PowerPoint is software that lets you create materials that can be presented using a projector. Using this material to announce a report or proposal is called a presentation. Using PowerPoint, you can create screens that effectively incorporate colorful text and photographs, illustrations, drawings, tables, graphs, and movies and transition from one to another like a slide show. You can animate text and illustrations on the screen using the animation feature as well as add sound effects and narration. Moreover, you can print out materials to distribute when you are making a presentation.

PowerPoint is a part of "Office", a suite of products combining several types of software for creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and for managing e-mail.

Tip: Why is it called "Office"? You might wonder why document creation and spreadsheet software that you use at home are a part of a suite of software called "Office". There is a historical reason for this. Previously, document creation and spreadsheet software were used primarily for work. The software was combined into a suite of software for work so it was called "Office". Since then, personal computers have become popular even in the home, but the software suite, which combines document creation and spreadsheet software, is still called "Office".

Tip: Referring to PowerPoint PowerPoint is usually referred to as "PowerPoint" in the software screens or help. It is also referred to sometimes as "Microsoft PowerPoint", "Office PowerPoint", and "Microsoft Office PowerPoint Word 2007". They all represent the PowerPoint presentation software.

Tip: Can you use PowerPoint to print materials for meetings? The main use of PowerPoint is to create screens for presentations and to project them onto a screen using a projector, but it is also widely used to lay out text and drawings on large paper, such as A3, because it lets you lay out the text and drawings freely.

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