Task Pane in PowerPoint 365 for Windows

The Task Pane
How the Task Pane Works

The Task Pane

The Task Pane is a docked area within the PowerPoint interface that provides more options than dialog boxes. Also, unlike most dialog boxes which cover the Slide Area, you can view both the active slide(s) and the Task Pane at the same time. The Task Pane, therefore, provides a more streamlined experience. In fact, all the options within the Format dialog boxes from older versions of PowerPoint are now available within the new Format Task Panes in PowerPoint.

Note that you can have more than one Task Pane visible at the same time within your PowerPoint interface. Usually, the Task Pane is not visible all the time; it appears if you select Task Pane options like Smart Lookup, Selection Pane, Animation Pane, etc. And when these options are selected, the related Task Pane appears docked on the right side of PowerPoint interface.

In Figure 1 below, you can see the PowerPoint 365 for Windows interface without any Task Pane. Later in this page, we'll show you how you can summon a Task Pane.

Figure 1: PowerPoint 365 interface without Task Pane

How the Task Pane Works

To make just one of the Task Panes visible, follow these steps:

1. Open any presentation in PowerPoint and select some text. If there's no text, you can type in some text within a text box or text placeholder. With the text selected, navigate to the Review tab of the Ribbon. Now, click the Search button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2.
2. 
   Figure 2: Search button
2. Doing so brings up the Search Task Pane that you can see highlighted in red within Figure 3, on the right side of the PowerPoint interface.
3. 
   Figure 3: Search Task Pane
4. While making edits and choosing options, you will see many options that show up within the Task Panes.
3. Now, you can also open more Task Panes and they will all show up tabbed in the same area, as shown within Figure 4, below. Notice that the tabs show up within the Tab Switcher area, highlighted in red within Figure 4, and you can click on any of the tabs to activate the related Task Pane.
4. 
   Figure 4: Tab Switcher for multiple tabs