Create your first PowerPoint 2013 presentation

Insert items

Your browser does not support video. Install Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Flash Player, or Internet Explorer 9.

Insert pictures, headers, footers, shapes, and more to jazz up your presentation.

Insert some things

On the INSERT tab, you can add pictures, shapes, SmartArt graphics, charts, and more to get away from a presentation full of bullet points. Make your presentation more visually interesting.

Want more?

Basic tasks for creating a PowerPoint 2013 presentation

What's new in PowerPoint 2013

For the next slide, we want a slightly different layout.

Click the arrow inside New Slide — and you get a gallery of layout options. Let’s choose Two Content.

We’ll add a title here, and add text in the placeholder on the left.

On the right, let’s add a picture. And the easiest way to do that is to click this Pictures icon.

You can see what an icon does by holding the mouse over it.

There are also icons for inserting a table, chart, a SmartArt graphic, video, or online pictures.

Look through your folders, select a picture, and then, click Insert.

PowerPoint automatically sizes and positions the picture in the placeholder, but you can change it if you want.

To help you align the picture, click the VIEW tab, and add Gridlines and Guides.

Then, with the picture selected, click and drag one of the corner handles to change the size.

Hold the mouse over the picture until you see a four-headed move cursor, and then, you can move the picture.

These guidelines appear when an edge of the picture is aligned perfectly with another element.

Also, did you notice that a new tab appeared on the ribbon?

Whenever you select an element on the slide, a context tab appears with a special set of commands and options for whatever you have selected. In this case, a picture.

For example, you can align or rotate the picture, change the color of the picture - hold the mouse over an option to see a preview - or click the Picture Styles more button, and choose a frame. Then, click to select one.

When you click away from the picture, the context tab goes away.

To find more things to insert, check out the INSERT tab. How about a shape. There are Rectangles, Arrows, Callouts.

Click Header & Footer to add things like Date and time and Slide number to your slides.

This one is useful. Click Screenshot, then Screen Clipping.

Then, you can clip out something on your screen, like a web page.

Up next, we’ll finalize everything, and get ready for our live presentation.

Need more help?

Want more options?

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.