Opening PowerPoint

Every Open Day lesson assumes PowerPoint is running with the correct deck open.

James Okonkwo opens NorthgateOpenDay.pptx on the office PC each morning before Saturday 14 March 2026 to tweak tour times or add a last-minute photo. Save with Ctrl+S (Windows) or Cmd+S (Mac) after every few edits. The hall laptop may not have your file unless you copied NorthgateOpenDay.pptx to a shared folder first.

Goal: Open Microsoft PowerPoint on Windows. Every other lesson starts from the PowerPoint window.

• 1Click the Start button on the Windows taskbar.
• 2Type PowerPoint in the search box.
• 3Click Microsoft PowerPoint in the search results.
• 4Expected result: PowerPoint opens. You may see a start screen with templates or a blank window.

Fix: If PowerPoint does not appear in search, check that Microsoft 365 or Office is installed. Install PowerPoint from your Office account if it is missing.

Mac users follow the same lessons with slightly different shortcuts.

• 1Press Cmd+Space to open Spotlight.
• 2Type PowerPoint and press Return.
• 3Wait for the PowerPoint start screen or a blank presentation.
• 4Expected result: The title bar shows Presentation1 or Untitled until you save.

You will return to the same Open Day deck across many lessons.

• 1Click the File tab on the Ribbon.
• 2Click Open → Browse (Windows) or Open on Mac.
• 3Navigate to NorthgateOpenDay.pptx and double-click it.
• 4Expected result: The title bar shows NorthgateOpenDay.pptx. Slide 1 appears in the workspace.

James Okonkwo keeps NorthgateOpenDay.pptx in the staff shared drive under Events / Open Day. Before Saturday 14 March 2026, IT copies the same file to:

• The Main Hall presentation laptop
• A lobby USB stick for the welcome loop
• OneDrive if parents need a PDF handout link

If you open an old copy from Downloads, tour times may be wrong. Always check the title bar for NorthgateOpenDay.pptx and the latest save date in File → Info.

PowerPoint in a browser lacks some animation and master-view features used later in this course. Use desktop PowerPoint on Windows or Mac for NorthgateOpenDay.pptx. Export PDF from desktop when you finish.

Pin PowerPoint to the taskbar (Windows) or Dock (Mac) during the Open Day project — you will open it daily for two weeks.

Example — Save shortcut on Windows: After every few edits, press Ctrl+S to save. Ctrl+O opens a file; F5 starts Slide Show from the beginning; Ctrl+N creates a new blank presentation.