Welcome to the PowerPoint team, Susanna.
There is an amazing amount of knowledge available for you here on the
Newsgroup (NG), and luckily, some very organized people. They have put
together a FAQ list that will help you as much or more than your classes
will (don't drop the class, you still need to be able to show people the
papers that says you can do the amazing).
Here are a couple of pointers to some good starting places:
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00034.htm
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00511.htm
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00036.htm
Now, about your current question:
The first thing you should do is turn off the 'fast saves' option. It
causes files to become bigger than they need to be.
The second thing you should do is optimize the file's size. Often pictures
contain far more detail than PowerPoint can actually display. This
un-needed detail may cause your file size to be far larger than it should
be. Here is a pointer to more information on how to optimize your picture
resolution (detail) and some other reasons files get too big:
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00062.htm
Third, save the file using the 'Save As...' option to a new filename. This
forces PowerPoint to clean out most of the trash it has collected and save a
clean copy.
It is possible, at this point, that you have reduced the file's size enough
that it will fit onto a floppy disk now. If you have, great! If not, then
you have a couple of options for how to get Presentations from one location
to another.
1) WinZip -- PowerPoint files are very compressed, so you will not be able
to reduce the file's size, but you will be able to use the 'Span Disks'
option in WinZip to use a couple of floppies to transport the PPT file.
2) CD or CDRW -- CD's are able to hold hundreds of times more information
than a floppy disk. If you have a CD burner, you can copy the PPT file onto
the CD for transportation.
3) Email -- Depending on the size, some presentations can be emailed to the
destination. I know my email provider does not allow emails bigger than 4
megs, so this may not be a good choice for you. If it works, it's fast.
Just make sure the file arrived and is intact before leaving the house to do
the presentation.
4) Web -- You could upload the PPT file to an internet web page from home,
then download it once at school.
5) Zip Drives -- These are essentially a bigger version of a floppy disk.
If, both you and the school, have one, you can use it to hold about 100
floppy disks worth of information. (Jazz drives are the same, but even
bigger)
6) Memory sticks -- These are becoming more common. It is a small device
that plugs into a USB port (an plug on the computer) and acts like a hard
drive, that you can unplug and move to another computer.
So the answer to your question is, there are lots of ways.
B
===============
Please spend a few minutes checking out
www.pptfaq.com This link will
answer most of our questions, before you think to ask them.
Change org to com to defuse anti-spam, ant-virus, anti-nuisance
misdirection.
