Zoom in while presenting - PPT 2013

Screenshots are often used in presentations, for instance to show the interface of software, dialog boxes, an internet website and so on. The problem does not lie in the use of the screenshot itself but in the fact that in the majority of cases the screenshot is too big and not readable enough. The further you find yourself from the projection screen the less you can spot the details. That is irritating for the audience and it hurts efficiency.

What can you do about it?

The art consists of zooming in on the screenshot. You can do that using several methods. There are apps that let you zoom in on details. ZoomIt from Microsoft is one of them and it is free:
ZoomIt

There is also Microsoft PowerPoint helper, but despite the name this is not a Microsoft product.

I have tested both under Windows 10, I prefer ZoomIt that allows much more flexibility. The little app lets you zoom in on your presentation screen by using a keyboard hotkey. You can zoom in on your screen anytime and everywhere you like. You can also zoom in while the presentation is running.

You can annotate (write on your screen, draw shapes to emphasize details like arrows and lines). If you like you can also use LiveZoom so you can show while working in the program itself.

There is an example below of a zoomed picture with annotations, as you can see you can even type on your screen during the zoom.

What can you do in PPT?

Method 1 : make use of the navigation bar and the zoom button

During your presentation move the cursor to the bottom left of your screen, you will see the navigation bar appear. See my previous article for a detailed description:

Use navigation bar in slide show (update)

If you use the presenter view (Alt+F5) you can do the same by clicking on the Zoom button at the bottom. Hover over your slide, the orange rectangle indicates the region you will zoom. You will see a magnifier class with a + inside. Click to zoom.

For more information about presenter view see my previous articles:
Presenter view
en
Presenter view - 2

Method 2 : use animation to zoom in on a detail of the screenshot

Let us take the example of the start tab of the Microsoft Word ribbon. You want to zoom in on every group of the ribbon, enlarge it and show it in the middle of your screen. The enlarged screen detail must then disappear upon a click.

Below there is a screenshot of the Home ribbon. To make a screenshot you can use:

• the PrtScreen button on your keyboard,
• or you can use the screen capture function in PPT,
• or you can use an external application like SnagIt.

Word 2013 - Home ribbon

Suppose you want to zoom in on the first group of the ribbon. To do that we will use the screen capture function in PTT, close all other programs:

• open Microsoft Word, go to PPT click Insert - in the Images group click Screenshot, choose Screen clipping, 
• drag with the cursor (+), covering the clipboard group and let go of the mouse button. 
• the screenshot will appear in the middle of your slide.
• enlarge the picture by dragging the handles.

Draw a rectangle (no fill) surrounding the group. Add an arrow that connects the rectangle with the picture.

Add the animation, first make the rectangle appear automatically (with previous), let the arrow and picture follow simultaneously with a click. The next click will take you to the next slide.

To make things easier you can duplicate the slide and adjust the position of the rectangle and the arrow while replacing the picture. Copy the animation sequence.

Methode 3: On a copy of the screenshot, crop the picture till only the clipboard group remains. Then animate it.

After you made the screenshot of the Home ribbon in Word, copy it and align it with the original. Now crop the picture till only the clipboard group remains.

Then apply the animation. Begin with an automatic start effect e.g. appear (with previous), followed by the emphasis effect Grow and shrink, the zoom percentage can be increased in the effect options, every group needs its own percentage. The disadvantage of using grow and shrink is that it always operates from the middle of the object and can become blurry and disappear from view. To avoid this I added an animation path so that nothing disappears from view.

Repeat the procedure for the other groups. The animation path will need adjusting.

Watch/Download the PPT-file on my OneDrive. Slide one is the slide with the original screenshot. Slide 2-6 pertain to method 2, slide 7-11 to method 3.
Zoom in during presentation

Remark!
Users that have PPT 2016 and later can also make use of the new Morph transition.