Protect slide contents/format only

[AlisonB]

Hi,

We are using PPT 2003 and would like to be able to protect the
contents/format of an individual slide, whilst still allowing the
complete slide to be copied into another presentation.

Basically, we want to provide a person with a range of slides with
which to build presentations without them being able to change the
contents or format of each slide.

Can anyone advise?

Kind regards,

Alison

 

[Echo S]

In this situation, there aren't that many options. Probably you'll be best
off creating images of the slides and reimporting them into a file with
blank slides (or blank slides and notes).

The RnR Protect tool will do it automatically for you:
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/FAQ00032.htm

 

[AlisonB]

Hi,

Thanks for a quick reply. I had looked at the faqs on the rdpslides
site and read about exporting slides as images. I think it could be
our only option really. This may sound stupid, but would I be right in
thinking that if I export a slide as an image I will lose any animation
or can the RnR Protect tool cope with animation?

Kind regards,

Alison

 

[Echo S]

Yes, you'll lose animation. (Nope, it's not a stupid question!) Not even the
RnR Protect tool will be able to fix that.

You can do a "hybrid" type thing if you have a lot of time. Basically strip
out the animated pieces, save the rest as pictures, then copy the animated
stuff over to the "protected" file. I've done this for some clients, and
they seem to really like it. But it's kind of a PITA.

 

[AlisonB]

Thanks for your help with this. I've tried saving a presentation as
both a jpeg and a gif - the only thing is the image quality is not the
same as the actual powerpoint slide. Do you know of any way to improve
this? Does the RnR Protect tool help with this aspect?

Kind regards,

Alison

 

[AlisonB]

Thanks for your help with this. I've tried saving a presentation as
both a jpeg and a gif - the only thing is the image quality is not the
same as the actual powerpoint slide. Do you know of any way to improve
this? Does the RnR Protect tool help with this aspect?

Kind regards,

Alison

 

[Echo S]

Thanks for your help with this. I've tried saving a presentation as
both a jpeg and a gif - the only thing is the image quality is not the
same as the actual powerpoint slide. Do you know of any way to improve
this? Does the RnR Protect tool help with this aspect?

Use PNG. WMF/EMF is better for text, but those can be ungrouped.

I think Protect exports as PNG, but I can't remember for sure. But yes, it
does help with this. I often export at a step or two above my target
resolution, so that the text is a bit cleaner when the images are
reimported, and RnR Protect makes that easy to do.

For example, if I'm targeting display on 1024x768 screens, then I'll set the
RnR Protect export size to 1280x1024 (2 sizes up). The text in the 1280x1024
images (displayed at 1024x768) is a little less jaggy than the typical
1024x768 images.

I've had to do this "protect" thing manually for many many years. I was
complaining about it once, and that's when Steve built the RnR Protect tool.
So it really does do a good job because it was designed to do exactly what
you're trying to do. And it takes seconds -- or minutes, if you've got a
really large file -- as opposed to a few hours.

If you're not using the RnR Protect tool, you'd have to do a registry hack
to export slide images larger than 960x720. And you'll have to either
manually reinsert the images one by one (after deleting everything else from
the slide if you have speaker notes; if not, you can reinsert them into a
blank file), or batch import them with PPT's Photo Album or a batch import
add-in such as Image Importer Wizard.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thanks for your help with this. I've tried saving a presentation as
both a jpeg and a gif - the only thing is the image quality is not the
same as the actual powerpoint slide. Do you know of any way to improve
this? Does the RnR Protect tool help with this aspect?

Yes, in several ways. As Echo says, the default export format is PNG, which
will give better results with text and PPT-style graphics than JPG or GIF.

You can also set the target resolution a bit higher than need be (again, see
Echo's very complete explanation).

Best bet is to try it. The demo is free and lets you test it fully; it just
puts a red "DEMO" on each exported slide.

 

[AlisonB]

Thanks for all your help with this.

Kind regards,

Alison