10 slideshow shortcuts
AllshortcutsworkinbothPowerPointandImpressexceptwherestatedShortcut ActionCtrl-M Create new slideCtrl-Shift-D Duplicate selected slides (PowerPoint only)Alt-Shift-left arrow / right arrow Promote or demote content according to stylesheetCtrl-Enter Move from title to text to the next slide’s titleCtrl-drag Make a copy of the selected objectF2 Create text box (Impress onlyF5 / Shift-F5 Start from first slide / currently selected slideB or. (period) Display a black screen during a slide show (press any key to continue)W or , (comma) Display a white screen instead (press any key to continue)Esc/Ctrl-Break/- (hyphen) End slideshowsection. Pick the font you don’t like
and then choose a replacement. Click
Replace to make the change across
your entire presentation.
FINE-TUNE OBJECT POSITIONS
Use the arrow keys to nudge your text
and graphics into position on your slide.
Need even finer control? Hold [Ctrl] as
you manoeuvre your elements around.
USE THE GUIDES
Gain additional help when moving
objects with the help of guides. In
Impress, first select View > Grid and
Helplines > Display Grid to bring up a
grid, and also View > Rulers to provide
you with rulers from which you can
place individual guides on the page.
Snapping to guides is helpful for
precise alignment, and you’ll find
plenty of options under View > Snap
Guides for what elements can snap to:
the grid, snap guides, object border,
object points and/or page margins.
Things are simpler in PowerPoint –
just three tick boxes for Ruler, Gridlines
and Guides on the View tab, then click
the More button next to Show to control
snap behaviour and to set the size of the
grid. If nothing else, leave the ‘Display
smart guides when shapes are aligned’
box ticked to make it easy to arrange
items around other objects.
PREVIEW SLIDESHOW EFFECTS
Take a peek at how your presentation
is coming together in Presenter view
by holding Alt as you click From
Beginning or From Current Slide on the
Slide Show tab in PowerPoint. No such
presenter view exists in Impress, but
you can run the slideshow within the
main Impress window instead of full
screen by choosing Slide Show > Slide
Show Settings and selecting ‘In a
window’ under Presentation Mode.PRINT HANDOUTS
Export slides to Word to create handouts
in PowerPoint by choosing File > Export >
Create Handouts, choose what to send
and the format to use, and click OK. In
Impress, you will find everything you
need to print out handouts within the
program itself – View > Handout Master
is where you can tweak the master
template, then simply choose File > Print
and select Handouts from the Document
drop-down menu.FIX IMAGE ASPECT RATIO
Some images may have the incorrect
aspect ratio – fix this in PowerPoint by
making the Format Pane visible (click on
the picture, switch to the Picture Format
tab on the Ribbon). Select the size button
and change one of the scales – if ‘lock
aspect ratio’ is ticked, it should
automatically fix this. If you need to, you
can then re-crop pictures to fit the new
aspect ratio so long as you’re confidentthe key information is still shown.SHRINK FILE SIZE
Image-hungry presentations can soon
start to swell in size. Rein them in by
optimising the images. In Impress,
you can do this via Tools > ‘Minimise
Presentation...’. Just follow the wizard
to set the appropriate compression
levels to reduce file size while keeping
the presentation of sufficient quality
to meet your needs.
It’s slightly more convoluted in Word:
here, after saving a backup copy you
need to select any picture, then switch
to the ‘Picture Tools | Format’ tab on the
Ribbon. Click ‘Compress Pictures’. By
default, only the current image is
affected, so untick ‘Apply only to this
picture’ to have image compression
apply across the entire document. You
can then set a specific resolution and
decide whether you need to keep the
cropped elements of images. Click ‘OK’
and save to drastically cut the size of
your presentation.It’s possible to create
custom layouts based
on a single Master
using PowerPoints
templating tools.