If you change the slide size or orientation after you add content, the content may be rescaled. For PowerPoint 2007 or PowerPoint 2010: On the Design tab, in the Page Setup group, click Page Setup.
(adapted from the VisLab website: http://www.hs.washington.edu/locke/vislab/tech/powerpoint-poster.html)
Step by Step:
1. Start PowerPoint: Make a New presentation – a blank one. When asked for aLayout, choose a blank one – one without anything – even a title.
2. Choose the size of your poster: I recommend that you select a posterapproximately 48-60' wide (across) and exactly 36' in height (top tobottom). This applies for your individual poster even though you will print itout much smaller than this for grading purposes; doing this will allow you tohave the flexibility to print your file as a large poster if your group choosesit. While HP-3000 printers can print up to 52.5 x several hundred inches, andPower Point limits you to up to 56 by 56, most printers on campus (eg: OUGL orMary Gates) have a 36' limit.
Note for PowerPoint Poster Gurus Only: The PowerPoint limitation can beovercome with scaling – set your slide up at half size and use scale to 200%when printing. Set the size by using the File menu/Page Setup. If rulers arenot visible, you might want to enable them – use the View menu/Rulers.
3. Adding text: In order to add text, the text needs a 'container'– a Text Box. Make a text box by
a.Click on the Text Boxtool or selecting Text Box under the Insert menu. (PowerPoint is very flexiblein how its tools are arranged. The down side of that is that your tools may bein a different place than they are described here. The Text Box tool is oftenfound near the bottom center – it looks like a mini page with an 'A'in the upper-left part of it.)
b.Click or click-and-dragwhere you want the text to be. After this second step, you should see therectangular shape of the Text Box. You can re-size it at any time by draggingone of the little square 'handles'. The box will also growautomatically as you type (if it needs to).
As in many programs, you can change the font and size by highlighting thetext to be changed and then making the changes. A 100-point font is about aninch high. If you don't see the size you want in the selection list, you canenter it in by hand.
To move a Text Box, position your pointer over a part of the edge of the boxthat is not a handle. The pointer should become shaped like a plus sign witharrows. Click and drag the Text Box to the wanted position.
You can change the color of the text, the edge, and the fill as well asother things under the Format menu/Text Box.
Make a separate Text Box for each separate piece of text. 'Separatetext' means a portion of text that you want to be able to moveindependently from the others.
Adding images: The two ways to add images are with Insert/Picture and with Copy and Paste:
Insert/Picture: This is the most common way of adding graphics to aPowerPoint document. If you have a file that is in one of several standardgraphic formats (like JPEG, GIF, PICT, etc.), use the Insertmenu/Picture/From-file and select your file. The image will appear on yourdocument with handles. Use one of the corner handles to re-size it. (The cornerhandles will keep the same aspect ratio; the side handles will not.) Click anddrag in the middle of the graphic to move it. You can do many other things toan image (including brightness, cropping, and resetting it to how it wasoriginally brought in) under Format/Picture.
Image size: You need to plan ahead – in the package that created the graphic(or in program like PhotoShop) figure out the final print size of your graphicand scale it to about 200 dpi (dots per inch). The HP-3000 prints at 600 dpi,but the dithering it needs to do for most colors (all except the seven colorsRGB and CMYK) takes up space – anything over 200 dpi is ignored for mostcolors. 150 dpi or even 100 dpi will look fine for most images.
Copy and Paste: Use this if you have something like an Excel graph you wantto add to your document. Generally avoid this method if you can – Copy andPaste will often only give you a low-resolution copy of a graphic.
Background: You can select a background under the Format menu/Background. If you want a picture background, select “Background” off the Format menu, then click on the down arrow for more options.Select “fill effects” and then the tab for “picture”.Click on “select picture” and find the picture you want from your hard drive.You will probably want to fade or lighten the image prior to using it as background or you may risk the picture competing with your text.
Lines, Boxes, Arrows: There are many other things that PowerPoint can do. Next to the Text Box tool are tools to make ovals, boxes, lines, arrows, etc. When you have made one of these, you can change it (when it is selected) with the Format menu/Colors and Lines.
Zoom: You can control the zoom amount by clicking on the zoom choice box (if visible), or using the View menu/Zoom.
Printing.
If you are printing your individual poster for grading purposes only (notfor display), then the following instructions apply to you: Chose'File' then 'Print'. Select all to print (default setting),but SELECT the box that says 'scale to fit'. You will end up with asmall poster (8.5' X 11' or 8.5' x 14' if you use legalpaper). To get maximum benefit from the use of color you should use a colorprinter, although a black & white printer will also show some grayvariations that demonstrate where color is used in the document.
If you want to print a DISPLAY poster see below....
Whereto go to print DISPLAY-SIZE posters on campus:
T271 HealthSciencesBuilding (Health SciencesAcademic Services & Facilities 206-543-9275).up to 54' wide by 100' long onHewlett Packard
DesignJet 3500 and 5000 CP Printers.
Costs for Standard Papers at HSAS&F (check for current prices andinformation at www.uwposters.com ordepts.washington.edu/hsasf/photo/posters.html)
SizeEconomy BondSemi-Gloss or MatteHigh-Gloss
16x20$14.0016.0017.00
20x2417.0020.0021.00
24x3624.0028.0035.00
32x4030.0035.0043.00
40x6042.0054.0060.00
OR
Commons at OUGL(36' Wide, unlimited length - $1.00 set up and $0.25 per inch of length).Keep in mind that we are using the length as 'our width' and viceversa.
OR
Mary Gates Hall CRC(36”Wide) Plotter $1.00 setup fee, $0.50 per inch.See http://depts.washington.edu/sacg/news/mgh-crc.phpfor updates.
You can print off campus (i.e. Kinko’s) but they areexpensive ($100-$120) since they are trying to make a profit while the universityis just trying to cover costs. NOTRECOMMENDED.
PowerPoint has a default slide size, but you don’t have to be limited by it. With this trick, you can custom set your PowerPoint slides to be any size you want.
Now, if you were a PowerPoint user from way back, you’re probably used to seeing your slides in a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is very close to square. However, everything has long since changed. Widescreen is now the standard presentation format, and since the 2013 version of PowerPoint, the default slide size has been set to a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. However, you can still switch back to the 4:3 setting, or even set your own custom size.
A quick note: Changing the orientation of your slides isn’t really the same thing as changing its size; you’re just rotating them on the page. However, if that’s what you’re looking for, you can do that as well.
In PowerPoint, click on the View tab and make sure you’re in the Normal view.
Then, click on the Design tab and choose Slide Size. The basic options are to just flip between the 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratios, but what we’re really interested in is under the Custom Slide Size, so click on that.
Here, you’ll see a lot more options. There’s the option to switch your slides from a landscape (which is the default) to a portrait orientation. You’ll also see a dropdown menu, where you can find many more size options for your PowerPoint slides. For instance, the letter paper size might be useful if you’d like people to be able to easily print your slides off following a presentation.
You can also custom adjust the size using the Width and Height fields. In fact, you can even make this your default size. To do so, click the Design tab, and then head to Themes and click the bottom arrow. Save the theme and give it a name, and then immediately head right back to that arrow. Right-click on it, and click Set as Default Theme. That way, when you start a new presentation, you’ll get your preferred slide size instead of the standard Microsoft default.