* How to convert a presentation so that can be played on any computer? *
To solve the problem we have just seen, the solution that I strongly suggest to you is: convert your PowerPoint file to a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat.
Let's start with a brief introduction about this popular software from Adobe.
Probably most of you already know it, or at least have it already installed in your computer at work. For the ones who have never heard about it, here are a few words to understand better what Acrobat is about. Adobe Acrobat is a software that exists in two versions: the free one, called Acrobat Reader (downloadable from the Internet at http://www.adobe.com/products/ acrobat/readstep.html), and the production or "authoring" version called Acrobat (the latest release is version 5.0), which must be purchased as a commercial product. The free version allows you to open PDF files and display them, but not to create them.
The retail version will give you the possibility to create your own PDF files that can then be opened with the free version (Acrobat Reader).
Adobe Acrobat can be used to convert any file from any application into a PDF (Portable Document Format) file.
This Acrobat PDF file format is a popular standard which works on Pc, Mac and Unix computers interchangeably (more than 200 million of copies of this software are installed in the world) and its unique benefits are that it preserves all of the fonts, formatting, colors and graphics of any source document, regardless of the platform used to create it.
What is the purpose of using Acrobat?
The PDF file you create will be readable and printable exactly as you see it on your screen from any operating system, any printer, any web browser as long as the free Acrobat Reader is installed on that machine; further, the PDF file is significantly smaller in size than the original PowerPoint file, since it is compressed.
Let us make a practical example with a real problem I came across: Gloria Jensen asked me 2 days ago how she could send a PowerPoint presentation to be printed by an Egyptian colleague and how she could make sure that all her font choices (in her case Tahoma and Helvetica Narrow) would be kept and printed exactly as the original presentation. What I strongly suggested to her was to save the PowerPoint file in PDF format and to send that one instead of the original file. She followed my advice, and the presentation was successfully printed in Egypt with all the original fonts!
Does it mean that my presentation will look like the same? Is there any formatting or feature that will be lost?
Your slides will look exactly the same, you can send them full screen in Acrobat too.
Is there any other disadvantage in using Acrobat to distribute and run our presentations?
To be honest with you, I am an enthusiastic user of Acrobat technology, and I don't see any evident or serious disadvantage, besides its price: Adobe Acrobat is a costly software (from USD 249.00, see http://www.adobe.com for up-to-date pricing or check your software store) and can not be downloaded for free, or in a trial version.
You can download for free the Adobe Acrobat Reader
(http://www.adobe.com/products/ acrobat/readstep.html)
that will allow you to open, display and see all the PDF files that already exist but not to create them. The popularity of Acrobat technology is its global distribution: you pay to create a PDF file, but everyone can open for any free PDF file.
What's the fastest way to create a PDF file from a PowerPoint presentation?
In a few steps, all you have to do is to:
1) install Acrobat
2) open your presentation in PowerPoint
3) go to File, Print...
4) choose the Acrobat Distiller/PDF Writer printer from the printer drop-down list
5) be sure the page layout is the one you want (landscape or portrait)
6) click OK and print
It's done. Easy as printing in normal white paper sheet. You will find the new PDF file in the default location of
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat\PDF Output.
Depending on how you installed the Acrobat software, you may also find an icon for Acrobat in your PowerPoint standard toolbar: clicking on it will create the PDF file as well.
PROS: !!!
- Anyone, anywere can open a PDF file. All you need is the free Acrobat Reader
- PDF files always display exactly as created, regardless of fonts, software and operating system
- PDF files always print correctly on any printing device
CONS: ¡¡¡
- Need to download and install the free Acrobat Reader to open a PDF file
- Need to buy the Acrobat software in order to create PDF files
- When using transitions you can only set one type of transition for the entire presentation without being able to select individual visual effects for the specific slides.
As just analyzed, even though you can apply transitions between slides in Acrobat, you can not differentiate them. You choose a transition effect and can only apply it to all your slides. How can this limitation be solved? Is there any way I can add different transitions to my PDF file once I have converted it from PowerPoint into Acrobat?
The answer is just below, a new software will do what Acrobat can't.
You can read this article in the original issue of MasterView.
