Why PowerPoint beats Word

 I just had one of those “DUH” moments.  You know, the ones where you just want to smack yourself on the forehead and say, “What the HECK was I thinking”?!  

When I started making products for TpT (about a month and a half ago) I used Microsoft Word to develop my products.  If you’re doing the same thing, I urge you to STOP NOW!!!  I don’t have a problem with Word.  Word is good for some things.  I’m actually writing this blog on Word before I transfer it to my Blogger site.  But Word is NOT good for making TpT products.  

I have learned that you want to use POWERPOINT for creating products.  It’s so much easier!!!  I really wish I had figured this out earlier.  In PowerPoint, you can move images around easily and copy (or delete) entire slides.  It’s just SO much more user-friendly if you have to edit your final product.  

This isn't intended to be a full tutorial on how to use PowerPoint, but here's one tip to get you started:

Change your paper size!

After you open up a new "presentation"  you will probably want to change your paper size. PowerPoint automatically starts projects at a size that is appropriate if you are going to show your pages  to a large audience using a projector.However, this is not an appropriate size if you want your pages to be printed.  So, you're going to want to click on the "design" tab at the top of the page.  (I'm using the newest version of PowerPoint.  Your screen might look a little different if you are using an earlier version.

In the newest version of PowerPoint you will see a tab that says "slide size".  Click that, and you will see a drop down menu of slide sizes.  Click on "Custom Slide Size".  From there, you will see another drop down menu.  If you want printable paper, choose "Letter Paper" .  Be sure to change the setting from "Landscape" to "Portrait"  if needed.  Then click "Ok" and you're set to go.

 In older versions you will need to take an extra step.  After opening the "Design" tab, click on "Page Set up".  This will bring you to the drop down menu where you can find the setting for "Letter Paper".  

You can also manually enter your page sizes if you want something other than letter sized paper.

Have fun experimenting with PowerPoint!