Although a presentation can contain text, graphics, animations, and special elements such as charts and WordArt, most presentations begin with you entering some kind of text. Text is used for the major headings of each slide as well as for the individual bullet points that provide the details of your topic. You can enter text in an outline (see Chapter 5 for more about this) or in placeholders on individual slides in the Normal view of PowerPoint.
In this section you discover how to insert a new slide in your presentation and enter text on it. Once you have entered text, you will typically need to edit it by modifying what you’ve entered, cutting or copying text and then pasting it in new locations, or finding and replacing text. As you insert and edit text, knowing how to undo and redo actions as you go is another useful skill you’ll be very glad to have, and it’s covered in this chapter, too.
Finally in this chapter, you work with manipulating the placeholders where you enter text. You can apply formatting to placeholders and align the text within them. One other feature that is new to PowerPoint 2007 is the Selection and Visibility pane, which aides you in selecting and manipulating placeholders on slides.
You enter most text, as well as other elements such as pictures and tables, by using placeholders on slides in Normal view. Slide title and subtitle placeholders typically hold a single heading, while content placeholders are usually used for a bulleted list of key points. When you enter text in placeholders, it is reflected in the Outline tab in Normal view. You can format placeholders to use fill colors and borders.
