About creating presentations
Creating a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint involves starting with a basic design; adding new slides and content; choosing layouts; modifying slide design, if you want, by changing the color scheme or applying different design templates; and creating effects such as animated slide transitions. The information below focuses on the options available to you when you start the process.
The New Presentation task pane in PowerPoint gives you a range of ways with which to start creating a presentation. These include:
- Blank Start with slides that have minimal design and no color applied to them.
- Existing presentation Base your new presentation on one that you have already written and designed. This command creates a copy of an existing presentation so you can make the design or content changes you want for the new presentation.
- Design template Base your presentation on a PowerPoint template that already has a design concept, fonts, and color scheme. In addition to the templates that come with PowerPoint, you can use one you created yourself.
- Templates with suggested content Use the AutoContent Wizard to apply a design template that includes suggestions for text on your slides. You then type the text that you want.
- A template on a Web site Create a presentation using a template located on a Web site.
- A template on Microsoft.com Choose from additional PowerPoint templates in the Microsoft Office Template Gallery. These are arranged according to type of presentation.
Content inserted from other sources
You can also insert slides from other presentations or text from other applications such as Microsoft Word.