How can I view/edit multiple presentations on multiple monitors?

[Guest]

I am trying to combine/edit two large presentations and want to view one on
each monitor (I have dual monitor support). PowerPoint won't allow me to
view one presentation on each monitor... I can do it in Excel, Word, etc,
but not in PowerPoint - any advice?

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I am trying to combine/edit two large presentations and want to view one on
each monitor (I have dual monitor support). PowerPoint won't allow me to
view one presentation on each monitor... I can do it in Excel, Word, etc,
but not in PowerPoint - any advice?

Yep. Stretch your PPT window across both screen, then choose Window, Arrange
All or Cascade. Now drag the windows for the individual presentations wherever
you want them.

 

[Guest]

There's no way to force Powerpoint to open two instances? The below answer
works, but not very well in some cases, and is less than elegant.

When I use Word/Excel/etc, I'm able to open two instances, and thus able to
maximize the window in each monitor, and I have the toolbar and associated
menu bars in each instance.

Right now I'm using a laptop and an external monitor that have different
physical sizes and different resolutions. It's frustrating to try to get
several presentations arranged between the two monitors, it will go off the
bottom of one monitor or not go all the way to the bottom on the other,
toolbars aren't where I need them, etc.

Right now, I'd even pay for an add-in that would let me be able to do this.
Anyone know of anything?

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

There's no way to force Powerpoint to open two instances?

No, afraid not.

The only workaround I know of is to install and run two different *versions* of
PowerPoint.

Ah. Wait. Devious, if not outright deviant thought:

Start an instance of Word. Drag it to the second screen.
Choose Insert, Object. From file. Pick a PPT file. Do not checkmark Link.

The PPT object's now embedded in the Word file.
Rightclick it and choose Presentation Object, Edit.
That opens it for in-place editing inside With what looks like a duplicate set of
your PPT buttons and toolbars.

One thing to remember: you're editing the instance of the presentation embedded in
the Word doc, not the one out there on disk. At some point you'll want to
rightclick, choose Presentation Object, OPEN. That opens it in the full instance of
PPT; from there you can save it as a PPT file. It doesn't seem you can do this
while editing in-place in Word.

Now you tell me ... is that twisted or what? ;-)


The below answer

 

[Guest]

Actually, that's almost exactly what I ended up doing! The only difference is
that I sent the presentation to Word from Powerpoint, rather than the other
way around.

This isn't a perfect solution, but it works well enough for me. There's only
one presentation that I edit, the rest are there to copy from (master
template, icon files, etc.) and for reference.

I had also thought about loading a different version of Powerpoint, but a)
wasn't sure offhand where one was, and b) was scared of what it might do to
my system.

If anyone from Redmond is reading, could you please make the two instances
possible in the next version?? Or can you add the paragraph mark button so we
can count spaces after the period? And an enhanced search and replace? Some
of us really do need to get this detailed in the presentations, and it's a
pain to do in Powerpoint.