Favorite PowerPoint Features?

While this isn't a feature of PowerPoint, I do like to recommend the PowerPoint MVPs (can do a search online for their pages).  They typically are helpful and many of their web sites have some good tutorials and resources.

I love using the design templates and playing around them to make my own ones. Stenciling shapes is also a lot easier with 2007.  Filling shapes with clip art picture is my biggest favourite. (I no longer use Photoshop (90 %) to crop images...

A lot more curved rectangle styles to use in my modules too.

Stylish gradients, and ready to use theme fills ...

Never thought PPT 2007 would be this awesome. Now waiting to get my hands on PPT '10. :)

I also love the selection pane; it makes working with lots of objects on one slide a heck of a lot easier.

Another favourite of mine is the "format painter", which is a big time-saver. I can't wait to get my hands on PowerPoint 2010 to use the animation painter. And the crop image feature is quite marvellous, though the accuracy of it could be improved (I don't know if it's any better in PPT 2010)

Yes "save as picture" is great, especially used in conjunction with "change picture".

Ummm Smart Art, ahem......**clearing throat**.... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

hi,

my top 3:

1) design something (or group different objects) - cut - paste as special (usually a PNG file)

2) animations

3) selection pane

Extra: All the graphic design instruments

PPT 2007

Smart Art is great! Especially for creating branching scenarios. I hate doing flow charts in word I can never make them flow right.

For Images and shapes:

- Shadow

- Recolor and transparency

- multiple boarders

- rotate is easier to use

All the rest

- view ribbon makes moving between views way easy

- insert shapes way easier

Big Hates

- gradient tool so confused despite David Anderson's Screenr

- formatting a paragraph way suckie and not friendly

I have to agree with David here, maybe a little different order of favorites:

1. Selection pane (this is the most important for me, it was very difficult before to work with the layers of objects we have on our slides)
2. Change picture (which also works in Word)
3. slide masters

I don't have 2010 yet, I have it at home and have only dabbled in it a little.

Best feature: converting shapes to freeform!  Love using this to create custom shadows and shapes (usually recreating my own versions of stock images).

Like so many others have already posted, having the Selection Pane makes life much easier!

Finally, Slide Masters...  I wasn't such a huge fan until I started using Articulate.  Now, it's nice to have templates I can call on for different projects.  And... it's so easy to select a different layout to quickly choose the right one.

Thanks for all you guys do!  I'm an Articulate fan for life!

Charity

There are some cool things

1. Shape subtract  -- kind of cool but I can do this a lot easier in Flash.

2. Screen capture -- I find Snag-it 10 actually 100% better  but hey this tool is free.

3. Master Slides -- Flash actually does a better job with scenes and objects.

Now If they could just come up with a time-line like flash and give each object a time-line as with flash PPTX would be really cool.