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Group, Ungroup and Regroup in PowerPoint 2007

We have started to work with PowerPoint 2007 on a more regular basis, and were disappointed when we found that ctrl+shift+g, h, and j speed key commands did not work anymore to group, ungroup, and regroup objects respectively.  We use those speed key commands on a daily basis, which saves a lot of clicks.

Well after looking through the web and a bit of trial and error, we found the solution:

          Task                                   Speed Key Command
To Group Objects                                      ctrl+g
To Ungroup Objects                              ctrl+shift+g
To Regroup Objects                              ctrl+shift+j

We believe this is an attempt to conform to other design programs, such as Illustrator.   Not sure why else for the change.  This is the first blog in our series, “Converting to PowerPoint 2007”.  As we uncover additional benefits, we will make sure to post.  Have you seen any major differences that you’ve figured out solutions too?

How Effective is Your Website?

Find out with Go Daddy’s Traffic Facts.  You can view important statistics about your website visitors.  There are reports on Daily Page Views, Hourly Page Views,
Keyword and Key Phrase Searches, Referring Domains,
Referring Search Engines and much more.

These reports are easy to read in either table or chart form and the data can be exported into Excel for you to analyze.  When used correctly, this information can help you make informative decisions about internet marketing or website enhancements.  For $2.99 per month prevent yourself from wasting money implementing programs based on assumptions and get the facts.  It is well worth the extra expense.

A New Way to Present

If you’re looking for an alternative way to present your PowerPoint deck, try pptPlex by Microsoft Office Labs.  This plugin allows you to interactively correspond with your audience.  Most slides are presented in sequence.  However, with pptPlex, the order can be selected in real-time while presenting. 

Another great feature: content that is too small to read on a single slide can be enlarged in real-time. 

For more information visit pptPlex.

Accelerating PowerPoint Animation

Too many animations happening simultaneously on one slide can make your animations appear choppy and slow.  One possible solution is to turn on the “Hardware Graphics Acceleration” within PowerPoint.

PowerPoint 2003

1. Go to the Slide Show Drop Down Menu
2. Select the Set Up Slide Show
3. Click “Use hardware graphics acceleration.” From the pop-up box

PowerPoint 2007

1. Go to the Slide Show Tab
2. Select Set Up Slide Show
3. Click “Use hardware graphics acceleration.” From the pop-up box

Your animations will now run smoothly with no hiccups.

Creating a Cascading Style Sheet

Does your website use Cascading Style Sheets?  If not, how come?  A CSS file allows you to select your font style (bold, italicize, underline), size, color, and other elements for your website in a single place.  This greatly helps with consistency and editing of your website.

Creating a CSS file from scratch can be a pain if you’re not familiar with writing code.  Web Safe Fonts is a useful website that provides the code you need to stylize your font exactly how you wan t it.  Not only does this site provide code to create your CSS sheet; it provides a list of many web safe fonts and an area for you to test your own content.  You will now have all the correct code for the exact style, size and color of the font you want.

If you're familiar with CCS files, how do you work with them?