Emailing A HUGE PPS

[Guest]

OK, this is the first time I've tried to create a slide show and to say the least it's been a frustrating experience. But, I have persevered - I think. Here are the facts

Powerpoint 9
Windows 9
Slide show is 45 slides. These were all pics (jpg) I had saved on the computer and simply inserted them in the order I wanted into the show. I have all the transitions and timings down just like I want.
I have inserted a song (after I have wrestled with this for over 3 weeks - a lot of the problem was understanding wmv vs. wma from media player) to play thru the entire show, and it opens properly as PPS and plays on its' own when opened
Total file size is 18,254 KB

My fear is due to the size I won't be able to email it to that special woman in my life and that is the whole purpose of creating the show. I am not a computer geek and I have attempted to read a lot of the posts about all this as well as hearing terms like compressing files, html, etc. etc. and quite frankly my eyes and brain get fuzzy trying to understand all this

My goal? To email this PPS to her (she has PP), and when she opens it (I'm thinking as an attachment to the email) that it works like it does on my computer

Is this file size abnormal? Too big? Too impractical to email? How do I reduce it? (I know, I've asked numerous questions here).

 

[Kathy J]

Chiefdog,
Let's take this a couple of steps at a time. First., when she receives the
file she is going to have to double click the attachment to run it. If she
saves it then runs it, that would be a good thing too.

Next, about your file size: The first thing I would check is that you have
Fast Saves turned off. This is under Tools --> Options, save tab - uncheck
the box. Ok your way back to your presentation and save it under a new name.

My next guess is that you have overscanned your pictures and they are much
bigger (pixel wise) than they need to be for screen use. Unfortunately, with
PPT 97, this isn't as easy to fix as with later versions. In fact, I don't
know of a way you can fix it without deleting each picture, re-sizing it in
a graphics application, then re-inserting it.

If you had a copy of PPT 2002 or 2003, you could adjust the compression of
the pictures all at once. Do you know anyone with that version that could
help you out? If not, there are people out there (myself included) who will
do this for a small fee. To find us, check out Geetesh Bajaj's services
listing at:
http://www.indezine.com/services/index.html

Hope this helps....
--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Cook anything outdoors with http://www.outdoorcook.com
Get OneNote answers at http://www.onenoteanswers.com

If this helped you, please take the time to rate the value of this post:
http://rate.affero.net/jacobskl/

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

OK, this is the first time I've tried to create a slide show and to say

the least it's been a frustrating experience. But, I have persevered - I
think. Here are the facts:

Powerpoint 97
Windows 98
Slide show is 45 slides. These were all pics (jpg) I had saved on the

computer and simply inserted them in the order I wanted into the show. I
have all the transitions and timings down just like I want.

I have inserted a song (after I have wrestled with this for over 3 weeks -

a lot of the problem was understanding wmv vs. wma from media player) to
play thru the entire show, and it opens properly as PPS and plays on its'
own when opened.

Total file size is 18,254 KB.

My fear is due to the size I won't be able to email it to that special

woman in my life and that is the whole purpose of creating the show. I am
not a computer geek and I have attempted to read a lot of the posts about
all this as well as hearing terms like compressing files, html, etc. etc.
and quite frankly my eyes and brain get fuzzy trying to understand all this.

My goal? To email this PPS to her (she has PP), and when she opens it (I'm

thinking as an attachment to the email) that it works like it does on my
computer.

Is this file size abnormal? Too big? Too impractical to email? How do I

reduce it? (I know, I've asked numerous questions here).

 

[Guest]

Ooops, I forgot to mention, all the pics from the camera were averaging around 150kb each.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Kathy,

I'll go check on the fast save thing. Never heard of it before now. All the pics were ones I had taken with my digital camera and saved them on the computer.

 

[Guest]

OK, I've turned the Fast Save off and did the 'save as' thing. But it looks to me that I'm going to have to do all this resizing thing on each pic. Anybody got any hankies???? Or a rock I can throw?

 

[TAJ Simmons]

Chiefdog,

You probably have too many pixels (that's dots on a screen to you non geeks) in each picture.

For a guide aim for approx 1000 pixels wide.
For a longer guide see
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointgraphics.htm

Also are you inserting the pictures into powerpoint using the
Insert menu > pictures from file ?

Or drag and drop (drag and drop is bad).

I still think you will struggle to make it 'emailable'. Probably best to make it CD-Rom-able.
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00037.htm



Cheers
TAJ Simmons
microsoft powerpoint mvp

awesome - powerpoint backgrounds,
free powerpoint templates, tutorials, hints and tips etc
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Thanks Kathy,

I'll go check on the fast save thing. Never heard of it before now. All the pics were ones I had taken with my digital

camera and saved them on the computer.

 

[Guest]

Thanks TAJ, I inserted each pic, didn't even know there was a drag thing. I played with "Picture It" a while and trying to save each pic in smaller size, but I'm brain dead at this point.

 

[Echo S]

OK, I've turned the Fast Save off and did the 'save as' thing. But it

looks to me that I'm going to have to do all this resizing thing on each
pic. Anybody got any hankies???? Or a rock I can throw?

[---] (that's a tissue)

You might save some frustration if you use a commercial image optimizer.
There are three I know of.

1. http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/FAQ00013.htm This is the one I use, and
I like it very much.

2. http://www.nxpowerlite.com/

3. http://portal.impactlabs.com/ImpactLabs/HomePage.aspx

You will probably have to redo your animations on your images after using
one of these, but you'd have to do that anyway, even if you resize the
images manually. The time I'd save resizing all that stuff would be worth
the small cost of the software for me.

If you do want to do it manually, here's TAJ's tutorial on right-sizing your
images for PPT.
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointgraphics.htm

Here is a link on all the stuff you can check to see if there's anything
else you're doing which makes your file large.
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00062.htm

And finally, since you're using WMA audio, don't forget you'll need to email
that along with the presentation. There's no way to embed a WMA file, so if
you want the links to work properly, put the file into the same folder with
your presentation *before* you insert it into the presentation.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

OK, I've turned the Fast Save off and did the 'save as' thing. But it looks to me

that I'm going to have to do all this resizing thing on each pic. Anybody got any
hankies???? Or a rock I can throw?

See Echo's post. But since this is a one-time deal, you may not want to spend money
on a commercial add-in. Can't say as I blame you, even though I wrote one of the
ones she mentions. ;-)

Here are a couple tricks to try (on a COPY of your presentation, please!)

Select an image, choose Edit, Copy. Delete the original image.
Choose Edit, Paste Special, choose Picture or, if available, an option that mentions
"bitmap"
Repeat for several more images and save the pres. Is it notably smaller than the
original?

Alternatively:

Get a copy of Irfanview (free from www.irfanview.com)
It can batch process images handily. Use it to downsize copies of your original JPGs
to, say, 800x600 or so.

Then have a look here:

BATCH IMPORT images into PowerPoint
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00050.htm

and here

Batch Insert a folder full of pictures, one per slide
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00352.htm

for inexpensive or free ways to batch import the downsized images into a new
presentation.

 

[Guest]

Another idea would be to open each of your pictures in MS Photo Editor, select Image/Autobalance and resave. This will often result in a much much smaller file size. You can also resize the image if need be. Also, you mention timing slides to music - this is typically not reliable playing from PC to PC. Suggest either not making the image/muisic/timing thing important or consider using some other software which is more reliable for that sort of application. I use PPT a lot but when I have music/visual timings and know it will go across PC's I've used CyberLink Media Show. One of the MVP's recommended it a while back - it works well and is inexpensive.

 

[IBPete]

I can't help with your existing preso but if you want to manipulate the
source files here is a GREAT Image Resizing freeware utility,
http://www.mihov.com/eng/ir.html
Some features:
batch resizing images in bmp, gif, and jpg picture formats.
converting pictures from bitmap to JPEG or GIF, from JPEG to GIF or from
GIF to JPEG.
rotating
creating thumbnails

in fact all of this guys software is pretty nice. I've been using it for
years.
(no i don't work for him just like to pass on good things)
IBPete

OK, I've turned the Fast Save off and did the 'save as' thing. But it

looks to me that I'm going to have to do all this resizing thing on each
pic. Anybody got any hankies???? Or a rock I can throw?

[---] (that's a tissue)

You might save some frustration if you use a commercial image optimizer.
There are three I know of.

1. http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/FAQ00013.htm This is the one I use, and
I like it very much.

2. http://www.nxpowerlite.com/

3. http://portal.impactlabs.com/ImpactLabs/HomePage.aspx

You will probably have to redo your animations on your images after using
one of these, but you'd have to do that anyway, even if you resize the
images manually. The time I'd save resizing all that stuff would be worth
the small cost of the software for me.

If you do want to do it manually, here's TAJ's tutorial on right-sizing your
images for PPT.
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointgraphics.htm

Here is a link on all the stuff you can check to see if there's anything
else you're doing which makes your file large.
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00062.htm

And finally, since you're using WMA audio, don't forget you'll need to email
that along with the presentation. There's no way to embed a WMA file, so if
you want the links to work properly, put the file into the same folder with
your presentation *before* you insert it into the presentation.

 

[stirwin]

I guess we have all done all this, so don't feel bad!

My advice would be to create a copy of your presentation and ru
NXPowerLite as suggested. I have used this on colleagues presentation
with very good results, but it can reduce image quality if you overcoo
it, so always use a copy of yout file. You may have to twea
transitions, but the file size will reduce substantially and I believ
this will be the least work for you.

Terr

 

[Bill]

I optimize my PPT presentations using this:
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools

Excellent PPT optimization, I see dramatic decreases in file size.

Bill G.

OK, this is the first time I've tried to create a slide show and to say

the least it's been a frustrating experience. But, I have persevered - I
think. Here are the facts:

Powerpoint 97
Windows 98
Slide show is 45 slides. These were all pics (jpg) I had saved on the

computer and simply inserted them in the order I wanted into the show. I
have all the transitions and timings down just like I want.

I have inserted a song (after I have wrestled with this for over 3 weeks -

a lot of the problem was understanding wmv vs. wma from media player) to
play thru the entire show, and it opens properly as PPS and plays on its'
own when opened.

Total file size is 18,254 KB.

My fear is due to the size I won't be able to email it to that special

woman in my life and that is the whole purpose of creating the show. I am
not a computer geek and I have attempted to read a lot of the posts about
all this as well as hearing terms like compressing files, html, etc. etc.
and quite frankly my eyes and brain get fuzzy trying to understand all this.

My goal? To email this PPS to her (she has PP), and when she opens it (I'm

thinking as an attachment to the email) that it works like it does on my
computer.

Is this file size abnormal? Too big? Too impractical to email? How do I

reduce it? (I know, I've asked numerous questions here).