Prepared by Health Sciences Library (Revised 9/10) © University of Cincinnati
You can choose text box size (Drawing Tools/Format Tab | Size Group) and add a
border (Drawing Tools/Format Tab | Shape Styles | Shape Outline) or shading
(Drawing Tools/Format Tab | Shape Styles | Shape Fill). To change the text’s
vertical alignment, go to Drawing Tools/Format Tab | Shape Styles Group and click
on the dialog box launcher (the arrow at the bottom right of this group). In the
launcher, choose Text Box and vertical alignment option. Text should be aligned on
the top. Also, choose the desired text font, size, and color. Once formatting has been
set-up, select this text box and copy & paste to create additional ones.
7. LAYOUT: Layout the text boxes where you want them. For layout, you can use the
ruler and gridlines (go to View Tab | Show/Hide Group | and check Ruler and/or
Gridlines). For a more precise way, use the alignment tool to let the computer
automatically arrange the boxes. To line up and arrange text boxes, you can select
the text boxes (Select | Ctrl Click). Then on the Drawing Tools/Format Tab |
Arrange Group | Align | choose Align Top and/or Distribute Horizontally.
8. Once you have your text box placeholders laid out you can start adding the real
information to the text boxes. When you are all finished, you can delete the line
around the text boxes, add color to the headings and/or change the font size and
type.
9. IMAGES: To add an image, go to the Insert Tab | Illustrations Group |Choose Picture
and find the file, then, Insert. Or, you can use Copy and Paste to import Excel
graphs. Select the graph in the original Excel file, then Edit | Copy, click on the
PowerPoint slide, then Edit | Paste. Drag the image to appropriate place. Note: Do
NOT copy and paste images from the web. They do not have a high enough
resolution. Do NOT enlarge any image, it will get blurry (other than Excel graphs
and Microsoft clipart). Remember that all images must have a resolution of at least
300dpi (with the exception of Excel graphs and Microsoft clipart. Those two types
of graphics should not give you problems).
10. Lines, boxes and arrows can be inserted using the Insert Tab | Illustrations Group |
Shapes.
11. To print the final version on a single piece of 8.5 x 11" paper to check it over before
doing the final large size, go to the Office Button | Print | Print what: Slides, and click
the check box to Scale to fit paper and Frame Slides for a border around the poster
(good for a cut line around final poster) . OK.
12. Even though your computer screen may not be 4 x 6 feet, use your PowerPoint zoom
tool to zoom in and see how your poster will print. This is especially helpful if you
really want to see how the spacing between columns looks, how big fonts will be,
etc. If you created a poster in 50% proportion, zoom in 200%, or if you created your
poster in 25% proportion, zoom in 400%. You of course won’t be able to see the
whole poster at once, but it is helpful in getting a general idea for size if you are
concerned about it.