5 Fantastic Tricks & Tips - Selection Pane

Welcome to my 5-part series of  "5 Fantastic Tricks & Tips". This series shows you some awesome tricks and tips for building your powerpoint presentations. Posts go up every Wednesday. You can also check out the replay on Katch.me or at the bottom of the post.

Today, I'll show you a very under utilized tool know as the selection pane.

Just what is the selection pane? The selection pane displays all the objects on the current slide. Every object has a name, whether it's a text box, shape, or photo. 

The Selection Pane is not immediately displayed in powerpoint. To display the selection panel:

• select any object on the slide
• The "Drawing Tools" panel should appear at the top. Click on "Format".
•  Click on "Selection Pane.

Just what does the selection pane do? Aside from displaying the objects on a slide, it can help you manage your layers (who's in front and who's behind) and identifies/hides objects.

Did you know? You can name your objects? That's right. Just double click on a shape in the selection pane and you can name your objects. This comes in handy when you have several objects on a page.

This helps when you make PPT Games! When you making buttons to move to the next slide, you can actually name them "Next" or "Previous" rather than "Picture 1" or "Picture 2". This helps your you know when you use "triggers" in animations.

To name an object, open the selection pane, double click on an object on the pane and type your desired name.

One feature of the selection pane is to show or hide objects. This is useful when changing a powerpoint game to task cards. You can do so by clicking the "eye". An open eye means the object is visible. A closed eye means it's still there, but it is not visible. Perfect for hiding answers on games and printing them as task cards.

I hope these tips come in handy! They're a big help when you create product covers, worksheets, games, and other teaching materials. Please share and comment if this was helpful!