

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THE ANNOYANCE: When I open my file, the images and charts are missing. What's going on?

THE FIX: Are you using PowerPoint 2003? You need to apply the latest Service Pack for Office 2003 by going to Help → Check for Updates.

Service Pack 1 especially is a critical patch for PowerPoint 2003. It resolves most of these "missing images" types of issues, as well as a number of others. To see if a Service Pack or update has already been installed, select Help → About Microsoft Office PowerPoint and look for SPx, where x is the number of the Service Pack. For example, in Figure 2-5 it says Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 (build number) SP1.

Figure 2-5: Make sure you have the latest Service Pack installed by selecting Help → About.

THE ANNOYANCE: I can't save my PowerPoint file because the save options are all grayed out.

THE FIX: You need to activate Office. Select Help → Activate Product and follow the prompts.

If, for some reason, you are unable to activate using the "Activate by using the Internet" option, choose "Activate by using the telephone" instead. The activation wizard will provide you with the number to dial. For more information on activation, visit the Microsoft web site (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011187761033.aspx).

Another possibility: If you downloaded a trial version of Microsoft Office, the applications will open in reduced functionality mode after the trial time period has expired. In this case, you must purchase Microsoft Office to make it fully functional.

THE ANNOYANCE: When I right-click an object and choose Custom Animation, the old custom animation dialog box opens. How can I get the custom animation task pane with the exit and trigger animations and motion paths to open instead?

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THE ANNOYANCE: Okay, this makes no sense. I deleted a slide, saved my presentation, and the file size actually got bigger! What in the world is going on?

THE FIX: Select Tools → Options, click the Save tab, and uncheck the "Allow Fast Saves" box (see Figure 2-9). Don't ever recheck it. After you turn off Fast Saves, you might want to select File → Save As and save your file with a new name.

Figure 2-9: Turn off Allow Fast Saves—and leave it off!

Fast Saves works by appending changes to your file rather than rewriting the file when you save. This was helpful in speeding up the time it took to save a file back in the days of slower processors, but it's no longer necessary. And it's notorious for increasing file size. Fast Saves may also contribute to corrupt PowerPoint files, so it's really best to turn it off and leave it off.

THE ANNOYANCE: Yikes! What'd I do? I saved my presentation as a PowerPoint 97 file and it's enormous. And no, I don't have the Fast Saves feature turned on.

THE FIX: There is no such thing as a "PowerPoint 97" file. PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003 all share the same file format. However, when you click the "Save as type" drop-down menu in the Save As dialog box, you will see several different options. In this case, your file size increased because you chose the option with the "& 95" in its name (see Figure 2-10).

Figure 2-10: Avoid anything with "& 95" in the "Save as type" drop-down menu, unless you want very large file sizes.

It's the "& 95" part that'll getcha. PowerPoint 95 didn't maintain the internal compression of images. When you save a file with one of those "& 95" options, any images in the file become uncompressed, which causes the file size to blow up.

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THE ANNOYANCE: How can I make our corporate template my default template?

THE FIX: Simply rename the corporate template Blank.pot (PowerPoint 2002 or 2003) or Blank Presentation.pot (PowerPoint 2000 or 97). The location of your templates depends on which version of Office and Windows you're using. Open the corporate template, select File → Save As and type blank in the "File name" box. Choose "Design Template (*.pot)" from the "Save as type" drop-down menu (see Figure 2-12). The "Save in" box will automatically change to the location where templates you create are stored.

Figure 2-12: You can specify your own default template for new presentations.

In PowerPoint 2003, you have another option. In the Slide Design task pane, click the drop-down arrow to the right of your corporate template and choose "Use for All New Presentations" (see Figure 2-13).

Figure 2-13: PowerPoint 2003 makes it easy to specify a default template for new presentations.

THE ANNOYANCE: When I press Ctrl+M to insert a new slide, I don't necessarily want a bulleted slide. How can I change the default slide layout?

THE FIX: Download the Set Default Slide Layout add-in from Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Chirag Dalal (http://officeone.mvps.org/sdsl/sdsl.html).

Before you install this or any other add-in, you must open PowerPoint, select Tools → Macro → Security, and choose Medium security level (see Figure 2-14). Close PowerPoint and then double-click the Set Default Slide Layout add-in to install it.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I'm getting a new computer next week, and I want to keep all my customizations. Is it possible to save them, or am I destined to hunt down individual toolbar files and such?

THE FIX: In Office XP and 2003, you can use the Save My Settings Wizard to save your customizations. Go to Start → All Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office Tools → Save My Settings Wizard. Unfortunately, the Save My Settings Wizard is no longer available for Office 2000.

If you just need your PowerPoint toolbar, you can try saving the *.pcb file and moving it to the appropriate location on the new computer. (This file is where PowerPoint stores all your customizations.) To locate your *.pcb file, right-click the Start button and select Search. Type *.PCB in the "file name" box, and remember to check both the "Search system folders" box and the "Search hidden files and folders" box. If you have multiple versions of PowerPoint installed, you may have multiple *.pcb files, too.

Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, redefined the centimeter in PowerPoint 95, 97, and 2000. In those versions, 1 inch equals 2.4 centimeters instead of 2.54 centimeters (which is the conversion in the rest of the world).

If you're using one of these versions and need an accurate measurement on your printout, you can do a few different things.

If your printer driver allows it, set your print scale to 106%.
Right-click the object, choose Format → AutoShape, and input the correct size on the Size tab.
Use inches instead of centimeters for your rulers (see "Make PowerPoint Rulers Show Centimeters") and uncheck the "Scale to fit paper" box in the Print dialog. For a conversion table showing inches, actual centimeters, and PowerPoint centimeters, visit http://support.microsoft.com/?id=189826

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Those of us who create presentations for a living have our own pet peeves about PowerPoint's editing and formatting tools. We also know how important it is to start a presentation right, using well-developed templates, masters, and default settings to speed production along.

This chapter begins by showing you how to overcome issues with design templates and slide masters to help you lay a good foundation for your presentations. It also explains how to create your own templates, work with multiple masters and slide layouts, take advantage of various tools to align objects, and tackle formatting issues such as changing case and setting hanging indents.

THE ANNOYANCE: I made a design template, but it doesn't show up in the template list when I select File → New. Why can't PowerPoint find my templates?

THE FIX: To see where PowerPoint stores these templates, select File → Save As and choose Design Template (*.pot) from the "Save as type" drop-down menu. Next, click the "Save in" pull-down arrow to see the full path to where the templates live (see Figure 3-1). Save or copy your .pot file to that folder.

Figure 3-1: To see where PowerPoint stores your templates, choose Design Template (*.pot) from the "Save as type" drop-down menu, and then check the path to the folder in the "Save in" menu.

When you install PowerPoint 2002 or 2003, the program stores its templates in a folder on your hard drive; for example, C:\Program Files\MicrosoftOffice\Templates\Presentation Designs. You can usually see these templates by clicking the "From design template" link in the New Presentation task pane (see Figure 3-2). To see your own design templates, you may need to click the "Browse" link at the very bottom of the Slide Design task pane.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I made a design template, but it doesn't show up in the template list when I select File → New. Why can't PowerPoint find my templates?

THE FIX: To see where PowerPoint stores these templates, select File → Save As and choose Design Template (*.pot) from the "Save as type" drop-down menu. Next, click the "Save in" pull-down arrow to see the full path to where the templates live (see Figure 3-1). Save or copy your .pot file to that folder.

Figure 3-1: To see where PowerPoint stores your templates, choose Design Template (*.pot) from the "Save as type" drop-down menu, and then check the path to the folder in the "Save in" menu.

When you install PowerPoint 2002 or 2003, the program stores its templates in a folder on your hard drive; for example, C:\Program Files\MicrosoftOffice\Templates\Presentation Designs. You can usually see these templates by clicking the "From design template" link in the New Presentation task pane (see Figure 3-2). To see your own design templates, you may need to click the "Browse" link at the very bottom of the Slide Design task pane.

Figure 3-2: In PowerPoint 2002 and 2003, select File → New to open the New Presentation task pane. From here you can open existing presentations or create new ones.

THE ANNOYANCE: I put my templates in the right place, but they still don't show up in the Slide Design task pane.

THE FIX: Even if you put your templates in the right place, sometimes you must use them on a presentation once or twice before they show up in the task pane.

Open a new, blank presentation (File → New → Blank Presentation), click the "Browse" link at the very bottom of the Slide Design task pane, and apply the template you want to display. Save the blank presentation on your desktop using a generic name like

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THE ANNOYANCE: I use the chart slide layout a lot. I'd like to move it up in the task pane so I can reach it more easily.

THE FIX: Unfortunately, they can't be moved. You can use a "content" layout, though. Simply apply a content layout to your slide and click the graph icon on the slide to add a chart (see Figure 3-26).

Figure 3-26: Content layouts let you click the appropriate icon on the slide to add an object such as a graph, a diagram, or clip art.

Well, let's see. You can change design templates, color schemes, font colors and sizes, bullets for each level of text, text indents (View → Rulers), and background colors, as well as the placement and size of placeholders. You can add elements like pictures, drawings, logos, and text boxes if you want text to appear on every slide. You can even add slide transitions and placeholder animations to the slide masters, but if you do, you'll lose some control over those options in normal editing mode.

On the flip side, you can neither specify the text case (sentence case, title case, all caps, etc.) in placeholder text, nor add placeholders. You also can't change the text that says "Click to add text" or "Click to add title."

THE ANNOYANCE: Sometimes when I reapply the slide layout, it doesn't "take." What do I have to do to get my slide to reset?

THE FIX: Depending on the changes you made to the slide, sometimes you have to apply the slide layout twice. Select Format → Slide Layout, hover over the layout in the Slide Layout task pane until you see the drop-down arrow, and choose Apply to Selected Slides. Hover again, but this time choose Reapply Layout.

If the slide layout in question has already been applied to the slide, select Format → Slide Layout, hover over the layout, and choose Reapply Slide Layout twice.

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Although you can create new content in PowerPoint, it seems like we're just importing existing material most of the time. Maybe you're importing sales charts from market research reports, Word documents from product support catalogs, product manual PDFs, pictures of a new facility from the construction manager, or animated GIFs of a new process from the corporate web site—sometimes all in the same presentation.

Importing these disparate materials can be very straightforward or very painful, depending how you go about it. In this chapter, we'll cover the difference between OLE-linked and OLE-embedded objects, the best way to insert graphics, various ways to import information from Excel, inserting PDF and Word content, and the various paste options PowerPoint offers.

THE ANNOYANCE: I dragged and dropped a picture into my PowerPoint file, and now my file is humongous. What happened?

THE FIX: When you paste or drag and drop an image onto a PowerPoint slide, it sometimes creates what is known as an embedded OLE object. It's much better to save the image to your hard drive and then use Insert → Picture → From File to insert your images onto your slides.

OLE stands for Object Linking and Embedding, which is kind of a dumb name because you can't link and embed at the same time. When you paste an image directly from Adobe Photoshop onto your PowerPoint slide, you're pasting not only the image itself, but also a bunch of application overhead that lets you double-click the image on the slide to open up a Photoshop window and edit the photo from within PowerPoint. Although that can be handy, it comes at the price of increased file size.

To see this for yourself, insert a JPG into a new, blank presentation file using Insert → Picture → From File. Double-click the picture on the slide. You should see the Format Object dialog box (see Figure 4-1). Save the presentation to your desktop.

Now open a new, blank presentation file, as well as the

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THE ANNOYANCE: I dragged and dropped a picture into my PowerPoint file, and now my file is humongous. What happened?

THE FIX: When you paste or drag and drop an image onto a PowerPoint slide, it sometimes creates what is known as an embedded OLE object. It's much better to save the image to your hard drive and then use Insert → Picture → From File to insert your images onto your slides.

OLE stands for Object Linking and Embedding, which is kind of a dumb name because you can't link and embed at the same time. When you paste an image directly from Adobe Photoshop onto your PowerPoint slide, you're pasting not only the image itself, but also a bunch of application overhead that lets you double-click the image on the slide to open up a Photoshop window and edit the photo from within PowerPoint. Although that can be handy, it comes at the price of increased file size.

To see this for yourself, insert a JPG into a new, blank presentation file using Insert → Picture → From File. Double-click the picture on the slide. You should see the Format Object dialog box (see Figure 4-1). Save the presentation to your desktop.

Now open a new, blank presentation file, as well as the .jpg file in Photoshop or another image-editing program. Select the photo and copy it. Then move over to PowerPoint and paste it onto a slide. Close the image-editing application, and then double-click the photo in PowerPoint. If your photo uses OLE embedding, the photograph will open in the default image-editing application you've assigned to .jpg files. Make a small change to the photo—maybe scribble on it with a pencil or brush tool—and then close it. It will update in your presentation file. Save this presentation to your desktop also.

Figure 4-1: If you double-click a photo in your presentation and see this dialog box, it means that your image does not use OLE embedding. OLE embedding can increase your file size tremendously.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I pasted cells from an Excel spreadsheet into my presentation, but a bunch of rows got cut off. How can I get the whole thing onto my slide?

THE FIX: The easiest way to fix this is to upgrade to PowerPoint 2002 or 2003, which fix the limitation PowerPoint and Excel seem to have when exchanging information on the clipboard.

There is a limit to the size of the PowerPoint 97 and 2000 clipboard—about 33x33 cm. Anything outside that area may be cut off. If you can, reformat your data to make it fit within this 33x33 cm area (for example, decrease the font size or the width of your columns). On a default spreadsheet, this would be about 72 rows long by 17 columns wide.

Depending on your operating system, you may also be able to copy more data if you change your display setting from, say, 800x600 to 1024x768 or 1280x1024. Right-click your desktop, choose Properties, click the Settings tab, and move the slider in the Screen resolution area (see Figure 4-11).

The only other solution is to paste pieces of your spreadsheet onto your slide and then realign the data once you get everything in PowerPoint.

Figure 4-11: Changing your display resolution may let you paste more data from Excel onto your slide.

THE ANNOYANCE: I imported my spreadsheet okay, but the colored text turned black. It's really bizarre.

THE FIX: Make sure your default printer is a color printer. Yeah, it's weird, but that really is the fix!

To set your default printer, click Start → Control Panel → Printers and Faxes. Right-click the color printer in the list and choose "Set as Default Printer" (see Figure 4-12).

Figure 4-12:

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THE ANNOYANCE: All my clip art shows up as "dglxasset." How can I see pictures of the clips?

THE FIX: Clear out your Temporary Internet Files folder, and the problem should resolve itself. Clip Gallery and Clip Organizer need space in the Temporary Internet Files folder to display clips.

Open Internet Explorer, choose Tools → Internet Options, click the General tab, and click the Delete Files button (see Figure 4-17).

Figure 4-17: Emptying your Temporary Internet Files folder can help with Clip Organizer issues.

THE ANNOYANCE: It takes too darned long to search online for clip art. How do I turn this off?

THE FIX: In the Clip Art task pane, uncheck the Web Collections box in the "Search in" drop-down menu (see Figure 4-18).

Figure 4-18: Deselecting Web Collections in the "Search in" section of the Clip Art task pane will restrict your search to your hard drive.

Microsoft introduced Clip Organizer with Office XP. This upset users who had invested a lot of time in their clip art collections because Clip Organizer cannot import clip art complete with its keywords and image catalogs from Clip Gallery.

Clip Gallery 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0, which are the clip applications for Office 95, 97, and 2000 respectively, can still access Microsoft Office Online and download clips using the CIL download format. Clip Organizer, which is included with Office XP and 2003, downloads clips in the MPF format. CIL and MPF files are a little like WinZip or CAB files—they package up the clips along with keyword search terms and such into one nice little file.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I pasted some text from Word into PowerPoint 2002. I see the paste option to "keep source formatting," but how can I make this the default behavior?

THE FIX: Unfortunately, you can't change the default paste behavior, which formats the text based on the slide template.

In PowerPoint 97 and 2000, pasted text is formatted based on PowerPoint's default AutoShape and font settings, or it conforms to the slide placeholder formatting if pasted into a placeholder. You don't have a choice about how that works.

The default is the same in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003, but in those versions, you can at least choose from some paste actions. After you paste something onto your slide, a Paste Options button will appear (see Figure 4-22). Click the button to see the paste actions available for that particular object.

Figure 4-22: When you paste an object onto a slide in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003, a Paste Options button should appear. Click it to see the various paste options available for the object.

THE ANNOYANCE: I found this cool animation on the Web and pasted it into my presentation, but it doesn't animate. Why?

THE FIX: You probably pasted in a Java applet. Not to mention that you probably violated every copyright law in the book. Anyway, PowerPoint doesn't support Java applets, so it will be just a pretty picture on your slide.

As an alternative, you can use Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Shyam Pillai's free LiveWeb add-in (http://skp.mvps.org/liveweb.htm) to run the web page in your PowerPoint file. LiveWeb lets you insert web pages into a PowerPoint slide and refreshes the pages in real time during the presentation. Just make sure you can access the web page during your presentation. Select Insert → Web Pages to insert a LiveWeb page onto your slide (see Figure 4-23). LiveWeb uses an ActiveX control, so it does not work in PowerPoint Viewer 97 or PowerPoint Viewer 2003.

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PowerPoint helps explain complex concepts visually using organization charts and diagrams of all sorts. However, many of these tools can be inflexible and frustrating to use at times.

This chapter shows you how to minimize annoyances associated with creating, editing, and formatting organization charts and diagrams. It also looks at PowerPoint's drawing functions, and solves the most vexing problems you encounter when you use its AutoShape and alignment tools, transparency and shadow options, 3D objects, and watermarks.

THE ANNOYANCE: I have a bunch of organization charts in an old PowerPoint file. I'm now using PowerPoint 2003, and when I try to edit the org charts, I get an error message that says "server application, source file, or item can't be found." How can I edit these org charts?

THE FIX: PowerPoint 2002 and 2003 use a new diagramming applet to create org charts rather than relying on the OLE Organization Chart objects PowerPoint 97 and 2000 used. This error message just means that Organization Chart 2.0 isn't available, so PowerPoint can't edit the organization chart.

You need to download and install Organization Chart 2.0 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;826835), which lets you edit old-style organization charts in your PowerPoint files. Installing Organization Chart 2.0 also lets you create more "old-style" org charts in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003 by selecting Insert → Object → MS Organization Chart 2.0.

Alternatively, you can ungroup an existing org chart (Draw → Ungroup) and edit it using PowerPoint's AutoShapes and smart connectors on the Drawing toolbar (see Figure 5-1). Ungrouping an organization chart turns it into PowerPoint drawing objects, so you don't need Organization Chart 2.0 to manipulate the individual pieces.

Figure 5-1: PowerPoint's drawing tools include smart connectors, which gives you another option for creating and editing organization charts and other diagrams. Smart connectors "lock" their ends to other AutoShapes.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I have a bunch of organization charts in an old PowerPoint file. I'm now using PowerPoint 2003, and when I try to edit the org charts, I get an error message that says "server application, source file, or item can't be found." How can I edit these org charts?

THE FIX: PowerPoint 2002 and 2003 use a new diagramming applet to create org charts rather than relying on the OLE Organization Chart objects PowerPoint 97 and 2000 used. This error message just means that Organization Chart 2.0 isn't available, so PowerPoint can't edit the organization chart.

You need to download and install Organization Chart 2.0 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;826835), which lets you edit old-style organization charts in your PowerPoint files. Installing Organization Chart 2.0 also lets you create more "old-style" org charts in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003 by selecting Insert → Object → MS Organization Chart 2.0.

Alternatively, you can ungroup an existing org chart (Draw → Ungroup) and edit it using PowerPoint's AutoShapes and smart connectors on the Drawing toolbar (see Figure 5-1). Ungrouping an organization chart turns it into PowerPoint drawing objects, so you don't need Organization Chart 2.0 to manipulate the individual pieces.

Figure 5-1: PowerPoint's drawing tools include smart connectors, which gives you another option for creating and editing organization charts and other diagrams. Smart connectors "lock" their ends to other AutoShapes.

If you see this particular "server not found" error when you attempt to create or edit an org chart in PowerPoint 97 or 2000, the issue is probably the Norton AntiVirus Office Plug-In. It wreaks havoc with OLE embedded objects (usually graphs, tables, and org charts) in Office files. If you double-click a graph or an org chart on your slide and see the "server not found" error, you should disable the Norton Office Plug-In. (Don't worry, you'll still be protected by Norton's regular email and file scanning processes.)

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THE ANNOYANCE: I made a Target diagram in PowerPoint 2003, and I want to change the font and colors of some of the rings, but it won't let me do anything. Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh!

THE FIX: I can't say it enough: turn off AutoLayout on the Organization Chart toolbar (select Layout → AutoLayout). You should now be able to format fonts to your heart's content using PowerPoint's typical text formatting tools.

If you turn off AutoLayout but still can't recolor objects, right-click an object in the organization chart and choose "Use AutoFormat" to toggle the AutoFormat styles off (see Figure 5-12).

Figure 5-12: If your fill color options appear grayed out, right-click an object in the organization chart and choose "Use AutoFormat."

AutoFormat is a kind of style gallery for diagrams. Choose AutoFormat on the Organization Chart or Diagram toolbar to apply a style to your diagram, and then right-click and select "Use AutoFormat" to toggle it off so that you can recolor the objects. When you toggle "Use AutoFormat" off, the basic style remains, and you can then make changes to it. But beware! If you apply a different AutoFormat style to your diagram after making changes to it, you will lose all of the customized color formatting you may have done on the objects in the previous style. You won't lose your font formatting or color changes, however.

THE ANNOYANCE: I tried to ungroup my diagram in PowerPoint 2002, but the ungroup option appears grayed out.

THE FIX: You can't ungroup the new diagrams in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003, but you can create a metafile from a diagram and ungroup that. Press Ctrl+X to cut your diagram, and then delete the diagram placeholder. Next, select Edit → Paste Special, choose "Picture (Enhanced Metafile)" or "Picture (Windows Metafile)" to paste a metafile of your diagram (see Figure 5-13). Select the image and choose Draw → Ungroup. You will see a warning saying, "This is an imported picture, not a group. Do you want to convert it to a Microsoft Office drawing object?" Click the "Yes" button. With the object still selected, choose Draw → Ungroup again.

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THE ANNOYANCE: I like the connectors on PowerPoint's AutoShape menu, but I can't always get them to connect at the right place. Any suggestions?

THE FIX: It would be nice if we could specify anchor points for connectors, but that's not possible. One workaround is to create an invisible shape and anchor to it.

First, you need to understand the anatomy of a connector. When you select a connector from the AutoShapes menu, the available anchor points show up when you move your mouse over objects on the slide (see Figure 5-16). These anchor points are automatically generated based on the object in question.

Figure 5-16: Connection points show up as little blue dots when you hover your mouse over an object while you have a connector selected in the AutoShapes menu.

When you click on one of the blue dots, one end of the connector is anchored. Anchor the other end by clicking on another blue dot.

But what if there's no anchor point where you need it to be? One solution is to create a "dummy" AutoShape and connect to it. Move the dummy shape into place so it "connects" where you want it to on the real object (see Figure 5-17).

Figure 5-17: Move the dummy shape into place so it looks like the connector connects to the real object instead.

Once in place, right-click the dummy shape and choose Format AutoShape. In the Fill section, choose No Fill from the Color drop-down menu, and in the Line section, choose No Line from the Color drop-down menu (see Figure 5-18). The dummy object will be invisible, and the connector will seem as if it connects to the visible shape on the slide. To keep your connector connected, select the dummy shape and the visible shape and select Draw → Group so that the dummy shape moves with the visible shape when you move it around on the slide.

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If you use PowerPoint for any length of time, sooner or later you'll come face to face with Microsoft Graph, PowerPoint's charting engine. Microsoft Graph is a scaled-down subset of Excel that charts based on data in a datasheet. Graph does not do calculations, nor can it handle formulas. It just charts the data as is. If you need something more robust, you can always create your charts in Excel and import those charts into your presentation.

This chapter tackles some of the more annoying issues you may run into when working with charts in PowerPoint, whether they're created in Microsoft Graph or Excel. We'll deal with some of the bizarre text and formatting issues Microsoft's graphing programs bring your way. You'll also learn how to resize your charts without distorting the fonts, create user-defined charts, and solve other tricky issues.

THE ANNOYANCE: The last letter of my Y-axis title text is cut off. I tried making the font smaller, but it didn't help. How can I make PowerPoint show the whole title?

THE FIX: Unfortunately, you can't resize the Y-axis title box on the chart. You can, however, replace the Y-axis title with a regular text box.

You can also try adding two spaces followed by a period to the Y-axis title box to extend it. Format the period as the background color so it won't print.

This is a sporadic issue possibly related to video drivers and display settings. The truncated Y-axis title on the chart will usually print fine, even if it doesn't display properly.

THE ANNOYANCE: I have some really long category descriptions on my X-axis, but the lines break in strange places. How can I control the line breaks on chart axes?

THE FIX: You'll have to add regular text boxes if you need to control line breaks on chart axis labels in MSGraph.

If you create the chart in Excel, you can press Alt+Enter to add line breaks to text in a cell. You can also input the axis text in Excel, using Alt+Enter to create the line breaks, and then copy the cell and paste it into the PowerPoint graph datasheet.

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