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Microsoft PowerPoint/Questions Answered by Expert John Wilson

SubjectDate Asked
burn a cd with a ppt presentation11/28/2009
  Q: OK, the slide show is done. I would like to burn a CD with this presentation.What can I do? ANSWER: ...
  A: Sorry I don't have 2000 to check but I think in this version you need to save the file and use cd ...
showing text by clicking at a point on screenshot/image powerpoint slide.8/31/2009
  Q: i had a screen shot as a powerpoint slide. what i would like to do is if i click on something on the ...
  A: As you may know comments are meant to be used by joint editors in edit mode only. In recent versions ...
Hyperlinking to a slide when all objects on origional slide have been clicked.8/23/2009
  Q: I have been working on a powerpoint presentation on the solar system using some VBA. The 1st slide ...
  A: Do you need to use vba? I'm pretty sure this can be done without. If the planet pics only link to ...
Emailing my PPS and attaching the SONG7/14/2009
  Q: This is my problem: I created a Power Point presentation and added an MP3 song to it. I then saved ...
  A: Either is fine. With the show Open PowerPoint File > Open *the show.pps Delete and reinsert the ...
Emailing my PPS and attaching the SONG7/13/2009
  Q: This is my problem: I created a Power Point presentation and added an MP3 song to it. I then saved ...
  A: The problem here is that the mp3 file is always linked from YOUR pc. This is why the file size of ...
Few quick questions7/1/2009
  Q: I just last night learned how to create a photo album. It's cool it's so easy! Since I want a ...
  A: Sarah can you delve around on www.pptalchemy.co.uk and find my contact email then email me a ...
Few quick questions7/1/2009
  Q: I just last night learned how to create a photo album. It's cool it's so easy! Since I want a ...
  A: had a quick look. Because of the weird way PPT inserts the caption the code is failing. It was ...
Few quick questions6/30/2009
  Q: I just last night learned how to create a photo album. It's cool it's so easy! Since I want a ...
  A: Photo Album is quick and easy but not very flexible! The caption format is picked up from the ...
Random Number Generator5/2/2009
  Q: Is it possible to create a random number generator / selector in Power Point? I am a teacher and ...
  A: How many people in the class? If it's not too many you might be able to adapt the idea in the demo ...
transferring video/movies to USB4/19/2009
  Q: Please can you help? I am preparing a powerpoint presentation. 2 of the slides are vidoes. They ...
  A: Ok Delete the video and start again! Save the presentation to a folder with a short path length. On ...
Office 2007 Power Point Custom Animation4/6/2009
  Q: I want to add an effect to my slide by using Custom Animation. Once I click onto Custom Animation, ...
  A: Custom animation is applied to a shape NOT to a slide. Before you can add a custom animation you ...
cd3/28/2009
  Q: How do I e-mail a powerpoint presentation 2007 with a sound from a CD
  A: If you mean the sound is playing as a CD track then unless you send the CD you cannot! If you mean ...
PowerPoint Add-In/VBA Code2/5/2009
  Q: I give a lot of PPT presentations and often am asked for copies. I do not want to include my notes ...
  A: There's code here to create an Add in that can be used with any presentation. ...
Adding sound to VBA powerpoint2/2/2009
  Q: Although I have previously used VBA for Excel (in a rather primitive fashion) I am now trying to ...
  A: PowerPoint vba is "different" though in this case I think it would be much the same. To make ...
Adding sound to VBA powerpoint2/1/2009
  Q: Although I have previously used VBA for Excel (in a rather primitive fashion) I am now trying to ...
  A: First You don't need vba. Make a trriggered anmation that pops up the textbox and plays the sound. ...
changing Language1/26/2009
  Q: Good day John, I would like to change the language of all my slides at once to be "French ...
  A: You can only change the language in selected shapes and only select shapes on one slide at a time. ...
complex animation1/24/2009
  Q: I have downloaded a ppt (gel.unh.edu/rad/2003/LORRAINE_BEANE.ppt )which is using a gr8 slide show. ...
  A: The graphic on slide 8 is actually an embedded powerpoint presentation that runs when you click it. ...
Powerpoint 200211/7/2008
  Q: Ive created a powerpoint photo show and added a wav file to play thru it which is all fine when I ...
  A: Saving as a pps is not the problem. Most likely you have created a link to a file on YOUR hard ...
Speaker notes11/6/2008
  Q: Seems blindingly obvious, but I can find no information about how to HIDE speaker notes from the ...
  A: You need to have a laptop that supports multiple monitors (most do now) and use "Presenter View" to ...
how to copy sound from powerpoint10/15/2008
  Q: I received a power point presentation file via e-mail and it includes a music that I loved so much, ...
  A: We don't ignore people!! Open the file (you will need the full version of PowerPoint not the ...
question10/8/2008
  Q: I want to make some of my text in a table to zoom in/out when i roll over the mouse pointer to that ...
  A: There is no easy way to achieve this but with some work it can look great! I have a tutorial which ...
Mouseovers9/5/2008
  Q: I am trying to create a mouseover in powerpoint. I would like to have a jpg image, that when you ...
  A: Always best to ask the whole question eh!! There's no simple way to get what you need with a ...
Mouseovers9/5/2008
  Q: I am trying to create a mouseover in powerpoint. I would like to have a jpg image, that when you ...
  A: Katie You cannot have MOUSEOVER triggered animations BUT you can have MOUSEOVER hyperlinks Create ...
music on slideshow8/28/2008
  Q: I have made a slide show and want to put music on to it . But I am not sure what to do,
  A: Depends on format of music file. WAV file easiest method is to add as a transition sound on slide ...
Powerpoint Photo Album8/24/2008
  Q: I am trying to create a photo album using 2004 PP for Mac. I have imported my photos from iPhoto. ...
  A: I'm not a Mac user so this is based on PC PowerPoint 2003. Hopefully at least some of it will ...
What Powerpoint animations do not convert from version 2003 to 20008/14/2008
  Q: I am an instructional designer who uses Powerpoint 2003, but I have instructors who access the ...
  A: The simplest way to make sure that 2003 animations will play in 2000 is to go to Tools > Options > ...
powerpoint and email7/3/2008
  Q: I sent am email to my home computer - Macintosh - from my friends Microsoft type computer. It was ...
  A: I don't really understand what you could have done to cause anything like that! Your friend could ...
Powerpoint 20076/24/2008
  Q: Got a problem with PP2007. When a document has been created and F5'ed the presented image does not ...
  A: Are you using a wide screen laptop? Most projectors work at a 4:3 ratio while wide screens work at ...
what format should I convert powerpoint to?6/23/2008
  Q: John, What'd I'd like to do is publish on my website an 'interactive' tutorial, with about 40 ...
  A: That's a huge question but here are some of the answers. You can produce exe or pdf files from ...
PowerPoint Master Document6/16/2008
  Q: Is there a way to use the 'master document' idea with powerpoint? I have multiple training modules ...
  A: There are several commercial solutions for creating slide libraries (none free that I know of and ...
Macro for inserting multiple images into one slide6/2/2008
  Q: Is there some Macro for inserting multiple images into one slide? If so,please share it...
  A: If you have a lot of this to do I would strongly recommend Shyam Pillai's Add In "Image Import ...
no sound playing some .pps file5/29/2008
  Q: When I played some newly received .pps files, I can see all the videos but can't hear any sound (I ...
  A: Video is always linked so that you should have a pps and a video (videos) file also. Make sure that ...
Dynamic TOC5/22/2008
  Q: my question follows on from one that I found here: ...
  A: There is no native PowerPoint way to do this. Coincidentally I am working as we speak on an Add In ...
pp 03: text boxes over slide master5/22/2008
  Q: I have created a number of custom slide masters. My problem is: In the normal view I select a custom ...
  A: "extra placeholders are not supported" In pp2003 that is what I mean. You cannot add extra ...
pp 03: text boxes over slide master5/22/2008
  Q: I have created a number of custom slide masters. My problem is: In the normal view I select a custom ...
  A: Jen I don't really fully understand the question. When you apply a master (either original or ...
pp slideshow music/copyright/pics5/10/2008
  Q: I am trying to create a pp show for email distribution it is a poem with links to a recently ...
  A: Remember I'm just guessing about the comressor. If you would like us to Cdex a file for you (free) ...
pp slideshow music/copyright/pics5/9/2008
  Q: I am trying to create a pp show for email distribution it is a poem with links to a recently ...
  A: My guess is that the compressed wav will not play if the PC doesn't have the decompessor. You can ...
Drop Down Menus4/3/2008
  Q: I am also an expert at this site but in sales and marketing. currently i am a trainer in my company ...
  A: Shyam has made the elements non editable pictures. You would need to produce your own images and ...
Drop Down Menus4/2/2008
  Q: I am also an expert at this site but in sales and marketing. currently i am a trainer in my company ...
  A: Possible but not easy. Questions: Is vba code an option (read our page here to help see the ...
pop up windows in powerpoint3/6/2008
  Q: Is it possible to create pop up windows in powerpoint slide. something like ... when we click a line ...
  A: There are several ways to do this and we have tutorials on Pop Ups on our site you might like to ...
power point music2/27/2008
  Q: how do i add continuus music to my power point presentation
  A: Do you mean music that plays throughout the show OR music that loops? In either case you can find ...
Blank slide appears in slideshow2/22/2008
  Q: I hope you can help me. I am exasperated! I have developed a power point presentation using Vista & ...
  A: I don't think there's any way to get blank slides that don't show in edit mode. Possible solution ...
Powerpoint2/20/2008
  Q: I am trying to place a visible number counting odd numbered slides (slide #1 is 1, slide #3 is 2, ...
  A: I couldn't find any specific help for this on the net. Why do you need to do it? We have a small vba ...
slide stuck at number 1 not transitoning through the rest2/18/2008
  Q: File size is 25.7 MB (26,992,128 bytes) powerpoint MS office XP - I used F5 to view slide show it ...
  A: It would also help to know what was on slide 1. I'll take a guess, please get back if this isn't ...
Facing problem in Powerpoint slide transition2/13/2008
  Q: I am preparing a presentation which demands the use of hyperlink and slide transition, i have ...
  A: I'm not 100% clear what you are trying to do. Maybe this will help though : insert a new slide ...
Problems after CD is packaged2/12/2008
  Q: I'm using the package for CD option in ppt 2003. My presentation has two .wmv files embedded in ...
  A: Do you have FFDShow and is it the default for playing wmv files? I doubt this will affect users if ...
powerpoint 2003 problem2/6/2008
  Q: I have made presentation that automatically forwards. Problem occurred when I had to set ...
  A: I understand now 1. Make sure that last slide has an auto transition (it probably already has) 2. ...
Large slide show skips over slides2/1/2008
  Q: We have a large slide show - 98.5 megs, 340 slides - wherein I am going along with slides with some ...
  A: I don't think it's likely to be the pictures causing the problem. Have you checked that those ...
videos in PPT2/1/2008
  Q: Why won't my video play in powerpoint. Good sound but no video. Using vista and ppt with 2007 ...
  A: This could be a codec issue but it's more likely to be a path problem. Try this: Delete the video ...
To prevent ppt file from being copied.1/30/2008
  Q: I got the answer how to prevent ppt files from being opened or edited. But tell me the way so that a ...
  A: I'm not quite sure what you need but there is no certain way to stop a presentation being copied. As ...
Navigation buttons not working1/28/2008
  Q: The navigation buttons I have inserted into my powerpoint presentation do not work. I use ...
  A: The reason I said this could be a pain is that if you insert blanks slides instead of the buttons ...
Sound problem in PowerPoint1/28/2008
  Q: I am playing a MP3 file throughout my presentation but find the sound quality deteriorates everytime ...
  A: This is not usual (as long as there are no sounds associated with the transition) If the transitions ...
Navigation buttons not working1/28/2008
  Q: The navigation buttons I have inserted into my powerpoint presentation do not work. I use ...
  A: When you return to a slide for the second or subsequent time Office "assumes" that you don't want to ...
Credits in PowerPoint1/18/2008
  Q: I have learned to use the custiom animation==>credits to make a lengthy text scroll, however it ...
  A: PowerPoint can onle "see" a set amount of off slide information. This is why only part of the ...
powerpoint presentation1/8/2008
  Q: I have just put 20 photos into powerpoint. I can view them as a slide show which is what I want.I ...
  A: Sorry but it's not clear what you did! Can you explain exactly how you added the text and what ...
PowerPoint Program quitting12/31/2007
  Q: Background: I have a major presentation that I will give in China one week from today. I have ...
  A: Unfortunately this could be all sorts of things. Is it only this one presentation?? If so maybe try ...
black and white to color12/19/2007
  Q: I am using powerpoint 2003 and received a pps that a slide starts out as black and white. Then the ...
  A: I would need to see it for a definitive answer but the usual way is to have two copies of the ...
Powerpoint12/12/2007
  Q: I created 3 massive Powerpoint Presentations on each of my son's lives on XP and they played ...
  A: Q1 Did the sound play? Q2 If you use "Package to CD" and choose to include the PowerPoint Player it ...
Powerpoint no audio12/11/2007
  Q: I created 3 massive Powerpoint Presentations on each of my son's lives on XP and they played ...
  A: Try this: Delete all sounds (You will need the original wav files) In Tools > Options> General ...
Problem with projector12/10/2007
  Q: I have Office 97. Created a powerpoint presentation and when I hook up to a projector the projector ...
  A: I have no experience of using USB connections to projectors. I have always used a video cable ...
PowerPoint 200711/30/2007
  Q: What is the equivalent animation in the 2007 version of PP to "Credit" in 2003 version of PP? I'm ...
  A: Jackie Animation Schemes were scrapped in 2007 but don't worry you can still do what you need. ...
PowerPoint 200711/30/2007
  Q: What is the equivalent animation in the 2007 version of PP to "Credit" in 2003 version of PP? I'm ...
  A: Jackie I'm not in front of a PC with 2007 right now but the animations are exactly the same as 2003 ...
I have a problem with my powerpoint presentation11/23/2007
  Q: I have windows vista, and I'm having trouble with my presentation, because my song doesn't sound ...
  A: Probably the wav isn't embedded but linked (to a file on YOUR hard drive) In PowerPoint the default ...
embedding music into pps11/23/2007
  Q: I encountered some problems when sending my power point presentation (with background music), as the ...
  A: It's "impossible" to embed mp3's in PowerPoint! However we have a tutorial on how to do it and ...
PPT transition timings11/21/2007
  Q: I have created a power point with photos, animation and music running across the slides (as ...
  A: I think if you create a video it will have the timing of the original. However my advice would be to ...
Power Point11/14/2007
  Q: "I have windows xp. I am wanting to add a song to my power point presentation that will last through ...
  A: You don't mention the version of PowerPoint which is always a good idea In 2002 -3 insert the music ...
locking down the right-click menu in PPS10/31/2007
  Q: I'm building an e-learning module in PowerPoint. I need to ensure that other viewers cannot skip ...
  A: Glad it helped. Could you take the time to clarify "Click animations work in 2002". Are they really ...
Extra Line on Animation10/31/2007
  Q: I am inserting avi files for animated flow fields, and there is an extra line displayed at the ...
  A: Ideally you need to crop the video with a video editor (can't be done in PPT) The free trial of ...
Copied Slideshow file - but no background10/17/2007
  Q: I have copied a few powerpoint slideshow files from my friend's thumbdrive. At home, I opened the ...
  A: Normally copying files will also copy the background. Do you know how the background was applied? I ...
Text animation10/16/2007
  Q: I seem to have same problem as Sebastion! I am using PP '07 trial version. Created presentation on ...
  A: I can reproduce this in 2007 and have reported it to Microsoft. I can't find a simple solution ...
music in my pptp10/16/2007
  Q: i ripped a song from a cd but it into wmv or whatever u call it. and then pit it into the ...
  A: You don't mention the version of PowerPoint which always helps! Basically you need to get to the ...
PowerPoint presentation problem10/12/2007
  Q: Someone at work sent me a PowerPoint presentation, and accidently saved it with the read-only ...
  A: Your advice is absolutely correct. Some fonts have copyright that wont allow you to edit if you ...
powerpoint10/11/2007
  Q: is it possible to generate a random order for the slides to play?
  A: There are a couple of ways to jump to a random slide on our help site ...
PowerPoint 2007 Shading10/7/2007
  Q: Maybe, it is not possible to do what I would like to do. I create how to tutorials for our college ...
  A: Probably the easiest way is to use the format painter (looks like a paint bush and in HOME tab) ...
Recolor10/6/2007
  Q: Searching for the way of changing colors of a picture from clip organizer in PowerPoint 2007, I came ...
  A: Bad news I'm afraid this really useful tool is gone in 2007. I think the new colors are more ...
Macro to play a sound based on the date9/24/2007
  Q: I am trying to include a sound file that changes dialy to a presentation. I have figured out how to ...
  A: Hard to do this without seeing your computer! Try this: Dim oshp As Shape Dim FName As String Dim ...
Macro to play a sound based on the date9/24/2007
  Q: I am trying to include a sound file that changes dialy to a presentation. I have figured out how to ...
  A: Something like this: Dim oshp As Shape Dim FName As String FName = "\pa\pa" & Format(Now, "yymmdd") ...
inserting web content into slides of a ppt9/18/2007
  Q: I am a Desktop Support Technician for Nautilus Insurance. We are trying to insert the stocks ticker ...
  A: This is not simple! Without third party software you need to add a Microsoft Web Browser Object ...
Music on Powerpoint9/6/2007
  Q: I'm using Powerpoint for Mac Book... And I cannot put a music on it. Actually it is not true I can ...
  A: I'm not a Mac user (my last Mac was a Mac Classic with a 20Mb Hard Drive!) With a PC you can find ...
Multiple Instances of PowerPoint9/5/2007
  Q: Why can i not have multiple instances of PowerPoint. Main reason behind this is to be able to have a ...
  A: You can't have multiple slide SHOWS (unless you buy "PowerShow" from OfficeOne but with a little ...
grid line color9/3/2007
  Q: I copy-pasted an Excel table into Powerpoint. The grid lines are all black. Is there a way in ...
  A: It would help to have the version of office you are using and the steps taken to copy paste (eg did ...
adding music files to power point9/3/2007
  Q: I added a number of children's cd's to my music files yesterday (all in mp3 or WMA format) in order ...
  A: Difficult tro guess without seeing your PC. Possibilities: File path too long, did you put the ...
PowerPoint Custom Animation & Slide Transition9/1/2007
  Q: After I added custom animations, my slide transition timing doesn't work. I want 10 seconds between ...
  A: The auto slide advance is a little strange. It starts timing as soon as the slide STARTS and if ...
PPT tex animation problem8/31/2007
  Q: ppt 2007 text animation 'by word' intermittent using zoom. ...
  A: I tried to replicate this and it worked fine for me so it's hard to help very much ( I tried on a ...
Powerpoint protection8/23/2007
  Q: Is there a way to hide slide transitions and timings etc. from viewers of a pps. I have tried using ...
  A: There's no real way to do this.. BUT this will confuse a lot of folk! Open a new powerpoint pres ...
Sorry if the question is repeated8/23/2007
  Q: OK Mr.Wilson The prob that is the animation CERTAIN animation tens to be toooooooooooo slow and ...
  A: "what U mean by "in slide show > set up show?"" I mean click the slide show tab and then click "set ...
Sorry if the question is repeated8/22/2007
  Q: OK Mr.Wilson The prob that is the animation CERTAIN animation tens to be toooooooooooo slow and ...
  A: You've given very little info but Powerpoint is always a little quicker second time around because ...
MS PowerPoint XP - copy a group of pics8/21/2007
  Q: MS PowerPoint XP, ver 2003 – How to copy a large volume of JPG pictures into PowerPoint at one time? ...
  A: There are two ways 1. Without any extra addins. Insert menu > Picture > choose "new photo album" ...
mouse-over pop-up text box8/18/2007
  Q: I am trying to make a powerpoint slide showing many points on a map. I started using callout is the ...
  A: The only other way is to have duplicate slides except for the pop ups and have a mouseover hyperlink ...
automatically jump to another slide (not the following slide)8/16/2007
  Q: I need to make my presentation follow an hyperlink without the user needing to click it. for ...
  A: You can do this! On slide 5 insert a rectangle covering the whole slide. Set its transparency to 99% ...
skipping animation when going in reverse7/30/2007
  Q: How can I skip the animation settings of a particular slide when flipping through the presentation ...
  A: As far as I know there's no way to do this. However maybe I've misunderstood what you want to do. ...
Hyperlinks are lost7/23/2007
  Q: I am using a Powerboat 2003. I made a big presentation with many hyperlinks... and some of them ...
  A: We are testing an add-in "Hypersquash" which compresses internal links and gives you more space. If ...
Animated Ppt Presentation7/20/2007
  Q: I am a Windows XP Professional user and I want to prepare a Ppt presentation using Flash for Ppt ...
  A: I'm not really an expert (or fan) of animated backgrounds. However here's what I know. You can ...
PowerPoint Display7/19/2007
  Q: John, Thanks for your time. I am a US Marine preparing to deploy on ship. We have a powerpoint ...
  A: As far as I know there's no easy way to run a Powerpoint presentation without a computer. You can ...
fade in and out for songs6/13/2007
  Q: I am having trouble with inserting songs the way I want. I have seen the possibility of running a ...
  A: Unfortunately Powerpoint can't manage fades. The best solution is to use a sound editor to add a ...
How do I scroll 200 Names in powerpoint 20036/12/2007
  Q: I am building a powerpoint presentation wich contain two slides that will have scolling names and ...
  A: Powerpoint has a limit to how much off screen info it can "see" and therefore animate. Other people ...
Video problem in Powerpoint slide6/12/2007
  Q: I'm an IT Technician at a High School (oh dear) and was asked by a teacher to put some video footage ...
  A: As far as I know there's no limit to the size of media files. If the file is huge though I suppose ...

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John Wilson

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Expertise

Any questions related to PowerPoint including complex animations and vba coding.

Experience

Using PowerPoint since PowerPoint 4 on a Mac to create professional presentations for education and industry. Currently MD of Technology Trish Ltd and webmaster of PowerPoint Alchemy (http://www.PPTAlchemy.co.uk)

Education/Credentials
Microsoft Office Specialist (Powerpoint) Microsoft MVP Powerpoint 2007

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