How to Write a PowerPoint Outline

Create an outline before you flesh out your PowerPoint presentation.

An outline helps organize your ideas when you create a presentation. You can write the outline in Microsoft PowerPoint, using its Outline View option. Normal View is the default, the one you usually see when you first open a PowerPoint presentation. It displays miniature versions of the slides. Outline View lists the title and text from each slide in the left pane. It can be helpful to see your ideas listed in Outline View before you fill in the full content of your slides.

Instructions

1. Open a new PowerPoint presentation. Switch your view to Outline. In PowerPoint 2007 for the Windows operating system, click on the "View" tab. Click "Normal" and then click the "Outline" tab. In PowerPoint 2003 for Windows, click on the "Outline" tab in the left pane. In PowerPoint 2004 for Mac computers, click on the "Outline View" button located at the bottom left corner of the tri-pane window. PowerPoint 2008 for Macs has its "Outline" button at the top of the left panel.

2. Insert the name of your presentation into the first slide by clicking on the title area and then typing in the name.

3. Type the main ideas for your presentation on the second slide. One slide should equal one main idea. Make sure your main points aren't too general. For example, if you are making a presentation for a business idea, a main idea called "The Future" might be too broad. Consider splitting it into smaller topics, like "One Month Projection" and "Yearly Projection."

4. Copy the first main idea from your Step 3 slide. To copy, select the idea and press the "Ctrl" and "C" keys in Windows or "Command" and "C" keys on a Mac. Click on the title area of the next slide and paste in your idea, using the "Ctrl" and "V" keys in Windows and "Command" and "V" on a Mac. In the text area at the center of the slide, type a sentence or two about the idea. For example, if your main idea is "Fixed Costs," explain what fixed costs are.

5. Copy the next main idea to a new slide following the procedure outlined in Step 4. Repeat for every main idea. You should end up with a title slide containing the name of your presentation, a slide listing all of the main ideas, and then a slide for each main idea.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep text to a bare minimum and keep main ideas as focused as possible. Slides should have no more than five lines of text. More text will make the slide look cluttered when you present it to an audience.

References

• University of Wisconsin: PowerPoint 2003
• Microsoft: PowerPoint 2007 Outline View
• Wellesley College: Getting Started With PowerPoint