14th February 2002

Undoubtedly, the least used "Office" application is the presentation tool. Unless you're someone who does a lot of traveling for business, PowerPoint's power is relatively moot. There are, however, some features that you might appreciate - should the need arise. When you need to print a set of slides on a "black ink" printer, why have the software parse colors? Click View | Black and White to toggle the grayscale option. It's also important to note that sometimes less is more; don't go crazy with the animations or sound effects. Unless they serve a purpose, keep the eye candy to a minimum and your audience will be just as impressed. If you're going to use transitions, stick to the same one on every slide. Need a quick way to access the main (or any other) page? Click Slide Show | Action Buttons. With these, you can insert customizable buttons that will launch a Web page, open a document, provide more information, skip to the end of the show, return to the beginning, etc. Need to add a "quick and dirty" sound? Click Insert | Movies and Sounds | Record Sound. The audio quality isn't perfect, but it's easy to use.