If you are familiar with older versions of Microsoft PowerPoint, you will notice many new features in PowerPoint 2002. The way you access Microsoft PowerPoint Help has changed, and new interface features such as the task pane have been added. Slide layouts, design templates, color schemes, transitions, and animation effects are all accessed through the task pane.
Unlike past versions of PowerPoint, the Office Assistant no longer appears automatically. Office XP allows you to access a Help topic through the Ask a Question box on the menu bar. When you type a question in the box and press Enter on your keyboard, a list of Help topics appears for you to choose from. Click an option to launch Microsoft PowerPoint Help and go directly to that topic.
The task panes in PowerPoint provide powerful tools for creating sophisticated presentations. Features such as the Office Clipboard, Insert ClipArt, and Search are displayed in the task pane. Layouts, templates, and color schemes are now available in the Slide Layout and Slide Design task panes. When you click an option in the task pane the selected slide is modified with the new style. In the Custom Animation and Slide Transition task panes, you can add animations and transitions to your slides, and then modify them to behave exactly the way you want. You can easily navigate between features by using the arrows at the top of the pane.
In PowerPoint 2002, new animation effects and schemes have been added. From the Custom Animation task pane, you can add an animation effect, then change its path, speed, and other behaviors. You can also add an animation scheme, which is a combination of effects with behaviors, creating a complex animation.
In PowerPoint 2002 the Clip Gallery has been upgraded to the Clip Organizer. The Clip Organizer holds hundreds of clips-graphic, audio and video files. You can easily search for clips from the task pane. The new Clip Organizer also makes it easy to refine your search limiting it to media types and collections. Using the Clip Organizer, you can organize your own collection lists, as well as search for clips online.