Powerpoint 2007 template with macro's - how to use them?

[inge]

I've been using Powerpoint Add-ins for a long time to make macro's available.
I was happily surprised to see the new .potm format for the 2007 version:
template with macro's.
But how to use them? If I make a new presentation based on a template with
macro's, the users must first save the new presentation as .pptm file, thus
enabling the macro's. Default installation is saving as .pptx file and
opening a file without enabling macro's.

I tried different solutions, but it almost seems that I still have to do all
the programming in the Add-in, instead of a template if I don't want
end-users to be bothered with messages of disabled macro's.
Am I correct in this?

Frustrating point is that I develop templates for different organizations,
and want to do ribbon customizations (with buttons that start a macro) to
specific templates. But when a new file is created, there always is a message
that the macro's are disabled. Only saving as a .pptm files is the solution,
but that must be an instruction to the user?
I use a digital certificate to sign the templates.

Am I missing something? How do I make templates with macro's that will work
without special instructions to end-users?

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I've been using Powerpoint Add-ins for a long time to make macro's available.
I was happily surprised to see the new .potm format for the 2007 version:
template with macro's.

There's really not been much change there.

PPT may or may not have macros; the user has no easy way to know.
POT may or may not have macros; the user has no easy way to know.

PPTX never has macros, PPTM does.
POTX never has macros, POTM does.

The ...M versions of the file formats are more a user-warning system than
anything else.

But how to use them? If I make a new presentation based on a template with
macro's, the users must first save the new presentation as .pptm file, thus
enabling the macro's. Default installation is saving as .pptx file and
opening a file without enabling macro's.

I tried different solutions, but it almost seems that I still have to do all
the programming in the Add-in, instead of a template if I don't want
end-users to be bothered with messages of disabled macro's.
Am I correct in this?

Yes. The idea was never to make it easier to distribute macros with PPT files;
it was to make it more difficult to distribute them w/o the user's knowledge.

Am I missing something? How do I make templates with macro's that will work
without special instructions to end-users?

Basically, you don't. Not if you want to include macros in your templates.

You pretty much need to distribute add-ins.

 

[inge]

Thanks Steve, this clarifies it.
I thought that a this 'template with macro' feature would work in the same
way a Word template does. Disappointing it still doesn't do that.
Though I love a lot of the new features of Powerpoint 2007, most of my
problems in working with in the older versions are not solved.