Convoluted flow charts? Tacky, out-of-focus graphics? Huge blocks of text? Welcome to PowerPoint Hell ... doesn’t mean sticking bullet-point icons in front of paragraphs. As a rule of thumb ...

You can buck the stereotype of PowerPoint ... the six icons inside a dotted square. Each icon represents an option to insert a special feature. For example, you can insert a table, a chart ...

double-click this icon, and the deck will launch instantly in presentation mode, without needing to open the PowerPoint application. You can format any kind of chart so each segment animates ...

Would-be PowerPointers scan an e-library of some 4,000 diagrams–including everything from bar graphs to flow charts–pick ones that fit their presentation, then download PowerPoint-ready files ...