[CRITICAL UPDATE - If you are using Office 2003, you should install this
update as soon as possible. From PowerPoint, choose "Help -> Check for
Updates".]
Hello Gunars,
For PowerPoint 2002 and earlier, the Pack and Go feature can be used to
package up a presentation and all of it's supporting files (such as movies)
into a single *.ppz file which can be unpacked on another computer using
PNGSETUP.EXE. So you would have to include two files, instead of one) for
download along with instructions on how to unpack the presentation and, if
they don't have PowerPoint on the other end, how to download and install
the appropriate PowerPoint Viewer. Not exactly a single-file distributable.
However, everybody (?) has a web browser on their computer, so a workaround
(for the broken links to supporting files scenario) 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/posted which, when opened, 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 to Microsoft at:
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp
As with all product suggestions, it's important that you not just state
your wish but also WHY it is important to you that your product suggestion
be implemented by Microsoft. 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.
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
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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