Running Shows on Mac and PC

[Guest]

I am going to put some PowerPoint presentations on CD and distribute them. I use a PC, and I am using PowerPoint 2003 to create the presentations. I need the CD to be compatible with both Mac and PC. Is the newest Mac viewer really 98? I use lots of animations, and they are an important part of my presentations. Will these not work in the Mac Viewer? If I save the presentations as .pps files, will Mac users be able to view the files without a viewer? Would this be better or would it not make a difference? Is there an alternative? I saw something in another post about saving as HTML. Is this an option that would allow Mac and PC users to view the shows? Help! I'm getting a headache

Thanks
Sharon

 

[Geetesh Bajaj]

Your presentations with the animations would still run on the Mac if your
intended Mac audience has the latest version of PowerPoint (v.2004)
installed - that's not a very possible scenario since PowerPoint 2004 only
released a week ago and it does not have an updated Mac PowerPoint Viewer.
Yes, PowerPoint 98 Viewer is the latest Mac Viewer - and that does not run
on OS X.

You'll get better responses if you post this question on the PowerPoint Mac
newsgroup.

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.mac.office.powerpoint


--
Geetesh Bajaj, Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
http://www.powerpointed.com

PowerPoint Ezine Issue 42
http://www.indezine.com/ppezine/

I am going to put some PowerPoint presentations on CD and distribute them.

I use a PC, and I am using PowerPoint 2003 to create the presentations. I
need the CD to be compatible with both Mac and PC. Is the newest Mac viewer
really 98? I use lots of animations, and they are an important part of my
presentations. Will these not work in the Mac Viewer? If I save the
presentations as .pps files, will Mac users be able to view the files
without a viewer? Would this be better or would it not make a difference?
Is there an alternative? I saw something in another post about saving as
HTML. Is this an option that would allow Mac and PC users to view the
shows? Help! I'm getting a headache!

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I am going to put some PowerPoint presentations on CD and distribute them. I use a PC,

and I am using PowerPoint 2003 to create the presentations. I need the CD to be compatible
with both Mac and PC. Is the newest Mac viewer really 98?

Afraid so; that means it's roughly equivalent to the PPT97 for Windows.
not work in the Mac Viewer?

Some will, some won't. While creating the presentation, try Tools, Options, Edit tab and
put a check next to each of the options under "Disable new features". This will prevent you
from using features that won't work in earlier PPT versions (but it won't do anything about
the fact that you may already have used some of these features).
without a viewer? Would this be better or would it not make a difference?

They'll need PPT or the viewer and changing from PPT to PPS won't make a lot of difference.
A PPS is *the same as* a PPT - just has a different extension to the file name that tells
Windows and PPT to handle it a bit differently.
an option that would allow Mac and PC users to view the shows? Help! I'm getting a
headache!

Saving as HTML might help some but the results may still not be perfect - PowerPoint's HTML,
if you want to preserve all the effects, tends to want the latest version of Internet
Explorer under Windows.



--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================

 

[John Langhans [MSFT]]

[CRITICAL UPDATE - Anyone using Office 2003 should install the critical
update as soon as possible. From PowerPoint, choose "Help -> Check for
Updates".]
[TOP ISSUE - Are you having difficulty opening presentations in PowerPoint
that you just created (you can save, but not open)? -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=329820]

Hello,

File compatibility between PowerPoint for Windows and PowerPoint for the
Macintosh does not mean full fidelity playback between the versions. It
only insures that you will be able to open, edit and view (to whatever
degree the application is capable of) presentations created with one
platform, on another platform without conversion. For example, until the
recently (just a few days ago) release of Office 2004 for the Macintosh,
this meant that nearly all of the new animation features since the release
of PowerPoint 2002 for Windows, could not be experienced on the Macintosh.

If you (or anyone else reading this message) have suggestions for how
provide better cross-platorm support (for authoring, editing, and/or
viewing) in PowerPoint for Windows or PowerPoint for the Macintosh, don't
forget to send your feedback (in YOUR OWN WORDS, please) to Microsoft at:

http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp

It's VERY important that, for EACH wish, you describe in detail, WHY it is
important TO YOU that your product suggestion be implemented. A good wish
submssion includes WHAT scenario, work-flow, or end-result is blocked by
not having a specific feature, HOW MUCH time and effort ($$$) is spent
working around a specific limitation of the current product, etc. Remember
that Microsoft receives THOUSANDS of product suggestions every day and we
read each one but, in any given product development cycle, there are ONLY
sufficient resources to address the ones that are MOST IMPORTANT to our
customers so take the extra time to state your case as CLEARLY and
COMPLETELY as possible so that we can FEEL YOUR PAIN.

IMPORTANT: Each submission should be a single suggestion (not a list of
suggestions).

John Langhans
Microsoft Corporation
Supportability Program Manager
Microsoft Office PowerPoint for Windows
Microsoft Office Picture Manager for Windows

For FAQ's, highlights and top issues, visit the Microsoft PowerPoint
support center at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=ppt
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbhowto

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