Powerpoint Import on Mac is Unusable?

[CajunKev]

Well, I almost don't know where to begin.

I'm  running CP5 on a mac. Was excited to see a mac version, and wrote to  Pooja (CP5 beta test manager) to ask about issues/gotchas running on a  mac. He led me to believe it was a feature complete release. I'm seeing  other folks having PPT import issues on Windows, but can it be this bad  on the other platform? What I'm seeing is completely unusable.

I  created a 3 slide PPTX using Powerpoint for Mac 2011. CP5 imported and  linked without complaint - I could even see the slide thumbnails in the File Open dialog - but the slides came in without any content. I  only saw the background for my master slide with a clickbox on top and there was no Powerpoint content. So I saved the file in PPT  format, re-imported and same result. So then I opened VMWare and  launched Powerpoint 2010 on Windows 7. Created a PPTX there, re-imported  and same result, so I saved again in PPT format, repeated the import  yet again, and still the same result. I am simply getting no content  whatsoever in CP5 for Mac from Powerpoint!

This leads  me to believe that I must be doing something wrong, because I don't  think Adobe would claim that the feature worked if it didn't.

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

FYI, I don't mind building most of the course in CP, but I sure would like to be able to get some Powerpoint tables into CP even as a flattened image.

Thanks,

Kevin

[CajunKev]

OK, well, I can see I can export from Powerpoint as images, so I may do this. I'm also noticing that Powerpoint must export at a 1.333 screen aspect ratio, which doesn't work for my project. Still, this may be an option.

Kevin

[CajunKev]

Here's how to change the aspect ratio of Powerpoint 2011 exports as images (on Mac): 1) Google on pixel to inch converters and determine the proper sizing for the screen; 2) input the by-inch measurements in Powerpoint's Page Setup dialog; 3) select Options in the Export to Pictures window, and then input the proper pixel size you want to export to (this should match the pixel dimensions you input on the inch/pixel converter screen); 4) export the slides as pictures as you normally would. You have to do all of these steps (at least on a Mac) to make the pixel dimensions you enter on the Options window apply.

Looks like there really is no Powerpoint import of any sort on the Mac, so I plan to export whatever I need to do in Powerpoint as images and then drop these into CP5. I'll certainly be working as much as possible in CP5 obviously.

If anyone is making the Powerpoint roundtripping on a Mac do anything useful, I sure would like to know how you accomplished it.

Thanks all,

Kevin

[RodWard]

Your issues with roundtripping PPT may be due to the PPT 2011 file format.

Have you tried saving to an earlier version of PPT such as 2007 and then importing that?

I'm on a PC not a MAC, but Cp5 isn't claiming support for PPT 2010 yet as far as I know, so maybe PPT 2011 would be in a similar position.

[CajunKev]

I started in Powerpoint 2011 for Mac in the new .pptx format. Then, I saved to the earlier .ppt format for Mac. Then I launched PowerPoint 2010 on Windows 7 and tried that in a .pptx format. When that also didn't work, I then tried the old .ppt format (Office 2003) on the PC. None of these things worked. I don't think it's a file format issue. Right now, the evidence suggests that it's simply a feature that just doesn't work.

I'm eager to hear from some other Mac users though. Surely, I'm not the only one running CP5 on Mac. Any Mac folks out there?

Thanks for your response, Rod.

Kevin

[rsharma_champ_81]

Hi Kevin,

Can you send your pptx file to rahuls@adobe.com, I will check why the contents are not getting converted to swf.

You may also try with a simple pptx file (simple text/rectangle on the side) and let us know if that works for you.

Regards

Rahul

[CajunKev]

Just to keep everyone updated, I did try a simple one screen Mac PPTX 2011 file with one text field and a rectangle and that did import successfully, so I have hope that there's a fix of some sort.

Thanks for looking at the file Rahul!

Kevin

[CajunKev]

OK, I got the file back from Rahul and it has been imported successfully to CP5 for Mac.

For reference by others, here are the few things you should know (courtesy of Rahul):

1. PPT slides will show a blank background in CP5 if you have imported a PPT that already has animations. In other words, in this scenario, if your PPT slide begins with a blank screen and then animates from there, you will only see step 1 of the animation (the blank screen) in CP5. You have to publish the CP5 project to see the animations run and the completed screen.

2. Also, it's important to not use a CP5 master slide over the imported PPT slides. If you do, the master slide will be visible over the PPT slide. To fix this, unlink the PPT from the master slides by deselecting the "Use Master Slide background" option in the Properties panel.

Hope this info helps someone else... and Rahul, please correct me if I'm misleading anyone.

Thanks,

Kevin