To make an AutoShape go Smaller than Normal
You've drawn an AutoShape and it will simply not go any smaller by sizing it manually. e.g.. a circle indicating places on a map

• Select the AutoShape with the mouse
• Right click it and choose "Format AutoShape"
• Then either enter a new "height" and "width" or
• Enter new values in the "scale" boxes e.g. height 50% and width 50% will half the size of the shape

Adjust the Space Between the Bullet Point and the Text
To finely adjust the space between the bullet point and the text Sometimes you just cannot get the spacing just right between the bullet point and the text. And when you adjust it, it's either just too much or too little. To adjust it finely:

• Turn the ruler on, by selecting the "View" menu
• Make sure there is a tick next to "Ruler" to display the ruler
• Select the text object that you want to adjust
• On the ruler move the lower part of the paragraph indentation. It's called the "Left Indent". It looks like a small house. But to adjust it finely. . . . Press and hold the CTRL key while moving the paragraph spacer on the ruler

To Remove the White Text Shadow on Text
If you have the Text shadow option ON for your text, and your background is Black (RGB=0), and your text is any other color, then powerpoint will add a "White" text shadow, which in most cases looks horrible. If you want to keep the text shadow turned on, but want a black shadow, make your background color either RGB all equal to 16, or just make the blue value = 16. The background will still look black.

Video not Available
If you get these error messages when you try to drag and drop an AVI video clip. "Video not available, cannot find vids:mjpeg decompressor" or "Cannot display this type of sound or movie" or "MMSYSTEM006 There is no driver installed on your system". Or if you "insert movie from file" and powerpoint simply ignores you. Then try this mjpg mpeg tip that is so simple even we were gobsmacked/astounded. Rename the file from a .AVI to .MPG - That's it! (even renaming the file to .QT .MOV .m1v works). We found that you tend to have a greater success rate with AVI files from digital cameras that create movies. We believe this is because most of them use the Motion jpeg codec or mjpeg for short.

Add Comments to PowerPoint Presentation
If you work in Microsoft Word, you may be familiar with the comments feature. It allows you to add comments throughout a document to alert a reader or author to certain information. For example, an editor can leave comments by certain content in a document to alert the author about specific issues. You can also add comments to slides in a PowerPoint presentation. The comments are sort of like side notes. To add a comment in PowerPoint 2007:

• Click the appropriate slide within a presentation
• On the Review tab, in the Comments group, click New Comment
• Type in the information you want to appear in the comment and click outside the comment box

Access Help in PowerPoint 2007
For future reference, when in doubt, press the F1 key on the keyboard. There is, in fact, a button to access the Help feature as well. The Help button is a tiny "question mark" icon in the top right corner of the program window -- just below the X that you generally use to close the program.