Microsoft Office PowerPoint keeps becoming feature rich with each release. The features are typically accessible through Menus, Toolbars and more recently the Ribbon. The number of commands available through these various interfaces is large. For instance, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 alone has close to 1000 commands! While the Ribbon, Context-sensitive menus, etc. do help in organizing the various commands with the intent of being able to find the right command at the right time, there is nothing like being able to search for a command when you know what you want.

The Command Finder provides you with exactly that search box. It allows you to search for commands. You can enter the command name in part or full and let the Command Finder bring back the results of the search. The commands that are found are then made available in a toolbar or the Ribbon for you to use.

The Command Finder is available in the Insert tab in PowerPoint 2007 and later versions:

It is available through the Command Finder... menu item in Tools menu in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 and previous versions:

If you have OfficeOne Shortcut Manager for PowerPoint installed, you can access the Command Finder through the Ctrl+E keyboard shortcut.

The Command Finder dialog box is a simple one and looks like this:

You enter the search words in the Search box and hit Enter or click the Search button. Command Finder will search for the commands that have the text embedded anywhere in them. For instance, searching for the the word align gives back the following results:

Click OK button to create a Command Finder Results toolbar with these commands:

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 and earlier versions:

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007: Add-Ins tab