Suport for Flash animation (.swf) files in Powerpoint 2008?

[[_jar_]]

Powerpoint 2008 wont let me import a flash file into Powerpoint 2008 for Mac reads: "not in a recognized movie format" -- seriously!!!???

Are .swf files not supported?

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Powerpoint 2008 wont let me import a flash file into Powerpoint 2008 for Mac
reads: "not in a recognized movie format" -- seriously!!!???

Are .swf files not supported?

Hi,

PowerPoint relies upon Apple¹s QuickTime to play movies and animation files.
Whatever will play in QuickTime Player will play.

There used to be a setting that you could use to enable QuickTime to play
Flash files:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304341

I can¹t find that setting in my QuickTime preferences any longer. Try
opening a SWF file in QuickTime. If it plays, then change the default
program to open SWF files to QuickTime and your movies will play in
PowerPoint.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[kriskoa]

I'm also having this problem. I was unable to open a .swf file in QuickTime & PowerPoint '08 will not insert them as the "file is not in a recognized movie format." I would like to create PowerPoint Presentations with video that will be viewable on both a PC and a Mac. The QuickTime .mov files created on a Mac are not viewable on a PC.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

I'm also having this problem. I was unable to open a .swf file in QuickTime &
PowerPoint '08 will not insert them as the "file is not in a recognized movie
format." I would like to create PowerPoint Presentations with video that will
be viewable on both a PC and a Mac. The QuickTime .mov files created on a Mac
are not viewable on a PC.

QuickTime Pro can export as Windows Media format (.wmv). Use WMV for best
cross-platform performance and compression.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

QuickTime Pro can export as Windows Media format (.wmv). Use WMV for best
cross-platform performance and compression.

-Jim

I want to put my advice on hold. It seems that QuickTime 7.4.1 files aren¹t
being read properly on the Windows side. I¹ll try different formats,
settings, and codecs and report my findings. If anyone else knows some good
setting combinations in QuickTime please post them here!

Thanks.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Murray Miskelly]

Jim (et al),

This topic is almost word for word from one I tried to resolve over the last year. Unless I am missing something fundamental, Quicktime (on the Mac at least) will not play .swf files. As PowerPoint calls on Quicktime for medi, then it too cannot handle them.

In previous versions Apple admitted disabling Flash by default (due to teir version being older than the current), but the new version that I have (7.4.1) does not even have the Enable Flash option in the preferences.

I have a number of PowerPoint files that I have created Flash animation files for that I have been hanging out for Office 2008 to see if I can use them, but still no joy.

Hopefully I am missing the vital but easy step to enable this. Has anyone else had success with showing .swf animation in PPT08 Mac?

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Jim (et al),

This topic is almost word for word from one I tried to resolve over the last year. Unless I am missing something fundamental, Quicktime (on the Mac at least) will not play .swf files. As PowerPoint calls on Quicktime for medi, then it too cannot handle them.

In previous versions Apple admitted disabling Flash by default (due to teir version being older than the current), but the new version that I have (7.4.1) does not even have the Enable Flash option in the preferences.

I have a number of PowerPoint files that I have created Flash animation files for that I have been hanging out for Office 2008 to see if I can use them, but still no joy.

Hopefully I am missing the vital but easy step to enable this. Has anyone else had success with showing .swf animation in PPT08 Mac?

Hi,

It would appear that most of this problem is caused by Flash, not Apple.
Here's an Adobe article about Flash and QuickTime:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_18990&sliceId=1

On the other hand, Apple seems to get antsy about QuickTime codecs:
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/01/2012217

That could because of security concerns:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307176

The situation makes it difficult for Microsoft (or anyone else for that
matter) to effectively work with Adobe Flash.

My impression after going through this research is that Adobe Flash is
not a very good platform to use to distribute content, and that the ball
is in Adobe's court to correct the situation.

-Jim

 

[Murray Miskelly]

Jim,

Thanks for the leads. Most of the info on the 'net refers to the Flash delivery of video, as opposed to my requirement of time-line based, interactive animation.
Your last link probably sums it up with 'potential security vulnerabilities in Quicktime's Flash media handler'. Maybe lots of finger-pointing and no-one taking ownership.
Unless there are any other possible tools available through PowerPoint for this method of delivery, I may have to look at using the Presentation tools of Flash, rather than PowerPoint. Pity, as PowerPoint is generally more fluid for the main task of building a presentation.

Murray

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Jim,

Thanks for the leads. Most of the info on the 'net refers to the Flash delivery of video, as opposed to my requirement of time-line based, interactive animation.
Your last link probably sums it up with 'potential security vulnerabilities in Quicktime's Flash media handler'. Maybe lots of finger-pointing and no-one taking ownership.
Unless there are any other possible tools available through PowerPoint for this method of delivery, I may have to look at using the Presentation tools of Flash, rather than PowerPoint. Pity, as PowerPoint is generally more fluid for the main task of building a presentation.

Murray

Hi,

It all depends upon what you want to do with these products. Adobe aays
this about flash at the Adobe Flash site:

"What is Adobe Flash CS3 Professional?
Adobe® Flash® CS3 Professional software is the industry-standard
tool for creating interactive content. Whether you are creating
interactive websites, advertising, games, or mobile content, Flash CS3
Professional provides the tools you need to deliver an engaging user
experience."

The focus is quite narrow, and it does not seem that Adobe cares a whole
bunch about being compatible with file formats other than Flash.

You can always hyperlink to a Flash animation, and maybe you could do
something with an AppleScript that can be called via Visual Basic if you
want to dress it up a bit.

Have you checked out any of the newer Flash alternatives? Microsoft has
Silverlight
http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/
http://www.popfly.com/

Silverlight is included on the Microsoft Macintosh Office 2008 install
CD, although hardly anyone has noticed it.

Adobe has something new called Air, which shipped today (2/25/2008)
http://www.adobe.com/products/air/

-Jim

 

[Bradley_Cho-Smith]

Will Microsoft look at addressing the problem? Ie from the original post regards PowerPoint not supporting swfs.

I too would like to import Adobe Flash based SWFs into a PowerPoint presentation. Using an alternate to Flash to create the original is not an option at this stage.

I work for a Design company, we use Powerpoint to pitch for new work. We would like to showcase current swf based work within the PowerPoint format, instead of flat JPGs.

 

[hardball2007]

PowerPoint on a PC allows embedding of swfs just fine. Will Microsoft be adding this functionality to PowerPoint on a Mac also soon? Converting the swf to WMV will lose the interactivity allowed by swfs.

 

[Jon Busby]

Like you all I was very frustrated by the lack of support for swf both from QT and PP. I have been pulling my hair out and have almost had to do the walk of shame as I am the only Mac user in my company.

How I cracked it was to use iSwiff. I use my presentation as normal and hyperlink a small picture in the presentation to my .swf file on my desktop. When I click on the pic in PP it loads iSwiff, (after a couple of security prompts) and the movie comes up on screen and plays, (if you want just click zoom in the iSwiff 'Window' command and it will fill your screen). When your movie has finished and you want to revert to PP, just cmmd tab.

 

[bobbbo5]

I think I have found a reasonable solution to this problem. When you have built a movie in Adobe Flash, you have the option to export the movie as a QuickTime. On a Mac it is File/Export/Export Movie. You need to make sure the movie has a end, no looping as QT needs an end. Once you have done this PowerPoint can easily insert this QT movie.

If you have buttons or things to interact with built into the Flash movie, these will no longer work as QT has none of those features.

Unfortunately the QT movie is much bigger than the Flash movie. My 1MB flash movie with sound grew to 17MB as a QT file.

I know this will not work for all but for most. The features in Flash Movies just are not the same as what QT has, therefore, I doubt we will see a day where this issue can be fixed. I think Microsoft needs to remove the statement that swf files are importable to PowerPoint.