Advanced PowerPoint Training - A list of do's and don'ts

The training courses are excellent tools to get up to speed software quickly and often reveal techniques that can not be achieved have been possible. But even the best courses can not teach you a thing. Here are some tips to complement introductory or advanced PowerPoint.

Power Point "What to Do"

Check for updates regularly PowerPoint. This is a great software package and there are more than a few bugs. Microsoft is diligent about releasing regular fixes, but will not work until you download and install them.

Install a default printer driver. The printer driver is a small program that tells the computer how to send information to the printer. PowerPoint needs a printer driver, even if you do not have a printer connected to your computer. If the default printer on the network, install a local driver and if you ever need to use PowerPoint while the network is down.

Save often! Computers crash, power fails, people spill coffee on their computers. Not worth wasting hours of work because you forgot to save.

Save multiple versions. Before making major changes, use 'Save As' to save a new file name. You could have MyProject1, MyProject2, and so on.

Backup copies saved. Copy to a network drive, a CD, a USB drive for example. If the hard drive crashes, you have another copy and do not lose hours of work.

PowerPoint "don'ts"

Do not work off non-local units. The network drives and removable media are fine for backups, but increase the possibility of losing their jobs when used as primary hard work. Always work off a local copy.

Do not use Office use specific viruses. Yes, you should use an antivirus program. However, some applications include a special anti-virus file scanning utilities Office. These utilities are not more effective than standard anti-virus, but use more resources and often create other problems. Disable them. Viruses in Office files will still be detected by normal virus scanning.

Do not use AutoLayout. You may have learned about this in your PowerPoint advanced training. Introduced in PowerPoint 2002, is one of those features that Microsoft is a nice idea, but poorly implemented. It causes unpredictable elements to size and has a variety of other odd side effects.

Do not copy and paste the content in PowerPoint. Instead, save a copy of the local hard disk (if it's coming off the corporate network or the Internet), then use Insert, Picture, From File to import the image into your project. Paste the content from local sources does not create a network link that will cause problems later.

You probably picked up some other suggestions in the course of advanced training PowerPoint and discover more of your own as you use the software. Soon you'll have your own library of useful tips that will make your work easier and more efficient .......