Slide Software Techniques

Chapters: 5 | Corpus: ~100 theoretical transcripts on presentation software and animation | Generated: 2026-11-05

Companion to presentation-design (the what and why: process, layout, type, color, data, animation principles). This skill is the how in the software. Every size in pt assumes a 1920×1080 px canvas.

How to Use This Skill

• Identify the software (and version or OS: Windows/Mac PowerPoint menus differ slightly), then open the chapter from the index.
• Give UI names in English with the Italian in parentheses when the user works in Italian (e.g. Slide Master (Schema diapositiva), Morph (Morphing), Magic Move (Spostamento magico)).
• Before suggesting an effect, check the destination: will the deck be presented in the same software and version (ch05)?

Core Techniques

File setup (ch01): Design → Slide Size → Custom 1920×1080 px (67.73×38.1 cm). Put everything that repeats in the Slide Master. Place 4 margin guides on the Master only (≈31 cm left/right and 16 top / 15 bottom from the centre). Set theme colors (3–4 real colors, all 12 slots filled, never Recent or More Colors) and theme fonts. Body placeholder indent levels act as paragraph styles: apply them with Tab and restyle the whole deck from the Master. Footer: no date, inner margins 0, Header & Footer → Apply to All. Save as .potx with an instructions slide. Chart templates (.crtx) are saved on the computer, not in the file, so make one per chart type. Paste Excel charts with the link kept.

Text handling (ch02): three autofit modes. Never use Shrink text on overflow (it causes the "randomly shrinking text"). Use Resize shape to fit text for free text and Do not Autofit for fixed cards, pills and tabs. Anchor titles at the top. Set line spacing to Exactly or Multiple 1.1–1.15 (big titles 0.8–0.95), and use space after (8–32 pt) instead of empty returns. Type inside the shape instead of laying a box on top, and use Change Shape to swap the shape.

Speed (ch02): Ctrl/Cmd+Y repeats the last action. Shift-drag constrains a move, Ctrl+Shift-drag duplicates. Keep the Selection Pane open to rename, lock and hide objects. Group each unit, then Align and Distribute. Double-click Format Painter to apply it repeatedly. Use Change Picture. PNG icons: Brightness +100% turns black to white, −100% turns white to black. Merge Shapes → Subtract makes text masks and cut-outs. Card shadow: downward, 85–90% transparency.

Morph / Magic Move (ch03): Morph goes on the second slide in PowerPoint; Magic Move goes on the first slide in Keynote. Build the final composition first, duplicate it, then change the earlier state. Durations: about 1 s instead of the 2 s default (0.5–0.7 s for small moves, 2 s only for big or 3D travel). Objects must exist on both slides: use 100% transparency or park them off-slide instead of deleting. Morph doesn't see inside groups, so when grouping changes, add an auto-advancing pass-through slide. Animations last 0.3–0.5 s, with delays of 0.1 s (fast fill) or 0.2 s (a sequence that must be noticed). Use On Click only for what you're saying right now. Always turn on Smooth Start/End. Focus: active item 100%, others 30%. Loops: motion path + Auto-Reverse + Repeat until end of slide, 5–10 s.

Other tools (ch04): Morph ≈ Magic Move ≈ Canva Match & Move (Dinamiche combinate) ≈ Figma Smart Animate. Google Slides has none, so duplicate the slide for each state and use a 0.3 s Fade. Google Slides: custom line spacing 1.1–1.2, brand colors in Theme colors, and to link a grouped object put a transparent shape on top. Keynote: Play in Window keeps presenter view during calls. Canva: respect a template's line counts and transpose its three colors. Interactive PDF: a clickable index, a home icon and prev/next arrows, with every link tested.

Export & presenting (ch05): design in the destination software. Deliver Canva or Google decks as a link, not a .pptx. Keynote → PowerPoint loses Magic Move, transparencies, fonts and arrows. Always keep a PDF backup, and check it for builds that stacked images. Present full screen with presenter view and a remote. Online, share only the audience window and keep to one-click appearances. Rehearse alone, then with people, then in the venue.

Chapter Index

Topic Index

• 3D models → ch03
• Animations pane, timings, delays → ch03
• Autofit / shrinking text → ch02
• Canva → ch04, ch05
• Chart templates (.crtx), Excel links → ch01
• Figma Slides → ch04
• Footer, page numbers → ch01
• Glass effect → ch03
• Google Slides → ch04
• Guides & margins → ch01
• Icons (recolor PNG/SVG) → ch02
• Interactive slides / PDF → ch04
• Keynote / Magic Move → ch03, ch04, ch05
• Line spacing, space after → ch02
• Loop animation → ch03
• Masks (text, image), Merge Shapes → ch02, ch03
• Morph recipes (zoom, slider, scroll, gallery, cards) → ch03
• Presenter view, remote, webinar setup → ch05
• Selection Pane, shortcuts → ch02
• Slide Master, layouts, placeholders → ch01
• SmartArt → ch02
• Tables → ch02
• Templates (.potx) → ch01
• Theme colors / fonts → ch01

Related Skills

• presentation-design: design principles, structure, type scale, color, data and animation guidelines.
• anthropic-skills:pptx: generating .pptx files programmatically.
• designcraft-expert, vectorcraft-expert: layout and vector work in ArtCraft apps.

Scope & Limits

Techniques documented for recent PowerPoint (Microsoft 365), Keynote, Google Slides, Canva and Figma Slides. Menus move between versions: if a command isn't where described, search the app's command box (Tell me / Search) for the English or Italian name rather than inventing a path.