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Packaging a Presentation
Many times the PC that you use to create a presentation is not the same one that you use to show it, especially if it's a desktop PC. Therefore, the issue of transferring files from one PC to another is a very real concern.One way to transfer a presentation to another computer is simply to copy the PowerPoint file (the file with the .ppt extension) using a floppy disk, writeable CD, network, or other medium from one computer's hard drive to another. However, this method is imperfect because it assumes that the other PC has PowerPoint or the PowerPoint Viewer and all the needed fonts, sounds, graphics (if any are linked), music files, and other elements needed for every part of the show. This can be a dangerous assumption.A better way to ensure that you are getting everything you need is to use the Package for CD feature in PowerPoint. It reads all the linked files and associated objects and makes sure that they are transferred along with the main presentation. You don't even have to have a writeable CD drive-you can send the package to any folder on any drive.
| Caution | Packaged versions of presentations do not include comments, revisions, or ink annotations. If you want a version that includes those items to be transferred to the destination PC, you will need to copy it there manually. |
If you have a CD-R or CD-RW drive, copying the presentation to CD-R is an attractive choice. It produces a self-running disc that contains a PowerPoint Viewer application, the presentation file, and any linked files needed for the show.You can copy many presentation files to a single CD-not just the currently active one. The only limit is the capacity of the disc (usually 650 to 700MB). Further, you can set them up to run automatically one after the other, or you can specify that a menu will appear so the user can choose each time the CD is inserted.Windows XP has a built-in CD writing utility that PowerPoint hooks into to make the CD, but earlier versions of Windows do not. Therefore, if you are using Windows 2000, you will package the presentation to a folder on your hard disk and then use a separate CD writing application to create the CD.
| Note | CD-R stands for Compact Disc Recordable; it's a standard for writeable discs that can be written to only once. CD-RW is Compact Disc ReWriteable-the standard for writeable discs that can be written to multiple times. Modern writeable CD drives usually support both, but some older drives support only CD-R. PowerPoint can use either type of blank but will overwrite anything that was previously on a CD-RW disc. |
Here's the basic procedure, assuming you have a writeable CD and Windows XP:
Place a blank CD-R in your writeable CD drive, or a CD-RW that is either blank or contains nothing you want to keep.
Open the presentation in PowerPoint to review it to make sure it is exactly the way you want it. CD-R discs are not rewriteable, so if you make a mistake you will have wasted the disc. (For this reason, it's often better to package to a folder and then burn those files to a CD after testing.)
Choose File⇨Package for CD. The Package for CD dialog box opens (see Figure 15-19).
Type a name for the CD; this is like a volume label for the disc.
(Optional) Add more files to the CD layout, if desired. See Including Multiple Presentations later in the chapter for details.
(Optional) Set any other options as desired. See Setting Copy Options later in the chapter for details.
Click the Copy to CD button and wait for the CD to be written. It may take several minutes, depending on the size of the files, the speed of your computer, and the speed of the CD drive's writing capabilities.
A message appears when the files are successfully copied to CD, asking whether you want to copy the same files to another CD. Click Yes or No. If you choose No, click Close to close the Package for CD dialog box.
Figure 15-19: Use Package for CD to place all the needed files for the presentation on a CD (or in some other location).
| Note | If you are packaging a Web presentation (.mht file) that PowerPoint originally saved in that format, PowerPoint will convert it back to PowerPoint format when it copies it to the CD. However, standard .mht files that PowerPoint did not generate will remain .mht files. |
COPYING TO OTHER LOCATIONS
If you don't have Windows XP, you won't be able to directly write to the CD as in the preceding steps. Instead, you will need to package to a folder on a drive that Windows can directly write to, such as a hard disk, floppy disk, or network location, and then use a third-party CD writing program to make the CD. (You probably have a program that came with your CD writer; popular programs include Roxio Easy CD Creator and Nero Burning ROM.)
| Note | If you are burning a CD using a third-party application, include on that CD only the contents of the folder in which you packaged the presentation, not the folder itself. |
Even if you do have Windows XP and a CD writer, you might still want to sometimes package to some other location. For example, if you are transferring a presentation from your desktop PC to a notebook computer via a network connection, you could send it directly to the notebook PC's hard disk.To change the package location from the CD to somewhere else, in the Package for CD dialog box, click the Copy to Folder button. A Copy to Folder dialog box appears (see Figure 15-20). Enter a name for the new folder to be created, and enter a path for it in the Choose Location box. Then, click OK and continue packaging normally.
Figure 15-20: Package the presentation files to some other location if appropriate.
INCLUDING MULTIPLE PRESENTATIONS
By default, the active presentation will be included on the CD, but you can also add others, up to the capacity of the disc. For example, perhaps you have several versions of the same presentation for different audiences; a single CD can contain all of them.As you prepare to copy using the Package for CD dialog box, click the Add Files button. An Add Files dialog box opens. Select the additional files to include (hold down Ctrl to select multiple files), and click Add to return to the Package for CD dialog box. The list of files appears as shown in Figure 15-21, with extra controls.
Figure 15-21: You can specify multiple presentations to include on the CD and set the order in which they should play.
If you set up the CD to play the presentations automatically (which is one of the options I'll cover in the next section), the order in which they appear on the list becomes significant. Rearrange the list, if desired, by clicking the Up or Down arrow buttons to the left of the list. Use the Remove button to remove any that aren't needed. Then, continue packaging normally.
| Tip | If you make a mistake about the order, or want to include more or fewer presentations, you are out of luck if you wrote directly to a CD. However, if you wrote to a hard disk folder, you can manually edit the playlist.txt file with Notepad to modify the list of presentations that will play and the order in which they will execute. Playlist.txt is a plain-text file that contains a simple list of presentation files, each one on a separate line. You can remove or rearrange these, and you can add other presentations to the list. (If you do that, however, those presentations must be manually copied to the folder, along with any necessary support files.) You cannot repackage to the same folder if you want to redo it through PowerPoint; you must repackage to a different folder name. |
SETTING COPY OPTIONS
From the Package for CD dialog box, you can click Options to display a dialog box of additional choices, as shown in Figure 15-22.
Figure 15-22: Set options for copying the presentation(s) to CD.
Here are the options you can set:
PowerPoint Viewer. The PowerPoint Viewer is included by default. It is needed if the destination PC does not have PowerPoint 2002 or 2003 or the
PowerPoint 2003 Viewer installed. Usually it's a good idea to include it, but if you are certain that the destination PC has the needed application and you need the extra space on the CD for more presentation files, omit it by clearing the PowerPoint Viewer checkbox.
Presentation Play. Open the Select how presentations will play in the viewer drop-down list and choose one of these:
Play all presentations automatically in the specified order. If you choose this, the order in which the presentations appear on the list becomes significant (see the preceding section).
Play only the first presentation automatically. Again, this makes the order significant. The first presentation, by default, is the one that is active when you opened the dialog box.
Let the user select which presentation to view. This shows a menu when the CD is inserted. A nice feature if you want the user to be able to select each time.
Do nothing. This completely turns off the Autorun for the disc.
Linked Files. The Linked Files checkbox is marked by default; it includes the full copies of all linked files. If you clear it, a static copy of the linked data will remain in the presentation, but the link will not work. That's fine for text and graphics, but it doesn't work for sounds and movies. Therefore, it is important to leave the checkbox marked if you have sounds or multimedia files in your presentation, as these are always linked (with the exception of some WAV files).
TrueType Fonts. The Embedded TrueType Fonts checkbox is cleared by default. If you think the destination PC might not contain all the fonts used in the presentation, mark it. This makes the presentation file slightly larger. Not all fonts can be embedded; it depends on the level of embedding allowed by the font manufacturer.
Passwords. If you want to add password protection to the presentation, do so in the Help protect the PowerPoint Files area. There are separate boxes for read and modify passwords. The passwords apply to the packaged version only; they do not apply to the original presentation file.
