In this lesson
Create a process slide with a cropped picture, labelled steps and useful alt text.
Example
Laptop handover process
Practise a laptop handover with three steps: Verify identity, Record asset number, and Confirm sign-in. The sample asset number is HBR-024 and the user is Alex Chen. Draw a laptop with PowerPoint shapes, save or screenshot your diagram, then insert it as the practice picture.
How it works
Crop changes the visible part of a picture; dragging a side handle can distort its proportions. A caption explains the picture to everyone, while alt text explains its purpose to a person who cannot see it.
Use SmartArt for a sequence or hierarchy that the audience needs to understand. For a small diagram, separate shapes are also easy to arrange. Show this handover from left to right; a circular diagram would suggest that the last check starts the process again.
Steps
Create a Title and Content slide titled A laptop handover needs three checks. Draw a screen rectangle and a narrow keyboard rectangle, group them, then capture your original diagram for this practice picture.
Choose Insert › Pictures and insert that image. Use Picture Format › Crop to remove excess blank space, then resize from a corner to keep the proportions; avoid stretching the laptop sideways.
Open Alt Text from the picture context menu. Enter Laptop issued to Alex Chen; asset HBR-024. Add a nearby visible caption Handover record: HBR-024 so the asset identifier is not available only to a screen reader.
Choose Insert › SmartArt › Process and use a simple three-step layout. In its text pane enter Verify identity, Record asset number, and Confirm sign-in in that order.
If SmartArt editing is unavailable, create three equal rectangles with the same labels and connect them with arrows. Keep the arrows behind the labels and point from left to right.
Check the slide in Slide Show and with Review › Check Accessibility. Remove purely decorative shapes from the reading sequence where your version supports marking them decorative, while retaining all three step labels.
Try it yourself
- Add a fourth step, Confirm return policy, using the SmartArt text pane or a fourth shape. Keep all labels on one line by increasing the process width, not by reducing text below your chosen readable size.
- Create an alternate crop of the laptop image in a copied slide. Compare both versions and keep the one that shows the entire screen and keyboard without distortion.
Show expected result
- The final process has four steps in the stated order, with no reversed arrows or missing labels.
- The image preserves its proportions and has both the visible asset caption and purpose-specific alt text.
If something goes wrong
- The image looks unnaturally wide.
- Undo the resize. Drag a corner handle, with aspect ratio locked where available, to scale the picture. Use Crop separately to remove blank space around it.
- The SmartArt diagram has four boxes but only three labels.
- Open the SmartArt text pane and count the paragraphs. Delete a blank one or enter Confirm return policy in the empty step. Check the labels on the finished slide.
Quick check
Try these questions after the exercise. Check the result in your app before marking the lesson complete.
Choose an answer for all 3 questions to check your understanding.
Optional: try it with Copilot
If you have Copilot, try this after the exercise. Keep the original file and compare its suggestions with your own result.
Suggest short labels for a laptop handover process covering identity, asset number, sign-in and return policy. Keep HBR-024 and Alex Chen as invented practice data.
More from Microsoft
These Microsoft guides cover the tools used in this lesson.
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