[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.). So, if you just distribute
the single *.pps file, 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
(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 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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