Using StarImpress

A brief introduction

What is Impress?• Impress is the open source

(free) alternative to PowerPoint

• You can Impress for the same things you would do in PowerPoint– Create a lesson with

handouts– Great for end of year

programs– Certificates– Seating Chart– Graduations, weddings,

retirements, birthdays• Great for showcasing

photos

• There are differences and similarities

• For basic presentations, the main difference you will notice is that menu choices may be located in different locations

• You can easily create a .pdf file

• Clip art is not as full featured as Microsoft

• FontWorks (WordArt) not as full featured

• Nice design templates

What we will cover…• Using a template

(wizard)• Working with text

and text boxes • Creating new slides• Using Slide Sorter

View• Working with objects• Using Design

Templates

• Running your slide show

• Setting up your slide show with transitions

• Printing your presentation

• Saving your slide show

This will be the first screen you see when opening ImpressChoose “From Template” to see present presentationsWe will start with Empty PresentationClick Next

Select slide designEducation

Backgrounds

Presentations

These can also be accessed in the slide design template area

Click Next

• Here is an example of “New Employee” design.

• Here is an example of a Presentation Background - “Celestial”

For our example we will use “New Employee” Click Next

Select your output medium

• Choose an effect and speed for your slide transition

• Presentation type:– Default

• You click to move thru slides

– Automatic• Set timings for

transitions

Click Create

Fill in your informationClick Next

Choose the slides you would like to include.Check box to create a summary slide, if needed.

Click Create

Summary Slide

• A summary slide is a review-type slide that is created by taking the title from each slide and making it a bullet point

• A summary slide is the last slide in your presentation

This is your first screen.Notice that the slides you need have been created along with main points. You may edit as needed

If you had chose Empty with a background choice…

Insert a new slide

• Click the Slide icon in the toolbar to add a new slide

Or…Insert, Slide

You can also duplicate a slide by clicking

Insert, Duplicate slide

Slide Layouts• The default will be to insert a new

slide that matches the layout of whatever slide you were clicked on.

• This window will also open when you insert a new slide

• This allows you to change the layout of the selected slide

• Scroll down to see several different layout options

• To use this pane to insert a new slide, just right click on your selection, then choose “Insert slide”– Or it will

change the layout of your currently selected slide

Slide viewing modes

• You can use the tabs above the slide or the View menu

– Normal – displays full slide with left hand pane of rest of slides

– Outline - Shows slide information as an outline

– Slide Sorter - shows miniature picture of each complete slide. A good choice if need to change order of slides

– Slide Show - Runs your completed presentation

– Notes Page – shows your slide and a text box for speaker notes

– Handout Page - shows options for printed handouts

Handout View

5 layouts available

Moving slidesYou can change the order of the slides on your presentation while in Normal, Outline or Slide Sorter view.

In Slide Sorter View, your slides will display in miniature as shown:

To move a slide, simply click on the slide and holding down the left mouse button, drag to new location. A black line appears between the slides to show where the new slide will be when mouse is released

Deleting slidesYou can delete slides in any view mode.

•Click on the slide to delete

•Press <Delete> key or <Backspace>

OR

•Click on the slide to delete

•Choose Edit in menu bar

•Click on Delete Slide

Working with TextText must be selected like any other object/text before modifying

Once text has been selected you can select portions or blocks of text within the box by clicking and holding the left mouse button and dragging over the text to be selected.

To select one word - double click on any character in the word

Select a sentence - click 3 times anywhere in the sentence

Select all the text in box - Click in the text box and select your text.

If you click on the “slashed” border in Impress - it does NOT turn into dots (like PowerPoint). The border goes away but the corner “handles” remain. This is the same as highlighting everything in the text box, EXCEPT your formatting toolbar will be hidden and you will see a toolbar to format the text box. You will need to use Format, Character to change your font.

Example of selecting text by highlighting

You can see the Formatting toolbar is available

You can also click the Character icon to open the formatting window

Example of clicking on ///// border

Notice that the ///// border is gone, the green “handles” remain, and the formatting toolbar has been replaced with the “Line and Filling” toolbar

Use Format, Character to change font

But you won’t have to highlight the text

Working with bulleted lists• Once you indent with

bullets, it can be frustrating to try to get back to your main bullets

• Just use the Demote (increase indent) or Promote (decrease indent) icons in the toolbar

• You can also use the Move Up and Move Down arrows to re-order your bullet points

Promote Demote

Move Down

Move Up

Adding a Text BoxText boxes add text to a slide in addition to a title,text or graphic placeholder

Click Text button on Drawing toolbar

Put your cursor on the slide - it will change to a “skinny” plus sign with a small “I” to the right of it.

Hold Left mouse button and drag a box to contain text. Begin typing in the box that is shown.

After text is entered you can resize box as needed.

Note that the additional text boxes will not have the same formatting as the design template you have chosen.

You will need to manually change this.

Using Shapes• Shapes shown in the Drawing toolbar are drawn the same way as

a text box• Click on the shape icon• When you place your cursor and get a “skinny” plus sign

– Hold down your left mouse and draw your shape

Line Arrow Rect. Ellipse Text Curve Connector Basic Symbol Block Flowcharts Callout Stars Shapes Shapes Arrows

Click the arrow next to the icon to see the choices available

The “freeform line” is found under Curve. This is the same as the “scribble tool” in PowerPoint.

Working with Objects (textboxes, shapes, etc.)

•To work with an object, you must first select it

• To select, Click once on the object.

•When object has been selected, it will appear with handles(small aqua-shaded squares) surrounding the object.

•Textboxes will have green squares

•When a text object is selected, it is also surrounded by a shadowed selection box with handles.

•To select all objects on a slide:

•Click on Edit in menu

•Click on Select All

SelectedUn-selected

Text in shapes• When you “draw” a

shape, you can enter text as a part of that shape

• Draw Shape• Click on it to select• Start typing• Text is automatically

centered

Group/Ungroup

– Format, Group, Group• This will move all objects as one item

– Format, Group, Ungroup• This will make each object individual again

– Format, Group, Enter Group• Allows you to select one item in a group for

editing

Deleting & Undeleting Objects

• Select object or text• Click [Delete] or [Backspace]• If you accidentally delete -

you can Undo• Use Undo button located on

toolbar just below Slide show on menu bar

• Undo default setting is 100 actions

• You can also see a list of actions by clicking on the small black arrow next to each button

Undo Redo

Moving Objects•Select object(handles will surround object)

•If you have many objects close together - you may need to click on the edge of the object to select

•Moving -

•Text box - move pointer over border until it turns to a four pointed arrow.

•Click once to make sure box is selected and not just text

•Hold down left mouse button and drag to new location

•Object - move pointer over object until it turns to a four pointed arrow - hold down left mouse button and drag to new location

To deselect - click [ESC] or click on blank area of slide

Resizing Objects•Select object

•Position pointer over one of square handles

• Pointer will change to a 2 sided arrow(as shown above)

•Hold down left mouse button and drag to resize

•You can resize both objects and text boxes

•To deselect - Click [Esc] or click in blank area of slide

Using Design Templates• A design template includes

preset graphics, layout and fonts

• Impress has a VERY nice selection of design templates

• Access by expanding the Master Layout choice on the right hand task pane– Click View, Task Pane if you

don’t see this on the right• A Slide Design pane will open

on the right• By right clicking on a design,

you can apply to all slides or selected slides

• Design templates are best applied before you begin your presentation

• BUT…Design templates can be changed at any time

• Remember that changing a design from an existing design will affect your layout/text, etc.– Especially if you have added your own textboxes

and other objects.• A formal presentation has the best impact

when the same design is used throughout

Selecting your own background

• If you start with a blank design, you can select your own background

• Format, Page, Background• Click on the dropdown to

select• Make your color selections• You will be asked if you want

to apply to all slides– Click No to apply only to the

slide you are working on– Click Yes to apply to all

slides

Bitmap would be the same as Textures in PowerPoint - and Impress has some great choices!

Gradient does NOT allow you to choose your own colors

Giving a Slide ShowIn running a slide show there are many

features you can use:• Adding a transition effect to each slide• Adding sound with each transition• Setting a time on advancing each slide• Running your show• If you used the wizard - you were asked

about transitions and timings– You can add/revise those choices now

Slide Transition Pane

•Display the desired slide in Slide or Normal view.

•Click Slide Transition on the RH side

•Or click Slide Show, Slide Transition

•Choose your transition

•Choose your speed

•Choose your sound if desired

•Apply To All to set for all slides

•Or - move to the next slide to set a different transition for each slide

This is the same window you use to set your slides to advance manually or automatically

Scroll down to see more choices

Click on black drop down arrow to see more choices

Set your slide show to advance on mouse click or after “x” seconds

Click here to apply to all slides in your “show”

Changing Slide Show OptionsWhen you run your show for the first time, each slide is set to advance manually, unless you have added timings to the slides. From Slide Show menu you can set the slide show to run continuously.

• Default– A full screen slide is shown.

• Window– Slide show runs in the

StarOffice program window.• Auto

– Restarts the slide show after the pause interval you specify. A pause slide is displayed between the final slide and the start slide. Press the Esc key to stop the show..

• Duration of pause– Enter the duration of the

pause before the slide show is repeated. If you enter zero, the show restarts immediately without showing a pause slide.

• Show logo– Displays the StarOffice logo

on the pause slide. The logo cannot be exchanged.

Auto would be the choice you would want for your presentation to run continuously

Running your Slide ShowTo run your completed slide show:

•Make sure you are on the first slide of your presentation!

•Or your slide show will start on whatever slide you had selected.

•Click Slide Show on the menu bar, then Slide Show

•To advance to the next slide, click the left mouse button(unless timings have already been added

•To go backwards, click the right mouse button

•To end show - Hit the Esc key on your keyboard

Printing your presentation• There are several options in printing your

presentation as a handout– Slides – full page of each slide – best choice for

overheads– Handouts – 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 per page; horizontal or

vertical– Notes Page – ½ sheet slide, ½ sheet notes– Outline View

• Printing default is Grayscale, but can change to pure black and white or color

• You can print 1 slide, a range of slides or all slides• Unfortunately, Star does not make printing handouts

easy.• IF PRINTING HANDOUTS - YOU MUST CHECK

THE HANDOUT BOX!

File, Print, Options

• If you make no changes to this page - you will get 1 large slide per page

• If you want handouts - remove the check from Drawing!!!

• And you MUST select Handouts!

Leaving the Drawing box selected will get you 1 slide per page!!!

Choosing Handouts

• Click the Handouts tab above your slide

• Choose the number of slides you want per page

Arranging handout slides 3 per page with lines for notes

• If you want your 3 slides to be lined up vertically– Change your paper to

Portrait– Click on the slides and drag

them into position– If you want them to have

lines to the right for notes (like the option PowerPoint has on the 3 per page)

• You will need to use the line tool and draw these in yourself.

• Only draw the first group of lines

Before

After

Arranging your lines• To make them even (on

the left or right) after you have drawn them– Drag to select all the

lines• You will see green

“handles”– Rest your cursor on one

of the lines and right click– Left click on Alignment– Choose Left, Right or

Center

• To distribute the lines evenly (line spacing)– Drag to select all the

lines– Rest your cursor on one

of the lines and right click– Left click on Distribution– Selection Vertical and

Center• Select the lines• Copy• Paste to the other slides

Printing 2 slides per page• If you want to print your

handouts 2 per page (like the handout you are looking at now)

• Handouts tab• Page, Format, Portrait• Click the handout layout for

2 slides

• Drag to stack one above the other– It appears that you cannot

make the slides larger– They may not print as large

as this handout you are using now

– You may be able to click on the Normal tab and then back on the Handouts tab

• When I did this, my slides were larger

– I also noticed that my 1st slide was at the bottom instead of the top

• I could not find any settings to change this

Page numbers on handouts

• If you want page numbers on your handouts, you must add a text box where you want the page number

• Draw your text box• Insert, Fields, Page Number

Printing…finally

• Now you are ready to print• File, Print, Options• Remove check from Drawing• Add check for Handouts• Click OK• If printing specific pages - remember

page count refers to slides, not pieces of paper!

Saving your presentation & closing PowerPoint

After you have completed your presentation make sure you save to hard drive or other media

• Click File on menu bar• Save As…• I recommend after saving your Impress file

– To save as a PowerPoint file if you are going to open this file in PowerPoint at a later date.

• Name your file and enter in window for File Name– Use numbers or letters

• DO NOT USE SYMBOLS• Then click Save to save your presentation