the MOST

Last semester a student came to my office with a problem I had not encountered before.  He needed to make PowerPoint handouts, but they had to be included as part of a document that was going to be bound.  Because part of the left side of the page would be hidden by the binding, he needed to be able to adjust the left margin.

He had already tried the Handout Master in PowerPoint, but it did not help because it does not allow you to adjust the margins.  Instead, he needed to be able to move the handout into a Word document.

If you don’t know what I mean by PowerPoint handouts, click on the image below for a couple of examples.
 

As it turns out, PowerPoint has a feature that does that very thing.  Here’s how to use it:

PowerPoint 2007

1. Click on the Office button.
2. Select Publish.
3. Select Create Handouts in Microsoft Office Word.
4. In the dialog box that opens, select your preferred page layout.
5. Select Paste or Paste link*.  Paste link will update the Word document when you make changes to the PowerPoint presentation.  You will be asked if you want to update it each time you open your Word doc.
6. Click OK.

PowerPoint 2003

1. Go to the File menu.
2. Select Send To.
3. Select Microsoft Office Word.
4. In the dialog box that opens, select your preferred page layout.
5. Select Paste or Paste link*.  (In my experience, Paste link didn’t work properly in 2003.) 
6. Click OK.

* If you use Paste link, don’t move your files, as the link can easily be broken.