Disable menu items etc.?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gary McGill
  • Start date Start date
G

Gary McGill

Hi,

I'm not a PowerPoint user but I have done quite a bit of Office Automation
with Word & Excel.

I'm wondering whether it's possible in PowerPoint to disable menu commands
etc. to limit what a user can do while editing a particular presentation (or
better still, any presentation created from a given template)? For example,
I'd like to stop the user from changing the font used, or adding diagrams.

Any pointers gratefully received.

Gary
 
You can't limit particular items from being edited, but
there are options for protecting the entire document from
being edited. Does this interest you? Which version do
you use?
 
Some of the gurus can give you a better answer, but I think that if it is
possible to do this, it would be done with an add-in. Unfortunately, the
add-in is associated with a particular machine, not a particular
PowerPoint presentation. That would mean that it would only be effective
if you controlled the machines and not useful for something you
distribute.
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/
 
I'm wondering whether it's possible in PowerPoint to disable menu commands
etc. to limit what a user can do while editing a particular presentation (or
better still, any presentation created from a given template)? For example,
I'd like to stop the user from changing the font used, or adding diagrams.
Click to expand...

With respect to this sort of thing, PowerPoint's a distant and not very bright
cousin to Excel and Word. You can't automatically run code from templates, for
example.

Unless you caninstall an add-in on the user's system, there's not a lot you can
do. If you CAN install one:

You can disable menu functions and toolbar buttons by deleting them (and
possibly replacing them with your own) but PPT's shortcut keys will still work
(so users could still press Ctrl+P to print, even though you'd replaced the
print dialog box with your own or none).

You can also then trap events (like when the user selects something etc.)
You might be able to use this to, if not prevent the user from doing what you
don't want them to, at least undo whatever evil they may have previously done.

Make PPT respond to events
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00004.htm
 
Unfortunately I want users to be able to add text, bullet points, etc. but
force them to use particular fonts, etc. So protecting the entire document
wouldn't help. Thanks anyway.
 
OK, that sounds like a starting point. Installing an add-in wouldn't be too
bad, so long as novice users can do it themselves fairly easily.

Thanks for your help.
 
Unfortunately I want users to be able to add text, bullet points, etc. but
force them to use particular fonts, etc. So protecting the entire document
wouldn't help. Thanks anyway.
Click to expand...

You've probably heard the expression "Herding cats"? It's a vacation compared
to getting users to do what you want w/ PPT.

Making it so simple to do what you want that it's more trouble than it's worth
to do otherwise ... sometimes that's the most effective solution.

Templates that set default fonts, macros that add slides and pre-format the
text, etc ... it can all help.
 
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