Normal View should have slide option

[Charlie from Oxford]

I work on both PC and Mac and use PowerPoint to make most of my client
presentations.

While I love the presenter tools and the soft shadows enabled by
Office:Mac 2004, I find it very hard to get on with the 'normal view'
which provides verbal outline rather than slide miniatures in the
left-hand panel.

The inability to quickly re-order slides, copy and paste individual or
groups of slides or scan through a lengthy presentation checking layout
as you edit the chosen slide is very frustrating. Having come to truly
appreciate these features in PowerPoint 2003, to lose them in 2004 is
very frustrating.

If there was a choice of slide 'miniatures' or 'outline' what on earth
was the rationale for going with 'outline'? I have yet to find a
professional user who ever choses this mode in 2003!

Does anyone know how to re-set this feature.

Thanks for your help.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Charlie -

There may be a way through VBA or an add-in, but I've never even looked for
one.

Have you tried clicking in the outline, Cmd+A (Select All), then
Control+Click>Collapse. You'll have just the titles displayed in the list.
Then you can select one or more slides & drag the icons to reposition them
(although you don't have to collapse to do so - it just allows for more
slides to be viewable in the list). I find it even quicker & more accurate
than using the thumbnails in '03 & seldom use the Slides Pane.

I would guess that the rationale as to which to provide may be that Slide
Sorter View does more of what you want but neither it nor the Slides pane
allow for any editing, whereas the Outline Pane permits any changes to be
made to content in text placeholders. Especially with the outlines collapsed
you can display many more slides in the Outline & be able to identify the
content of each more readily.

Quite frankly, I find the Slides Pane a redundant waste of screen real
estate - particularly in longer presentations. It can't display more than
8-10 slides in any sort of recognizable way (at least for my ancient eyes),
whereas the Outline can display dozens. You can also expand & collapse any
combination of slides to reveal/hide the info beyond the title content. If
you need to verify/manipulate based on graphic content it's a single click
to switch to Slide Sorter - where you can see far more thumbnails at higher
magnification than what the Slides Pane provides.

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

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Does anyone know how to re-set this feature.

Other than working in 2003 on your PC, no. It's simply not a feature of the
Mac version.

One click takes you to Sorter view, which I'd think would be better for many of
the tasks you describe than the thumbnail pane in 2003.


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

 

[Charlie from Oxford]

Thanks for your response Bob,

While I appreciate your comments and have been experimenting with the
collapse option you suggest, there is no substitute for being able to
see a 'thumbnail' of the slides so that you can change the order,
duplicate, hide, etc. Editing is done on the right pane where you can
see how it affects layout, etc. Editing in the Outline is fine if you
simply want to dump text, but then you might as well just use Word!

Slide sorter view is fine until you want to edit... then you lose the
overview. I'm sorry but for me and, I suspect, for most people in
creative disciplines who want to make visually, as well as verbally,
coherent presentations, the 'slide view' is an invaluably productive
use of screen 'real estate'!

I don't know much about VBAs or add-ins, but if you (or anyone else for
that matter) have any suggestions, I would be very grateful to learn
more. I must go now, I have another presentation to prepare...

Charlie

 

[JohnnyP]

Well - I came to this sight for the same issue that "Charlie from
Oxford" has. After using PowerPoint on my PC for years I find the Mac
version to be cumbersome, slow, and frustrating. And the reason? It
is the inability to see and scroll through my slides on the left pane
of the Normal View. With this feature I can quickly scroll through and
select the slide I want, reorganize them, delete/add slides, and
quickly get to the slide I want for editing. None of this is efficient
with that tiny little square and a few words that currently exist.
Help! Does anybody know if there is a way to fix this - or am I going
to have to return to my PC as I have many Presentations to put
together? Thanks for any help you can provide! John

 

[CyberTaz]

Sorry, but Mac PPt simply does not have the thumbnail pane & there's nothing
can be done to add it. Perhaps in the next version...

With all due respect, I truly believe you and Charlie are selling the
outline short because it isn't what you are "accustomed" to. The fact is
that *everything* you say you want to do can be done in that pane. The "few
words" are probably due to the Collapse feature. If you Expand (by
Control/Right-Clicking in the pane you'll find that every word contained in
every placeholder on every slide is there & readable - Titles, SubTitles &
bulleted lists... And far more slides can be displayed.

I don't mean to hammer on the issue - how anyone chooses to work is their
own decision to make. Perhaps you also pigeon-hole my opinion as being
outside the elite realm of

but the fact is that the thumbnail pane technically slows performance
because of graphic redraw. I consider that to be wasteful - especially since
the thumbnails don't allow *any* editing of the slide whatsoever, whereas
the outline not only permits editing the text content of the slide but also
any formatting normally done on the slide, itself... and a simple click at
the bottom of the pane takes me to Slide Sorter View which is far more
effectively designed for its purposes than the Slides Pane.

As the classic axiom declares, "To each his own!"

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

 

[Charlie from Oxford]

Thanks Cyber Taz,

Sorry to labour the point, but I would love to have the option to
"pursue my own preferences". I can do just that in PPt 2003 for
Windows' (by selecting the 'outline' or 'slides' tab), sadly in 2004
for Mac that privilege has been withdrawn!

I sincerely hope you will restore that choice in Office 2007.
Meanwhile, if anyone out there knows how to enable PPt 2004 to function
in the way that I, 'JohnnyP', and a great many others, firmly believe
to be a more natural and intuitive way of working, perhaps they would
be kind enought to post them here.

Thank you!

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Charlie -

Just to clarify, Office 2007 *does* have the slides pane but runs only on
Windows. The next version of Mac Office will be _2008_ and whether it will
include the thumbnails - well... We'll just have to wait & see.

If you want to "register your vote", go to PPt's Help Menu, select "Send
Feedback on PowerPoint" & have at it ... They *do* listen! If there's
enough demand Mac BU "may" comply if it's feasible.

But those who work for MS are *not* the ones who respond here - we're
'civilian' working stiffs just like you who simply use MS product to make a
living & choose to share our experience with others through the newsgroup.

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

 

[drew halevy]

A new poster, and I don't mean to be disagreeable, but I think it is more
than that, and the thumbnails are an important element, at least if Office
2003, from which I am migrating from. I just bought my I-Mac last week, and
have been getting acquainted with Office 2004 for Mac. I use 2003 at work,
and having the thumbnails on the left hand side while I edit the slide can
be very useful.

Switching between regular view and slide sorter is not the same thing. I
teach high school, and I use this "regular view" to have a strip of the
slides that around the one I am working on.

If I have to go to slide sorter, then double click to edit, then switch back
to slider sorter, go the next slide, then do it all over again, it really
breaks the flow of work. Some of my slide shows have 80 slides, and going
back and forth 80 times is not fun. If I have the thumbnail on the left hand
side, it is much for useful.

Everyone telling me how Office 2004 is just like 2003 was one of the big
selling points in buying this computer and Office 2004.

I am very disappointed in the lack of the feature, which, to me at least, is
sort of fundamental to the look and layout of PowerPoint.

-Drew

On 1/21/07 7:18 AM, in article

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Clearly, it's a very useful feature to some, and almost an annoyance to others.

But remember that while MS folks may read this newsgroup, there's no guarantee of
it; we're talking to one another here, not MS.

Instead, start PPT and click Help, Send Feedback ...

In fact, copy and paste your comments below right into the feedback form. Bingo.

A new poster, and I don't mean to be disagreeable, but I think it is more
than that, and the thumbnails are an important element, at least if Office
2003, from which I am migrating from. I just bought my I-Mac last week, and
have been getting acquainted with Office 2004 for Mac. I use 2003 at work,
and having the thumbnails on the left hand side while I edit the slide can
be very useful.

Switching between regular view and slide sorter is not the same thing. I
teach high school, and I use this "regular view" to have a strip of the
slides that around the one I am working on.

If I have to go to slide sorter, then double click to edit, then switch back
to slider sorter, go the next slide, then do it all over again, it really
breaks the flow of work. Some of my slide shows have 80 slides, and going
back and forth 80 times is not fun. If I have the thumbnail on the left hand
side, it is much for useful.

Everyone telling me how Office 2004 is just like 2003 was one of the big
selling points in buying this computer and Office 2004.

I am very disappointed in the lack of the feature, which, to me at least, is
sort of fundamental to the look and layout of PowerPoint.

-Drew

On 1/21/07 7:18 AM, in article

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

 

[CyberTaz]

As Steve says, send feedback to MS - you may not get a personal reply but
your message will be taken seriously

BTW - you're not being perceived as disagreeable... As I previously replied,
I think the issue boils down to a matter of personal preference. Some folks
are more "image oriented" some more "text oriented". I, for one, can more
readily & more accurately identify a slide based on the content of the Title
& Text placeholders than I can from a miniaturized thumbnail of the slides.
If I have several successive slides containing charts or tables the lack of
detail makes it difficult (for me) to distinguish between them, but with the
titles there's less ambiguity even if I have 30 or so slides listed in the
outline pane. Perhaps if I had a 24" display it would be different

And just to clarify, I am not trying to *convince* anyone to use this tool,
nor am I chastising anyone for preferring the slides pane, nor did I intend
to debate the relative benefits. My point was simply that PPt 2004 _doesn't_
offer the feature and offer alternatives for consideration. It's surprising
how may experienced PPt users have *no idea* how much can be done - or how
quickly - using the outline.

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

 

[drew halevy]

Thanks for the welcome. I have joined a number of the public.mac.office
groups and have already gotten some good tips from them. -Drew

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Drew,

When Office 2004 was under construction the tab with the thumbnails was
brand new. Sometimes Microsoft lets new features mellow a bit on one
platform before bringing them to the other side. Some new features have
turned out to be unpopular and better off not being included.

Back in 2003 the thumbnails tab seemed like overkill. You can slide the
scroll bar, see the outline, and switch to slide sorter view to see other
slides. Given a choice would you give up the ultra powerful Presenter View
(that's still not on Windows PowerPoint) for yet another way to see your
slides while putting the presentation together?

Fast forward 4 years to 2007. Tens of thousands of people like yourself are
switching from PCs to Macs and are familiar with the interface and features
you've been using all along. Now lots of people want the thumbnail tab
because they're used to it and liked it and have said so in feedback and
newsgroup postings.

My experience has been that Microsoft's Mac Business Unit pays close
attention to customer requests and feedback. They also have quite a bit of
flexibility as to how they build their product. They might copy the
thumbnail tab since it is obviously a highly requested feature, but it
wouldn't surprise me if they come up with an even better idea than the
thumbnail tab.

So far Microsoft has been mum about most things for Office 2008, so all we
can do right now is make a little noise and have some optimism that our
pleas will be acted upon. You can be sure that whatever the Windows team
does that the Mac side will do their darndest to outdo them.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

A new poster, and I don't mean to be disagreeable, but I think it is more
than that, and the thumbnails are an important element, at least if Office
2003, from which I am migrating from. I just bought my I-Mac last week, and
have been getting acquainted with Office 2004 for Mac. I use 2003 at work,
and having the thumbnails on the left hand side while I edit the slide can
be very useful.

Switching between regular view and slide sorter is not the same thing. I
teach high school, and I use this "regular view" to have a strip of the
slides that around the one I am working on.

If I have to go to slide sorter, then double click to edit, then switch back
to slider sorter, go the next slide, then do it all over again, it really
breaks the flow of work. Some of my slide shows have 80 slides, and going
back and forth 80 times is not fun. If I have the thumbnail on the left hand
side, it is much for useful.

Everyone telling me how Office 2004 is just like 2003 was one of the big
selling points in buying this computer and Office 2004.

I am very disappointed in the lack of the feature, which, to me at least, is
sort of fundamental to the look and layout of PowerPoint.

-Drew

On 1/21/07 7:18 AM, in article

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

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