Windows PPT to Keynote

i don't know, but dont be too upset with the problems you mentioned. My Mac:Office 04's ppt looks miserable on windows version Office.

Fonts problem is unavoidable, resolution problem might be fixable, see if anybody else can help.

occ10dog said:

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What is the best way for someone to save a Windows PPT file (XP version of PPT) that it will play the "most nicely" with Keynote? ...

... I'm just wondering if there is anyway to "idiot" proof this and cut out any additional steps after opening the project on a Mac.

...

Click to expand...

Your question, if reversed, might be a useful issue. However, Keynote produces presentations that are so much nicer than those produced using PowerPoint that you really shouldn't worry. A PPT might be a starting point for a Keynote presentation, but certainly not an end product.

You cannot expect a PPT created on Windows to be played with 100% fidelity on the Mac. Microsoft uses different character maps for its MacOS X and Windows versions of PowerPoint. This is a particular issue with the dingbats used in bullet lists even if the presentation includes only standard Microsoft fonts which are installed on both computers.

My suggestion to you is to open your PPT file in Keynote. Then, carefully edit and reformat it. Don't worry about maintaining fidelity to its Windows origins.

In my experience Keynote has done a good job of opening & viewing PPT files - it even manages to have a go at rendering equations etc, which OpenOffice fails miserably at.

If you want guaranteed compatibility, use save your PPT / Keynote file as a PDF. Works fine for presentations (nobody should be using 'transitions' and that stuff anyway, imho).

Are you going to work on the project more (add to it, edit, etc)? If not, you don't really need to use Powerpoint or Keynote.
If the slide transitions aren't important (and other animations) what about making it a PDF?

occ10dog said:

I agree with all of you on the transitions not being important, but unfortunately the presenter does. So, if I am understanding everyone correctly, there is no way to guarantee 100% compatibility, right? What about 95% or so?

The editing does not bother me, but it does the presenter....

Click to expand...

So you're editing and then sending it back to the presenter?

Sorry, I'm just confused as to what exactly you need to do with the PPT before "showing" it.

If you're not going to be showing it, are you editing the content and maybe adding a few pics/graphs? I think if that is the case, the presenter should double check all transitions/animations before showing it, because even PPT to PPT (different versions) are known to be inconsistent.

Ok, now I understand your situation better.

I'm guessing you help him with the presentations anyways right? If so, (and I assume you have Keynote) why not have him complete the presentation in PPT, open it in Keynote on your Mac, and then fix up all of the problems? This way, you'd be able to send the completed presentation in Keynote format (with no problems).

Or does this guy not like other people to edit/work on his presentations?

And he must have animations? *Sigh*

Unless he's willing to let someone work out the kinks before he presents, there's no easy solution. Even if that computer did have Office 04 installed, it's probable that other errors might appear (however minor they may be, if it's a professional presentation I can see how they would irk some) when using PPT for Mac.

What about making the PPT into a Quicktime?

Hi, I'm sorry to barge in. But I'm curious about how to convert the PPT into Quicktime. And how it would work during presentations. I.E, with the apple remote?

The Quicktime idea is a good suggestion. For the person above, open the PPT in Keynote and go to File > Export... and click Quicktime. For the Apple remote part, clicking the Play/Pause button advances in the slides, but from what i've played around with, there's no way to go back.

inkspirational said:

Hi, I'm sorry to barge in. But I'm curious about how to convert the PPT into Quicktime. And how it would work during presentations. I.E, with the apple remote?

Click to expand...

Since your main question was answered by the other poster, I'll offer speculation on how well the remote will work.

I suppose if you use Frontrow you might be able to "rewind" but I'm not sure as I've never done it. Perhaps I'll experiment and post what I discover.

EDIT:

Yes indeed, with the remote, holding down the rewind button in Front Row will allow you to go back to previous slides.

Converting pps to Keynote with sound.

My problem in converting pps to Keynote is that during the conversion the music on the pps is lost. By using File Juicer the wav file can be taken from the pps and put on Keynote with the inspector but then the music won't play when converted back to pps. I have one pps that will play music on both but don't know how it was done or how to make a similar file. Any ideas?

{Oopsy!!! Please ignore this. Although this forum has no ability what so ever of locking old threads to prevent new comments, they hate it if I add any comment to them.}

You mention two problems: (1) The screen size is not correct. (2) the transitions are not exactlywhat he had originally put in the file and so he complains that it is not working right and blames the computer.
I am just wondering if there are any options that I can tell him to turn off on his side so that what is on screen is almost identical to what he created. "

(1) I use PPT files quite often with Keynote, and it never has the slide screen size issue you mention, so I am fairly sure the creator is making some mistake in his PopowerPoint settings for the basic setup before he starts creating. He should be choosing 1024 x 768 for any old projector that lags behind in technology (90% of what you find in hotels, schools and such). Then it will not have the wrong screen size.

(2) I never have the problem of Keynote failing to play the transitions of Office 2007 or earlier versions of PPT. The 2010 version was way updated to copy most of the Keynote '08 transitions, but as is typical for Microsoft, they tweaked their copies a bit so they can't be easily substituted by Keynote. Both Keynote and PowerPoint musty choose substitute transitions for any type that is not almost exactly the same as one of their own. It's a bit like font substitution. Easy for Microsoft to substitute Ariel for Helvetica, but hard to substitute Chancery and others and get an accurate look.