Drag and Drop enhancement for PowerPoint

These guidelines are suggestions for creating and using resources that feature the drag and drop software macro that the RSC has produced for use with Microsoft PowerPoint (only for versions later than PowerPoint 97). This allows objects on the screen in the slide show view to be selected and repositioned. The macro feature has been trialled and tested by several chemistry teachers. These guidelines include advice relating to possible problems but please note that the Royal Society of Chemistry is not able to provide further technical support. There are three versions of the drag and drop feature. Objects may be: 1. dropped anywhere on the screen; 2. only dropped on specified target areas; 3. dropped anywhere on the screen but will not overlap other drag objects. Teachers may use this feature to develop a very wide range of interactive activities for students both within the classroom eg with an interactive white board or more economically simply with a data projector and mouse. They may also be accessed by students independently. There are several examples of files using these features available to download and use freely for non-profit education purposes from an RSC website: [Link] Any of these sample files may be used to create a new PowerPoint file with this feature: simply open an existing one, delete the content from a slide and replace this a new design. The drag and drop macro may then be added to any object on the slide. DRAG AND DROP ENHANCEMENT FOR POWERPOINT.............................1 OPENING DRAG AND DROP POWERPOINT FILES........................................3 USING EXISTING DRAG AND DROP POWERPOINT FILES.........................5
Operating the Drag and Drop enhancement................................................................................................5 Closing a slideshow after using the Drag and Drop enhancement.............................................................5

IF A USER WANTED TO SAVE THEIR CHANGES EG TO SUBMIT TO A TEACHER OR KEEP AS A REVISION AID, THEY SHOULD INSTEAD PRESS

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THE ESCAPE KEY TO REVEAL THE POWERPOINT EDIT VIEW AND THEN SAVE THE FILE TO AN APPROPRIATE LOCATION ON THEIR COMPUTER..5 SUGGESTIONS FOR USING THE DRAG AND DROP ENHANCEMENT...........6 CREATING NEW DRAG AND DROP POWERPOINT FILES..........................7
Adding the DragThis macro to objects.........................................................................................................7 Applying the DragThis macro to grouped objects.......................................................................................7 Applying the QuitWithoutSaving macro......................................................................................................7 Moving between different slides....................................................................................................................8

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Opening Drag and Drop PowerPoint files

A PowerPoint file containing the RSC drag and drop macro should open and the macro work automatically without the need to change any settings. If the Security Warning window below appears tick the Always trust macros from this source box and then click Enable Macros. If it appears then this should only need to be done the first time a file containing the macro is opened.

If the file opens in the Slideshow view of PowerPoint with black borders on either side of the screen then the drag and drop feature will not work properly. If this does happen, select Browse from the menu bar and choose Full Screen. To change the content of a slide, choose the Edit menu (to the left of Browse), and then select Edit Slides.

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Browse menu

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Using existing Drag and Drop PowerPoint files

Operating the Drag and Drop enhancement
The drag and drop feature only operates when the slide show is running ie it will not work in the PowerPoint slide design and edit view. Objects associated with the DragThis macro can be identified in slideshow view by the mouse cursor changing from an arrow pointer to a finger pointing symbol. 1. When the pointing finger symbol appears, the object may be selected by a single mouse left click and then releasing the mouse button; 2. Move the mouse to re-position the object (ie drag it) across the screen; 3. Fix the object in place (ie drop it) using a second single mouse left click. To avoid confusion that might arise through a user mouse clicking in error, most of the normal keyboard functionality and animation effects available with PowerPoint has been disabled. For instance, the standard advance to the next slide on mouse click or key press feature doesnt work and any object animations will not operate. However, hyperlinks still function and so it is possible for a resource to have several slides which the user may navigate between by clicking active areas on the screen ( ie hyperlinks).

Closing a slideshow after using the Drag and Drop enhancement

The Close Presentation button positioned in the bottom right corner of every slide may be clicked at any time to close the PowerPoint file down without returning to the Edit view or saving any changes made through re-positioning objects. This ensures that all moveable objects are returned to their starting arrangement. This effect is achieved using a second macro called QuitWithoutSaving. If a user wanted to save their changes eg to submit to a teacher or keep as a revision aid, they should instead press the Escape key to reveal the PowerPoint Edit view and then save the file to an appropriate location on their computer.

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Suggestions for using the Drag and Drop enhancement

Essential technical needs for use in the classroom: data projector and mouse Improvements: interactive whiteboard (IWB) for ~ 1500 wireless mouse and keyboard for ~ 80 Being able to re-organise objects on the screen is often given as an example of the benefits of using an interactive whiteboard (IWB). The drag and drop enhancement for PowerPoint allows activities using this feature to be created very easily and without specialist software. A wireless mouse allows students to remain in their places and pass the mouse between them, thus involving many or all of the students in the activity. This provides one of the key features of an IWB and needs only a data projector. Even if an IWB is in place, using a wireless mouse with it allows the same functionality but avoids the time and sometimes embarrassment arising from individuals needing to come to the screen itself, obscuring the view of others and not being able to reach all areas of the screen. Creating such resources in PowerPoint means that students may access the resource independently from a computer anywhere. This is in contrast to activities created using the most software that comes with IWBs, which is often designed to only allow the activities to work with the board. Activities like these may all be supported in this way:

Card Organisation Balancing Reaction Equations Assemble / Annotate Diagrams Match Pairs Cover and Write Activities for learning factual content Sort according to category Mind Maps

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Creating new Drag and Drop PowerPoint files

Adding the DragThis macro to objects
Open any PowerPoint file that already makes use of the Drag and Drop enhancement. Delete the existing content, either by selecting objects and deleting them or by deleting all of the existing slides. 1. Place any object on the slide and format this as required eg text box, image, drawing object etc; 2. Select the object, then select Slide Show menu, Action Settings, click the Macro option and (if it isnt already selected) choose DragThis from the dropdown menu; 3. Thats all!

Applying the DragThis macro to grouped objects

When designing a PowerPoint file it is often convenient to group several objects together to make a single entity eg combining text and images. If this is done it will not be possible to apply the DragThis macro to the grouped object. However, it is possible to convert the grouped object into a picture that may then have the macro applied to it: 1. Prepare the grouped object carefully (care because after this has been converted into a picture it will not be possible to edit it); it is sensible to keep a copy of the original grouped object elsewhere in case it is necessary to amend it at a later date; 2. Cut (or copy) the grouped object eg by selecting it and choosing Edit menu, Cut or Copy: this places a copy on the Clipboard; 3. Select Edit menu, Paste Special and then choose one of the picture options available. The quality of the resulting image varies (unfortunately there is often a slight deterioration in image resolution) so it is worth experimenting to find the most appropriate choice for the particular grouped image used. However, the Picture (PNG) option often produces the good results.

Applying the QuitWithoutSaving macro

The Close Presentation button present on the original RSC file can deleted or repositioned on a slide as desired. Alternatively, any other object on a slide can be set to activate the Close Presentation macro when it is clicked when a slide show is displayed. 1. Place any object on the slide and format this as required eg text box, image, drawing object etc; 2. Select the object, then select Slide Show menu, Action Settings, click the Macro option and QuitWithoutSaving from the drop-down menu. Page 7

Moving between different slides

The default advance slide on mouse click feature usually available in PowerPoint has been disabled to prevent users inadvertently moving elsewhere within the file when they had only intended to re-position an object. If it is useful for a drag and drop enhanced resource to contain several slides then these may be navigated using hyperlinks. PowerPoint allows hyperlink action buttons to be placed on a slide: 1. Ensure the Drawing toolbar is displayed (View menu, Toolbars, Drawing); 2. From the Drawing toolbar select AutoShapes, Action Buttons and a range of choices are presented eg the first is an all-purpose link button. Select the appropriate one and drag its shape on the slide. An Action Settings window pops-up and the Hyperlink to option allows the target of the link to be selected. 3. Note that a hyperlink placed on the Master slide (displayed by selecting View menu, Master, Slide Master) will appear in exactly the same place on every slide in the presentation. A link on the master slide pointing to an index slide containing links to all the other slides produces a navigation system that allows any part of the resource to be displayed in two mouse clicks. Alternatively, any object on a slide may be designated a hyperlink as appropriate eg text box, image, drawing object etc: Select the object, then select Insert menu, Hyperlink, to display either the same Action Settings window referred to above or the Insert Hyperlink window. For the second option, note the choices available to the left of the window eg most useful in the current context is the Place in This Document choice.

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