Microsoft PowerPoint 2007: Customize the PowerPoint Interface
PowerPoint is a powerful, customizable tool for creating presentations. Before you create a PowerPoint presentation, you might want to customize the interface to make it easier for you to find the toolbars and functions you need most. In this demonstration you'll learn how to change options and customize the interface.
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The PowerPoint Options dialog box contains many customization settings. Let's look at that dialog box and see what options we can change.
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To access that the PowerPoint Options dialog box, click the Microsoft Office Button at the top left.
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In the menu that opens, select PowerPoint Options at the bottom of the menu.
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Selecting this item opens a dialog box that lets you customize several interface options. Included here are the Popular options, the Save options and the Advanced options.
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First let's look at the Popular options. These are the options most frequently customized by users. The option lets you remove items you may not use. You can also customize your personal information and language preferences.
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The Popular options let you display or hide the Mini toolbar and the Developer tab. If you need more space, or you don't need these features, you can hide them. You can also enable or disable Live Preview, which instantly shows how formatting options will change the selected text,and change the user name and initials. Modify the color scheme for a really personalized interface.
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Let's move on to Proofing. Select the Proofing tab from the Options dialog box and select your preferences.
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You can configure the Proofing settings to change how PowerPoint 2007 formats or corrects text. This is where you'll find the spelling and dictionary settings, as well as auto-correction.
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Let's move on to the Save options.
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The Save options let you customize how and when documents are saved. You can also adjust file format preferences and AutoRecover settings, as well as offline editing options. For file-sharing purposes, you can even embed font information.
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To view other default file formats, open the Save files in this format drop-down list.
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Now let's look at the Advanced options, which
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allow you to modify editing, display, and print settings. You can also tailor your presentation for the Web and set the defaults for your slide show.
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Click the Customize option and you'll be able to
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add commands to the Quick Access Toolbar, which displays commands that are independent of the tab that is currently displayed. Here's how to do that.
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Scroll through the options in the menu at the left until you see the command you want to add. Let's demonstrate by adding the New Slide icon to the toolbar. First you select the New Slide item.
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Then click Add and
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the New Slide icon appears on the Quick Access Toolbar. To remove a command, just reverse the process by selecting a command from the menu at the right and clicking the Remove button.
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The next option is Add-Ins.
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Here you can manage PowerPoint or COM add-ins, Smart Tags, and more. Note that beginning PowerPoint users rarely adjust these settings.
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Next up is the Trust Center
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where you can select privacy and security options, such as ActiveX controls, macro settings and trusted publishers.
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Microsoft pre-sets these to be the most secure for the majority of users so it's best to leave these settings at default. But if you want to modify them
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click Trust Center at the bottom right to see additional options.
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Notice the additional options in the menu to the left. To return to the previous screen, click Cancel in the bottom right -- it's not shown on this screenshot.
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The final category is Resources.
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From this category you can contact Microsoft, activate Office programs, and get updates. You can also sign up for free online services.
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In this demonstration you learned how to customize the PowerPoint 2007 interface using the PowerPoint Options dialog box. Now you're ready to fine-tune your options on your own and create a fully customized interface.
