I learned this from investigating an e-mail forward I received during the Christmas holidays, but it’s a useful tip that others might like to hear.
When you’re giving a presentation, the last thing you need is more work, and I have seen numerous presenters struggle with the foreign laptop they’re on or try to get something up and running. Having your slides all ready to go on a thumb drive helps to make things go a little more smoothly and this tip will make your presentation automatically open up in slideshow mode.
It’s quite simple.
Let’s say your file is called presentation.ppt. To make it open in slideshow mode, you just have to change a single letter in the filename. Change the extension to pps instead of ppt (presentation.pps). When you open the file it will be in slideshow mode and you can begin talking, off to a smooth start in your presentation.
You can also make this choice when you save it, by using the file type drop-down menu and selecting Powerpoint Show (.pps)
» Comment by forbes on January 26, 2007 @ 4:08 amThat’s true, I forgot to mention that.
» Comment by dan on January 26, 2007 @ 8:30 amI did not find the option that Dan mentioned. I am trying to email my powerpoint presentation to staff and would like them to be able to open the attachment and have the presentation start without having to look for the icon to click on. HELP!
» Comment by Cynthia on April 27, 2007 @ 8:39 amActually, it was Forbes who mentioned the drop down box that I can not find.
» Comment by Cynthia on April 27, 2007 @ 8:41 amthere is no “drop down menu”, you just literally CHANGE the filename (after closing the file right-click on the filename and change it to “filename.pps” instead of “filename.ppt”.
» Comment by isaac pisors on March 18, 2008 @ 1:11 pmForbes was talking about when you’re saving the file. If you go to File -> Save As you get a dialog that has a “Save as Type” drop down menu. In this menu you can select PowerPoint Show (*.pps) to have the same affect. Both methods work.
» Comment by dan on March 18, 2008 @ 1:57 pmIt was very helpful. Thanks for that!
Cheers
Ali
» Comment by Mohammad Ali on October 16, 2008 @ 7:03 amThank you so much for the information for slideshow ….. I am thrilled that this worked…. thanks again
» Comment by Monique on June 30, 2009 @ 6:27 am@Monique You’re very welcome. Thanks for letting me know.
» Comment by Dan on June 30, 2009 @ 8:23 amI’ve made a PPT with 5 videos and 3 sound files and have saved it as a PPS. I plan on burning it to a CD the send it out. Is there a way I can send it without the videos and sound files on the CD and they all still work?
» Comment by Carla on July 20, 2009 @ 10:47 amNot that I know of. The PPT file references those videos and sound files instead of embedding them inside the file, so if you don’t include them, they won’t be displayed in the presentation.
» Comment by Dan on July 20, 2009 @ 11:00 amWould embedding the videos and sound allow me to do what I want?
» Comment by Carla on July 21, 2009 @ 11:12 amIf so I’ve tried to embed a video file using steps from the Interactive Media Center, Univeristy Libraries. I can’t seem to get the instructions to work by their steps. Have anyone ever gone to this web site?
@Carla Yes, embedding would put all the media into one file so you could burn it to a CD.
Cliotech shows three ways of doing it.
» Comment by Dan on July 21, 2009 @ 1:48 pmThanks so much! I now know how to make a slide show… I really thought it was that complicated. Hehehe! God bless you!
» Comment by Frances on September 3, 2009 @ 5:34 amIn the immortal words of Tiny Tim, God bless us, everyone
» Comment by Dan on September 3, 2009 @ 9:53 amDoes anyone know how to save a powerpoint slideshow and make the slides unavailable for edit? ie only available as a show
» Comment by jo on October 22, 2009 @ 7:12 am@jo Not that I know of
» Comment by Dan on October 22, 2009 @ 10:16 amThanks a lot. It helped me a lot.
» Comment by Meghna on November 15, 2009 @ 12:14 amThank you. It was very very helpful.
» Comment by govind on December 30, 2009 @ 2:40 pm