In PowerPoint, the standard operations, such as saving work, are just like in any other Office application. To save, click the Save button on the Standard toolbar or choose File ⇨ Save. To save the presentation under a different name or location, or as a different type, use File ⇨ Save As. No surprises there.
In most cases you'll want to save PowerPoint presentation files in the default format: Presentation (*.ppt). There are lots of alternatives available, though, and Table 1-1 summarizes them. If you decide you want to save in PowerPoint format, you have three choices:
Presentation (PowerPoint 2003) format is very versatile. It is compatible with all PowerPoint versions 97 and above (97, 2000, 2002, and 2003), and it preserves all features.
PowerPoint 97-2003 and 95 format adds compatibility for PowerPoint 95 to the mix, but it also greatly increases the file size. That's because in 97 and higher, graphics are compressed, but in 95 they are not. Therefore, the presentations saved in this format must support both. All features are preserved, although many of them will not be visible in the earlier PowerPoint versions.
Presentation for Review format is not an option when you first save the file, but if you use Save As to save it again, you will have access to it. It's almost exactly the same as Presentation format, but it keeps track of changes made to e-mailed copies so you can merge the changes later. Don't use this unless you need to, because the file size grows until you merge the changes each time someone else's revisions are added.
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Format
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Extension
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Notes
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Presentations
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Presentation
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PPT
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The default. Use in most cases. Can be opened in PowerPoint 97 and higher.
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PowerPoint 97-2003 & 95
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PPT
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For use in a variety of earlier versions of PowerPoint, including PowerPoint 95. Results in a large file because it contains the uncompressed images needed to support PowerPoint 95. Retains all PowerPoint 2003 features. |
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Single File Web Page
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MHT, MHTML
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Web-based, but all elements in a single file. Suitable for use as an e-mail attachment. May lose some animation effects.
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Web Page
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HTM, HTML
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Creates a plain-text HTM file and pulls out each graphic element in a separate file. Suitable for posting on a Web site. May lose some animation effects.
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Presentation for Review
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PPT
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Creates a normal PowerPoint file but sets it up to track revisions from multiple revisers. Not an option when saving initially.
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Design Template
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POT
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Creates a template that can be used for formatting future PowerPoint presentations you create.
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PowerPoint Show
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PPS
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Just like a normal presentation file except it has a different extension and opens by default in Slide Show view instead of Normal view.
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Graphics/Others
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PowerPoint Add-In
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PPA
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Stores any Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code associated with the presentation as an add-in.
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GIF Graphics Interchange Format
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GIF
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Static graphic. GIFs are limited to 256 colors.
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PNG Portable Network Graphics Format
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PNG
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Static graphic. Similar to GIF except without the color depth limitation.
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JPEG File Interchange Format
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JPG, JPEG
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Static graphic. JPEG files can be very small, making them good for Web use.
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Tagged Image File Format
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TIF, TIFF
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Static graphic. A high-quality file format suitable for slides with high-resolution photos.
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Device Independent Bitmap
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BMP
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Static graphic. BMP is the native format for Windows graphics, including Windows background wallpaper. |
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Windows Metafile
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WMF
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Static graphic. A vector-based format, so it can later be resized without distortion. Not Mac-compatible.
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Enhanced Windows Metafile
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EMF
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Enhanced version of WMF, not compatible with 16-bit applications. Also vector-based and non-Mac-compatible.
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Outline/RTF
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RTF
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Text and text formatting only; excludes all non-text elements. Only text in slide placeholders will be converted to the outline. Text in the Notes area and in manually placed text boxes is not included.
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Although all of these formats retain all features of PowerPoint 2003, other people using earlier versions of PowerPoint to view them might not see things exactly the same as they were created. See Appendix A for a complete analysis of what doesn't work in which earlier version.
| Tip |
The MultiSave add-in by Shyam Pillai allows you to save a PowerPoint presentation in many formats simultaneously; this can be useful if you need to make copies in different formats and keep all the copies synchronized. Download it from http://officeone.mvps.org/multisave/multisavel. At that same Web site is a Sequential Save add-in that creates a backup of the last saved version of a presentation before overwrites it with changes. See www.mvps.org/skp/seqsave.
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