In this section:

The ability to add graphic elements to your slides allows you to add visual pizzazz to your presentation that helps keep viewers entertained and interested. In a multimedia-savvy world, people expect more than black bullet points and a white background, and PowerPoint helps you meet those expectations.

Although visual elements should never overpower the contents of your presentation, some visual elements such as photographs or charts might actually help you convey your message in a "picture is worth a thousand words" way. Sometimes you will use elements such as illustrations, shapes, or WordArt effects simply to add visual interest.

In this section you explore the process of inserting various visual elements into slides, such as tables, charts, pictures, Clip Art, WordArt, sounds, and even movie clips. Once you’ve inserted such elements, move on to Chapter 9 where you discover how to format and modify those elements to best effect.

Creating Tables

Tables offer a way to present information in a way that suggests the relationships among various sets of data using the visual elements of separate cells organized by rows and columns. Tables also offer the option of formatting those columns and rows with color and shading, which helps the person viewing the table to differentiate among sets of data at a glance.

Insert a Table

1. Click the Insert tab.

2. Click the Table button.

3. In the Insert Table drop down, click and drag across the squares to select the number of rows and columns you want to include in your table.

   

   Try This!

   

   You can also insert a table using the icons that appear in any empty content placeholder. Click the upper left icon in the set of icons that appears in these placeholders to display a dialog box where you can specify the number of rows and columns for the table.

4. When you release your mouse, the table appears on your slide.

5. The Table Tools Design tab is displayed.

   

See Also

Although this section deals with the basics of inserting tables, please see "Editing Tables" for more about formatting tables.

Try This!

The Comparison slide layout includes a title placeholder, two subtitle placeholders, and two content placeholders. If you want to include two tables that viewers can compare side by side with a heading to describe the contents of each, this is a useful layout to use.

Insert Rows and Columns

1. Click the table to select it.

2. Click the Table Tools, Layout tab.

   

   Tip

   

   You can split the cells of a column in two in your table to include two sets of data without having to add a new column. Select the column as described in Step 3 on the next page and on the Table Tools, Layout tab click the Split Cells button. In the Split Cells dialog box, click OK to accept the default number of columns. The column splits in two parts, and you can enter text in each.

3. Hold your mouse above a column or to the left of a row until the cursor becomes an arrow and click to select the column or row.

4. Click the Insert Left or Insert Right button to insert a column to the left or right of the selected column.

5. Click the Insert Above or Insert Below button to insert a row above or below the selected row.