You edit a topic in Microsoft PowerPoint by advancing through each slide, adding graphics such as text boxes, callouts, pictures, and drawing objects to call attention to or cover (mask) specific areas of the screenshot. Microsoft PowerPoint adds these objects as overlays on top of the slide. When you import the slides back to the Topic Editor, the overlay objects are merged into the screenshot and become part of the screenshot. However, the original recorded screenshots are preserved so that you can remove all overlays from a topic. The Microsoft PowerPoint overlay file is also preserved for subsequent exports of the topic for future editing.

 

You can continue to make changes to a topic after creating the initial overlay; this includes structural changes such as adding or deleting frames. Deleting a frame from a topic in the Topic Editor also deletes the equivalent slide in the overlay file the next time the topic is exported to Microsoft PowerPoint. If you add new frames to a topic, you may need to edit the topic in Microsoft PowerPoint and copy the overlay objects to the new frames. Structural changes made to slides in Microsoft PowerPoint are not preserved. This means that actions such as adding, moving, or deleting slides in Microsoft PowerPoint are ignored when the overlay is imported back to the topic.

 

You can insert blank frames in a topic. A blank frame provides an empty screenshot, like a canvas, to which you can use Microsoft PowerPoint tools to add bullet lists, graphic objects such as flowcharts and organization charts, and slide designs when you export the topic to Microsoft PowerPoint. See Insert a Blank Frame in this chapter for information about inserting and publishing blank frames.

 

Note: If you insert a new Explanation or No-context frame before a frame that contains an overlay, the screenshot for the inserted frame includes the overlay; however, the screenshot is the merged image of the original screenshot and the overlay. Since the overlay is part of the screenshot for this frame and was not created with the overlay tools in Microsoft PowerPoint, it cannot be selected in Microsoft PowerPoint, and therefore, is not available for editing or deleting.

 

The Microsoft PowerPoint add-in installs the Overlay Editor ribbon, which provides custom commands for copying and manipulating overlays.

Ways to Mask Data

A common use for overlays is to mask sensitive data that has been captured during the recording process. For example, a topic showing the steps to look up employee information captures the lookup string input and the resulting contact information of an actual employee. This information appears in several frames. While you can manually change the string input text of the lookup, the original data appears on several succeeding frames.

 

To mask data with an overlay, draw a text box around the field, sizing the text box to fit the field. You can then add the appropriate text, making sure that you format the text (font, font color, background color, and so on) to look like the original. You can then use the Overlay Editor ribbon to copy this mask to multiple frames. Each copy appears in the same position as the original overlay.

 

Another use of masking is to insert a graphic that replaces part of the screen so that you do not have to recapture screens for small changes, such as changing a logo or inserting a new field.


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