Importing & Exporting

Import Documents into PowerPoint

(File > Open)
Select the appropriate file type

Importing Data Sets and Charts from Excel

Highlight the cells in Excel and paste the data (into a table)

To insert a chart copy the chart
(Edit > Paste)
does this paste as asn embedded excel worksheet ??

Edit > Paste Special
and select Paste Link

If you want to insert the actual object select (Insert > Object)

Holding down Alt when moving objects allows you to move them off the slide

Aligning Freeform Objects

Sometimes objects will not look aligned because PowerPoint will align their edges and centres according to the selection rectangle
In this case it is better to manually align the objects.

Soft Shadows

Select (Draw > Oval) and hold down Ctrl to create a circle.
Right click and choose Format Autoshape
Select no Border and change the fill effect to 2 colours with the 2nd colour white and choose from centre.

Add the "Select Multiple Objects" button to the Drawing toolbar

Adding Text

To add additional text to a slide just click on the text button on the Drawing toolbar (big A icon) use the mouse to locate and size your text entry. To alter the font and font size, choose Format > Font