Along with the news about our new themes , you may have noticed that the Microsoft Office 2010 Engineering blog also announced the ability to insert Clip Art in the PowerPoint Web App. Other updates: Windows SkyDrive gets better with Office Web Apps Office Web Apps: Why they're the clearer connection High quality images and more Many of you may be wondering why you should be excited by this. Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “Clip Art” is this friendly little illustration...

As the PowerPoint Product Manager, I'm proud of Microsoft Office. It helps one billion people get work done around the world. With that breadth of usage comes great responsibility. So if we detect a security vulnerability, we must move quickly, but with an eye on stability - a balancing act that often presents us with some hard choices.

On April 12, we released a security fix via Windows Update that fixed a vulnerability in PowerPoint 2002 and PowerPoint 2003. 

But in our effort to get those security issues resolved, we inadvertently introduced a data loss issue around background images on slide masters for our PowerPoint 2002 and PowerPoint 2003 customers. Some of you experienced hangs when opening PowerPoint files. And in some cases, this led to the corruption of the original file.

I and the rest of the PowerPoint team deeply regret these issues if you've experienced them. Know that we value you as a customer and don't take this lightly.

...

This is the fourth in a series of quick video tips for business managers using PowerPoint by guest blogger, Bruce Gabrielle, author of Speaking PowerPoint.

Today Bruce shows how you can get exact color matches using this neat (and free!) software to pick the perfect color for any slide.

You can download Color Cop for free at http://colorcop.net.

-- Bruce Gabrielle

...

Often when it's time to present to your class, other people are slated to present before and after you do. With so many presentations to pay attention to, your audience might be tempted to snooze when you want them to watch.

Here's a fix--keep your audience engaged by making over your presentation in under 5 minutes, using PowerPoint. Use video and images instead of blocks of text to make your message visually interesting. The video below, part of the 5-minute makeover series, shows you how. And don't forget to download the free template while you're at it.

If you’re a student or involved in education, check out the Office in Education blog for more news and tips.

-- Erik Jensen

...

Presentations are a group effort more often than not. Sometimes they are truly collaborative--as in everybody contributes equally. On other occasions, there is one person leading the charge while others review and advise. Either way, the ability to communicate and provide specific feedback in the presentation, within context, can significantly improve the collaboration experience and the quality of the content. Comments are not brand new to PowerPoint--in previous versions you could add a comment...

Yes, yes, we know. Sounds in PowerPoint can be cheesy. But let’s have some fun. We’ll show you how to master sound in PowerPoint including inserting effective sounds, play a soundtrack, and time animations to that soundtrack.

What you will learn at Tuesday's webinar

• Insert sound effects into a presentation
• Insert music as a soundtrack

...

Want Microsoft Office now? Are you waiting for Office 2010 to arrive before you make the purchase? Good news for you: there is no need to wait any longer. If you purchase and activate Office 2007 now, you can download Office 2010 for free when it becomes available in June, thanks to the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee . Here’s what you need to be eligible: Purchase Office 2007, or a new PC with Office 2007 Activate it between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010. Have, or create a Windows Live ID...

Bruce Gabrielle is author of Speaking PowerPoint: the new language of business, which shows a 12-step process for creating clearer and more convincing PowerPoint presentations for the boardroom.

It's 2011, and we've seen an explosion in PowerPoint use over the past decade. Not only for large-audience presentations, but increasingly as business documents used to collaborate with teammates and drive company strategy.

But the capabilities of PowerPoint keep rushing ahead of the available training. Although more and more people are using PowerPoint, few of them use it well, or as well as they need to.

...

When William Henry Harrison was elected President in 1841, his inaugural address (the longest ever) clocked in at 1 hour and 45 minutes. Don't follow his example. Keep your presentations short and sweet with PowerPoint.

For tips on using slide masters, Word outlines, autocorrect formatting, sound, handouts, alignment, Package for CD, and more tools to create powerful PowerPoint presentations, check out this article by Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Stephanie Krieger: 12 tips for creating better presentations.

-- Joy Miller, for the PowerPoint blog team

...

Over on Microsoft Corporate Citizenship blog, I wrote up some tips when you're planning your presentation. It summarizes a recent talk I gave for non-profits. Luckily, the same points apply if you work at a for-profit company. It includes a walk-through of Presenter View (pictured below).

...