Creating a video from a powerpoint presentation

100 Amazing Computer Tips

Creating a Video from a PowerPoint Presentation

Creating videos to support your social media efforts has never been easier. With a budget of zero you can create an awesome PowerPoint presentation, complete with audio, transitions, and animations, and turn it into a video. Turns out it couldn't be easier!

IMPORTANT: This feature was added to the 2010 version but if you're still using something earlier than that, you you should upgrade your software.

Create your presentation

Of course, step 1 is to create your PowerPoint presentation. For some of you, this might be the most difficult part. I can't give you a step-by-step of that process here, but look around the internet for some videos on creating a presentation, adding transitions between slides and animation to have text appear, dance around, and possibly disappear, being replaced with other words. All of this might sound hard but it's really not. If you were closer you could stop by and I'd show you.

You can also add narration and timings to your presentation. If you're adding narration I would strongly suggest you write a script. I've heard too many "off the cuff" narrations that sounded really dumb! The best way to add timings is to go to the Slide Show tab and use the Rehearse Timings option. This will allow you to set the advance on the slides to something appropriate for each slide. If you do not set timings the default advance is 5 seconds. I set my timings in the Slide Sorter view in PowerPoint (View tab, Slide Sorter View). Once in the Slide Sorter view, I clicked the Transition tab and in the Timing group, I entered 00:02.00 in the timings box and clicked Apply to All. I then selected individual slides that I wanted to remain on longer and adjusted the timing for those.

I inserted a soundtrack on slide #1 and formatted it (Audio Tools, Playback tab) so that audio would "Play across slides". Also, make sure the checkbox for Hide During Show is selected so the icon will not be visible. Depending on the length of the audio file you might also want to check the "Loop until Stopped" option.

BTW, I found my audio online by doing a search for "40-second instrumentals free" and found a dandy one right away.

Before you save the audio you should optimize the audio file. To do this go to the File tab, Info, Compress Media. This will embed the media and make the file a reasonable size.

Save your presentation

You'll want to save your presentation as you are creating it of course. This baby isn't going to be created in one sitting...I guarantee that! Once it's saved as a PowerPoint document, follow the directions below.

1. On the File menu, click Save & Send.
2. Under Save & Send, click Create a video.
3. To display all video quality and size options, under Create a video, click the Computer & HD Displays down arrow.

• To create a video with very high quality, yet a large file size, click Computer & HD Displays.
• To create a video with moderate file size and medium quality, click Internet & DVD.
• To create a video with the smallest file size, yet low quality, click Portable Devices.

 TIP   You'll want to test these out to see which option meets your needs. In the video below I used the first option for a very high-quality video.

The saving process might take a few minutes so I walked away from my computer. When I came back there it was my finished video. I think it looks pretty good, don't you? This whole process probably took just about an hour. Now I'm going to upload the video to my website and even to my YouTube channel.

My book, 100 Amazing Computer Tips - Shortcuts, Tricks, and Advice to Help Everyone from Novice to Professional, is available NOW at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in both print ($14.99) and ebook ($7.99) formats. There's also a handy link on the top right side of this window for your shopping convenience.

Happy computing!

Diane

Don't forget to click the Subscribe to 100 Computer Tips in 100 Days via the email link on the right side of the screen so you get email alerts when Diane adds a new post.

Fine Tuning Your PowerPoint Skills

My PowerPoint Pet Peeves!

I recently attended a virtual meeting on Zoom...of course...and the presenter did a great job of explaining his subject matter but I was so distracted by a few issues with his PowerPoint document that I was having trouble concentrating! Let's talk about some of my PowerPoint pet peeves.

• Bullet items written as complete sentences
• Periods in bullet lists
• Revealing the complete bullet list all at once
• Numbers not correctly aligned

Bullet List "Rules"

The core of most presentations are bullet lists. Here are a few "rules" you should keep in mind if you are creating a presentation using them. 

• Do not write the bullet as a complete sentence. It is your job as the presenter to speak in sentences but your audience should not see your complete thought written out. They will have difficulty remembering a full sentence so write your bullet as thoughts or phrases.
• If you follow the advice of the above bullet, you should not be using punctuation in your lists. If the bullet is not a complete sentence, it does not need a period at the end of it! Feel free to use exclamation points or question marks but no periods.
• Use the animation feature in PowerPoint to reveal the bullets one at a time. Doing this will direct your audience's attention to the current bullet and not to the upcoming bullet points. It is not necessary to use some of the more distracting animations (grow & turn, swivel, and bounce) designed to spice up a 5th graders show, a simple "appear" is a good choice. 
• Keep the number of bullets on a slide to five or six. If you have more than that you should consider splitting the information into multiple slides.

Aligning Numbers

Sooner or later a presentation you are making will contain numbers. If the numbers all have the same number of digits you are in luck. You can simply use the tab key to move to the right and type your numbers. For the rest of you, you may resort to using the space bar to move to the right in hopes that the result will get the numbers to appear to be aligned on the right side...this is a pretty hit and miss approach. The best approach is to set a right align tab and use the Tab key to get those numbers straight. Here's how you do that.

1. Click in the text block where you will be inserting the numbers
2. If you see a ruler across the top of your screen you're golden. If you do NOT see a ruler, click the View Tab, Show Group, Ruler.
   
   
   
3. On the far left side of the ruler, you will see the Tab Box. This is where you select the alignment type you need to place on the ruler. Your options are left, center, right, and decimal. As you click this box the image changes to reveal the four types. Click until the right alignment tab is displayed in the box, it looks like a reverse "L". (See picture below)
   
   
   
   
   
4. Once the right tab is displayed in the Tab Box, move your mouse to the ruler and click where you estimate the right side of the number list should be placed. The right alignment icon will appear on the rules. Now, as you type your entries, use the Tab key to jettison to the set tab. Type your number and it will build to the left and align on the right side!
   

   

   
   
   
5. If you determine that the tab on the ruler should be moved left or right, select the list and drag the ruler tab left or right. The numbers will move accordingly. 

Now you can concentrate on your content and getting your point across in your presentation and not fret about the little things like bullets and number alignment!

Happy Computing!

Diane McKeever

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Have you bought my book yet? If not, why not??  100 Amazing Computer Tips - Shortcuts, Tricks, and Advice to Help Everyone from Novice to Professional, is available NOW at Amazon.com in both print ($14.99) and ebook ($7.99) formats. 

If you've bought my book, THANK YOU! Please consider writing a review on Amazon.com.

Recover Written Over Files

For Life's Uh-Oh Moments - Recover Written Over Files

I bet you've been there more than once in your life. You have a Microsoft Office document open (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and you instinctively click the Save button...or better yet, use the Ctrl + s key to save...and then realize you meant to use the Save As feature rather than Save! Uh-oh, that original document has been written over and you can never recover it! But wait, there is hope!

Many years ago Microsoft realized that being able to recover previous versions of a document was a valuable feature so they incorporated it into all of their programs. You can access these previous versions by following these steps:

• Open the file that you want to restore to its previous version
• Click the File tab and click on Info
• On the right, select the version you want to open from the versions list
• Click the Restore button when the file opens

There, now won't you sleep more soundly tonight knowing that Microsoft has your back in this important way?

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Happy Computing!

Diane McKeever

Have you bought your copy of my book, "100 Amazing Computer Tips"? Click here to get one on Amazon.com. It's only $14.99 and it's packed with time saving tips. It makes a great gift any time of the year.

Amazing Tips - Recovering Unsaved Documents

Recovering Unsaved Documents!

Microsoft has your back on this!

How many times has this happened to you, you close a program quickly and in the "do you want to save changes" dialog box you reflexively click the "Don't Save" option...and then you realize that you didn't really mean to do that! This is usually followed by a burst of expletives as you mentally kick yourself for being so stupid. Well, Microsoft has your back on this. You can recover unsaved documents for up to four days from closing them!

To recover unsaved documents:

1. Open your program up again, if you closed it, and click on the File tab. 
2. Click on Recent and you will see in the lower right side of the screen those wonderful words...Recover Unsaved Documents (or Workbooks or Presentations, depending on program). 
3. Click the link and it will reveal that, unbeknownst to you, there is a folder labeled "Unsaved Files", created by your new best friends at Microsoft. Recent documents will be listed there for you to choose from. 
4. Click on a file and click Open
5. Now that your recovered document is open, don't forget to save your file!

Keep in mind the files in this folder are only saved for four days so don't dawdle, reopen the file quickly.

You might want to check the settings in your Office programs to see if this feature is turned on (it is by default) and adjust the AutoSave frequency. To do this:

1. Open the Office program (Word, Excel or PowerPoint)
2. From the File tab choose Options
3. On the left panel choose Save
4. Note the save documents settings and make sure that both Save AutoRecover information every XX minutes and Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving have a check mark

The save button is still your best friend and the mantra I try to impress in my classes is to "Save Early and Often" which is still the best policy. But it's good to know you have Microsoft watching out for when you rashly close documents without saving!

Just a word about the AutoRecover setting of every 10 minutes, which is the default. If you want to minimize your exposure in case your document is unexpectedly closed, you might want to consider changing this to 5 minutes.

One more thing, you might have noticed the green arrow and box in the top picture of this post. Those are pointing to push pinned documents. For information on this great office feature see my post on this helpful topic.

Have you bought my book yet? If not, why not??  100 Amazing Computer Tips - Shortcuts, Tricks, and Advice to Help Everyone from Novice to Professional, is available NOW at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in both print ($14.99) and ebook ($7.99) formats. There's also a handy link on top right side of this window for your shopping convenience. If you've bought my book, THANK YOU! Please consider writing a review on Amazon.com.

Happy computing!

Diane

Don't forget to click the Subscribe to 100 Computer Tips in 100 Days via email link on the right side of the screen so you get email alerts when I add a new post.

Amazing Tips - The Art of Hovering

The Art of Hovering

Getting more from your software

I am frequently asked how I learn new software and keep current with new releases. The primary approach I use is to hover.

According to Merriam Webster, there are many uses for the word hover including:

• to float in the air without moving in any direction
• to stay very close to a person or place
• to stay near a specified point or level

When learning new software I am referring to the third use of hovering. I move slowly across any toolbars that are available, pausing at each item. As I do so a balloon label generally appears giving me some insight into the use of the tool. This is quite helpful because it is not uncommon that the icons defy deciphering and the balloon label is of limited help. At least at that point I can go to a browser and search for more information about the tool since I now know what it's called.

I think it's generational but, the graphic designers who come up with the size/shape/color of the tools often have different perspective than I do and different from the people I work with. In the early days of computers, the designers came up with the blue floppy disk to represent "Save". Twenty five years later I'm still pointing it out to people and explaining that it is the tool to use to save their work. The response I get is predictable. I hear everything from, "I thought it was a 50's TV set", to "What's a floppy disk." I used to carry a floppy in my bag to demonstrate the likeness to the save button but, without a machine to read them, my floppies didn't survive the last move.

One of my favorite discoveries that I found using the hover technique was to locate the "missing" dialog boxes I had become accustomed to using in Microsoft Office programs. When Microsoft did away with menus with the 2007 version of the office suite, I could no longer go to the Format menu to format text and paragraphs...not until I hovered and discovered the "Show dialog box" option on the ribbon. Now when I want to use advanced features in Word, features that the engineers didn't include on the ribbons, all I have to do is click the Show dialog box option.

Write a comment about a tool you learned about when you were hovering.

Have you bought my book yet? If not, why not??  100 Amazing Computer Tips - Shortcuts, Tricks, and Advice to Help Everyone from Novice to Professional, is available NOW at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in both print ($14.99) and ebook ($7.99) formats. There's also a handy link on top right side of this window for your shopping convenience. If you've bought my book, THANK YOU! Please consider writing a review on Amazon.com.

Happy computing!

Diane

Don't forget to click the Subscribe to 100 Computer Tips in 100 Days via email link on the right side of the screen so you get email alerts when I add a new post.