The Problem:
I get sales reports from our reps once a week (well, that's the theory) so I can create a department-wide memo. Now the VP has decided that she needs a presentation made from this material.
The Solution:
You can paste bits and pieces into PowerPoint as needed, as you'd expect, but your best bet here is probably to use Word's feature for exporting a document outline directly to PowerPoint as the skeleton for a presentation.
Set up the document as a standard outline using Heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on) or equivalent styles with the appropriate heading levels set (in the "Outline level" drop-down list in the Paragraph dialog box). The easiest way to arrange the outline is to choose View » Outline and work in Outline view. Each Heading 1 paragraph starts a new slide, each Heading 2 paragraph is a first-level bullet point, and each Heading 3 paragraph is a second-level bullet point; any further levels of heading will induce eyestrain or narcolepsy in your audience.
When the outline is ready, choose File » Send To » Microsoft Office PowerPoint (or File » Send To » Microsoft PowerPoint in Office XP and Office 2000). Word starts PowerPoint if it's not already running, creates a new presentation, and enters the text on the slides. Save the presentation immediately, apply a slide design (Format » Slide Design), change the slide layout if you want (Format » Slide Layout), and add any graphics, videos, sounds, and other finishing touches you deem necessary.
Put a Word Table on a PowerPoint Slide
The Problem:
I'm trying to copy a fully formatted table from a Word document to a PowerPoint slide. But when I paste, all I get is the text of the table, without formatting, in a new placeholder.
The Solution:
In Word, position your cursor in the table, choose Table » Select » Table, and press Ctrl+C to copy the table. Switch to PowerPoint, choose Edit » Paste Special, select the Microsoft Office Word Document Object item (Microsoft Word Document Object in Office XP or Office 2000) in the As list, and click the OK button.
When pasting a table directly onto a PowerPoint slide, you may need to adjust the table dimensions or the font size to get the table to appear at a suitable size and readability on the slide. You can edit the embedded table in PowerPoint by double-clicking it, but for major repairs, it's usually easier to return to Word, adjust the table, and then copy and paste it again.
Another approach you may want to try is pasting a Word table into a PowerPoint table. Create the table in Word, and copy it to the Clipboard. In PowerPoint, choose Insert » Table, create a table with the same number of columns and rows, select the table, and paste in the Word table.