Convert your Word documents into PowerPoint 2007 presentations

By Mary Ann Richardson

Takeaway: If you need to make a PowerPoint presentation from a Word document, don’t worry about endless cutting and pasting. Mary Ann Richardson shows how you can use Word’s built-in formatting to make an easy transition from one document to another.

PowerPoint 2007 lets you create slides from your Word documents without having to retype or copy any text. All you need to do is to apply Word’s built-in heading styles to your text, and PowerPoint will do the rest. For example, say you have typed the following text in your Word document:

Questions to ask about your financial investment:

Is principal guaranteed?

What is the market risk?

Is interest compounded free from current income taxes?

Can you withdraw without penalty?

Will it provide guaranteed lifetime income?

ABC Financial Ratings

A.M. Best A+ (Superior)

Fitch rating: AA (Very Strong)

Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. rating: A1 (Good)

Standard & Poors’ rating: AA (Very Strong)

For each slide in this example, the line to be the slide title received the Heading 1 style, and the remaining lines of text for each slide received the Heading 2 style. (PowerPoint 2007 can only convert text formatted with a heading style, but you can use any of Word’s built-in heading styles.)
To convert this text into two PowerPoint slides, follow these steps:

1. Open PowerPoint 2007.
2. On the Home Ribbon, in the Slides group, click the arrow below New Slide.
3. Click Slides From Outline, then navigate to the Word document containing your slides.
4. Click Insert.
5. Click the Design tab.
6. Click the theme of your choice.
7. Add a title to your title slide and save the file.

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