If you’re familiar with using gradient fill effects in PowerPoint, you will have noticed a change in how PowerPoint 2007 handles gradient effects (see below). In a previous article, I showed how you could reproduce the familiar gradient fill effects from PowerPoint 2003 in PowerPoint 2007.

A side-by-side comparison of the gradient fill effect options shows how the application features have changed from PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007.

Now I’ll focus on three new gradient features in PowerPoint 2007 that may open up some new effect options for you. More…

When you upgraded to PowerPoint 2007 from PowerPoint 2003, you might have noticed a big change in the way gradient fill effects work. When I first started using the new gradient fill effect options in PowerPoint 2007, I was a little frustrated with it. I thought that some gradient functionality had actually been removed. However, once you get oriented with the new gradient fill approach, you realize you can do what you did before with gradients and much more. More…

By removing the white background from an image, you can layer one image on top of another graphic.

When you’re working with picture images in PowerPoint, you may want to remove unnecessary parts of an image so that you can see other graphics behind it. If the image in question is a vector image (e.g., WMF), it may be very easy to customize the clip art image. However, if the image is a bitmap image (e.g., PNG, JPG, GIF), then you cannot simply “ungroup” the image and edit it as you want. If you own Photoshop and you’re proficient with it, this task may be fairly straightforward for you. However, many business users don’t have access to this expensive photo editing software or if they do, they may not know how to use it. More…

Have you ever struggled to find just the right clip art for a particular slide in a presentation? You may have searched through PowerPoint’s extensive collection of clip art images and identified some possible options. However, the clip art weren’t exactly what you had in mind due to one of the following reasons:

• Image was okay but the colors didn’t match the rest of the images or slide background
• Image was close to what you wanted but it had a few extra details in the illustration, which were unnecessary or distracting
• Image contained a useful illustration but several background elements made the clip art unusable More…

As you build your PowerPoint slides you may wonder whether you should use clip art or pictures. Many presentation experts have touted the benefits of using stock photos to enhance your slides. Clip art doesn’t receive as much love from these experts, and some people have even suggested never using clip art. PowerPoint ninjas know that each type of presentation graphic is effective in different situations. More…