The newest versions of our favorite Microsoft Office applications are ready for download, and now that pptXTREME tools are compatible with Windows10 and Office 2016…it’s time to start making presentations!
When I first opened Office 2016 for Windows I was nervous. What would Microsoft change to “help” me? When Microsoft messes with the elements that are embedded in our workflow, like removing the Start Menu in Windows 8 or adding the ribbon UI (user interface) in Office 2007, I usually get pretty upset. Getting started Office 2016 doesn’t look too different from its predecessor; Office 2013, this is a good thing.
Microsoft Office 2016 keeps the UI similar to its previous version, adding a few new features to the core desktop applications and adding new functionality to the cloud-based Office 365 service. Microsoft wants you to move to its cloud-based subscription offerings, so it’s no accident that that’s where the majority of the innovation lies – rightfully so.
This post will focus on ten of the most useful updates for presentation designers; like myself. Here are some of the top new features you’ll find in PowerPoint 2016:
Colorful, Dark Gray, and White Office Themes
I didn’t know I wanted this capability but, now that I’m using it I think I love it. Office 2016 now has the ability to change the theme of the application itself. I like the gray look especially in the dark of a live ballroom. Once I set it in PowerPoint I recognized that it’s set suite-wide. To access go to: File > Account, then click the drop down menu next to Office Theme and select the theme you prefer.
If you’re an Office365 user and diving deep into the sharing capabilities, you’ll like this. Choose the Share tab on the ribbon to share your presentation with others on SharePoint, OneDrive, or OneDrive for Business.
Better Video Resolution
Why this was added so late is a mystery but, it’s SO nice to see it finally included. When you export presentations as a video. you can create a file with resolution as high as 1920 x 1080; which is appropriate for presentations on larger screens.
NOTE: This feature is also available in PowerPoint 2013 if you have the most recent updates.
Quick Shape Formatting
I didn’t typically use the quick shape formatting since, they didn’t have what I was looking for in previous versions. In PowerPoint 2016 Microsoft increases the number of default shape styles, they are also introducing new “preset” styles in theme colors, this without doubt gives you more options and will be a time saver going forward.
Six New Chart Types
When you go to Insert > Chart on the ribbon, you’ll now have five new options: Box and Whisker, Treemap, Sunburst, Histogram, (and within Histogram options, Pareto), and Waterfall.
In PowerPoint 2016, Microsoft has added six new charts—with familiar formatting options—to help you create some of the most commonly used data visualizations of financial or hierarchical information or for revealing statistical properties in your data.
Screen Recording
Perfect for demonstrations and for getting some of your PowerPoint content into a video format easily you can now create screen recordings in PowerPoint presentations with just a few clicks. Go to Insert > Screen recording, and you’ll be able to select a portion of your screen to record, capture what you need, and insert it directly into your presentation in one seamless process.
NOTE: This feature is also available in PowerPoint 2013 if you have the most recent updates.
Tell Me
On top of the ribbon in PowerPoint 2016 you’ll see a light bulb icon and the text “Tell me what you want to do…” You can enter words and phrases related to what you’re to do and quickly get to features you want to use or actions you want to perform. My favorite aspect of this feature is the way the actual command button appears in the results. Even the most seasoned PowerPoint operator forgets where seldom used functions reside in the ribbon, this is an easy and quick solution.
Smart Lookup
The Insights pane, powered by Bing, offers definitions and more. When you select a word or phrase, right-click it, and choose Smart Lookup, the insights pane will open with definitions, Wiki articles, and related searches from the web. Quick text based information and links right in the PPT work environment. My testing didn’t give me any image based results but staying inside the PPT working environment for definitions and spelling is pretty handy.
If you’re an Office365 user and diving deep into the sharing capabilities, you’ll like this. Choose the Share tab on the ribbon to share your presentation with others on SharePoint, OneDrive, or OneDrive for Business.
Better Conflict Resolution
If you’re one of the aforementioned users of the sharing and collaboration features, you’ll like this one even more. Now, when collaborating with others on a presentation and there are conflicts between changes you’ve made and changes others have made, you’ll see a side-by-side comparison of the slides with conflicting changes. Easily choose visually between which changes you’d like to keep.
While nothing in this release is earth shattering or game changing I am pretty happy with the updates and exceedingly happy that they didn’t mess with our workflow.
Make your PowerPoint presentations more efficiently with pptXTREME. Check out our products here
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