In addition the the PowerPoint templates talked about in the previous post, templateswise.com also has a selection of professional and free music tracks.
There are 12 20-50 second music tracks that seamlessly loop. All files are rendered as .mp3’s – so they will not embed in PPT 2003 (only .wav format does), but will with PPT 2007.
– Troy @ TLC
Templateswise.com has a variety PowerPoint templates that are all easily previewed and free.
The template designs I viewed are professional and fresh designs. Each has a variety of slide background options. My sample has 4 background options.
But the templates are not true templates. There is a big difference between a nice slide and a full featured template that has master slide formatting, custom color scheme, and more. The files downloaded do not have any master slide formatting…
One nice feature is the download includes the .pot and large 1600x1200px .jpg’s of each background.
Also, the templates I downloaded are PowerPoint 2003 .pot files.
– Troy @ TLC
For a recent project I needed some eye catching callouts/starbursts. I created a series of 3D stars and overlayed text boxes with the key phrases (New, Now, Available, etc.). It was a quick solution that looked really nice.
I started with a simple Star autoshape.
Adjustments to several tabs of the Format Shape box was all that was needed to create the visual.
One of the tricky adjustments is changing the perspective to have a left facing star and a right facing star. Only 2 tabs are needed. The Shadow tab, adjusting the Angle and the 3D Rotation tab. Compare the numbers on the Rotation tab.
You can download a slide with these 3D stars on it here (33k ).
– Troy @ TLC
The recolor feature (FORMAT >> RECOLOR) can customize an image, saving a trip to Photoshop. For this presentation I needed to use the same content in 3 color coded sections. Once the funnel image was optimized and saved from Photoshop as a .png with no background I was able to do the rest in PowerPoint. Here is my original, simple greyscale funnel.
And here the funnel on 3 slides – no grey.
The funnel image used the custom color recolor:
The bars use a 2 color gradient fill with just color 1 adjusted (color 2 = white and 100% transparent).
Download the sample presentation to see the recolor tool in use (129K). Note: if your browser changes downloaded file to”.zip” rename to “.pptx”.
– Troy @ TLC
Here is a problem. You have a presentation where a number of tables are created and the Table Styles (Table Tools >> Design >> Table Styles) are used to make them look consistent and professional.
I often hear (and was one of people complaining too) that the styles are different for the PPT 2007 vs. the PPT 2003 table.
I have created a sample slide with these 2 tables on it:
Here is a link to download that slide (80K). See if you can make the two tables have an identical style/look using PPT 2007’s very helpful Table Styles. Feel free to use the post comment option to to tell us if you were successful, unsuccessful, or steps to accomplish.
Next post I will show what I check and do to accomplish this.
– Troy @ TLC
A year ago I was happy letting Microsoft’s Live OneCare handle the antivirus, update notification, backup duties and firewall management on a dozen computers. Then the service was discontinued and over the past 4-5 months I have migrated to a number of antivirus applications. And I have experienced more computer grief over firewall, virus and other issues as a result.
Well last week the follow-up to OneCare, Microsoft Security Essentials, was released to the public!
This is a FREE antivirus application, based on the same engine as OneCare (which kept all my computers safe and running for 2 years) and has a super easy interface. Microsoft Security Essentials is FREE and can be downloaded from Microsoft here.
– Troy @ TLC
For a recent project a slide needed show the sales team activity was “Blasting Off” (as in super productive). This is the animation Lori developed, minus some corporate logos and text. We tend to stay away from “clip art” but in this case it worked with the message, the presentation visuals and the speaker’s style. Download the slide here.
– Troy @ TLC
“Stock Exchange” (Stock.XCHNG) bills itself as the leading FREE stock photo site- and I would have to agree. This is definitely one of my go-to resources as the quality is good, image size is great (near fullsize print quality) and it is a true image site, though the search can give limited results. It does have ties with pay sites, so note the 1st row of images on each page is not part of the free options (and that’s why they look perfect). Another consideration is everything is a .jpg image, even the vector looking images (because the vector version is available at the affiliated pay site).
Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: No
Video: No
Audio: No
Pay Per Image: No – They are all free!
Subscription Download: No
Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 262 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 0 results
* With alternate search terms I was able to located 100’s of images for each, just took more effort.
– Troy @ TLC
If you are in the U.S. – Happy Labor Day! It is a day of rest and honoring our labor and that of others around us.
Ironically I am in the office designing presentations for 3 clients which makes this like any other day – a day of labor… But excited to have projects with diverse clients that make life fun.
I did not open a 3D graphics program for the ‘Labor Day’ text, but PPT 2007. Uses a custom font that is embedded, so everyone should see the slide as created. Download the slide here (400k).
– Troy @ TLC
I just wrapped up a quick project where I created a custom installer that created a folder, added presentations and videos, added shortcuts and an uninstaller. All pretty standard stuff, but I always test everything to make certain all works before a client distributes it. Well, I discovered an error with my coding. Actually all ran perfect except the uninstaller did not uninstall… hmmm, not good. I figured out the problem, edited the code and all worked perfect on my next test. Time to send to client – yeah!
Maybe it is because my main production computer is still running Windows XP (although there are several Vista Ultimate computers here and I am running Windows 7 on a my Office 2010 test computer), but the folder from my first test install (the one where the uninstaller errored out)would not delete. Every time I attempted to delete I ended up with some message like this:
Then I remembered this little (265k install) application that I installed long ago and is just waiting to be used. Unlocker does exactly what it says. It unlocks a file, or folder full of files this time, and allows me to delete it – yeah!
It is a handy utility that is a solution to otherwise frustrating occurrences. Oh, and it’s free (donation option). Here’s the Unlocker website.
– Troy @ TLC