Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Plain & Simple
By Nancy C. Muir

Nancy C. Muir is the author of more than 50 technology books, including several bestsellers on Microsoft Office PowerPoint. She has worked as a trainer and university instructor, and she has a certificate in distance learning design.

To learn more about other books on the 2007 Microsoft Office system, visit Microsoft Press.

---

---

• Saving Your Own PowerPoint Templates

• Creating a Custom Show

• Removing Hidden Data with Document Inspector

• Adding a Digital Signature

---

This article discusses some of the more advanced features in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 that help you increase your productivity by working more efficiently .

Saving Your Own PowerPoint Templates

You can develop a presentation that forms the basis of other presentations and use that presentation as a template. This can save you a great deal of work in making settings you want to use for every new presentation. You can save any file in a template format (.potx). A template can contain various custom settings, such as changes you make to the slide master, custom layouts or animations you created, or themes and font choices you applied. Your templates can also contain text or graphic elements in placeholders. By using a template as the basis of a new presentation, you can not only save time but guarantee a consistency of look and feel among all your presentations.

To save a template you created for a Office PowerPoint 2007 slide presentation, click the Office button, select Save As, and then click Other Format. Next you need to select the Save As Type field and choose the PowerPoint Template option. Enter the name of the template in the File Name field, and then click Save.

 Tip   Remember, after you open a template, you need to save it as a regular PowerPoint 2007 presentation with a new name so you don’t overwrite the template with presentation-specific changes.

If you have access to a Microsoft Office SharePoint site or a company intranet, you might consider sharing templates across an organization so all presentations have a consistent company look and feel.

 Top of Page

Creating a Custom Show

Custom shows are subsets of the slides in a presentation that can be saved within the same file. Custom shows may contain only some of the slides of the presentation or rearrange the order of slides. For example, if you have a master presentation on your entire product line, you can save custom shows that focus on each product line separately and show only the presentation that relates to an individual customer’s needs.

The ability to create and store custom shows within a single presentation file offers you great flexibility. You can create several custom shows from one presentation by simply choosing the slides to include and reorganizing them in any way you wish. The slides in a custom show remain identical to the corresponding slides in your main presentation, but by selecting and rearranging their order, you can create quite different shows to meet your viewers’ needs.

You can create a Custom Show by selecting the Custom Slide Show option located on the Slide Show tab. After clicking New in the Custom Shows dialog box, select a slide that you want to include from the Slides Presentation list, and then click Add. Repeat this for all slides you want to include in the show. You can reorganize the slides by using the Move Up and Move Down buttons.

If you need to edit a custom slide show, click the Custom Slide Show button on the Slide Show tab. Click on the show and then click the Edit button. From the resulting Define Custom Show dialog box you can add, remove, or rearrange the slides in the show. If you just need to remove one slide from your custom show, simply click that slide in the Slides In Custom Show list, and then click the Remove button.

When you want to run a custom show, select the Custom Slide Show option that is located on the Slide Show tab. When you click the name of the custom show, the show begins to run. You can use the navigation tools to move through the presentation. Press Escape to stop the show at any time. You can also set up your file to play a custom show whenever you click the Slide Show button by using the Set Up Show dialog box (click the Set Up Slide Show button on the Slide Show tab). Just click on Custom Show, and then select the custom show you want to use from the Custom Show field and click OK.

 Top of Page

Removing Hidden Data with Document Inspector

A new feature in PowerPoint 2007 called Document Inspector allows you to search your files for items of data or content that you may have left in by mistake (for example content that is placed off the slides, hidden metadata (data about the file itself) or personal information) and remove it before saving the file. When you intend to share a presentation either by publishing it online or by handing it to somebody on a CD, it’s a good idea to make sure there isn’t any hidden data included. You can use the new Document Inspector feature of PowerPoint 2007 to remove such information.

Remove Hidden Data with Document Inspector

Before you remove hidden data with the Document Inspector, it is a good idea to save a copy of the presentation because much of the data you delete using Document Inspector cannot be restored. The data that Document Inspector removes might be useful information for a presentation you are still working on, such as the date you last made a change to the presentation or invisible contents on slides. Working on a copy saves that data on the original.

Next, select Prepare from the Office button menu, and then click Inspect Document. Select from the various check boxes to specify what the Document Inspector should search for, and then click Inspect. A Results window appears when the inspection is completed. When you click any Remove All buttons, PowerPoint 2007 omits the selected data when you close the file.

It is possible to manually edit your presentation properties to remove personal information instead of letting Document Inspector do all the work. To do this, click the Office button, choose Prepare, and then click on Properties. Delete any data in any field that you don’t want included with the file.

 Top of Page

Adding a Digital Signature

With PowerPoint 2007, you can add a digital signature to your presentation that assures the person opening the file that it came from you. A digital signature is much like a handwritten signature on a check or other legal document. It can be used to ensure that the document was created by a particular person. In a world where computer files can contain potentially harmful materials, a digital signature helps to reassure recipients that the file was created by somebody they know and trust. You can obtain a digital signature from a third party that others can use to verify your document. You can also create one that only serves for you to verify that a document you open on your computer is your own.

 Tip   You can view signatures associated with a document by clicking the Office button, click Prepare, and then click View Signatures. A Signatures pane appears listing any signatures associated with the file. You can view the details associated with a signature by clicking on it.

Purchase a Third-Party Digital Signature Product

You can purchase a third-party digital signature product over the Internet for anywhere from under $100 to over $250. You might decide to make this investment if it’s important for you to be sure documents come from the person they purport to be from, and that the contents of the document haven’t been changed since they were signed.

To purchase a Digital Signature online, be sure your computer is connected to the Internet, select Prepare from the Office button menu, and then click Add a Digital Signature. When the confirming dialog box appears, click Signature Services From The Office Marketplace. After selecting a digital signing provider from the list, click the Try [service name] button and follow the steps to purchase a digital signature product or download a free trial.

 Tip   You can also use the Information Rights Management Service to authenticate the sender and recipient of files sent by e-mail to ensure that your files don’t fall into the wrong hands. Click the Review tab and then click the Protect Presentation button and choose Restricted Access. Follow the instructions to sign up for this service from Microsoft.

Create Your Own Digital Signature

You also have the option of creating your own digital signature. To do this, begin by saving your file as a PowerPoint presentation. Next, select Prepare from the Office button menu, and then click Add a Digital Signature. When the confirming dialog box appears, click OK to proceed, and then select Create Your Own Digital ID and click OK. Enter your name, e-mail address, organization, and location in the Create a Digital ID dialog box and click Create. In the Sign dialog box, fill in the Purpose For Signing This Document field. Complete the procedure by clicking Sign, and then click OK in the Signature Confirmation dialog box.

 Top of Page