.potx and .thmx ??

[SV]

I have being doing some research into Office 2007 Theme files (.thmx).

There are links that have led me to "ThemeBuilder" and this has helped
me understand what can be controlled by the .thmx file.

http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00919.htm
http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/learn/themes/
http://connect.microsoft.com/themebuilder

So the remaining question is ... what does the .potx file contain in
addition? (or what is left in the .potx file?)

How simple can we make the .potx and then rely on the .thmx to ensure
that the overall look-and-feel is consistent.

Steve

 

[Echo S]

You can use just a THMX (theme) file, actually. You don't need a POTX
(template) file unless you need sample slides.

There are some things you can set in a template that don't travel with a
theme -- sample slides are one. Text in the footer placeholders is another
(you know, the text you'd add via Insert | Header and Footer). Default table
style (right-click the table gallery on the Ribbon and choose Set as
Default. Before you ask, no, you can't define your own table style. <g>)

I'm sure there are others, but those are the main ones I can think of off
the top of my head.

The upshot is, slide masters and layouts do travel with the themes, so
often, maybe even usually, a THMX will be plenty. Then there's user
education. Users don't know what themes are, so I'll also often just save
the THMX as a POTX and provide both, even though they're really identical.

 

[Echo S]

Oh, and here's an article I did for Eli Journals that might help explain,
too:

http://www.elijournals.com/premier/showArticle.asp?aid=26655

 

[SV]

It sounds like the .potx controls "geometry" (sample slides) plus a
few specials but the theme controls "colours, fills" etc.

In the past we have created two .pot files (one for each colour/fill
set). This was always very time consuming and error-prone!

Perhaps we should be moving to one .potx with two themes to cover
allowable colour/fill sets?

Many Thanks

Steve

 

[Echo S]

You can also add an extra color set to the theme (and then apply it to the
template) by hand-editing the XML. There's info about this on my site.
http://www.echosvoice.com/2007/addcolorstotheme.htm

The article I posted the link to explains that a theme controls colors,
fonts and effects and can be used by Word, Excel and PPT. A template is
application-specific, and it holds samples / styles / macros / etc.