Adding Comments to Slides
The ability to add comments (p. 178) to slides is a useful reviewing utility that is shared with other Office 2000 applications such as Word and Excel. For example, if associates or co-workers need to provide feedback or approve your presentation, you can request they enter comments on each individual slide so that you can see exactly what they're referring to in their commentary.
Caution
Comments aren't the same as notes. You add comments within a presentation to provide input on specific slides. Comments are usually deleted after you read them and update your presentation. Notes are information you keep with your presentation to provide additional information as you speak.
→ For details on creating these notes, see "Creating Notes and Handouts,"
To add a comment to a slide, choose Insert, Comment. A yellow box appears at the top-left corner of your slide; your name appears as the reviewer. Figure 6.3 illustrates a sample comment box.
Note
You can't add a comment in Slide Sorter View; this option is dimmed on the menu. And although you can add a comment in Outline View, it's usually too difficult to see the comment in the slide pane. Normal View and Slide View are the best views for adding comments.
Figure 6.3. Comments provide a way to get feedback on your presentation.
PowerPoint places all comments in the upper-left corner of the slide by default. If you add more than one comment to the slide, it is placed on top of the existing slide, covering most of it. You can move the comment from its default location by selecting it and dragging it with the mouse.
Tip
To change the reviewer name, choose Tools, Options, and enter a new Name in the User Information group box on the General tab.
Enter your comments in the yellow box, which expands based on the length of the comments. The Reviewing toolbar displays when you insert a comment. Table 6.1 describes these toolbar buttons.
Reviewing Comments
To review comments in a presentation, select the Show/Hide Comments button on the Reviewing toolbar if comments don't display.
In general, comments should be very apparent because of their bright yellow color. But in a long presentation, it can be easier to simply jump to the next comment, rather than look at each slide. To do this, click the Next Comment button on the Reviewing toolbar.
Tip
To jump back to previous comments and look at them again, click the Previous Comment button.
Tip
When you reach the end of a presentation, clicking the Next Comment button brings you back to the first comment of the presentation again.
After you read a comment, you may want to delete it. To do that, select it and click the Delete Comment button on the Reviewing toolbar.
Formatting Comments
You can format both the text in a comment and the comment box itself. For example, using the Formatting toolbar, you can change the font or font size or choose to bold, italicize, or underline the text in your comment for specific emphasis.
→ To learn more about how to use these toolbar buttons to format a PowerPoint presentation, see "Using the Formatting Toolbar,"
Note
Because the comment itself is considered text, spell checking your presentation also finds spelling errors in comments.
The comment box is similar to any other PowerPoint object, and you can format it using the Format dialog box. In this dialog box, you can change the color, border, shape, size, and position of the comment box based on your preference.
Caution
Be sure you have a solid reason for customizing a comment box before doing so. In general, it's not worth the effort to make extensive changes to the appearance of a comment.
→ To learn how to use this dialog box to format a comment, see Using the Format Dialog Box
Are comments displaying in your slide shows?
See the Troubleshooting section at the end of the chapter .