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Lessons

Senior 3 · ICT

Presentation

5 lessons

Lesson 2 of 5

Inserting Objects on Slides

50 min

A health talk that people can see

The school health club is giving a talk on handwashing to the S1 classes. Words alone will not do it. The club wants a photo of the new handwashing station, the five steps as a simple diagram, a table of when to wash, a chart of a class survey, and a 30-second video of the steps. Each of these is an object that PowerPoint can place on a slide, move, resize and format.

Definition

Object: any item placed on a slide that can be selected, moved and resized as one unit: a text box, picture, shape, table, chart, SmartArt graphic, WordArt, video or sound.

Text box: a box of text that can be placed anywhere on a slide, outside the layout's placeholders.

WordArt: decorative text with ready-made fills, outlines, shadows and shapes.

SmartArt: a ready-made diagram (list, process, cycle, hierarchy and others) that is built from a simple list of text.

Alt text (alternative text): a short description of a picture or object, read aloud by screen readers for people who cannot see it.

The Insert tab

Almost every object is on the Insert tab. A Title and Content placeholder also shows six small icons (Table, Chart, SmartArt, Pictures, Stock Images, Video) that insert the object straight into the placeholder.

Object	Insert it	Then
Text box	Insert → Text Box, then drag on the slide	Type; format the text on the Home tab
Picture	Insert → Pictures → This Device… (or Stock Images, Online Pictures)	Picture Format: Crop, Corrections, Picture Styles, Alt Text
Table	Insert → Table, drag across the grid (for example 3 × 4)	Type in the cells; Table Design for styles
Shape	Insert → Shapes, pick one, drag on the slide (hold Shift for a perfect circle or square)	Shape Format: fill, outline; type to add text inside
WordArt	Insert → WordArt, choose a style, type	Shape Format → Text Effects → Transform for curved text
SmartArt	Insert → SmartArt, choose a category (List, Process, Cycle, Hierarchy, Relationship, Matrix, Pyramid, Picture) and a design	Type the items in the Text pane; press Enter for a new box, Tab to indent
Chart	Insert → Chart, choose a type	A small worksheet opens; replace the sample data (Unit 3)
Video	Insert → Video → This Device… (or Stock Videos, Online Videos)	Playback: Start, Trim Video, Play Full Screen
Audio	Insert → Audio → Audio on My PC… or Record Audio	Playback: Start, Play Across Slides, Hide During Show

One slide, many objects

Slide mock-up drawn by Ganzaa. The five steps are those of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Working with any object

Select: click it. Handles appear: round ones at the corners and sides to resize, a curved arrow on top to rotate.
Resize: drag a corner handle to keep the proportions; a side handle stretches it. For exact sizes, type the height and width on the Format tab.
Move: drag the border, or nudge with the arrow keys. Pink guide lines appear when objects line up.
Align: select several objects (Shift + click), then Arrange → Align → Align Middle or Distribute Horizontally for equal gaps.
Layer: Arrange → Bring Forward or Send Backward when one object hides another.
Group: select several, then Ctrl + G, so they move as one.
Alt Text: right-click a picture → View Alt Text… and describe it in one sentence.

Worked example 1: the five steps as SmartArt

Add a Title Only slide and type the title “Wash your hands in 5 steps”.
Insert → SmartArt → Process → Basic Process → OK. Three boxes appear, with arrows.
In the Text pane, type Wet, Enter, Lather, Enter, Scrub 20 s, Enter, Rinse, Enter, Dry. PowerPoint adds the fourth and fifth boxes and resizes all five to fit.
SmartArt Design → Change Colors and pick a set; choose a SmartArt Style.
Changed your mind? SmartArt Design → Layouts turns the same text into a cycle or a list in one click, because SmartArt is built from the text.

Worked example 2: resizing a photo without stretching it

The handwashing-station photo is 1200 pixels wide and 800 high, a ratio of $\frac{1200}{800} = 1.5$ . On the slide it must be 15 cm wide. With Lock aspect ratio ticked (Picture Format → Size → the small arrow), typing 15 cm for the width sets the height to

$\frac{15}{1.5} = 10 \text{ cm}$

If a side handle had been dragged instead to make it 15 cm × 8 cm, the ratio would be $\frac{15}{8} \approx 1.9$ : the photo would be squashed and the people in it would look too wide. To fit a space of a different shape, Crop the photo instead of stretching it.

Warning

Using other people's pictures, music and video

A picture found online is usually protected by copyright. Use your own photos, pictures you have permission for, or openly licensed ones (for example from Wikimedia Commons) and credit the creator and licence on the slide or on a credits slide.
Do not put a photo of a classmate or a pupil in a presentation that will be shared without their permission.
Big videos make big files. Trim the video to the part you need (Playback → Trim Video), and test that it plays on the computer you will present from.

GCFLearnFree (LearnFree): inserting pictures in PowerPoint, from your computer and online, then moving and resizing them.

✦

Hands-on: fill the club presentation

Open Club_Report_YourName.pptx from the last lesson.

Picture: on slide 3, insert a photo you took of your club's work (or a Commons photo, credited). Crop it neatly, apply a picture style, and add alt text.
Text box: add a one-line caption under the photo in a text box.
Table: on a new slide, insert a 3 × 4 table of your club's activities (Activity, Month, Members taking part).
Chart: on slide 4, insert a column chart and replace the sample data with real or illustrative club figures.
SmartArt: on slide 5, make a Basic Process or a Cycle of how your club works, in four steps.
WordArt and a shape: on the last slide, make “Join us!” in WordArt and add a callout shape with the meeting day and room.
Media (if your computer has a microphone): Insert → Audio → Record Audio, record a 10-second welcome on slide 1, and set it to start automatically.
Align and group the objects on one slide. Save.

Practice

Define an object, SmartArt and alt text.
Name six kinds of object that can be inserted on a slide.
Write the steps to insert a 4 × 5 table on a slide.
What is the difference between WordArt and a text box?
Which SmartArt category would suit (a) the steps of a science experiment; (b) the school's leadership, from head teacher down; (c) the water cycle?
A logo is 600 pixels wide and 400 pixels high. It must be 9 cm wide on the slide. What height keeps its proportions?
Three icons on a slide are at uneven heights and uneven distances apart. Describe how to fix both problems in two commands.
A pupil copies a famous singer's song and five photos from a website into a presentation that the school will post online. Evaluate this, and suggest what she should do.

Show answersHide answers

Object: any item on a slide that can be selected, moved and resized as one. SmartArt: a ready-made diagram built from a list of text. Alt text: a short description of a picture or object, read by screen readers.
Any six: text box, picture, shape, table, chart, SmartArt, WordArt, video, audio, icon.
Insert → Table → drag across 4 columns and 5 rows (or Insert Table…, type 4 and 5) → click.
A text box holds ordinary text that can go anywhere; WordArt is decorative text with ready-made effects such as fills, outlines, shadows and curves, for a few words.
(a) Process; (b) Hierarchy; (c) Cycle.
Ratio $\frac{600}{400} = 1.5$ ; height $\frac{9}{1.5} = 6$ cm.
Select all three (Shift + click), then Arrange → Align → Align Middle (same height) and Arrange → Align → Distribute Horizontally (equal gaps).
Poor: the song and photos are protected by copyright, and posting them online publicly without permission breaks the owners' rights. She should use her own photos, or openly licensed ones (for example Creative Commons) with credits, and royalty-free or openly licensed music, or none.

Sources and credits

Handwashing steps: About Handwashing, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (facts only).
Alt attribute, Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted by Ganzaa.
Steps checked against Create a SmartArt graphic from scratch, Microsoft Support (facts only).
Video: PowerPoint: Inserting Pictures, GCFLearnFree (LearnFree), embedded from YouTube.
The slide mock-up, object table, worked examples, hands-on task and practice items were written by Ganzaa.

This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1A health talk that people can see

2The Insert tab

3One slide, many objects

4Working with any object

5Hands-on: fill the club presentation

A health talk that people can see

The Insert tab

One slide, many objects

Working with any object

Hands-on: fill the club presentation