Selecting Slides
PowerPoint has three broad types of commands: those that operate on a single slide, those that operate on a selected group of slides, and those that operate on the entire presentation file. Most of the single-slide commands, such as a command that inserts an object on a slide, are executed from Normal view. In Normal view you see only a single slide at a time, so selecting the slide is not an issue. The selected slide is simply the one that is displayed.
Most of the "group of slides" commands, such as deleting, moving, and applying a transition effect, are best performed in Slide Sorter view. Because you see multiple slides at a time in that view, you must select the slides you want to affect. (You can do this from the Slides pane in Normal view too, but it's a little more awkward.)
Here are the options for selecting slides in Slide Sorter view (or the Slides pane in Normal view):
To select a single slide, click it.
To select multiple slides, hold down the Ctrl key as you click each one. A selected slide will show a shaded border around it.
To select a contiguous group of slides, click the first one and then hold down the Shift key as you click the last one. All the slides in between will be selected as well.
To cancel the selection of multiple slides, click anywhere away from the selected slides.