When creating an organizational chart on a PowerPoint slide, you use the Organization Chart AutoLayout. By double-clicking on the chart, you open the applet Microsoft Organization Chart. Adding boxes can be tedious by clicking on the particular box type
(Subordinate, Coworker, Manager, or Assistant). When you need to add several boxes of the same type, try this trick. Hold down the Shift Key, click on the Box Button then release the Shift Key. This keeps the button active so you can just click on an existing box to add the selected box type to it. To add multiple boxes, just keep clicking on the existing box. To turn off this feature, click on the Select Tool (looks like an arrow) on the toolbar.

If you include OLE objects in a presentation (such as charts and tables) and then run spell checker, PowerPoint ignores any words included in them. This is because PowerPoint can only check those words you actually enter in the application. OLE objects created in Microsoft Graph, Microsoft Organization Chart, and the other Office applications are skipped by PowerPoint's spell checker.

Although you can spell check the data that creates the Excel chart while you're in Excel, you still can't spell check the organization chart in PowerPoint. One way around this limitation is to ungroup the organization chart object. But when you do so, you won't be able to double-click on the chart to return to Microsoft Organization Chart.

After when you're sure you have completed your organization chart, return to Slide View. Click once on the Chart Object and choose Draw | Ungroup from the Drawing Toolbar. PowerPoint warns you that you're converting this object, but click Yes anyway. Immediately choose Draw | Group to keep all the pieces and parts together. Now use PowerPoint's spell-checking feature to find any mistakes in your organization chart.

If you need to insert a blank slide in a PowerPoint presentation, you can use the Insert New Slide Button or hold down the Control Key and type the letter M. This opens the New Slide Dialog Box. Select an AutoLayout and click OK.

If you want to add a blank slide that uses the same AutoLayout as the displayed slide, just hold the Shift Key and click the Insert New Slide Button. By doing this, you bypass the New Slide Dialog Box and the new slide has the same AutoLayout as the previous slide.

If your presentations include several graphics and/or embedded objects, you know how much disk space they require. One way to reduce the file size is to include a blank slide at the beginning of the presentation. Although it seems as though adding a blank slide at the beginning of a presentation would increase file size, the opposite is true. The blank slide serves as the preview image -- the image PowerPoint displays when you select a file in the Open Dialog Box. Since a blank slide is far less complex than the "real" first slide, the preview image is much smaller, thereby reducing the size of the presentation file.

You can use the shortcut command Control P to access the Pen Tool during a slide show. Click your mouse and drag to use the Pen Tool to draw during your slide show. To erase everything you've drawn, press the E Key.