How to distribute presentations on CD-ROM in PowerPoint 2002 (322319)

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article contains tips about how to prepare and distribute Microsoft PowerPoint presentations on a CD-ROM.

Before you prepare a presentation for CD-ROM distribution, you must first understand the following limitations and recommendations:

• PowerPoint does not support the creation of self-running presentations. However, if you use the Microsoft Producer add-in, you can create a presentation that automatically runs when the CD-ROM is inserted into the CD-ROM drive. For more information about the Producer add-in, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

  http://www.microsoft.com/office/powerpoint/producer/default.asp

• If you include multimedia with your presentation, PowerPoint does not support cross-platform or multiple-computer compatibility.
• Microsoft does not recommend that you use PowerPoint Viewer to view your presentation on a system that does not have PowerPoint installed. Instead, Microsoft recommends that use you use Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  291348 How to create PowerPoint 2002 presentations for viewing on computers that do not have PowerPoint installed

  Note that if you intend to use PowerPoint Viewer, you cannot include macros or ActiveX controls and components.
• Do you plan to use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros to supplement your presentations?
  
  If so, your audience must have Microsoft PowerPoint 97 or later. When you write your macros, use PowerPoint 97 or test your macros on a computer that has PowerPoint 97 installed, to make sure that your macros work correctly. If you want to be completely thorough, also test the macros on PowerPoint for the Macintosh.
• Do you plan to use ActiveX controls to supplement your presentations?
  
  ActiveX controls can be tricky.
  
  First, you must use the PowerPoint program to run the controls.
  
  Second, although PowerPoint can use many of the same ActiveX controls that Internet Explorer can use, your audience may not have the same ActiveX controls installed on their computers.
  
  Finally, ActiveX controls only work under Microsoft Windows. They do not work with the Macintosh versions of PowerPoint.
  
  Unless you know for certain which ActiveX controls your potential audience has, or unless you can provide an installation point for the controls from your CD, do not use ActiveX controls.
• Microsoft recommends that you embed your picture files instead of linking them. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  228541 Linked pictures in a presentation are missing in PowerPoint 2002

• When you create your presentation for distribution, remember not only who will be seeing it, but the capabilities of their computers and software. Do their computers have the same multimedia capabilities that your computer has?
  • Does your audience have PowerPoint 97 or later? If they have earlier versions, or do not have PowerPoint at all, make sure that they have Internet Explorer 5.0 or later installed. Otherwise, you must include the PowerPoint Viewer.
  • Remember, your computer may have greater multimedia capabilities than those of your target audience. If you include the latest in audio and video compression schemes, only a select few may be able to view your presentation. Sometimes, the best choice for multimedia presentations is to use the lowest common denominator: use the Cinepack Codec for Audio-Video Interleaved files (AVIs) or MOVs, and use either the IMA ADPCM or PCM audio codec schemes, or do not compress your wave (.wav) files.

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How to Use Pack and Go to Prepare Your Presentation

1. Open the presentation that you want to pack.
2. On the File menu, click Pack and Go.
3. Follow the instructions in the Pack and Go Wizard.
   
   When you are prompted for what drive to copy to, click Select destination and locate a temporary file location. This is where you pack your presentation and its associated files. Click Next.
4. Click to select the Include linked files check box. At this point, you may decide to embed TrueType fonts with your presentation. Click Next.
5. Microsoft recommends that you not include the viewer. Click Next, and then click Finish.

When PowerPoint packs your presentation, it collects all of the components that are part of the presentation and changes links to point to the same directory that the presentation is in. This reduces one of the major issues with moving presentations from one computer to another: lost files.

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How to Unpack a Presentation

After you create the Pack and Go file, unpack to the folder from which you are going to burn the CD. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In Windows Explorer, go to the location of the packed presentation, and then double-click Pngsetup.
2. Type the location of the burn folder to which you want to copy the presentation.

After you unpack to this folder, you can use this folder to create your CD. However, Microsoft recommends that you test your presentation in an environment that is similar to a CD. To do this, run the files from a network server or from a drive with removable-storage media before you burn your CDs, to make sure everything works as planned. Please see the user manual for your CD-ROM burner for the actual procedures to create a CD.

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