PowerPoint Notes

3D in PowerPoint and Microsoft Office

3D for PowerPoint Over The Years

For the last 20 years, users have waited for 3D in PowerPoint. There were umpteen add-ins (small programs that plug into PowerPoint, much like Photoshop and WordPress plug-ins) that added 3D models, 3D backgrounds, and even 3D text in PowerPoint. They met the same fate–discontinued by their vendors! And that’s sad because some of them were really awesome and ahead of their time.

Finally, 3D in PowerPoint

And now Microsoft has announced that there will finally be real 3D in PowerPoint. How is that different than the other add-ins? And does this mean that you can really do 3D modeling in PowerPoint? Here are the answers to those questions:

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Filed Under: Showcase
Tagged as: 3D, Heather Alekson, Microsoft Office, PowerPoint

PowerPoint’s Mouseover Malware Trojan Horse

Trend Micro released a comprehensive blog post that talks about a trojan horse malware triggered by PowerPoint’s Mouse-Over action setting. This action setting can run a PowerPoint macro.

OK, this is not as bad as it may sound. Why? I can think of three good reasons:

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Filed Under: Troubleshooting
Tagged as: PowerPoint's Mouseover Malware

Switch Row/Column Grayed Out for a Chart in PowerPoint?

Switch Row/Column Grayed

Once you insert a chart in PowerPoint, you may find that you mixed up the series and categories! It’s easy to switch between both of them by clicking the Switch Row/Column button on the Chart Tools Design tab of the Ribbon–but wait, do you see the Switch Row/Column button grayed out, as shown highlighted in red within the screenshot below?

The solution is simple, although not so apparent. All you need to do is to right-click the chart on your slide to bring up the contextual menu, shown below. Now select the Edit Data option.

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Filed Under: Troubleshooting
Tagged as: Charts, PowerPoint, Switch Row/Column Grayed

Timelines that are Different – 07

We finally explore the seventh timeline example in our series on different timelines that stand apart because they are unique.

This timeline is from our friends at Presenter Media, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based organization. My contact at Presenter Media was Art Holden.

So what do we like about this timeline? We love the fact that the curve makes this timeline fit in more timeline stops in a smaller area. Plus, the current timeline stop shows up larger and gets more attention than the stops that denote earlier times.

Presenter Media calls this timeline the Navigate Timeline. This particular timeline includes several extras within the timeline presentation you download from their site.

Template Link | Aspect Ratio: Standard (4:3) and Widescreen (16:9). Apple Keynote variant also available.

If you have found a timeline template that’s different than others, do let us know by adding a comment. Also, if you are a vendor who wants their templates to be featured as part of this series, do get in touch with us via our feedback form.

See More Timelines that are Different: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07

Filed Under: Showcase
Tagged as: Art Holden, Presenter Media, Review, Sample Slides, Templates, Timelines

Timelines that are Different – 06

Many of you have been following our Timelines that are Different series, and it’s now time to show you another fantastic timeline that you can use on your PowerPoint slides. The requirement to be featured in this series is not to be just useful and interesting, but the featured timeline also needs to be different and stand apart from usual timeline offerings.

Our sixth timeline slide is from infoDiagram, a template site based out of London, UK. Our contact at infoDiagram was Peter Zvirinsky.

This particular timeline looks very simple indeed, and that in itself provides it with an amazingly, different attribute. The watercolor-stroke appearance of this timeline is uncomplicated and captivating at the same time. infoDiagram calls this diagram a Watercolor Timeline Arrow.

The limitation of this timeline is that you cannot add too many timeline stops. The sample shown above already has four stops, and you may be able to squeeze in an extra timeline stop at the most. Fortunately, this timeline slide is part of many other similarly styled Watercolor slides, and you may use elements from other slides to create more coordinated slides!

Template Link | Aspect Ratio: Standard (4:3) only

If you have found a timeline template that’s different than others, do let us know by adding a comment. Also, if you are a vendor who wants their templates to be featured as part of this series, do get in touch with us via our feedback form.

See More Timelines that are Different: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07