Are you a former McKinsey consultant who longs for the familiar Marvin PowerPoint Tools and its shortcuts? PowerTools is a productivity add-in for PowerPoint, offering all features you would expect from a top consulting firm’s PowerPoint tool.
The PowerTools add-in was developed by ex-consultants who were seeking a solution similar to the tools we relied on at major firms. Some McKinsey alumni requested we provide the same features they had built their muscle memory on, and we listened. Below is an overview of some of those features.
Alignment shortcuts: PowerTools comes with extra PowerPoint shortcuts that you can toggle on and off, including:
- Align left of first selected shape: ctrl + left arrow
- Align right of first selected shape: ctrl + right arrow
- Align bottom of first selected shape: ctrl + down arrow
- Align top of first selected shape: ctrl + up arrow
- Align center of first selected shape: ctrl + shift + left or right arrow
- Align middle of first selected shape: ctrl + shift + up or down arrow
Custom slide library: To use PowerTools’ custom slide library feature, you will be prompted to select your PowerPoint template file as a reference. Once selected, all of its slides will be available to add easily from the PowerTools ribbon. You can even add new slides to that template deck from the deck you are currently working on (without even having to open the template file).
Template assets: The PowerTools add-in comes imbedded with hundreds of consulting template slides, editable maps, and icons (both filled in and empty circular icons). Just like at McKinsey, you’ll be able to start your slides from solid assets, saving you a ton of time.
Convert table to text boxes: When right clicking on any PowerPoint table, PowerTools will prompt you to decompose the table into text boxes.These are commonly known as Marvin tables, and they’re used because standard tables are usually harder to format/edit and generally look less polished.
Harvey balls and status indicators: PowerTools helps you add Harvey Balls or Status indicators (e.g., stop light or battery indicators) to your slides. You can easily change the percentage of those indicators, even after they are already added to a slide.
Straighten lines: When right clicking on any line, PowerTools will prompt you to straighten it vertically or horizontally.
This is just a small subset of the features that you’ll find in PowerTools and, we keep on adding more whenever we get customer requests. If you’re a McKinsey alumni and are yearning for the best PowerPoint tools, contact us and we’ll be more than happy to help you out.