mac vs pc - differences

[khlota]

Is there any way to lock a file so that you are assured it will look
the same to no matter who opnes it in PowerPoint? We are a mac studio
and occasionally run into problems with people not seeing things the
same way on the PC end - not that this is surprising.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Is there any way to lock a file so that you are assured it will look
the same to no matter who opnes it in PowerPoint? We are a mac studio
and occasionally run into problems with people not seeing things the
same way on the PC end - not that this is surprising.

You can't really lock the file in the sense of making it unchangeable but there
are several things you can do to help ensure it looks the same on a PC:

There's some info on this here:

Cross-platform Compatibility
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/index.html#name_Cross-platform_Compatibility

The compatibility checker on the Mac side should also help to point out
potential problem areas if you use PPT 2004.

Never copy/paste pictures; instead, use Insert, Picture, From File.

If you need to use movies or sounds, choose formats that work on both platforms
(AVI for movies, WAV for sounds) and insert them only after having copied the
sound/movie files to the same folder as your PPT.


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

 

[khlota]

Thanks Steve. The problems we have seem to be more related to fonts but
we have a corporate font that was made for both platforms so . . . ??
I 'll check this out as I am sure it will provide me with answers that
I could use in general.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thanks Steve. The problems we have seem to be more related to fonts but
we have a corporate font that was made for both platforms so . . . ??
I 'll check this out as I am sure it will provide me with answers that
I could use in general.

Depending on the licensing restrictions placed on the Window/PC version of the
font, you may be able to embed it in the PPT file. If so, it'll make the font
available to PC users. Mac PPT neither embeds fonts nor uses fonts that have
been embedded, so this won't help on that end.

If you do much of this kind of thing, I'd highly recommend keeping at least a
cheap PC laptop around to test with; at today's prices, it's hard to go wrong,
and it could save you from going wrong in so many ways.

Or install Virtual PC and Windows+PPT/Office on any handy Mac.

Or now that Apple's gone INTELlectual on us, a dual boot in our future ...?
;-)

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

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

The compatibility checker on the Mac side should also help to point out
potential problem areas if you use PPT 2004.

Though it doesn't detect all potential issues (eg: TIFF files compressed
with a QT compressor).
Beside image formats, the major issue I see with cross platform is
font-substitution: Try to make sure you are always using a font that's
available on the other platform.


Corentin

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

When I presented my final PPT presentation on the last class meeting, it
did not perform like the original. I did the org on my Mac, verOX Office
and the the transfer was put into a windows xp pro laptop at the class
via a USB jump drive. All the fonts came out wrong, the animation
effects were screwed up, some sound effects didn't work, so yeah, there
waS A DEFINITE CROSS PLATFOrM PROBLEM.

It may have been that but it may not.

The fonts could equally run into problems between any two Macs or PCs, as could
the sound effects, depending on how they were done.

Animation can run into problems between versions ... you mention Win XP Pro on
the laptop, but that could be running pretty much any version of PPT from 97
on, or either of two free viewers. You might just as well have run into the
same problems between different Windows versions of PPT.

Of that, there's no doubt. It's really frustrating that there's no way to
package up a presentation in a really bulletproof manner.

especially the hours of work I put into it and the class said mine was
the best shown. Nice of them to say that, but each student did a great
job and were unique. I can never allow that to happen again and I am
exclusively a Mac operator, so I am not going to design on Windows if I
can avoid it, even though the windows ver has more features that the OSX
vers.

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