November 23, 2004
How To Distribute A PowerPoint File On CD-ROM So That Everyone Including People On Macs Can See It
Kara Miller recently asked:
QUESTION: I just registered for your site because I am having problems with PowerPoint. I couldn't find a place to post a question so I'll just ask it now.
I have made a presentation on a Windows 2000 box using PowerPoint 2000 premium. I want to be able to have it play the same exact way on all machines. I have read multiple articles on using the pack and go feature and using the powerpoint viewer.
So what I have done is I use the pack and go feature which makes it into a .ppz file. I downloaded a powerpoint viewer from your site.
On my Windows box I try and open the .ppz file with the powerpoint viewer I downloaded and it says it can't open the file. What do I need to do to make it where I can burn the presentation onto a CD-ROM and be able to give the cd to anyone I see and ensure them that it will play on any machine they own, including Macintosh.
I have an audio file that plays along with the presentation that is timed exactly right on my Windows box. I need this to be the exact same way on all machines.
Please help! Microsoft is so confusing!
Thank You,
Kara Miller
ANSWER: Dear Kara,
there are at least three major approaches to solve this much in-demand issue:
- you can convert your PPT presentation to Acrobat PDF. This generally requires having the Adobe Acrobat software (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/main.html) or to use one of the free solutions reported at:
http://www.masternewmedia.com/issue12/freepdfwithoutacrobat.htm
http://www.masternewmedia.com/issue16/pdfwithoutacrobat.htm
- convert your PowerPoint presentation into a Flash file.
In PowerPoint, you can export your presentation to a picture sequence, then import the individual image files into Macromedia Flash's timeline.
Finally, export the timeline as Shockwave Flash File (SWF).
If you are not so technically inclined you may want to consider one of the following solutions which can save you a lot of time while providing very effective results:
- Email Presenter
For $ 399 you can convert as many PowerPoint presentations to Flash, upload them to an online secure server and have your customer, clients or contacts access them online directly from within their emails. A similar product from the same company PowerConverter costs from $149 to $399 and works locally on your PC.
Hey, you can also try this nice tool out for 10 days at no cost.
- An effective, though quite expensive tool to do this is Impactica for PowerPoint which preserves also audio, transitions and animation effects. see an example here. This is a fantastic tool but the cost is very steep (apx USD $ 890) See a product presentation available at: http://www.impatica.com/imp4ppt/
- OpenOffice In their 1.1 there is a direct export to SWF. Open your PowerPoint .ppt file, and then say export, select the format as SWF and you are done. Free
- RoboFlash
It includes RoboFlash Converter for PowerPoint® which allows you to convert your PowerPoint® presentations to Flash format in one click. USD $99
- IceSLIDE
Convert PPT files to SWF format… in seconds! IceSLIDE™ creates a compact, easily distributed file in Macromedia® Flash™ file format (SWF). All you need is a PC with PowerPoint® 2000. USD $ 149
- PowerCONVERTER
10 day free try out available here USD $399
- Macromedia Breeze
Breeze allows PowerPoint conversion to Flash and lets you add an audio track to Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, then edit out mistakes and pauses or add an external audio track. Easily and quickly add quiz and survey questions. Effortlessly publish content, since files are automatically optimized in size and the audio track is synchronized to the presentation. Price: N/A, please see here.
- Wanadu iCreate Desktop
iCreate supports the vast majority of PowerPoint features from PowerPoint 97, PowerPoint 2000 and PowerPoint XP including hyper-linked action buttons, charts, tables and synchronized audio
USD $ 995
- But the best, simplest and most cost effective solution is the following:
Save your PowerPoint presentation as Web page/HTML file. This will create a folder with a set of files plus a master file outside the folder.
ZIP the master file and the folder into one archive and send it to your friend. He or she can just unzip and double click the master file. If she has any browser installed on his computer (PC, Mac, Unix, Linux, etc.) he will see your PowerPoint presentation in full.
Luigi Canali De Rossi
posted by
on Tuesday, November 23 2004
Tuesday, January 15 2008
URL of this article:
http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com/2004/11/23/how_to_distribute_a_powerpoint.htm
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