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johnwhite19

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 28, 2010
11
0
I gave a presentation the other day which I prepared on Mac Powerpoint. The presentation was delivered at a client's office on a Windows based laptop. I could not get the presentation to open. Is this something I should expect every time I try to open a Mac for Powerpoint presentation on a non-Mac laptop?
 
What version of Office are you using on each machine? Starting with Office 2007 for Windows and Office 2008 for Mac, the default file formats use the new OpenOffice XML formats (docx/pptx/xlsx). These new formats are not readable by previous versions of Office.
 
Yep, I bet that was the problem. I cross platform PowerPoint files all the time. Just make sure that you Save As in the old format (.PPT) if you're taking it anywhere that may not have Office 2007/2008.
 
You got sound advice about saving to an earlier version of PPT.

Going into an unfamiliar computer environment, I try to make sure that I have alternative options. I would also save a version as a PDF file in case the PPT doesn't work out. If the presentation is very important, I'd consider other formats as well.
 
You have a lot of format options available in saving a PowerPoint presentation:
ScreenCap 3.PNG
 
Thanks for your response everyone. Yes I am sure that was the problem. Now I know.
 
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