Customizing the PowerPoint Interface

Quick reference

• 00:05 Sometimes in PowerPoint there is some task that you wanted to just take a little bit
• 00:09 of time and you wish could be done faster.
• 00:12 In this video, we're going to look at customizing both the ribbon and the QAT,
• 00:16 or the Quick Access toolbar.
• 00:18 To bring a feature to the forefront that allows us to perform a common task that
• 00:23 may not be immediately available on either the ribbon or the QAT.
• 00:28 Now on the particular slide that I've inserted off the internet, and always
• 00:31 remember to respect the copyright of the owner, it has some effects applied to it.
• 00:36 Now it appears as though there is an oval, boundary shape that has been applied.
• 00:41 As well as some sort of artistic effect.
• 00:45 I'd like to be able to reset this picture back to what it look like when it was
• 00:47 inserted before the various effects were applied.
• 00:51 Now to do that manually, I would click on this image, go to the Format tab.
• 00:57 And if I wanted to reset the artistic effect, I would go to the none.
• 01:06 But it's still got the oval applied so Ctrl+Z to undo that.
• 01:10 Another way is to click this little drop down arrow and go reset picture and size.
• 01:18 And wow, there it is, I'll zoom down with the Ctrl key on the keyboard.
• 01:23 And the scroll of the mouse and you can see that it's a very big image indeed.
• 01:27 Ctrl+Z to undo that.
• 01:31 Now let's have a look at putting this particular feature
• 01:34 on both the ribbon as well as on the QAT.
• 01:36 Now the QAT is this little icon just here.
• 01:40 You can drop down the little arrow at the side.
• 01:43 And look at customizing the Quick Access Toolbar.
• 01:46 And some common commands are there.
• 01:49 Or you can right-click and show the Quick Access Toolbar above the ribbon,
• 01:55 which is where it quite often is when you first open PowerPoint.
• 01:59 So we will set that back below the ribbon.
• 02:03 And you can right-click on here, and customize the QAT,
• 02:08 as well as customizing the ribbon.
• 02:10 Indeed, you can get the same options by clicking on the ribbon.
• 02:15 So let's go to customize the ribbon.
• 02:20 Now notice in here we have, Choose Commands From.
• 02:24 So we can select Popular Commands,
• 02:26 Commands Not in the Ribbon, or All Commands.
• 02:30 And then there is a destination such as a Main Tab,
• 02:34 All Tabs, or a particular tool tab within a tab.
• 02:39 Now, I'm going to go to All Commands and click on a particular thing.
• 02:46 And, the feature was called reset picture and size.
• 02:50 So, if I click R gets me down to the list of things that start with R.
• 02:57 Now here are the resets.
• 02:58 Reset picture and size.
• 03:04 Now I want to stick that, and
• 03:09 click on the Home tab, click Add.
• 03:12 And then I get an error that says commands need to be added to custom groups.
• 03:16 To create a group, pick a tab at the list and then click New Group.
• 03:21 Okay, so that makes sense.
• 03:22 Again, so I want to put it on the Home tab.
• 03:25 So I click New Group.
• 03:28 Now New Group Custom is a little bit weird.
• 03:30 So I will rename that.
• 03:33 And it makes it logical to call it maybe Pictures.
• 03:40 It seems as though I should select an icon.
• 03:42 So I very quickly, browse down to something that might catch my eye.
• 03:49 Sometimes I wish there were more, set up a little palette, click OK.
• 03:53 And there we now have a custom group called Pictures on the Home tab.
• 04:00 Now what we're going to do is again find that feature and
• 04:02 add it to the pictures one.
• 04:06 So All Commands, click R to go down to the list that begin with R.
• 04:12 So there are the resets, reset picture and
• 04:16 size, add, and there is reset picture and size.
• 04:20 When I click OK, suddenly,
• 04:23 the pictures group appears on the ribbon, and it says reset picture and size.
• 04:29 So I clicked that and zoom out, and there is our image.
• 04:35 Ctrl+Z to undo.
• 04:37 So that's a very good way of moving a particular feature to where you
• 04:41 might need it more often.
• 04:43 However, when I go to maybe the insert tab or
• 04:47 the transition tab, that particular feature disappears.
• 04:51 So it would be good to put that on the QAT or Quick Access Toolbar as well.
• 04:57 So right-click, Customize, Quick Access Toolbar All Commands,
• 05:04 click R for the list of Rs.
• 05:08 Reset picture and
• 05:12 size, add, and notice that you can move them up or move them down.
• 05:17 Click OK.
• 05:19 And there's that feature, Reset picture & size available,
• 05:23 I click on that, and zoom out, and there again is our picture.
• 05:28 And I can apply different effects to that.
• 05:30 So remember that customizing both the ribbon and the QAT or
• 05:33 the Quick Access Toolbox is very simple.
• 05:36 And indeed there are some features that may be located in particular
• 05:39 parts of the ribbon.
• 05:40 And you might not where they are.
• 05:42 So explore and have a look around because it's really useful to be able to find and
• 05:47 bring commands to the surface that may not be available.
• 05:50 But also have a look around and
• 05:52 explore because there may be a good feature that you stumble across.
• 05:56 And that's also very awesome.
• 05:59 One other thing before we go,
• 06:01 here's any of these particular buttons that you see on the ribbon.
• 06:05 You can right-click and go add to the Quick Access Toolbar.
• 06:11 And that's just the speedy way of making something available as well.
• 06:15 So good luck with that, it's a great feature of PowerPoint.

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