Printing in PPT. Handouts Vs Slides

[Hari Prasadh]

Hi,

I dont know what Handout mean in PPT? (WordWeb dictionary defines it as "An
announcement distributed to members of the press in order to supplement or
replace an oral presentation")

I went to print preview and under the print options found Handouts but it
just displays the slides with additional option to display more than one
slide on a page. What is difference between Slide and Handouts ? What is a
Handout?

Please guide me. If I understand I might be able to see if I need it!!

Thanks a lot,
Hari
India

 

[Bill Foley]

A handout allows flexibility of printing out something other than one large
slide per page. A handout allows up to 9 slide thumbnails per page. You
are also provided with a Handout Master (View, Master) that allows you to
put in specific footers and/or headers for your handout. Keep in mind that
providing your audience a handout of slide thumbnails makes it pretty much
useless to try and read if anything more than "2 Slides per page" is
selected (IMHO)!

Hope this helps!

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I went to print preview and under the print options found Handouts but it
just displays the slides with additional option to display more than one
slide on a page. What is difference between Slide and Handouts ? What is a
Handout?

Please guide me. If I understand I might be able to see if I need it!!

Your dictionary has it pretty much right, though I wouldn't limit the audience
to just the press.

Handouts are printouts of your presentation that have anywhere from 2 to 9 or
so slide images on each sheet of paper (as you see in Preview).

If you need to distribute copies of your presentation on paper (or just keep a
file copy) handouts are more compact and waste less paper.

That's about all there is to the mystery. Not so deep, eh? ;-)

 

[Hari Prasadh]

Hi Bill and Steve,

Thnx for the replies.

I reasoned that since one could print more than one slide in a page, so what
extra value addition does a handout offer.

Bill's explanation about -- Header/Footer -- and -Handout master- made me
understand the same.

With the above new doubt. Whats a handout master. I though that it might be
a miniaturized print of all (or almost all) slides which tells us where a
particular slide is. Something akin to what we get from Camera print shops
these days (along with 36 prints I also get one "Table of contents" print
which has all the prints in miniature form within a single print). Is
handout master such a table of contents of slides?

I checked out the handout master in view - master but I just get to see
miniaturized slides (9 slides in one) with NOTHING on those slides. On the
other hand the slides are all filled with tens of objects in each slide. Why
am I getting a blank view in Handout master?

(The above problem in my understanding could also be because I dont know
what "Master" is etc. Have been confined to manipulating objects on existing
PPT files. I understand its like asking what is quantum chromodynamics when
one doesnt even know what chromodynamics is?).

Please guide me.

Thanks a lot,
Hari
India

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi Hari,

I reasoned that since one could print more than one slide in a page, so what
extra value addition does a handout offer.

But when you print more than one slide per page, you ARE printing handouts.
Or to put it the other way, w/o the Handout functionality, you can't print more
than one slide per page.

With the above new doubt. Whats a handout master.

It's a bit like the slide and other masters, but ONLY a bit.
You can't use it to change the arrangement of slides on handout pages or really
to affect the layout at all. You can, however, add graphics to it (so for
example you could put your company logo on each handout page).

Limited at best.

I checked out the handout master in view - master but I just get to see
miniaturized slides (9 slides in one) with NOTHING on those slides. On the
other hand the slides are all filled with tens of objects in each slide. Why
am I getting a blank view in Handout master?

The master shows you only where the slides will be placed on the page; NOT the
actual slides. For that you'd want to set up to print handouts then choose the
Preview feature in the Print dialog.

(The above problem in my understanding could also be because I dont know
what "Master" is etc. Have been confined to manipulating objects on existing
PPT files. I understand its like asking what is quantum chromodynamics when
one doesnt even know what chromodynamics is?).

I'd visit www.soniacoleman.com and the tutorials at
http://www.pptbackgrounds.fsnet.co.uk/

I think they both do a better job of explaining what masters are and how they

 

[Echo S]

With the above new doubt. Whats a handout master. I though that it might be
a miniaturized print of all (or almost all) slides which tells us where a
particular slide is. Something akin to what we get from Camera print shops
these days (along with 36 prints I also get one "Table of contents" print
which has all the prints in miniature form within a single print). Is
handout master such a table of contents of slides?

No, masters in PowerPoint are similar to templates in Word. The master slide
is where you would put something -- a drawn object or text or a photograph
or a product logo or whatever -- that you want to appear on all slides. It
saves you from having to paste that object on every slide individually.

So in PPT, you start from a slide master base for your slides and then add
more stuff on the individual slides.

Does that make sense?

A handout master works similarly. It's the basis for the handout page. It
shows the blank slide thumbnails which are where the slides will be located
when you print the handout. You cannot reposition or resize those, but you
can add other things to your handout page if you want. Many people like to
type in the name of the presentation or the presenter's name on the
handouts. Others like to add the date and time the handout was printed. Or
maybe the date of the presentation. My clients almost always want the page
number on the handouts. You can add any of these on the handout master.

You get to the masters in PPT by going to View/Master. Then choose the
master you want.

I checked out the handout master in view - master but I just get to see
miniaturized slides (9 slides in one) with NOTHING on those slides. On the
other hand the slides are all filled with tens of objects in each slide. Why
am I getting a blank view in Handout master?

Those are just the placeholders for where your slides will be printed.

(The above problem in my understanding could also be because I dont know
what "Master" is etc. Have been confined to manipulating objects on existing
PPT files. I understand its like asking what is quantum chromodynamics when
one doesnt even know what chromodynamics is?).

Nah, it's not even *close* to that!

 

[Hari Prasadh]

Hi Steve,

But when you print more than one slide per page, you ARE printing
handouts.

I think this is where I am probably losing track. Because, I go to
file-print- choose relevant printer- print range (all) - Print what SLIDES
etc etc.

Please, note in print what drop-down box I chose SLIDES and not Handouts.

Then I go to Properties (of printer) and choose 4 PAGES per sheet in
finishing tab (being very measly - Bill F would feel sorry for the torture I
inflict on myself as I take these miniature printouts for my personal
perusal).

So finally am able to achieve 4 slides in one without using handouts. hence,
my original statement "I reasoned that since one could print more than one
slide in a page, so what
extra value addition does a handout offer.".

But when you print more than one slide per page, you ARE printing
handouts.
Or to put it the other way, w/o the Handout functionality, you can't print
more
than one slide per page.

So is the above way of printing is technically (if not literally) considered
as equivalent to handouts? But if so, Im sure you WOULD NOT have said "w/o
the Handout functionality, you can't print more
than one slide per page." So I think there is still something else for me to
learn here.

Please guide me.

Thnx a ton for the links you provided. (The second site has probably moved
to http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/)

Thanks a lot,
Hari
India

 

[Hari Prasadh]

Hi Echo,

Thnx for similar to templates in Word" and"It saves you from having to paste
that object on every slide individually.". I can appreciate in a much better
way the Master feature.

Thanks a lot,
Hari
India

 

[Echo S]

Please, note in print what drop-down box I chose SLIDES and not Handouts.

Then I go to Properties (of printer) and choose 4 PAGES per sheet in
finishing tab (being very measly - Bill F would feel sorry for the torture I
inflict on myself as I take these miniature printouts for my personal
perusal).

Ahhh.

See, the thing is, not everyone's printer does that -- allows them to print
X-number of pages per sheet. Besides, you're going through a lot of steps to
print more than one slide per page. Much easier to do it all in one place.
That's one of the benefits of printing handouts instead of setting up
multiple pages through the printer properties.

So is the above way of printing is technically (if not literally) considered
as equivalent to handouts? But if so, Im sure you WOULD NOT have said "w/o
the Handout functionality, you can't print more
than one slide per page." So I think there is still something else for me to
learn here.

Yes, the way you've been doing it would pretty much be the equivalent of
handouts. But I think your printer driver doesn't give you the flexibility
to print things on the handout page itself, whereas PPT's handouts masters
let you do that.

 

[Echo S]

You're welcome. Glad to hear that helped, Hari.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi Hari,

Please, note in print what drop-down box I chose SLIDES and not Handouts.

Then I go to Properties (of printer) and choose 4 PAGES per sheet in
finishing tab (being very measly - Bill F would feel sorry for the torture I
inflict on myself as I take these miniature printouts for my personal
perusal).

OK. That's something that the printer driver provides, not PowerPoint.
Let's not confuse the situation with what individual printers can do (not all
can do this sort of printing).

So finally am able to achieve 4 slides in one without using handouts. hence,
my original statement "I reasoned that since one could print more than one
slide in a page, so what
extra value addition does a handout offer.".

The ability to print more than one slide per page.

So is the above way of printing is technically (if not literally) considered
as equivalent to handouts?

If you hand them out, then they're handouts. ;-)
So would 1 slide per page printouts, buttons, balloons ...

But if we're talking about *PowerPoint* handouts, the term takes on a more
specific and limited meaning.

Can you do anything with PowerPoint handouts that you can't do with well-chosen
printer settings on your printer? Just a few things.

Handouts can have footers that contain the date and page number, one footer per
sheet. With printer-made miniatures, you don't get that (though you *can* get
per-slide footers of course).

You can add graphics or text to the handout master and it'll print once per
printed page, not on every slide on the printed page.

I can't think of much else.

But if so, Im sure you WOULD NOT have said "w/o
the Handout functionality, you can't print more
than one slide per page." So I think there is still something else for me to
learn here.

Please guide me.

Thnx a ton for the links you provided. (The second site has probably moved
to http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/)

Yes! Thanks for the reminder.