Efficient Elements for presentations

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Handbook

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Imprint

Contact

Efficient Elements GmbH

Rathausplatz 1

85579 Neubiberg

Germany

+49 89 9545 980-0

[email protected]

www.efficient-elements.com

Managing Directors

Felix Dollinger, Dr. Bastian Schittny

Headquarters

Neubiberg, Germany

Commercial Register

Munich, Germany, HRB 253953

The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of

a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and therefore

for general use.

 
Efficient Elements. Click. Done. 
Contents 
Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 3 
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 6 
Welcome ............................................................................................................................................. 6 
Installation .......................................................................................................................................... 6 
Update ................................................................................................................................................ 8 
Settings ............................................................................................................................................... 9 
EE Task Pane, EE Button and  EE Home Menu .............................................................................................. 9 
Assign Shortcuts .................................................................................................................................................. 9 
Edit Efficient Elements for presentations templates ................................................................................ 10 
Quick Tour ............................................................................................................................................. 12 
Presentation ..................................................................................................................................... 13 
Wizards .............................................................................................................................................. 14 
Smart Elements ................................................................................................................................ 16 
Project plan (Gantt Chart) .............................................................................................................................. 16 
Productivity Tools ............................................................................................................................ 16 
Position | Size | Shape ..................................................................................................................................... 16 
Color .................................................................................................................................................................... 17 
Text ...................................................................................................................................................................... 17 
Navigation & View ............................................................................................................................. 17 
Reference .............................................................................................................................................. 18 
Presentation ..................................................................................................................................... 18 
New Presentation ............................................................................................................................................. 18 
Check .................................................................................................................................................................. 19 
Save and Send .................................................................................................................................................. 20 
Wizards .............................................................................................................................................. 21 
Agenda Wizard .................................................................................................................................................. 21 
Master Wizard .................................................................................................................................................... 22 
Element Wizard ................................................................................................................................................. 23 
Text Wizard ........................................................................................................................................................ 24 
Format Wizard ................................................................................................................................................... 26 
Smart Elements ................................................................................................................................ 28 
Project plan (Gantt Chart) .............................................................................................................................. 28 
Position ............................................................................................................................................. 31 
Align ..................................................................................................................................................................... 31 
Distribute Horizontally .................................................................................................................................... 31 
Distribute Vertically .......................................................................................................................................... 31 
Swap ................................................................................................................................................................... 31 
Dock .................................................................................................................................................................... 32 
Stack ................................................................................................................................................................... 32 
Golden Canon ................................................................................................................................................... 32 
Size .................................................................................................................................................... 33 
Magic Resizer ..................................................................................................................................................... 33 

Efficient Elements. Click. Done. 
Width / Height / Width and Height ............................................................................................................... 33 
Stretch ................................................................................................................................................................ 33 
Fill ........................................................................................................................................................................ 34 
Shape ................................................................................................................................................ 34 
Align Process Chain ......................................................................................................................................... 34 
Align Angles ....................................................................................................................................................... 34 
Adjust Pentagon Headers ............................................................................................................................... 35 
Align Block Arrows ............................................................................................................................................ 35 
Align Rounded Rectangles ............................................................................................................................. 35 
Color .................................................................................................................................................. 36 
Set Fill Color ...................................................................................................................................................... 36 
Set Line Color .................................................................................................................................................... 36 
Set Font Color ................................................................................................................................................... 36 
Color Bar ............................................................................................................................................................ 36 
Pick Color from Screen .................................................................................................................................... 37 
Convert to RGB.................................................................................................................................................. 37 
Convert to Theme Colors ................................................................................................................................ 37 
Text .................................................................................................................................................... 37 
Set Margins ........................................................................................................................................................ 37 
Fit Form to Text ................................................................................................................................................. 38 
Wrap Text ........................................................................................................................................................... 38 
Split Text Box ..................................................................................................................................................... 38 
Spell Check ........................................................................................................................................................ 38 
Merge Text Boxes .............................................................................................................................................. 38 
Show / Hide Bullet / Numbering ................................................................................................................... 39 
Decrease / Increase Indent Level .................................................................................................................. 39 
Apply Default Bullets / Numbering ............................................................................................................... 39 
Navigation & View ............................................................................................................................. 39 
Hide Selected Objects ..................................................................................................................................... 39 
Unhide Hidden Objects ................................................................................................................................... 39 
Go to Slide .......................................................................................................................................................... 40 
History – Previous / Next Slide ....................................................................................................................... 40 
Expert Tools ...................................................................................................................................... 40 
Insert Selected Slides as Pictures ................................................................................................................. 40 
Show / Hide Slide Size ..................................................................................................................................... 40 
Delete Redundant Masters ............................................................................................................................. 40 
Copy Summary to Clipboard ......................................................................................................................... 40 
Optimize Free form .......................................................................................................................................... 41 
Select Similar Shapes ...................................................................................................................................... 41 
Delete or Replace All Texts ............................................................................................................................. 41 
Decompose Tables .......................................................................................................................................... 41 
Paste on Selected Slides ................................................................................................................................. 41 
Create Motion Path .......................................................................................................................................... 41 
Print Only Used Notes Pages ......................................................................................................................... 42 
Set Black and White Mode .............................................................................................................................. 42 
Find in Windows Explorer ............................................................................................................................... 42 
Set Style for New Style Elements .................................................................................................................. 42 
Apply Template to Current Presentation .................................................................................................... 42 
Admin Tools ...................................................................................................................................... 42 

5 
Contents  ·  Welcome 
 
Efficient Elements. Click. Done. 
Update Thumbnails ......................................................................................................................................... 42 
Tag Inspector .................................................................................................................................................... 42 
Shape Dimensions ........................................................................................................................................... 42 
Single Out Objects on Selected Slides ......................................................................................................... 43 
Open EE Folders ............................................................................................................................................... 43 
Administration ...................................................................................................................................... 44 
Customization................................................................................................................................... 44 
Deployment ...................................................................................................................................... 44 
Support ................................................................................................................................................. 45 
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) .................................................................................................. 45 
E-mail Support .................................................................................................................................. 45 
Training ............................................................................................................................................. 45 

Introduction · Welcome

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Introduction

Welcome

Welcome to Efficient Elements. Please use this

handbook as a reference when working with Ef-

ficient Elements for presentations. We hope Effi-

cient Elements for presentations will make your

life with Microsoft PowerPoint a whole lot easier.

HINT: We recommend making use of the ‘Page

Thumbnails Panel’ of Acrobat Reader for easy navi-

gation through the document. You can open the

panel by clicking on the corresponding icon in the

top left corner of your Acrobat Reader window.

Installation

The installation of Efficient Elements for presen-

tations is very easy and takes only a few minutes.

System requirements

▪ Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 / 2013 /

2016 / 2019 or Office 365 (32- or 64-bit)

▪ Microsoft Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10

(32- or 64-bit)

▪ Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 or newer

▪ Shared Network Drive / SharePoint 2013

or newer (on-premise) or SharePoint

Online (optional, only required for EE

Sync)

Download

You can download the installation file from our

website:

www.efficient-elements.com/downloads/

In case you already have received a license key,

you can insert it on the website indicated above

to check if there is a customer specific edition

available that has been customized to fit your

company’s corporate design. In case there is no

customer specific version available for you,

please contact us for further information on cus-

tomization options.

Installation

Once the download of either the generic edition

or the customer specific edition has been com-

pleted, please execute the installation file (msi).

The installation instructions will guide you

through the installation process.

HINT: If you are in a corporate environment,

please check with your IT department before in-

stalling Efficient Elements for presentations. Your

IT department might have to install the add-in for

you.

Introduction · Installation

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Our standard installer package is installed per-

machine and requires admin privileges.

If you do not have admin privileges you can

download our per-user installer package here:

www.efficient-elements.com/deployment

The default installation path of Efficient Ele-

ments for presentations depends on the instal-

lation type:

▪ Per-user installation:

Local Application Data

▪ Per-machine installation:

C:\Program Files (x86) and

D:\ProgramData

Activation

In order to use Efficient Elements for presenta-

tions, it is necessary to activate the product us-

ing a valid license key. To activate your license,

an internet connection is required. Once Effi-

cient Elements for presentations has been in-

stalled, it will prompt you to enter your license

information upon starting Microsoft Power-

Point. The computer will then establish a con-

nection with our license server. If for some rea-

son you should not be able to activate the prod-

uct during installation, you will be prompted the

next time you start Microsoft PowerPoint.

HINT: If you do not have a license key yet but wish

to start using Efficient Elements for presentations

right away, you may also choose the ‘30 Day Trial’

option. Once the trial period is over, you will be

prompted to insert your license key again.

You can use your license key as many times as

you need to re-install Efficient Elements for

presentations on your machine. Please make

sure your license key does not get stolen or

Introduction · Update

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

passed on to anyone. We will keep track of all in-

stallations and not tolerate license abuse.

Activation in corporate network

Should your company network not permit an

automatic activation, please contact us. We will

discuss the possibilities for activation within

your corporate network with your IT depart-

ment.

Update

From time to time a new version of Efficient Ele-

ments is published that contains either new fea-

tures or bug-fixes. In case you are using a cus-

tomer specific edition of Efficient Elements, an-

other reason for updates may be that there have

been changes to your corporate design which

have been carried over to the templates in your

specific edition of Efficient Elements. In either

case we recommend installing these updates to

further improve your experience with Efficient El-

ements for presentations.

HINT: If you are in a corporate environment, up-

dates may automatically be installed through

your IT department. Please check with your IT de-

partment before installing any update.

For standard per-user-installations, you will be

automatically informed by the software, once an

update is available. If there is an update availa-

ble, you will be prompted to download the up-

date shortly after starting PowerPoint. You can

choose to start the download right away or post-

pone the update to a later point in time.

In case you need to interrupt the download, you

will be prompted again the following day to re-

attempt the download.

After the download of the update has been com-

pleted successfully, you will need to close Pow-

erPoint before it can be installed.

Please make sure not to interrupt the installa-

tion process, as the installation might be cor-

rupted otherwise and you may not be able to use

the add-in until you have reinstalled it manually.

Introduction · Settings

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Settings

EE Task Pane, EE Button and

EE Home Menu

Show | Hide the EE Task Pane

After installing Efficient Elements you should

find a task pane labeled 'EE' or 'Efficient Ele-

ments' on the right side of the PowerPoint win-

dow. If needed, you can close the EE Task Pane

by clicking on the 'x' located in the top right cor-

ner of the task pane. To open the EE Task Pane

again, please click on the EE Button located on

the left side of the PowerPoint 'Home' tab.

Language settings

It is possible to change the language of Efficient

Elements for presentations. You will find the lan-

guage setting in the EE Home Menu located be-

low the EE Button on the left side of the Power-

Point 'Home' tab. Currently the following lan-

guages are available:

▪ English

▪ French

▪ German

▪ Spanish

▪ Italian

▪ Portuguese

▪ Russian

▪ Simplified Chinese

▪ Traditional Chinese

HINT: If your preferred language is not listed

above, please contact us. We might be able to

add your preferred language in a future update.

User Interface Mode

You can adjust the user interface of Efficient Ele-

ments for presentations. You will find the user in-

terface mode setting in the EE Home Menu lo-

cated on the left side of the PowerPoint 'Home'

tab.

The following presets are available:

▪ Basic – display only the most important

functions

▪ Expert – the default setting displaying all

functions

HINT: If you would like to make further adjust-

ments to the user interface, we can offer you a

customized edition of Efficient Elements. Please

Assign Shortcuts

It is possible to assign your personal shortcuts to

each of the buttons on the EE Task Pane. To do

so, right-click on the button to be assigned and

choose ‘Assign Shortcut’. The ‘Assign Shortcut’

Introduction · Settings

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

dialog will appear. Simply follow the instructions

in the dialog to assign your preferred shortcut.

HINT: Please note that your personal shortcut will

have priority over any built-in shortcut.

In case you wish to remove a shortcut, right-click

again on the respective button and click ‘Re-

move Shortcut’.

Keyboard Shortcuts

available assigned

Edit Efficient Elements for presenta-

tions templates

You can adjust the templates integrated in Effi-

cient Elements. To do so, click on the file icon ‘E’

on top of the EE Task Pane to open the ‘New

Presentation’ dialog.

Select one of the templates (e.g. ‘Box’ in the ex-

ample above) and open it. Or click at the little

menu to the right of the template and choose

one of the following commands:

Click on ‘Make Default for New Presentations’ if

you would like PowerPoint to automatically

open this template for you when you start Power

Point. The template will be copied to the Mi-

crosoft ‘Templates’ folder.

By the ‘Actions’ menu it is possible to add your

current presentation to the template list or to

‘Import a Style Package’. It is only possible to im-

port EE4P-Style Packages.

Introduction · Settings

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

There are some more features applicable to im-

ported Style Packages and Quick Customization

styles:

Select ‘Edit Template’ to make adjustments to

the selected template, e.g. insert a logo or edit

the color palette. The template will be opened in

PowerPoint and can be adjusted like any other

PowerPoint file. Please note that these changes

cannot be undone once you have saved and

closed the template. If in doubt, please save a

backup-copy before making any changes.

To export the Style Package or Quick Customiza-

tion style choose the style and not the template

and click on the little menu to the right.

Quick Tour · Settings

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Quick Tour

What is Efficient Elements for presentations?

Efficient Elements for presentations is an add-in

for Microsoft PowerPoint that helps you create

more professional presentations in less time.

What are the key benefits?

Increased quality of your presentation:

▪ Improved adherence to your Corporate

Design with no additional effort (or actu-

ally, even less effort)

▪ More precise alignment and sizing of

slide elements

Reduced effort in slide creation:

▪ A study with more than 100 users shows

a time saving of more than 2 hours per

week for an average user

Siemens Efficiency Study

In this ‘Quick Tour’, we will give you an overview

of the most important functions of Efficient Ele-

ments for presentation. For more detailed infor-

mation on how to use every single menu and

button, please check the ‘Reference’ section of

this handbook.

The user interface of Efficient Elements for

presentations – the EE Task Pane – is located on

the right side of your PowerPoint window. The

EE Home Menu is located below the EE Button on

the left side of the PowerPoint 'Home' tab.

For an explanation of the EE Home Menu and the

EE Button, please refer to the chapter ‘Settings’.

In the following, the eight main sections of the EE

Task Pane will be introduced:

Quick Tour · Presentation

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Presentation

In the ‘Presentation’ section you will find func-

tions pertaining to the presentation file.

New Presentation

Select a template to start a new presentation.

The available templates depend on your individ-

ual customization.

If you are working on an outdated presentation,

update the design by clicking on ‘Apply template

to entire presentation’ in the drop-down menu.

Check Presentation

Check your presentation for compliance with

your company’s corporate design and interac-

tively fix any issues with just one click. More than

25 rules – and your custom rules if needed:

▪ Corporate colors

▪ Corporate fonts

▪ Bullet formats

▪ Orphaned footnotes

▪ Double or missing spaces

▪ Proofing languages

Save or Send entire Presentations or Selected

Slides

Save the presentation as a PowerPoint, a PDF or

a protected PDF file. Or attach the chosen file

format to a new e-mail.

HINT: By saving the selected slides to the clip-

board you will be able to paste them into an exist-

ing e-mail. Of course you can also choose either

.pptx or .pdf when saving to the clipboard.

Quick Tour · Wizards

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Wizards

The ‘Wizards’ section provides you with a variety

of powerful functions. Please check the ‘Refer-

ence’ section of this handbook for a detailed de-

scription of each Wizard.

Agenda Wizard

Generate and change the agenda or content

pages for your presentation by one click.

Master Wizard

Insert/remove elements in/from the slide mas-

ter.

Map Wizard

The Map Wizard allows you to format maps us-

ing Excel functionality.

HINT: Adjust fill and line color of individual coun-

tries manually using the Excel color palette … or

use Excel‘s Conditional Formatting function for

databased formatting (see example above)

You can create a label for each individual country

(e.g. data point or country name)

The Map Wizard will only recognize maps if they

are grouped – ungrouped maps can be fixed by

regrouping

Element Wizard

Insert elements from a comprehensive library in

the current slide.

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

for presentations



fficient

lements

Insert optional content in the slide master with a

single click of a button

Master Wizard

Quick Tour · Wizards

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Text Wizard

Insert text snippets and special characters in the

current text range.

Format Wizard

Apply predefined formats/positions to any given

element.

My Elements

Easily reuse, manage and share your own favor-

ite elements …

Add/rename/delete folder, add selected slides

and entire presentations, sort elements per drag

and drop, export/import elements …

My Texts

Easily reuse, manage and share your own favor-

ite text snippets …

My Formats

… and formats.

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

for presentations



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lements

Title

Subtitle

Source

Title

Subtitle

Source

Quick Tour · Smart Elements

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Smart Elements

Via the Smart toolbar you can change the set-

tings of Smart Elements directly on the slide:

▪ status information

▪ evaluations

▪ and status indication

HINT: Click on the EE symbol to close the Smart

toolbar in case it is in your way.

There will be more Smart Elements added in the

future.

Project plan (Gantt Chart)

Create detailed project plans with just a few

clicks. Adjust bars and milestones via drag &

drop. Color and label bars, arrows, chevrons,

milestones & position them.

Productivity Tools

Position | Size | Shape

The ‘Position’ section allows you precisely ar-

range objects on a slide. The ‘Size’ section pro-

vides you with all tools needed for adapting the

size of objects. The ‘Shape’ functions help you

make adjustments you would not be able to do

manually (e.g. align process chains and angles).

The Efficient Elements ‘Master Shape Concept’

makes alignment of shapes much more precise

and efficient. The shape that is selected last is

called ‘Master Shape’ and serves as a reference

point for many alignment and sizing functions.

The standard PowerPoint functions do not allow

for an alignment of objects with respect to an-

other specific object:

Efficient Elements lets you choose a reference

object in respect to which all other objects will

be aligned:

Quick Tour · Navigation & View

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Most of the position, size and shape functions

follow the “Master Shape Concept”.

Color

Select a color from your custom color palette

and apply it to selected elements. Available col-

ors depend on your individual customization.

Pick colors from virtually any place on your

screen with the color picker tool. Either apply

color directly or store it in the recent color pal-

ette for later use.

Convert all theme colors in current selection to

RGB values to make the colors independent of

the slide master and theme used. Convert all

matching RGB values in current selection to

theme colors to automatically adapt to the slide

master and theme used.

Text

Functions needed to format text fields and boxes

can be found in the ‘Text’ section. For instance,

if you have trouble with getting the bullets in

your presentations to match your corporate de-

sign, you will love the ‘Bullet and Numbering’

features. One click and your bullets will appear

as they should.

Navigation & View

Navigate long presentations quickly with the

“Navigation” functions and show / hide Objects

Enter number to jump to slide

Jump back to previous slide

Jump forward to next slide

Hide selected Objects

Unhide hidden Objects

Hide / Show Master Objects

Reference · Presentation

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Reference

The following pages will describe each feature of

Efficient Elements in detail. We will go through

the EE Task Pane from top to bottom.

Please note that this view corresponds to the

maximum feature set as provided by the user in-

terface mode “Expert” in the EE Home Menu.

If you are using a different user interface mode,

you may only see a subset of the features on

your EE Task Pane.

Presentation

New Presentation

Custom Styles and Templates

Open a new presentation based on one of your

corporate design’s templates.

Select one of the templates (e.g. ‘Box in the ex-

ample above) and either click on ‘Open’ or

choose one of the following ‘Actions’:

Click on ‘Make Default for New Presentations’ if

you would like PowerPoint to automatically

open this template for you when you start Power

Point. The template will be copied to the Mi-

crosoft ‘Templates’ folder.

Select ‘Apply Template to Current Presentation’

to apply the selected template to all slides in the

current presentation. This is useful, for instance,

if you would like to update an old presentation

to a new corporate layout or convert a presenta-

tion to a client’s PowerPoint template. Please

note that you might have to change some of the

contents manually to make them appear cor-

rectly in the new layout.

Reference · Presentation

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Quick Customization Templates

Templates created using the Quick Customiza-

tion Wizard and imported client templates can,

in opposite to the custom templates, be edited,

deleted and renamed.

Select ‘Edit Template’ to make adjustments to

the selected template, e.g. insert a logo or edit

the color palette. The template will be opened in

PowerPoint and can be adjusted like any other

PowerPoint file. Please note that these changes

cannot be undone once you have saved and

closed the template. If in doubt, please save a

backup-copy before making any changes.

‘Client- and Quick Customization-Styles’

To delete/rename/export a Client- or QCW-Style

click on the menu to the right of the desired

style.

Client and QCW styles cannot be edited.

Select "Export" to export a Client- or QCW-Style

with all templates in EE4P format. Style pack-

ages of this format can be imported via 'Actions'.

‘Actions’

Select ‘Add Current Presentation to Templates’

to add your active presentation to the chosen

style.

Click on ‘Import Style Package’ to import an

EE4P-Style package.

Check

Check your presentation for compliance with

your company’s corporate design and interac-

tively fix any issues with just one click. More than

25 rules – and your custom rules if needed:

▪ Corporate colors

▪ Corporate fonts

▪ Bullet formats

▪ Orphaned footnotes

▪ Double or missing spaces

▪ Proofing languages

Additional clean-up features – just one click

away:

▪ Remove all speech notes to avoid inad-

vertently conveying confidential infor-

mation

▪ Remove all animations

▪ Remove unused designs from the current

presentation to reduce file size

Reference · Presentation

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Save and Send

Entire Presentations

▪ Save current presentation as new

presentation

▪ Send current presentation as attach-

ment per e-mail

▪ or copy to clipboard

Selected Slides

▪ Extract and save the selected slides to a

new presentation

▪ Extract and send selected slides as at-

tachment per e-mail

▪ or copy on clipboard

Reference · Wizards

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Wizards

Agenda Wizard

Create or update agenda slides automatically. In

the following the individual functions/options

are explained in detail:

1. Insert additional agenda (e.g. if you have

a meeting taking place for multiple days).

Label each agenda by clicking into the

field next to ‘Agenda Name’. To insert a

Title and Subtitle on the agenda separat-

ing slides, click in the fields for ‘Title’ and

‘Subtitle’ respectively.

2. Choose one of the following ‘Actions’:

Delete, import and export agenda. The

latter are useful if you would like to reuse

an existing agenda from a different

presentation.

3. Pick layout and sizing mode (e.g.

whether or not to auto collapse sub-

items). The available layouts depend on

your customization. In most cases you do

not need to adjust the option for ‘Font

Size’.

4. Select the desired columns: Responsi-

ble, Time Slot and/or Page number. The

‘Free Column’ lets you ad d another col-

umn for additional information (e.g. par-

ticipants or location).

5. Set time format (24h, AM/PM or minutes)

and start time. In case your agenda lay-

out includes an item number, you can

choose at which number to start. The lat-

ter can be useful if you have a multi-day-

agenda and would like to continue the

numbering throughout the agendas for

each day.

Reference · Wizards

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

6. Add agenda item.

7. Move items up and down to reorganize

your meeting/presentation. The content

slides will be moved automatically.

8. Decrease/increase indent-level to create

sub-items.

9. Delete agenda item.

10. Click on an empty row to create a new

agenda item (alternative to ‘Add Item’)

11. Set the duration of the agenda item. Ei-

ther use the up/down buttons or enter a

number directly.

12. Check to generate agenda overview slide

without highlighting of current item.

13. Check to generate agenda separating

slides.

14. Check to connect each agenda item to a

PowerPoint section (PowerPoint func-

tion to organize your presentation).

15. Check to create backup slide. The

backup slide separates the content

slides of the last agenda item from the

backup slides. This option is necessary to

make sure your backup slides are not

mixed with your content slides in case

you reorganize your presentation.

16. Check ‘Break’ to indicate a coffee or

lunch break. This option will change the

format of the agenda item, (e.g. no item

number).

17. Uncheck ‘Show Agenda Item’ to insert a

‘hidden’ agenda item. This can be useful

if you want to have a gap in the auto-

matic calculation of the time slots.

18. Uncheck ‘Generate Separating Slide’ to

not generate a separating slide for the

current item (e.g. a coffee break or sub-

item). This can be useful to reduce the to-

tal number of slides in a presentation.

HINTS:

▪ Use <tab> / <shift+tab> to jump between

cells

▪ Click on an empty row to create a new

agenda item

▪ Click <Enter> to insert a line break

▪ Page numbers will be automatically up-

dated upon saving; alternatively you can

click on ‘Agenda’ pull down menu - ‘Up-

date Page Numbers’

▪ Use the ‘Free Column’ to add information

such as participants or location

▪ When moving agenda items up or down

the corresponding content slides will be

moved as well

▪ Use the ‘Backup’ slide to separate back-

hand slides

▪ Click on ‘Agenda’ pull down menu - ‘Move

Selected Slides to End of Presentation’ to

sort out slides to the ‘Backup’ section

Master Wizard

This function can be enabled on request.

Replace elements in all slide masters at once,

such as confidentiality levels, copyright notices

or logos. The content of the Master Wizard de-

pends on your individual customization.

Reference · Wizards

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Element Wizard

Insert an element from the Element Wizard li-

brary on the current slide. In the following the in-

dividual functions/options are explained in de-

tail:

1. The upper part of the ‘Element Wizard’

menu contains the Element Library struc-

tured into several sub-menus. The contents

depend on your individual customization.

Some Elements have a fixed position and

size (e.g. stickers) others can/should be ad-

justed after inserting them (e.g. icons, ta-

bles).

2. The content of each sub-menu is displayed

in a gallery to facilitate the search for your

desired elements.

3. You can store your own individual elements

in the ‘My Elements’ section. Once added,

the elements will also be displayed in an el-

ement gallery.

4. To add another entry to ‘My Elements’, click

on ‘My Elements’ and

4.1. create a new folder

4.2. add presentation from file

4.3. Export selected folders or elements to

ZIP

4.4. Import elements from ZIP

5. Choose a folder with ‘My Elements’ and

5.1. add a new subfolder

5.2. add selected elements from current

presentation

5.3. add the current presentation

5.4. rename folder / elements

5.5. remove folder / elements

5.6. export selected folders / elements to

create a ZIP-file you can send to your

colleagues

5.7. import element by selecting the re-

spective ZIP-file. In case there are ele-

ments with the same name in the im-

port file, you will be asked if you would

like to replace the existing element or

import a duplicate.

5.8. Rearrange your elements per drag &

drop

Reference · Wizards

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Text Wizard

Insert a text snippet or symbol from the Text Wiz-

ard at the current cursor position. In the follow-

ing the individual functions/options are ex-

plained in detail:

1. The upper part of the ‘Text Wizard’ menu

contains the Text Snippet Library struc-

tured into several sub-menus. The con-

tents depend on your individual custom-

ization. Text snippets can range from

multiple lines of text to a single charac-

ter. They can either be plain unformatted

text or contain formatting.

2. You can store your own individual text

snippets in the ‘My Texts’ section.

3. To add another entry to ‘My Texts’, select

the desired range of formatted or unfor-

matted text and click on ‘Add Selection

to “My Texts”…’

You can choose to save the text snippet

with its formatting for font, font size,

bold, italic and/or underlined. If neces-

sary, you can edit text and formatting in

the ‘Add to My Texts…’ dialog

4. Click on ‘Manage “My Texts”…’ to organ-

ize, import and export your text snippets.

You can rename text snippets, edit the

text or formatting, assign them to a differ-

ent group, sort them alphabetically or

delete them.

Sample text

company

Reference · Wizards

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Check the boxes next to each text snippet

to select them for export. Click on ‘Ex-

port’ to create a ZIP-file you can send to

your colleagues. To import elements,

click on ‘Import’ and select the respective

ZIP-file. In case there are text snippets

with the same name in the import file,

you will be asked if you would like to re-

place the existing text snippet or import

a duplicate.

HINT: The content of the Text Wizard depends on

your individual customization.

Reference · Wizards

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Format Wizard

Format and/or position the selected objects

based on a Format Wizard template. In the fol-

lowing the individual functions/options are ex-

plained in detail:

1. The upper part of the ‘Format Wizard’

menu contains the Format Library struc-

tured into several sub-menus. The con-

tents depend on your individual custom-

ization. The predefined formats can have

different attributes which can range from

a position or a font size to a combination

of most of the format attributes available

in PowerPoint (see below for more de-

tails).

2. You can store your own individual ele-

ments in the ‘My Formats’ section.

3. To add another entry to ‘My Formats’, se-

lect the element that has been formatted

as desired and click on ‘Add Selection to

“My Formats”…’.

You can choose which format attributes

of the selected element to save (see illus-

tration above). For instance, if you would

like to save a format for an element with-

out any given position – this can be use-

ful if you do not wish to alter the position

of an element later – deselect the bullets

for position. The default selection of at-

tributes will fit for most formats you

might want to save.

4. Click on ‘Manage “My Formats”…’ to or-

ganize, import and export your individu-

ally defined formats:

Reference · Wizards

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

You can rename elements, assign them

to a different group, sort them alphabet-

ically or delete them.

Check the boxes next to each element to

select them for export. Click on ‘Export’

to create a ZIP-file you can send to your

colleagues. To import formats, click on

‘Import’ and select the respective ZIP-

file. In case there are formats with the

same name in the import file, you will be

asked if you would like to replace the ex-

isting format or import a duplicate.

5. Right at the top of the ‘Format Wizard’

menu you find the Advanced Format

Painter which helps you to transform se-

lected formats and positions on the fly to

the objects you mark.

HINT: You can transform the selected format

through the presentation and all slides until

you press ‘ESC’

The content of the Format Wizard depends on

your individual customization

Reference · Smart Elements

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Smart Elements

Project plan (Gantt Chart)

Create detailed project plans with just a few

clicks.

In the following the individual functions & op-

tions are explained in detail:

Settings

Basics

▪ Change language and layout

▪ Check right to left

▪ Check Shade Alternate Rows, Show Grid

Lines, Distribute Rows

Calendar:

1. Start and End

2. Move project including all items

3. Show separators (lines) between chosen

time period.

HINT: If the period is too long, days may

not be displayed.

4. Weekends shaded or not (choose day/s

of the week)

5. Check classification of periods and for-

mat

6. Settings for the fiscal year

7. Font size of calendar (header)

Reference · Smart Elements

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Holidays

▪ Check “Show Holidays” and the loaded

or added holidays will be shown as

shade in your project plan

▪ Add your holidays

▪ Delete loaded or self added holidays

▪ Choose country and region

▪ Load holidays

HINT: they are provided without warranty

– please check

Columns

▪ Check Activity (left column)

▪ Check Responsible (right column)

▪ Check Comment (additional right

column)

▪ Change the name of column (heading)

▪ Choose font size for text of columns

▪ Choose font size for column headings

Objects

▪ Choose height of objects (items) as

bars, arrows and chevrons

▪ Overlap:

▪ optimal

(select the percentage overlap)

▪ cascade

(select the percentage overlap)

▪ full

▪ Choose height of milestones

▪ Choose font size of labels

▪ Choose position of date

▪ Hide

▪ Before Text (label)

▪ After Text (label)

▪ Above Text (label)

▪ Below Text (label)

▪ Choose format of date

▪ Start

▪ Start – End

▪ Start – End (days)

▪ Start – End (working days)

▪ Start – End (2 lines)

▪ Days (number of days)

▪ Working days (number of days)

Reference · Smart Elements

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Content settings

With a right-click into the content area this set-

tings will appear. Use this menu to insert items,

interval shades, row shades, lines etc.

Add text to columns

Write text to the cell of a column and set bullet

points and format the text. With a right mouse

click into the text field selectet text can be cop-

ied or cut and then be pasted it into another text

field.

Format items and labels

With a right-click into an item view the options to

format items and labels.

Within the properties

▪ rework the timeframe

▪ add text to label

▪ change position and format of the label

▪ dye items in another color

▪ change items type

HINT: the position of the label in rela-tion

to the object depends of the with of item

and format of label, especially when la-

bel should be centered on the item.

Quick Overview

1. To add text in the left or right column,

click into the cell.

2. To insert items, lines, rows etc. right-

click on the calendar area.

3. Edit items with a right-click and drag

them to the desired position.

4. To copy rows and / or items select them

with CTRL and drag them to the new po-

sition.

Reference · Position

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Position

Align

Align all selected objects to the respective edge

of the ‘Master’.

The ‘Master’ is always the object that you se-

lected last.

If only one object is selected, the object is

aligned to the respective edge of the slide.

Distribute Horizontally

Distribute the selected objects horizontally. The

leftmost and rightmost objects keep their posi-

tions, the spaces between all objects in between

are distributed evenly.

Distribute Vertically

Distribute the selected objects vertically. The

topmost and bottommost objects keep their po-

sitions, the spaces between all objects in be-

tween are distributed evenly.

Swap

Swap two selected objects. You can specify rela-

tive to which corner or edge the objects should

Align right

Master

Shape

Distribute vertically

Reference · Position

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

be swapped, and whether also the layer position

should be swapped.

When the objects to be switched are identical in

shape and size, it does not matter which refer-

ence point you choose. The layer position de-

fines which object is in the foreground and

which object is in the background. As a default

the layers will be switched as well, as this is the

correct option in most cases.

Dock

Move the selected objects in the respective di-

rection until they touch the ‘Master’.

The ‘Master’ is always the object that you se-

lected last.

Stack

Stack the selected objects horizontally / verti-

cally so that they touch each other. The stacking

takes place in the order of selection.

Golden Canon

Vertically align the selected objects in the

‘Golden Canon’ relative to the ‘Master’.

The ‘Master’ should be higher than the objects to

be aligned.

The objects will be aligned such that the margin

between object and ‘Master’ is twice the size at

the bottom compared to the top.

Dock right

Master

Shape

Stack horizontally

1. 2. 4.3.

Click

Align in Golden Canon

Master

Shape

Reference · Size

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

The ‘Master’ is always the object that you se-

lected last.

HINT: The Golden Canon is used to arrange ob-

jects in a certain relation to one another that is

most pleasing to the eye.

Size

Magic Resizer

Resize the selected objects to a given absolute

or relative size. You can choose to which attrib-

utes the resizing factor should be applied.

Width / Height / Width and Height

Align the size of all selected objects to the size of

the ‘Master’, either for width, height, or both.

The ‘Master’ is always the object that you se-

lected last.

Stretch

Stretch the selected objects to the far edge of the

‘Master’.

Magic Resizer

Large font

Small font

Medium font

Large font

Small font

Medium font

Large font

Small font

Medium font

30%

60%

Align width

Master

Shape

Stretch right

Master

Shape

Reference · Shape

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

The ‘Master’ is always the object that you se-

lected last.

Fill

Fill the gap between all selected objects and the

‘Master’ (if any).

The ‘Master’ is always the object that you se-

lected last.

Shape

Align Process Chain

Align the selected block arrows to form a process

chain.

The block arrow selected last will define the an-

gle, the position and sizing for all other block ar-

rows in the process chain. The gaps between

block arrows are filled from left to right and from

top to bottom.

Align Angles

Align the angles of all selected block arrows to

the ‘Master’.

The ‘Master’ is always the object that you se-

lected last.

Fill right

Master

Shape

Process Chain

Master

Shape

Master

Shape

Align Angles

Master

Shape

Master

Shape

Reference · Shape

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Adjust Pentagon Headers

Adjust the header boxes of headed ‘Conclusion’

boxes (standard elements in the Element Wiz-

ard).

Select a pentagon (block arrow) and the corre-

sponding header box before using this feature.

Align Block Arrows

Apply a standard style to all selected block ar-

rows or define your own metrics based on the

‘Master’. The ‘Master’ is always the object that

you selected last.

Align Rounded Rectangles

Define the radius for the selected rounded rec-

tangles or use the ‘Master’ object’s value.

The ‘Master’ is always the object that you se-

lected last.

Adjust Pentagon Header

Align Block Arrows

Master

Shape

Align Rounded Rectangle

Radius

Master Shape

Reference · Color

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Color

Set Fill Color

Set the fill color of all currently selected objects.

Available colors depend on your individual cus-

tomization.

Set Line Color

Set the line color of all currently selected ob-

jects. Available colors depend on your individual

customization.

Set Font Color

Set the font color of all currently selected ob-

jects. Available colors depend on your individual

customization.

Color Bar

With the Color Bar, all corporate col-

ors are directly available. Within the

customization it is possible to define

several groups. The left column de-

fines the fill color, the middle column

defines the line color and the right

column defines the font color.

Reference · Text

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Pick Color from Screen

Pick any color from anywhere on the screen and

add it to the palette of recently used colors or

apply it to the selected objects.

Convert to RGB

Convert all theme colors in current selection to

RGB values.

This is useful if you would like to make the colors

independent of the slide master and theme

used.

Convert to Theme Colors

Convert all matching RGB values in current se-

lection to theme colors.

This is useful if you would like the colors to auto-

matically adapt to the slide master and theme

used.

Text

Set Margins

Set the margins of the selected text box or shape,

either all margins at once or each margin indi-

vidually.

Convert to RGB

Shape

Convert to Theme

Shape

Reference · Text

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Fit Form to Text

Fit the size of the selected objects to the con-

tained text.

Wrap Text

Wrap the text within the selected objects.

Split Text Box

Split the selected text box at the cursor position

to create two separate text boxes.

Spell Check

…

Dark blue: Set the spell checking language for

the current selection to the language indicated

by the language code, e.g. EN for English, DE for

German.

Light blue: Set the spell checking language for

the entire presentation (all slides) and optional

as basis for the current presentation.

Merge Text Boxes

Merge the selected text boxes in a single text box.

The text boxes will be merged in the order they

were selected.

Fit Form to Text

ABCD EFG HI

JKLM NO

PQRST UVW

ABCD EFG HI

JKLM NO

PQRST UVW

Wrap Text in Form

ABCD EFG HI JKLM NO PQRST UVW

ABCD EFG HI

JKLM NO

PQRST UVW

Split Text Boxes

ABCD EFG HI

JKLM NO

PQRST UVW

ABCD EFG HI

JKLM

NO PQRST

UVW

Merge Text Boxes

ABCD EFG HI

JKLM

NO PQRST

UVW

ABCD EFG HI

JKLM

NO PQRST

UVW

Reference · Navigation & View

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Show / Hide Bullet / Numbering

Show/hide the bullets or numbering for the se-

lected paragraphs or objects.

The bullet/numbering format may depend on

the indent level.

The bullet types and indents depend on your in-

dividual customization.

Decrease / Increase Indent Level

Decrease/increase the indent level of the current

selection.

In addition to standard PowerPoint functional-

ity, this works across cells of tables as well.

The bullet types and indents depend on your in-

dividual customization.

Apply Default Bullets / Numbering

Apply default bullets/numbering to the current

selection.

The indent spacing is optimized based on the

font size. If there is more than one font size used

in a paragraph, the font size of the first character

will be used to calculate the indent spacing.

The bullet types and indents depend on your in-

dividual customization.

HINT: If you have trouble with getting the bullets

in your presentations to match your corporate de-

sign, you will love this feature. One click and your

bullets will appear as they should.

Navigation & View

Hide Selected Objects

Hide all selected objects temporarily.

The objects will maintain their horizontal, verti-

cal and layer position while hidden.

Hidden objects can be shown again with the

command „Unhide Hidden Objects”.

This is particularly useful if you have a lot of over-

lapping or layered objects on a slide. You can

easily get rid of everything that is in the way for

editing with „Hide Selected Objects” and get it

back with „Unhide Hidden Objects”.

Unhide Hidden Objects

Unhide all temporarily hidden objects in the se-

lected slides and restore their original position.

Reference · Expert Tools

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

This is particularly useful if you have a lot of over-

lapping or layered objects on a slide. You can

easily get rid of everything that is in the way for

editing with „Hide Selected Objects” and get it

back with „Unhide Hidden Objects”.

Go to Slide

Enter the number of the slide in the text field and

press „Enter” to go to any given slide in the cur-

rent presentation.

History – Previous / Next Slide

Go to previous / next slide in history.

Expert Tools

Insert Selected Slides as Pictures

Insert the selected slides as pictures on a blank

slide. The size of the pictures will be automati-

cally adjusted to fit all pictures on a single slide.

Show / Hide Slide Size

Show or hide the size of all embedded objects

(images, sounds, videos, etc.) on each of the

slides in the presentation.

Delete Redundant Masters

Delete all slide masters except the first one and

try to find the best matching layout for all slides

migrated to the first master. Migrated slides will

be marked and need to be checked manually.

Copy Summary to Clipboard

Copy the slide titles of all selected slides to the

clipboard as a summary.

Reference · Expert Tools

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Optimize Free form

Optimize the selected free forms.

Select Similar Shapes

Select all shapes on the current slide that are

similar to the currently selected shape. You can

define a set of criteria for the shapes to match

e.g. shape type or fill color.

Delete or Replace All Texts

Delete or replace texts in all text frames within

the current selection. Caution: In case of multi-

slide selections this applies to all selected slides!

Decompose Tables

Decompose the selected tables and convert

them to individual objects.

Paste on Selected Slides

Paste the current contents of the clipboard on

all selected slides.

Create Motion Path

Create an animated motion path between two

selected objects. The object selected first will be

animated to move to the location of the object

selected last.

You may want to create a copy of the object to

be animated, position the copy at the target po-

sition of the animation, apply this function and

afterwards delete the copy again.

Create Motion Path

Reference · Admin Tools

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Print Only Used Notes Pages

Open the print preview for notes pages and pre-

select only used notes pages for printing.

Set Black and White Mode

Set the black and white mode for the current se-

lection or the overall presentation.

This can be useful for optimizing the appearance

of the printed presentation on black and white

printers.

Find in Windows Explorer

Find the current presentation in Windows Ex-

plorer.

Set Style for New Style Elements

Choose the style you whish your new slide ele-

ments to be referred.

Apply Template to Current Presenta-

tion

Open dialog to choose a template to be applied

to your current presentation.

Admin Tools

Update Thumbnails

Update thumbnail images for Element Wizard

and Map Wizard.

Tag Inspector

Add, edit or delete tags for the current presenta-

tion or selection.

Shape Dimensions

Show and edit the currently selected object’s

position and size in pt, cm or in.

Reference · Admin Tools

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

Single Out Objects on Selected

Slides

Distribute multiple objects from one slide to

multiple slides with one object per slide.

This is useful to prepare your slide element col-

lection before integrating them in the Element

Wizard.

Open EE Folders

Open a specific Efficient Elements installation

folder for customization or bug fixing purposes.

Administration

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

for presentations



fficient

lements

Administration

Customization

Efficient Elements shows its true potential, both in terms of slide quality and time saving, when it is

customized to your company’s corporate design. We highly recommend taking advantage of our cus-

tomization services – not because we are good sales people, but because it makes a lot of sense for you.

We offer the following options to customize Efficient Elements for presentations to your needs:

▪ Standard Customization

Adjustment of colors, sizes, positions, font, line weight etc. for Agenda Wizard, Element Wizard,

Format Wizard and Master Wizard (also available for multiple designs and PowerPoint ver-

sions).

▪ Element Wizard Extension

Extension of the Element Wizard’s contents by elements or templates specific to your com-

pany, such as pictures, logos or reporting templates.

▪ Custom Features

Implementation of additional tools and program features specific to your individual needs.

▪ Update service

Automatic distribution of updated templates to all users in your company.

Please contact us at info@efficient-elements.com to learn more about the customization options.

Deployment

If you would like to deploy Efficient Elements to multiple users in your company, we can offer you dif-

ferent installation packages.

We offer two standard Windows Installer Packages (MSI):

▪ Per-User Installation

To be installed from the end user’s account for the logged-on user only, no admin privileges

required.

▪ Per-Machine Installation

To be installed from an administrative account, admin privileges required.

If none of our standard packages works for you, we can also offer individual installation packages tai-

lored to your specific needs.

Please contact us at info@efficient-elements.com to learn more about the deployment options.

Support

Efficient Elements. Click. Done.

for presentations



fficient

lements

Support

Please also check our website at www.efficient-elements.com for further resources.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

If you have any questions on how to use Efficient Elements or how to solve a specific problem, please

visit our website at www.efficient-elements.com/faq to find the complete list of frequently asked ques-

tions and answers.

We continuously update the FAQ on our website. For many typical questions this will be the quickest

way to get an answer.

E-mail Support

You can of course always contact us directly if you have questions around Efficient Elements. Simply

send us an e-mail to info@efficient-elements.com and we will come back to you as quickly as possible,

often within hours or latest within a few days.

Training

We also offer online trainings on Efficient Elements. Please check our website at

www.efficient-elements.com/webinar for the next available date for a training or contact us at

[email protected] if you are interested in an individual training session for your company or

department.