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I need to display a PowerPoint presentation the covers only the top say, third, of a screen.

The presentation will be used in an assembly where the projector screen is only lowered a small amount to allow things to happen on stage below.

The first way I thought of doing this was just blacking out the bottom of the screen with a box. However, this doesn't work well when you use themes for the slides which are designed to cover the whole slide (most of which is now blacked out). Animations also then look weird (because they are animating the whole slide as opposed to just the top section with content).

I've tried changing the size of the presentation, so that themes now work correctly, but when you present the presentation, it is centred to the middle of the screen (similar to how a film would look, with black bars above and below the video).

What I want to be able to do is align this to the top of the screen. Is this possible?

I'm using PowerPoint 2010, and Windows 7.

Thanks in advance, and if anyone has a better idea of how to accomplish this, please let me know!

EDIT: This is what I get at the moment when presenting: enter image description here

This is what I want: enter image description here

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Have you tried editing the Slide Masters? Look under View->Slide Master – Justin Pearce May 4 '11 at 18:48
@Justin Pearce In what way? – Connor W May 4 '11 at 20:00
Editing the slide masters to fit your layout requirements. – Justin Pearce May 4 '11 at 20:11
@Justin Pearce It's not really the position of the content that is the problem, it's the position of the whole slide itself. You can change the dimentions of the whole slideshow by going to Design > Page Setup. Using the Slide Master to do this does the same thing. The problem is that the presentation is narrower than the screen, much like a film where you get letterboxing. I want to move the presentation from the middle of the screen, to the top, with all the black space just on the bottom. I can post a picture if it makes it easier to visualise? – Connor W May 5 '11 at 20:44
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3 Answers

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What this boils down to is more of display settings and page setup. Even though you are only using a portion of the screen area, you have to design as if the whole screen is in use. If the whole screen is in use for example, if its a 16x9 screen, page setup should equal that as well as your display settings. Then using your slide master, setup guides that will help you design the portion of the screen your going to use.

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You can do this with the built in Magnifier function.

  • Open the start menu and search for Magnifier.
  • Once magnifier is open, make sure the zoom level is at 100%.
  • Then click on "View" and select "Docked".

It will create a strip on the top portion of the screen what mirrors the area where your mouse is. Now click and drag the border of the Magnified window until it is the right size.

You will have a tiny bit of horizontal scrolling due to the thick borders in Aero. The Magnifier will also display a magnifying glass icon where you left the window of the magnifier application, so it'll be best to move that to the bottom of your screen.

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up vote 0 down vote

Winsplit Revolution can be used to move a fullscreen powerpoint presentation into a different segment of the screen, including the top third.

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