How to Use Apple Keynote

Apple Keynote is presentation software. As with Microsoft's PowerPoint or OpenOffice Impress, you can use Keynote to create sleek presentations quickly. However, Keynote costs considerably less than the Microsoft Office suite and has features that users love, such as easy-to-create graphs and tables. You can also open PowerPoint files in Keynote and export Keynote presentations into PowerPoint.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Choose a Pre-Created Apple Format for Your Presentation

1. Select a theme for your presentation. You can create your presentation from scratch or use one of Apple's themes that are already pre-formatted with fonts and chart layouts.

2. Insert your text and tables into the pre-formatted slides. Apple boasts that Keynote is "cinema quality" and has made the themes so easy to use that an entire presentation can be created in minutes.

Insert Graphs and Blank Slides

3. Click the "New" button on the Keynote toolbar to create a new slide if you are making a presentation from scratch or need to add a slide to a pre-formatted theme.

4. Import PowerPoint presentations and begin working on them in Keynote instead of starting from scratch.

5. Click the "Table" button on your Keynote toolbar. A table then appears on your slide. All you have to do is enter your data.

6. Click "Colors" on the toolbar to customize your slide. Keynote has a color wheel that allows you to choose virtually any color possible to add visual appeal to your presentation.

Project the Presentation

7. Use "Slide Navigator" to ensure that the slides are arranged in the appropriate order for the presentation. This is also an easy way to check the presentation for errors.

8. Connect your laptop to a video projector. Keynote automatically scans for a projector and will begin projecting without any special instructions.

Tips & Warnings

• If you need to change the number of columns or rows, use the "Table Inspector" function.
• Save copies of the presentations you create from scratch and use them as templates. When you need to create a new presentation, you can simply switch the data, charts and images.
• Connect you external projector to your computer for a trial run the day before your presentation. No matter how easy it is to use modern presentation software, a connection or cable problem can undermine all of your hard work. Make sure everything works in advance.