Document assembly options?

[Jack]

Hi;

I am putting together PPT presentations to be used in training. Does
PPT, or maybe an unknown (to me) related product provide the capability
to set up a presentation based on 'component' presentations?

Say I have a 3 chapter Introductory class. I would like to be able to
create 3 PPT presentations, one for each chapter.

Then I'd like to specify that the intro class uses files
presentation01.ppt, presentation02.ppt and presentation03.ppt.

This would allow me to then create another class where I could reuse
some of the existing presentations by reference, instead of copying the
slides and then having to try to keep the shared portions in sync
manually.

Something like the intermediate class uses files: presentation01.ppt
and presentation02.ppt (shared with the intro) along with
presentation04.ppt and presentation05.ppt (unique to this class).

I tried searching for "document assembly", "shared presentation" and
"reused presentation" without any luck. Any suggestions or where to
look in Help would be great.

Thank you, Jack

 

[CyberTaz]

There are at least 2 options -

1- All slides in one file & create Custom Shows (Slide Show menu) to specify
which slides to be included in each, and

2- If separate presentations look at Action Buttons to link to other
presentation files.

There will most likely be more suggestions from other posters, so check
these out, then come back for more

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Jack]

Thanks Bob, but...

Option 1 - This would be a very big file indeed. Well from my limited
experience what I'd consider a very big file, two or maybe three
thousand slides. Does PPT become unwieldy or more likely to have file
corruptions as sizes get to this scale? But this might be the way to
go, since a Custom Show can be chosen for printing.

Option 2 - I think that this is a no good since the presentations also
have to be printed.

Isn't there/wasn't there a way to create some kind of standalone
'script' file to put a series of presentations together? I have a very
foggy memory of either doing that myself or using a presentation based

 

[CyberTaz]

The only other approach I have any experience with would be Insert>Slides
from File in order to compile a new presentation consisting of copies of
slides in other files (as well as any content of its own).

I have no experience with a project comprising [anywhere near] that volume
of slides, so I can't offer anything more... Sorry

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Jim Gordon]

Hello Jack,

Cyber Taz has touched on possible solutions.

Yes, PowerPoint can create "component" presentations. In your master
presentation go to the SlideShow menu and choose Custom Shows. You can
create lots of subsets of your master show that way.

However, if you put thousands of slides in a single presentation you'll
be using a LOT of RAM, and you'll be really working your graphics card
hard, so you'd need a decent video card with sufficient RAM on that,
too. Some people have found slide sorter view to be too slow when they
put lots of pictures into a presentation. I've got lots of RAM and a
decent video card so mine doesn't get too slow, but it is noticeably
slower with lots of pictures.

A way to keep the presentation file size under control is to link rather
than embed the pictures.

Shameless plug: I wrote an add-in that lets you import entire folders

worth of pictures at once, and there is an option to link rather than embed.
http://www.agentjim.com/MVP/PowerPoint/ppt2004.htm

You have to be very careful about linking. If any portion of the file
path changes, the links break. Do you know the difference between an
absolute link and a relative link? An absolute link is the entire file
path. An absolute link is created whenever the picture being linked to
is in a different directory or folder than the presentation is. A
relative link is made when the pictures are in the exact same folder as
the presentation, or if you use the File > Save As PowerPoint Package
option. Relative links are best when distributing presentations.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi;

I am putting together PPT presentations to be used in training. Does
PPT, or maybe an unknown (to me) related product provide the capability
to set up a presentation based on 'component' presentations?

Say I have a 3 chapter Introductory class. I would like to be able to
create 3 PPT presentations, one for each chapter.

Then I'd like to specify that the intro class uses files
presentation01.ppt, presentation02.ppt and presentation03.ppt.

This would allow me to then create another class where I could reuse
some of the existing presentations by reference, instead of copying the
slides and then having to try to keep the shared portions in sync
manually.

Why not use linked presentations then?

Suppose presentation01 is about Widgets, 02 is the Wombats section and 03 is
Wobblies.

Create a new presentation called INTRO
Add whatever introductory material you like, but at the point where you want to
branch of into your main material, add a slide with:

Widgets
Wombats
Wobblies

as text.

Select e.g. Widgets, add a hyperlink to presentation01 (your Widgets pressie).
Do the same for the other two, linking to the appropriate files.

In the linked-to files, add an action button set to End Show wherever you might
need it.

Now when you get to your "branch" or Table of Contents slide you added above,
you can click to link to any of your component presentations. End Show buttons
on each of those will close the presentation and leave you back at your T of C
slide.




================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Jack]

Steve;

This would be fine for delivering the presentation, but I also have to
print it. I don't see anyway to have the links 'followed' when the maln
presentation is printed.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Steve;

This would be fine for delivering the presentation, but I also have to
print it. I don't see anyway to have the links 'followed' when the maln
presentation is printed.

True. They can click all they like on the printout but it's not going to respond.
<g>

Is the problem one of making the numbering work or that you'd like to be able
easily to print, say, Unit 3 and have the right slides/ppt's/whatever automatically
print?

Again with the macros, but not so complex this time ... you could create text files
or even a PPT with the names of the units listed in order. Say the title of the
slide is:

Advanced Class

in the text body you have:

Presentation1.ppt
Presentation6.ppt
Presentation42.ppt

Assuming for simplicity's sake that all of the presentations are in the same folder
as your the "list" PPT above, the code could:

Read each line of text
Open the file pointed to by that line of text
Print it
Close it

and so on, until it gets to the end of the list.

Would something like that fit the bill?


================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================