Package for CD on 2007 -- WHY DOES IT BACKSAVE?

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Guest

What idiotic person thought that Package for CD should backsave the
Powerpoint file to 2003 format?

Is there a way around this because as it stands now it is stupid and
horribly inconvenient?
 
It backsaves because the PPT Viewer relies on a compatibility pack to open
PPT 2007 format files. And the compat pack must be installed on the
recipient machine -- it won't run from a CD. So...in order for the Viewer to
be able to run from the CD, it must have a non-2007 format file. That's why
Package for CD backsaves.

If you just want to package without the Viewer and not have it backsave (to
resolve links to multimedia files, for example), then use Package for CD,
click the Options button, and choose "archive package."

--
Echo S [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html
PPTLive! Oct 28-31, New Orleans http://www.pptlive.com
 
That doesn't make any sense. PPT Viewer 2007 should be included right along
with the package. Why does it need to use a compatibility pack that is
already installed on someone's computer? Why can't it be self-contained just
like the 2003 Package was?

This is an unnecessary headache when people need to send Powerpoint shows to
others who don't have Powerpoint installed.
 
I don't know why the compat pack isn't self-contained, but the fact remains
that it's not. The compat pack is for all the Office applications, not just
PPT, so I'm sure they didn't consider the Package for CD scenario when they
created it. (At least it wasn't a top priority. It's not like the PPT team
created the compatibility pack.)

Package for CD is designed to run from a CD with no installation. (It's been
that way for the last two versions, and I'm sure part of the reason for that
is because the previous versions created two bizarre "Pack and Go" packaged
files that users had to unpack and stuff on the other end, which was a royal
pain.) Package for CD doesn't know whether a recipient has installed the
compatibility pack or not on their computer. Besides, if they don't have
PowerPoint installed, they probably don't (or at least may not) have the
compat pack already installed on their computer, either. And then the thing
wouldn't run at all. So it can't be self-contained because the compat pack
requires installation. So, again, the Package for CD just uses a version of
the 2007 Viewer that doesn't include a compat pack, which, therefore
requires that the file be a PPT or PPS file instead of a PPTX or PPSX file.

I'm not trying to defend the decision (because I'm not thrilled with it,
either) -- I'm just trying to explain it.

But what's the real problem here? Package for CD backsaves the file and puts
together all the Viewer files you need to run from CD. SmartArt animations
won't be recognized and some other minor stuff, but for the most part, it
shouldn't be that big a deal.

--
Echo S [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html
PPTLive! Oct 28-31, New Orleans http://www.pptlive.com
 
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