Microsoft Office/Formatting Text Slides

Apply Character Formats

You can use character formatting to add interest to presentations, but do so sparingly. Keep in mind that adding too much character formatting can detract from your message or make it confusing.

Format Text

You can change the appearance of text by changing its font, size, style, and color. You can format text in the Outline tab or the Slide pane. To format text:

1. Select the text you want to format.
2. To change the font, select a new font from the Font drop-down list on the Formatting toolbar.
3. To change the size, select a new size from the Size drop-down list on the Formatting toolbar.
4. To change the style, click the Bold, Italic, or Underline button on the Formatting toolbar.
5. To change the color, select a new color from the Font Color button's drop-down palette. (The Font Color button is on the Drawing toolbar).

Repeat Formatting

When you format text in a slide, you can press the [F4] key to repeat that format for newly selected text. If you use the toolbar to apply more than one format, PowerPoint will repeat only the last format you applied.

Align Text

Alignment determines the position of the text within its text object box on a slide. Text can be left-aligned, right-aligned, centered, or justified, as follows:

1. Select the text you want to align.
2. Choose Format > Alignment to display the Alignment sub-menu.
3. From the sub-menu, select the alignment option you want:

• • Align Left - aligns text at the left edge of the text object box.
  • Center - aligns text between the left and right edges of the text object box.
  • Align Right - aligns text at the right edge of the text object box.
  • Justify - begins text at the left edge and ends the text at the right edge of the text object box.

You can also use the Alignment buttons on the Formatting toolbar to left-align, center, and right-align text.

Line Spacing

Line spacing is the vertical distance between two lines of text. By default, line spacing is set to single-line spacing, which means that the amount of space between lines of text depends on the size of the font used. For example, if the font size is 12, then single-line spacing will be 12 pts between lines of text. If you applied double-line spacing, then the lines would be separated by 24 pts of space.

Setting Line Spacing

1. Place the cursor in a paragraph, or select the paragraphs you want to affect.
2. Choose Format > Line Spacing.
3. In the Line Spacing dialog box, click on the arrows to increase or decrease line spacing options, or enter an exact setting.
4. Click OK.

Line Spacing Options

In the Line Spacing dialog box, there are three options for changing the amount of space between lines and bullet items on a slide.

• Line Spacing - the amount of space between selected lines of text. By default, line spacing is set to 1.
• Before Paragraph - increase or decrease the spacing before the first line of each selected paragraph.
• After Paragraph - the amount of space after the last line of each selected paragraph

Indents

In PowerPoint, indents are used to align bullets and text at a set distance from the margins. When the horizontal ruler in PowerPoint is displayed, you will find one set of the following indent markers on the left edge of the ruler for each level of bullets on the slide:

Indent Marker Types:

Marker Name	Marker Function
Bullet Indent	Controls the left boundary for the bullet.
Text Indent	Controls the left boundary of text for a bulleted item.
Left Indent	Controls the left boundary for both bullets and text.

How to Change Indents

1. Select the text object that you want to affect.
2. Choose View > Ruler to display the ruler.
3. To adjust the first-line indent, click and drag the upper marker for that indent to a desired position on the ruler.
4. To adjust the subsequent lines in a paragraph, click and drag the upper marker for that indent to a desired position on the ruler.
5. To maintain the relationship between the first line and the rest of the paragraph (to move both markers at once), click and drag the bottom half of the lower marker to a desired position on the ruler.