Commenting to my heart's content in PPT

[Hari Prasadh]

Hi,

In Excel if I introduce a comment in a cell, then the user name (within
Tools - Options) would get displayed in the start of the comment.

In Powerpnt in a similar manner, name (along with date) gets displayed.

Well and Good.

a) SOME times I dont want to display the name in comment. In excel one can
delete the name part from WITHIN comment itself. In Powerpnt Im not able to
delete the name from within the comment itself. I found that only way to
avoid this is to leave the user name in tools - options blank, enter my
comment, go back to tools-options and re-enter the user name. Is there a
Better way?

b) In excel we have the option Show comment. I couldnt find a similar
feature in PPPT. Is such a feature considered redundant/useless in PPT.
Somebody might say if one wants to show comment then why not use textboxes
itself, but some times I would like to hide comment number X while other
times show the same comment number X.(Im quite moody!!). Actually this
happens to me most of the time in Excel.

c) What does the option Markup comment. I see that using it toggles on and
off the display of comment. Is it just for toggling? (It doesnt seem to be
good for answer of point b) because in excel within the same worksheet there
are some comments which I would show while rest would be hidden. So, within
a single slide I might think of selectively showing some comments while
hiding others. So toggling(aka markup) is no good. Too many whims!)

Please guide me.

Thanks a lot,
Hari
India

 

[Echo S]

Since you haven't received any answers, I'll at least comment. <g> See
inline.

a) SOME times I dont want to display the name in comment. In excel one can
delete the name part from WITHIN comment itself. In Powerpnt Im not able to
delete the name from within the comment itself. I found that only way to
avoid this is to leave the user name in tools - options blank, enter my
comment, go back to tools-options and re-enter the user name. Is there a
Better way?

Not that I'm aware. The new comment style that was introduced in PPT 2002
(aka PPT XP) isn't very flexible.

You could use the code at http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00462.htm to
convert the new comments into old-style comments. Those are more easily
edited.

b) In excel we have the option Show comment. I couldnt find a similar
feature in PPPT. Is such a feature considered redundant/useless in PPT.
Somebody might say if one wants to show comment then why not use textboxes
itself, but some times I would like to hide comment number X while other
times show the same comment number X.(Im quite moody!!). Actually this
happens to me most of the time in Excel.

I know what you mean, I'd like to be able to show some comments and hide
others, etc. -- but again (and unfortunately), the newish PPT comments
aren't very flexible.

Why the comments aren't the same across all the Office applications is
beyond me!

c) What does the option Markup comment. I see that using it toggles on and
off the display of comment. Is it just for toggling? (It doesnt seem to be
good for answer of point b) because in excel within the same worksheet there
are some comments which I would show while rest would be hidden. So, within
a single slide I might think of selectively showing some comments while
hiding others. So toggling(aka markup) is no good. Too many whims!)

Yes, the Show/Hide Markup button is just to toggle the comments on or off.
It's an all or nothing option.

 

[Hari Prasadh]

Hi Echo,

Your comments have saved me from wasting any further time on this.

Thnx a TON for the link you provided.

I also downloaded the demo version of Starter tool set and would be using to
flaunt my new found power over powerpoint.

Thanks a lot,
Hari
India

 

[Echo S]

Happy it was helpful, Hari.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hari,

I also downloaded the demo version of Starter tool set and would be using to
flaunt my new found power over powerpoint.

Another thought:

If you use the code at the link Echo provided to convert new comments into old,
you could then use the (also free) demo of our PPT2HTML add-in
(http://ppt2html.pptools.com) which includes an Accessibility Assistant. It
lets you view a list of shapes on the slide and make any shape visible or
invisible.

In short, you could turn any single comment on or off. In PPT2000, View,
Comments toggles overall comment visibility off and then individual comments
can be set to be visible or invisible regardless of the View, Comments setting.

I suspect the behavior will be a little different with View, Markup in PPT2002
and later.

==

Note that the StarterSet Plus upgrade to the free starter set includes tools
for creating old-style comments directly in PPT2002 and up and converting from
new to old-style and a layer manager tool that lets you set visibility.