Leading the way in Microsoft Office Development

Step 1 - What is the Task Pane ?

This is new in PowerPoint 2002. The Task Pane is a rectangular window that appears docked on the right side of your PowerPoint window.

It acts as an open menu allowing you to select from a range of commands and functions.

It displays a list of links and commands allowing you to perform different tasks depending on what you are doing at the time.

The task pane is designed to help you complete tasks quickly and will change automatically according to the task in hand.

Step 2 - Displaying the Task Pane

The main advantage of the task pane is that it can be displayed at any time.

If the Task Pane is not displayed it can be displayed at any time by selecting (View > Task Pane).

If you want to close the task pane you can either select (View > Task Pane) again or click on the small black cross in the top right corner.

Using the arrow in the top right corner allows you to quickly move between the different panes.

Step 3 - New Presentation

When you initially open PowerPoint the New Presentation task pane will be displayed.

This pane provides different ways for you to get started by opening an existing presentation or creating a new one.

This task pane will be displayed by default every time you open PowerPoint.

If you do not want the Task Pane to be displayed when you initially open PowerPoint you can either remove the tick from the "Show at startup" checkbox at the bottom or select (Tools > Options)(View tab, Startup Task Pane).

You can choose to open a new or existing presentation , access your most recent work

Step 4 - Clipboard

Contains a list of all the items you have recently cut, copied or pasted.

Step 5 - Search

Searches on your hard drive for files matching particular keywords. You can also search for files based on location and file type.

Step 6 - Other Task Panes

These are all discussed in more detail in the relevant sections

Insert Clip Art -

Slide Layout - Displays thumbnails of all possible slide layouts which can be inserted.

Slide Design - Design Templates - Displays thumbnails of all the design templates currently available.

Slide Design - Color Schemes - Displays the various colour schemes based on the current slide design template.

Slide Design - Animation Schemes - Displays all of the animation effects for all the individual objects on the active slide.

Custom Animation - Allows you to set and preview the animation effects for each individual object on the active slide.

Slide Transition - Lets you define the slide transition for each slide.

Revisions Pane - Allows you to obtain a unified list of every comment and change suggested for the presentation and the ability to accept and reject them individually or all at once.

Step 7 - Things to Remember

The task pane replaces many old features as well as providing shortcuts to existing dialog boxes.

A quick way to display this task pane is to click on the text "Default Design" on the status bar at the bottom of the PowerPoint window.

The Task Pane will change automatically to the appropriate task as you work.

You can close the task pane at any time by clicking on the small black cross on the top right corner.