[CRITICAL UPDATE - Anyone using Office 2003 should install the critical
update as soon as possible. From PowerPoint, choose "Help -> Check for
Updates".]
Hello,
For many presentations, the answer might be a simple as saving your
presentation as a "PowerPoint show (*.pps)". For the native (full fidelity)
PowerPoint slide show format (*.ppt, *.pps) the recipient will still have
to have some kind of application which knows how to open/view the slide
show file (PowerPoint or the PowerPoint Viewer). If the recipients don't
have PowerPoint or the PowerPoint Viewer the Viewer can be downloaded from
the internet.
However, for some presentations, simply saving the presentations as *.pps
files will not be sufficient because the presentations contain links to
supporting files (movies, some sounds, etc.) and/or the recipient might not
have the necessary software to open/view the presentation. So, if you just
distribute the single *.pps file it will either not open at all or none of
the linked content will display/play when the presentation is viewed by the
recipient.
However, everybody (?) has a web browser on their computer, so a workaround
is to distribute your presentations as single file web pages (MHTML
. This
is a feature of both PowerPoint 2002 and PowerPoint 2003. Now you have a
single file that can be sent which, when the recipient opens from e-mail or
Windows, will display an HTML version of the PowerPoint slide show in the
default browser for that system. Of course there are limitations and
differences between PowerPoint HTML presentation slide shows and native
*.ppt/*.pps presentation slide shows viewed using PowerPoint. If, however,
the recipient opens the MHTML file using PowerPoint (2002 or 2003), the
show will display in full native fidelity. So, with this workaround you
get the benefits of single-file distribution, but you don't get the
"automatically start in slide show mode" experience and there is loss of
fidelity if viewed in a web browser (only you can decide, for your
presentations, whether the benefits offset the disadvantages).
If you (or anyone else reading this message) think that PowerPoint should
provide a way of distributing a presentation (with all it's supporting
content) as a single file which, can be viewed in it's full fidelity, with
an option to start as slide show, and without permanently
installing/copying any software on the destination computer (whew!!!),
don't forget to send your feedback (in YOUR OWN WORDS, please) to Microsoft
at:
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp
It's VERY important that, for EACH wish, you describe in detail, WHY it is
important TO YOU that your product suggestion be implemented. A good wish
submssion includes WHAT scenario, work-flow, or end-result is blocked by
not having a specific feature, HOW MUCH time and effort ($$$) is spent
working around a specific limitation of the current product, etc. Remember
that Microsoft receives THOUSANDS of product suggestions every day and we
read each one but, in any given product development cycle, there are ONLY
sufficient resources to address the ones that are MOST IMPORTANT to our
customers so take the extra time to state your case as CLEARLY and
COMPLETELY as possible so that we can FEEL YOUR PAIN.
IMPORTANT: Each submission should be a single suggestion (not a list of
suggestions).
John Langhans
Microsoft Corporation
Supportability Program Manager
Microsoft Office PowerPoint for Windows
Microsoft Office Picture Manager for Windows
For FAQ's, highlights and top issues, visit the Microsoft PowerPoint
support center at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=ppt
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbhowto
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