A template does what the AutoContent Wizard does; only it does it in a shorter time. When you create a presentation with a template, you end up with a predesigned bunch of slides and generic text like that in Figure 17-3. The difference is, the presentation is created very quickly. PowerPoint doesn't query you to find out what kind of presentation you want to create. All you do is review choices on the Presentations tab of the New Presentations dialog box, click the presentation you want, and click OK.
HEADSTART: On the companion CD that comes with this book are about two dozen templates for creating PowerPoint presentations. Besides the templates that come with Office 2000, you can use these templates, as well. See Appendix E for information.
To create a PowerPoint presentation from a template, follow these steps:
1. In the PowerPoint dialog box that you see when you start the program, click the Design Template option button and then click OK. You see the New Presentation dialog box.
TIP: You can create a presentation from a template without starting from the PowerPoint dialog box. To do so, choose File | New. Click the Presentations tab. It is shown in Figure 17-4.
2. Read the names of the icons to find the one that best describes the kind of presentation you want to create, then click the icon and look in the Preview box. Click as many icons as you like until you find one that does the job. Click OK when you've found a suitable presentation. The title slide of the presentation appears onscreen. Your presentation will look something like Figure 17-3.
3. Save and name your presentation.
See "Ways of Viewing and Working on Slides," later in this chapter, to learn how to enter your own text in place of the generic headings and text that appear in the presentation. Notice that the generic text offers suggestions for developing a presentation.