-===================================================-
 Instructions for Awesome Backgrounds for PowerPoint
-===================================================-

We hope you make many great presentations from these new powerpoint backgrounds.

The backgrounds have been designed to make life easier for you to make great looking
presentations. For example within each template there are already the most common types 
of slide already made for you!

- Title
- Bullet list
- Bar graph
- Line graph
- Pie chart
- Diagram
- A blank page
- Matching Color Scheme

Along with your download we also include each background as 'just a picture', 
so you can work with them like you would any other JPG (jaypeg) image.

You may wish to print out these instructions.


QUICK START GUIDE...
To Use An Awesome Background in Powerpoint
-------------------------------------------

1.   Start powerpoint
2a.  Choose the "File" menu (for PowerPoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
2b.  Choose the "Office Button" (for PowerPoint 2007)
3.   Click on "Open"
4.   Navigate to where the powerpoint backgrounds are located

Examples:
D:\Business-Themes-1\Powerpoint if you purchased the CD-Rom
C:\AwesomeBackgrounds if you downloaded a set
C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\My Documents if you saved the downloads someplace else
C:\Users\user name\Documents
C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
C:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Templates

------
Note:
If you are struggling to find where you have saved the downloaded files, you 
can search for them, all our files begin with the following 3 characters, 
AB-. On a windows PC "Start > Search", then enter ab-*.* in the "all or part of 
the filename" search box to find 'local' files and folders.
The downloaded files that need extracting all begin ab- and end with .exe
example ab-asetofbluebackgrounds01.exe
Once the files are extracted all the template files begin ab- and end with .pot
example ab-bright-idea-01.pot
------

5.  Click on the filename of the template you want to load with the left mouse button
    e.g. ab-bright-idea-01.pot

Powerpoint 97 / 2000 users need to change the "Files of type" drop-down, from 
"Presentations and Shows (*.ppt;*.pps)" to "Presentation Templates (*.pot)" 

6.  Then click on "Open"
7.  First things first...save it under a new name
8a. Choose the "File" menu (for PowerPoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
8b. Choose the "Office Button" (for PowerPoint 2007)
9.  Select "Save As...."
10. Navigate to where you would like to save your presentation e.g My Documents
11. Type in a new filename where it says "File name"
    e.g. February-Sales-Presentation 
12. Then click "OK or Save" with the left mouse button

You have successfully loaded a background and saved it under a new name.
You are now safe to change the presentation any way you want.

- You can edit any of the content of the presentation

- To get more pages (e.g. more bullet lists) simply
  1) view the ready made bullet list (normally slide 2 of the ready made pages)
  2a) (for PowerPoint 97/2000/2002/2003):
      Select the "Insert" menu and select "Duplicate Slide"
  2b) (for PowerPoint 2007):
      Select "Home > New Slide > Duplicate Selected Slides" (for PowerPoint 2007)


- To alter any of the graphs, simply double click on the actual graph within a page,
  then simply enter your own numbers

- To alter the diagram, simply copy and paste each box around the page, editing the
  content as you go

- To add your logo...
  (for PowerPoint 97/2000/2002/2003):
  a) Choose the "View" menu
  b) Select "Master"
  c) Click on "Slide Master"
  d) You are now of the master slide!
  e) Copy and paste your logo on this page
  
  (for PowerPoint 2007):
  a) Choose the "View" menu
  b) Select "Slide Master"
  c) Click on "1 Slide Master"
  d) You are now of the master slide!
  e) Copy and paste your logo on this page



To make your presentation use a powerpoint background
-----------------------------------------------------

If you wish to apply an Awesome powerpoint background, to your existing presentation, 
do the following:

PowerPoint 2007
===============
1. Open your existing presentation
2. Choose the "Design" menu
3. In the "Themes" ribbon, click the small 'Down Triangle', 
   if you hold the mouse over the 'down triangle' it's marked as 'More...'
4. The "All Themes" window will appear
5. Powerpoint will show two sections of templates
   - This Presentation
   - Built in
6. To tell powerpoint to look for new templates you need to click the text
   marked "Browse for Themes"
7. Then it's just a case of telling powerpoint where you have decided to store your
   new templates
8. Navigate to where your have stored your templates
   e.g. C:\AwesomeBackgrounds\, by clicking the "drop-down",
9. Then "My Computer", Drive C: Then the folder AwesomeBackgrounds
10.Select any of the files, e.g. ab-bright-idea-01 and click "Apply"
11.PowerPoint will then apply this template to the currently opened presentation.
12.Your presentation will now have the "style" of the new awesome powerpoint background.

PowerPoint 2002 / XP / 2003
===========================
1. Open your existing presentation
2. Choose the "Format" menu
3. Select the "Slide Design" option
4. The Slide Design task pane will appear
5. Powerpoint will show three sections of templates
   - Used in this Presentation
   - Recently Used
   - Available for use
6. To tell powerpoint to look for new templates you need to click the tiny blue text
   marked *Browse*
7. Then it's just a case of telling powerpoint where you have decided to store your
   new templates
8. Navigate to where your have stored your templates
   e.g C:\AwesomeBackgrounds\, by clicking the "drop-down",
9. Then "My Computer", Drive C: Then the folder AwesomeBackgrounds
10.Select any of the files, e.g. ab-bright-idea-01 and click "Apply"
11.PowerPoint will apply this template, and also make it available in the
   "Recently used" list
12.Your presentation will now have the "style" of the new awesome powerpoint background

PowerPoint 97/2000
==================
1. Open your existing presentation
2. Choose the "Format" menu
3. Select the "Apply Design..." option
4. Navigate to where the awesome powerpoint background file is located
5. Click on the presentation template you require
6. Then click on "Apply"
7. Your presentation will now have the "style" of the new awesome powerpoint background

=================================
 THAT ENDS THE QUICK START GUIDE
=================================


Make awesome templates readily available in powerpoint
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Making the templates more readily available to browse through is a 3 step process:

1) Find the correct folder where your existing powerpoint templates are currently stored
2) Move your new awesome templates to that folder
3) Create a new presentation with, or apply awesome templates to your presentations

The folder in which standard powerpoint templates are stored, is different depending 
on your version of powerpoint and how it was installed, and the version of Windows that
you are using (e.g. Windows XP / Vista / etc). 

Please follow the instructions below for your version of powerpoint.

=============================
PowerPoint 2007
=============================

When you go "Office Button" > "New", powerpoint will list the 
templates divided into sections, 
"Blank and recent"
"Installed Templates"
"Installed Themes"
"My templates..."
"New from existing..."

These instructions explain how to add an extra AwesomeBackgrounds tab to 
the "My templates..." sections.

A) To find the correct folder where your existing powerpoint templates are currently stored

1.  Start powerpoint, Click the "Office button"
2.  Click on "Save As.."
3.  Click on the drop down menu "Save as type"
4.  Choose "PowerPoint template (*.potx)"
5.  Powerpoint will show the current folder
6.  Click on the "down arrow" to show the full path to the correct folder
7.  Powerpoint will show the full path to the current folder
8.  The full path to your templates folder is likely to follow this system

9a.  C:\documents and settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates 
9b.  C:\users\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates 

10. Make a new folder called AwesomeBackgrounds by clicking the "new folder" icon. 
    This is where we are going to move the awesome templates to in step (B) below. 
11. Type in the word AwesomeBackgrounds
12. Click OK to accept the new folder name 
13. Click Cancel 
14. That's it

B) Move your new awesome templates to that folder

1.  Click "start" on your windows XP/Vista desktop 
2.  Choose "My Computer" 
3.  Double click "Drive C: / Boot C: Local Disk C:" 
4.  You should see a list of folders. If you've extracted the awesome backgrounds
    from the downloaded EXE file, to the default folder, then your awesome 
    backgrounds will be in the folder called "AwesomeBackgrounds" 
5.  So double click the folder called AwesomeBackgrounds 
6.  Select every single file in that folder by going to the "edit" menu > "Select all" 
7.  Edit menu > Cut 
8.  You need to navigate to the new folder we created in Step (A) above, so close any  
    windows to keep things simple, by clicking the 'X' in the top right of each window 
9.  Again, click "start" on your windows XP / Vista desktop 
10. Choose "My Computer" 
11. Double click "Drive C: / Boot C: Local Disk C:" 
12. You should see a list of folders. 
13. This time we need to navigate to the same folder we made in Step (A), so if 
    the folder you found in Step (A) was
    
    C:\documents and settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates 

14. Double click the folder called Documents and Settings, 
15. Then double click "yourusername", or whatever is your login name e.g. "John" 
16. Keep double clicking each folder until your reach "Templates" 
17. If you created a new folder in Step (A), you should see one last folder called 
    AwesomeBackgrounds
18. Double click the folder called AwesomeBackgrounds 
19. Edit menu > Paste 
20. The computer will now move all your new awesome templates to

C:\documents and settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\AwesomeBackgrounds 

21. Close any windows by clicking the red 'X' in the top right of each window 
22. That's it 

C) Create a new presentation with, or apply awesome templates to your presentations

Create a new presentation 
1. Start powerpoint 
2. Office Button > New 
3. Choose "My Templates...." 
4. As well as the normal "My Templates" tab, 
   you should see a new tab called AwesomeBackgrounds. 
5. Click the tab called AwesomeBackgrounds and you will see a list of template names 
6. Choose a template by clicking the filename e.g. ab-bright-idea-01.pot 
7. Powerpoint will show a preview of the template to the right 
8. Click OK to select that template 
9. That's it 

Apply an awesome template to your presentation 

1. Start powerpoint 
2. Open your existing presentation as normal 
3. Choose the "Design" menu on the ribbon
4. In the "Themes" ribbon, click the small 'Down Triangle', 
   if you hold the mouse over the 'down triangle' it's marked as 'More...'
5. The "All Themes" window will appear
6. Powerpoint will show two sections of templates
   - This Presentation
   - Built in

7. To tell powerpoint to look for new templates you need to click the text
   marked "Browse for Themes" 
8. Navigate to

C:\documents and settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\AwesomeBackgrounds
or
C:\users\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates 
 
9.  Double click the folder called AwesomeBackgrounds
10. Select any of the files, e.g. ab-bright-idea-01 and click "Apply" 
11. Your presentation will now have the style of the new awesome powerpoint background 


=============================
PowerPoint 2002 / XP / 2003
=============================

When you go "File" > "New" > "On My Computer", powerpoint will show all the 
available templates available in 3 nicely divided sections, "General", 
"Design templates" and "Presentations". These instructions explain how to 
add an additional "tab", just for your "Awesome Templates":

A) Find the correct folder where your existing powerpoint templates are currently stored

1.  Start powerpoint, Click on the "File" menu
2.  Click on "Save As.."
3.  Click on the drop down menu "Save as type"
4.  Choose "Design template (*.pot)"
5.  Powerpoint will show the current folder
6.  Click on the "down arrow" to show the full path to the correct folder
7.  Powerpoint will show the full path to the current folder
8.  The full path to your templates folder is likely to follow this system

9.  C:\documents and settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates 

10. Make a new folder called Awesome by clicking the "new folder" icon. 
    This is where we are going to move the awesome templates to in step (B) below. 
11. Type in the word Awesome
12. Click OK to accept the new folder name 
13. Click Cancel 
14. That's it

B) Move your new awesome templates to that folder

1.  Click "start" on your windows XP desktop 
2.  Choose "My Computer" 
3.  Double click "Drive C: / Boot C: Local Disk C:" 
4.  You should see a list of folders. If you've extracted the awesome backgrounds
    from the downloaded EXE file, to the default folder, then your awesome 
    backgrounds will be in the folder called "AwesomeBackgrounds" 
5.  So double click the folder called AwesomeBackgrounds 
6.  Select every single file in that folder by going to the "edit" menu > "Select all" 
7.  Edit menu > Cut 
8.  You need to navigate to the new folder we created in Step (A) above, so close any windows 
    to keep things simple, by clicking the 'X' in the top right of each window 
9.  Again, click "start" on your windows XP desktop 
10. Choose "My Computer" 
11. Double click "Drive C: / Boot C: Local Disk C:" 
12. You should see a list of folders. 
13. This time we need to navigate to the same folder we made in Step (A), so if 
    the folder you found in Step (A) was
    
    C:\documents and settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates 

14. Double click the folder called Documents and Settings, 
15. Then double click "yourusername", or whatever is your login name e.g. "John" 
16. Keep double clicking each folder until your reach "Templates" 
17. If you created a new folder in Step (A), you should see one last folder called 
    Awesome 
18. Double click the folder called Awesome 
19. Edit menu > Paste 
20. The computer will now move all your new awesome templates to

C:\documents and settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\Awesome 

21. Close any windows by clicking the red 'X' in the top right of each window 
22. That's it 

C) Create a new presentation with, or apply awesome templates to your presentations

Create a new presentation 
1. Start powerpoint 
2. File menu > New 
3. Choose "On My Computer" 
4. As well as the normal "General, Design Templates and Presentations" tabs, 
   you should see a new tab called Awesome. 
5. Click the tab called Awesome and you will see a list of template names 
6. Choose a template by clicking the filename e.g. ab-bright-idea-01.pot 
7. Powerpoint will show a preview of the template to the right 
8. Click OK to select that template 
9. That's it 

Apply an awesome template to your presentation 
1. Start powerpoint 
2. Open your existing presentation as normal 
3. Format menu 
4. Choose "Slide design" 
5. The Slide Design task pane will appear 
6. Powerpoint will show three sections of templates
   - Used in this Presentation
   - Recently Used
   - Available for use

7. To tell powerpoint to look for new templates you need to click the tiny blue text marked Browse 
8. Double click the folder called Awesome within

C:\documents and settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\Awesome 

9.  Select any of the files, e.g. ab-bright-idea-01 and click "Apply" 
10. PowerPoint will apply this template, and also make it available in the "Recently used" list 
11. Your presentation will now have the style of the new awesome powerpoint background 

Top Tip: If you only have a few templates (less than 20), then it makes sense to just 
put them all in

C:\documents and settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

Then they will always be listed in the "Available for use" section in the 
"slide design" task pane. 


=============================
PowerPoint 97 / 2000
=============================

When you go "File" > "New", powerpoint will show all the available templates available 
in 4 nicely divided sections, "General", "Presentation Designs", "Presentations" 
and "Web Pages". These instructions explain how to add an additional "tab", 
just for your "Awesome Templates":

A) Find the correct folder where your existing powerpoint templates are currently stored

1.  Start powerpoint, click on the "File" menu
2.  Click on "Save As.."
3.  Click on the drop down menu "Save as type"
4.  Choose "Presentation Template (*.pot)"
5.  Powerpoint will show the current folder
6.  Click on the "down arrow" to show the full path to the correct folder
7.  Powerpoint will show the full path to the current folder
8.  The full path to your templates folder is likely to follow this system

9.  C:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Templates 

10. Make a new folder called Awesome by clicking the "new folder" icon. 
    This is where we are going to move the awesome templates to in step (B) below. 
11. Type in the word Awesome
12. Click OK to accept the new folder name 
13. Click Cancel 
14. That's it

B) Move your new awesome templates to that folder

1.  Double Click "My Computer" on your windows desktop  
2.  Double click "Drive C: / Boot C: Local Disk C:" 
3.  You should see a list of folders. If you've extracted the awesome backgrounds
    from the downloaded EXE file, to the default folder, then your awesome 
    backgrounds will be in the folder called "AwesomeBackgrounds" 
4.  So double click the folder called AwesomeBackgrounds 
5.  Select every single file in that folder by going to the "edit" menu > "Select all" 
6.  Edit menu > Cut 
7.  You need to navigate to the new folder we created in Step (A) above, so close any windows 
    to keep things simple, by clicking the 'X' in the top right of each window 
8.  Again, Double Click "My Computer" on your windows desktop 
9.  Double click "Drive C: / Boot C: Local Disk C:" 
10. You should see a list of folders. 
11. This time we need to navigate to the same folder we made in Step (A), so if 
    the folder you found in Step (A) was
    
    C:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Awesome  

12. Double click the folder called Program Files, 
13. Then double click "Microsoft Office"  
14. Double click "Templates" 
15. Double click the folder called Awesome
16. Edit menu > Paste 
17. The computer will now move all your new awesome templates to

C:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Awesome 

18. Close any windows by clicking the red 'X' in the top right of each window 
19. That's it 

C) Create a new presentation with, or apply awesome templates to your presentations

Create a new presentation 
1. Start powerpoint 
2. File menu > New 
3. As well as the normal "General, Presentation Designs, Presentations and 
   Web Pages" tabs, you should see a new tab called Awesome. 
4. Click the tab called Awesome and you will see a list of template names 
5. Choose a template by clicking the filename e.g. ab-bright-idea-01.pot 
6. Powerpoint will show a preview of the template to the right 
7. Click OK to select that template 
8. That's it 

Apply an awesome template to your presentation 
1. Start powerpoint 
2. Open your existing presentation as normal 
3. Format menu 
4. Choose "Apply design" 
5. The Apply Design window will appear 
6. Powerpoint will show the available templates
7. Double click the folder called Awesome within 

C:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Awesome

8.  Select any of the files, e.g. ab-bright-idea-01 and click "Apply" 
9. Your presentation will now have the style of the new awesome powerpoint background 

Top Tip: If you only have a few templates (less than 20), then it makes sense to 
just put them all in

C:\Program files\Microsoft Office\Templates 

Then they will always be listed in the "Available for use" section in the "General" 
tab when you create new presentations. 

--------------------------------------------------
To copy just the background into your presentation
--------------------------------------------------
All versions of PowerPoint:

If you just require one of the fantastic backgrounds from any awesome powerpoint 
background then do the following.

1.  Open the new awesome powerpoint background as follows
2a. Choose the "File" menu (for PowerPoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
2b. Choose the "Office Button" (for PowerPoint 2007)
3.  Click on "Open"
4.  Navigate to where the powerpoint background is located

Powerpoint 97 / 2000 users need to change the "Files of type" drop-down, from 
"Presentations and Shows (*.ppt;*.pps)" to "Presentation Templates (*.pot)" 

5.   Click on the filename of the template you want to load with the left mouse button
6.   Then click on "Open"
7.   Choose the "View" menu
8a.  Select "Master" > Click on "Slide Master" (powerpoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
8b.  Select "Slide Master" (powerpoint 2007)
9.   You are now on the master slide. 
10.  This is where all the clever stuff happens!
11.  Click on the background image (of the slide master), being careful not to 
     select the title or body text placeholders
12.  When you have successfully selected it, 8 little white markers will appear around it
13a. Choose the "Edit" menu, Select "Copy". (powerpoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
13b. Click on the "Home" menu. On clipboard part of the ribbon,
     click the "copy" button. (powerpoint 2007)
14.  This will place the background image on your computers clipboard
15.  Open your existing presentation by following steps 2-10
16.  If your existing presentation has a background image, then please delete it.
17a. Choose the "Edit" menu, Click on "Paste" (powerpoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
17b. Click on the "Home" menu. On the clipboard part of the ribbon,
     click the "paste" button. (powerpoint 2007)
18.  Nearly there!
19a. Click on "Draw" located at the bottom left of the screen, Select "Order" 
     and choose "Send to Back" (powerpoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
19b. On the "Home" menu, in the "Drawing" area of the ribbon, choose "Arrange"
     and choose "Send to Back" (powerpoint 2007)
20. That's It!



To Combine different backgrounds into the same presentation
-----------------------------------------------------------

To get multiple backgrounds in one presentation follow these 
instructions and repeat the steps for each background you require:

=============================
PowerPoint 2007
=============================

These instructions explain how to use 'multiple masters', or more than one template
within one presentation.

1.  Start powerpoint 
2.  Open your existing presentation as normal
3.  Pick a single slide in the slides task pane (on the left of your screen), 
    to which you want to apply a different style. To select multiple slides 
    in the slide task pane, hold down your CTRL key on your keyboard, or the 
    SHIFT key will select a block of slides.
4.  Choose the "Design" menu
5.  In the "Themes" ribbon, click the small 'Down Triangle', 
    if you hold the mouse over the 'down triangle' it's marked as 'More...'
6.  The "All Themes" window will appear
7.  Powerpoint will show two sections of templates
    - This Presentation
    - Built in
8.  To tell powerpoint to look for new templates you need to click the text
    marked "Browse for Themes"
9.  Then it's just a case of telling powerpoint where you have decided to store your
    new templates
10. Navigate to where your have stored your templates
    e.g. C:\AwesomeBackgrounds\, by clicking the "drop-down",
11  Then "My Computer", Drive C: Then the folder AwesomeBackgrounds
12. Select any of the files, e.g. ab-bright-idea-01 and click "Apply"
13. PowerPoint will then apply this template to the currently opened presentation.
14. Your presentation will now have the "style" of the new awesome powerpoint background.

=============================
PowerPoint 2002 / XP / 2003
=============================

The introduction of Multiple Masters, with powerpoint 2002 (XP), powerpoint 
finally allowed more than one master / template in a single presentation. 
These instructions explain how to use multiple masters.

1.  Start powerpoint 
2.. Open your existing presentation as normal 
3.  Pick a single slide in the slides task pane (on the left of your screen), 
    to which you want to apply a different style. To select multiple slides 
    in the slide task pane, hold down your CTRL key on your keyboard, or the 
    SHIFT key will select a block of slides. 
4.  Format menu 
5.  Choose "Slide design" 
6.  The Slide Design task pane will appear 
7.  Powerpoint will show three sections of templates
    - Used in this Presentation
    - Recently Used
    - Available for use
8.  If you've followed the instructions above "Make awesome templates readily 
    available in powerpoint", then you will see images of the templates in the 
    "Available for use" section, of the slide design task pane. They are organized 
    dark to light. Continue from step 12 or read the next step to tell powerpoint where 
    your templates are located 
9.  To tell powerpoint to look for new templates you need to click the tiny blue 
    text marked Browse 
10. Double click the folder called Awesome within

C:\documents and settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\Awesome 

11. Or navigate to where you keep your templates 
12. Click the "drop down" menu, next to the template you want to apply, and 
    choose "Apply to Selected Slides"
13. Powerpoint will only show the drop down when you click the down arrow next to the slide image
14. PowerPoint will apply this template, to just your selected slides, 
    and also make it available in the "Recently used" list 
15. Your individual slides will now have the style of the new awesome powerpoint background 


=============================
PowerPoint 97/ 2000
=============================

1.  While having PowerPoint running do the following 
2.  Choose the "File" menu 
3.  Click on "Open" 
4.  Navigate to where the powerpoint background is located 

Powerpoint 97 / 2000 users need to change the "Files of type" drop-down, from 
"Presentations and Shows (*.ppt;*.pps)" to "Presentation Templates (*.pot)" 

5.  Click on the filename of the template you want to load with the left mouse button 
6.  Then click on "Open", the awesome PowerPoint background will open 
7.  Choose the "View" menu 
8.  Select "Master" 
9.  Click on "Slide Master" 
10. This is where all the clever stuff happens! 
11. Right click on the background image, being careful not to select the 
    title or body text 
12. When you have successfully selected it, 8 little white squares will 
    appear around it 
13. Choose "Copy" 
14. This will place the background on your computers clipboard 
15. Open your existing presentation by following steps 2-6 or if it is 
    already open go to step 16 
16. Go to the slide you want the image on 
17. Right click the slide you want to insert the image on itself, not 
    a text box, table, etc, and then choose "Paste" 
18. Nearly there! 
19. Once this has been completed right click again on your new 
    inserted awesome image and go to "Order" and then choose "Send to Back" 
20. If you will be keeping the image "full screen" size, then it's good 
    practice to tell powerpoint not to display the image from our 
    "slide master". Select the "Format" menu, and choose "background" then 
    tick "omit backgrounds from master". 
21  Click save. 
22. That's It!

It's best to have the background you will use for the majority of your presentation on 
the "slide master"


To darken or lighten the background image
-----------------------------------------

If you would like the background image slightly darker or lighter, then powerpoint 
has the feature to enable you to darken or lighten the image as well as to increase 
or reduce the contrast in an image. 
To do this follow these instructions...

1.  Open the awesome powerpoint backgrounds as follows
2a. Choose the "File" menu (for PowerPoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
2b. Choose the "Office Button" (for PowerPoint 2007)
3.  Click on "Open"
4.  Navigate to where the powerpoint background is located

Powerpoint 97 / 2000 users need to change the "Files of type" drop-down, from 
"Presentations and Shows (*.ppt;*.pps)" to "Presentation Templates (*.pot)" 

5.  Click on the filename of the template you want to load with the left mouse button
6.  Then click on "Open"
7.  Choose the "View" menu
8a. Select "Master" > Click on "Slide Master" (powerpoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
8b. Select "Slide Master" (powerpoint 2007)
9.  You are now on the master slide. 
10. This is where all the clever stuff happens!

11a.(powerpoint 2007):
-   Click on the background image, being careful not to select the 
    title or body text place holders
-   When you have successfully selected it, 8 little white markers will appear around it
-   Choose the "Format" menu from the ribbon
-   On the "adjust" area of the ribbon, there are various tools to manipulate the image
-   For example the brightness" button, (the one with the sun icon), has options to
    brighten or darken the image. If you want to change the brightness then choose one
    of the options e.g. -30%
-   Click the "view" menu, then choose "normal" when you are happy with the brightness
-   Save the file under a new name by going to the "office button"


11b.(powerpoint 97/2000/2002/2003):
-   Right Click on the background image, being careful not to select the 
    title or body text place holders
-   When you have successfully selected it, 8 little white markers will appear around it
-   From the menu that pops up, choose "show picture toolbar", 
    if the option "hide picture toolbar" appears, then the toolbar is already displayed
    somewhere on your screen
-   On the picture toolbar, there are various tools to manipulate the image
-   Each click of the "less brightness" button 
    (the one with the down arrow and the sun icon)
    will darken the image. 
    So click the button more than once to continue to dark the image
-   Click the "view" menu, then choose "slide" when you are happy with the brightness
-   Save the file under a new name by going to the "file" menu


12. Choose "Save As..."
13. Type in your new filename
14. Click "Save"
15. That's It!


To remove the "slide number" from every page
--------------------------------------------

If you would like to remove the slide numbering on every page 
then do the following.

1.  Open the new awesome powerpoint backgrounds as follows
2a. Choose the "File" menu (for PowerPoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
2b. Choose the "Office Button" (for PowerPoint 2007)
3.  Choose "Open"
4.  Navigate to where the awesome powerpoint background is located

Powerpoint 97 / 2000 users need to change the "Files of type" drop-down, from 
"Presentations and Shows (*.ppt;*.pps)" to "Presentation Templates (*.pot)" 

5.  Click on the filename of the template you want to load with the left mouse button
6.  Then click on "Open"
7.  Select the "View" menu
8a. Select "Master" > Click on "Slide Master" (powerpoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
8b. Select "Slide Master" (powerpoint 2007)
10. You are now on the master slide. 
11. This is where all the clever stuff happens!
12. Click on the background image, being careful not to select the title or body text
13. When you have successfully selected it, 8 little white markers will appear around it
14. Repeatedly press the "Tab" key (it's next to the Q on the keyboard)
15. PowerPoint will cycle through all the objects on the page
16. When the "slide #" is selected press the "Delete" key on the keyboard
17. That's It!


Which Bitmap/Picture quality to use from the CD-Rom
-------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have purchased the CD-Rom and would like to know which quality/resolution
of bitmap/picture to use then do the following.

1. On the Windows desktop right click an empty area of space.
2. Select "Properties"
3. Select the "settings" tab
4. Somewhere on the screen it should say "Screen Area"
5. If it says 1024x768 this is the quality of files to use from the CD-Rom.

The CD-Rom would have a directory called \cyan\png\1024x768 containing all the 1024x768
bitmap files.

If your screen area is less than 1024x768 eg 800x600 then use the files from the 800x600
directory. If your screen area is 640x480 then use the files from the 640x480 directory.
If your screen area is more than 1024x768 then just use the 1024x768 and powerpoint will
automatically adjust them to fill the screen.

6. That's it!


To view the catalogue showing all the thumbnails of the backgrounds
-------------------------------------------------------------------

If you would like to see thumbnails (small pictures) of each powerpoint background
contained on the CD, then do the following:
(note: requires internet explorer or similar internet browser)

1. Using "Windows Explorer" navigate to your CD-Rom drive.
2. Double click the file called "index.htm" or "index"
3. Your web browser will load and display the thumbnails.
   You can view an example here
   http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/s-e-business.htm
4. Click on each color or theme to view other section.
5. That's It!

To Left align a template
------------------------

Our templates are always set to "left align", but with a slight difference to 
perhaps what you are used to. If you type a few short words for each bullet, then 
they will still be set left aligned, but the "block as a whole" will be centered, 
instead of starting from the very left of your slides.

We feel this gives a much better layout to your slides, as sometimes it can look a bit 
odd if the bullets contain only a few short words, then the right hand side of the 
slide can look a bit 'empty'. Just like the right hand side box above

If, this is not to your liking, here's how to edit the template to make it totally 
left aligned, the text will start from the very left of the slide, and not be centered 
as a whole.

1.  Open the new awesome powerpoint backgrounds as follows
2a. Choose the "File" menu (for PowerPoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
2b. Choose the "Office Button" (for PowerPoint 2007)
3.  Choose "Open"
4.  Navigate to where the awesome powerpoint background is located
5.  Click on the filename of the template you want to load with the left mouse button
6.  Then click on "Open"
7.  Select the "View" menu
8a. Select "Master" > Click on "Slide Master" (powerpoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
8b. Select "Slide Master" (powerpoint 2007)
9.  You are now on the master slide. 
10. Select the text holder for the bullet list, making sure that you are not 
    editing just the text, but the "whole" text holder. You will know this 
    because no flashing cursor will be visible 

(for PowerPoint 2007)
11a. Click the "Format" menu on the ribbon
-    On the "shape styles" area of the ribbon, is a tiny little arrow located 
     on the bottom right of that area - Click it
-    From the "Format Shape" window choose "Text Box"
-    Change the "Vertical Alignment" from "Top Centered" to just "Top"
-    Click "Close"
-    On the "slide master" area of the ribbon choose "Close Master View"


(for PowerPoint 97/2000/2002/2003)
11b. Click the "Format" menu and choose "autoshape" or "placeholder"
     (depending on your version of powerpoint) 
-    On the new window that pops up click the "Text box" tab 
-    On the area marked "Text anchor point" change it from "Top centered" to 
     just "Top" 
-    Click OK
-    Click the View menu 
-    Choose Slide 



12. Save your presentation 
13. That's It!


The system requirements to use the awesome powerpoint background templates are:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- An IBM Compatible PC running Windows 95 or higher, or an Apple Mac
- PowerPoint 97 or higher
  (To check what version you have....Run powerpoint then click the "Help" menu, 
   select "About" to see your version of powerpoint)


Queries
-------
If you have any further queries regarding "awesome powerpoint backgrounds"
then send an email to:

presentations@awesomebackgrounds.com



Suggestions
-----------

If you have any suggestions about "awesome powerpoint backgrounds" then email

presentations@awesomebackgrounds.com
or
visit
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/makeasuggestion.htm


The most up-to-date instructions
--------------------------------

For the most up-to-date instructions.....please visit
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/instructions.htm



==================================
AWESOME BACKGROUNDS FOR POWERPOINT
==================================

Thanks for your purchase from
www.awesomebackgrounds.com

November 2008
Version 5.0

Please Note: Although we have made every effort to check the files against viruses at all 
all stages of production. It is always wise to run a virus checker on any software before 
running it. By Default! cannot accept responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage 
to your data or computer system which may occur while using either the CD-Rom or 
downloaded files. It is assumed that by using these files you accept these conditions. 
Otherwise do not use the powerpoint backgrounds.

The software product "awesome" made by the company "By Default!" are not 
affiliated, connected or associated with Microsoft Corporation.

PowerPoint® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in 
the United States and/or other countries. 

Copyright © 1999-2008 "By Default!" All Rights Reserved - Last modified: November 6, 2008 
 

