What's a PowerPoint file?

Powerpoint is a Microsoft program used to produce a slide show on the computer, a series of screens that can have text, photographs, drawings, etc to aid understanding of some concept or tell a story. The viewer files available here are used to view Powerpoint presentations that someone has already made and saved.

For example, as part of a subject's learning material, a lecturer may prepare a Powerpoint slide show and use it during the face-to-face lecture. Later, the lecturer may make this slide show available on the subject Website.

Students can then transfer the Powerpoint file from the Web site to their own computer, but they will generally need one of the viewers listed below in order to look at the slides in that Powerpoint file.

To view the presentation, (Step 4) first start the viewer; it will then ask you which presentation you wish to view.

If the browser you are using is set wrongly (e.g. it loads the wrong application (program)), you can alter the setting (in Navigator 3, use Options, General Preferences, Helpers; in Navigator 4, use Edit, Preferences, Navigator, Applications)

A PPT file can also be converted to PDF to make it easier for students to view it, particularly if the lecturer saves it in 3-slides-per-page form.

So how do I 'get' a PPT file (Step 3 above)?

Usually there will be a link, some coloured (usually blue) words or a picture (button), indicating the nature of the file. When you click on the words or the button, the file will be sent to your computer. You may choose to Save the file; you'll have a chance to tell the computer where on the hard disk or a floppy disk you want the file to go.

What will happen when I click on one of the blue links?

You may see gibberish on the screen, or the Powerpoint program may start running, or the file may be saved on your hard disk. What happens will depend on whether the Web browser you are using (Navigator, Explorer?) has been set to deal automatically with PPT files...

If the browser has been set? The file will be transferred to your computer and automatically loaded into the wordprocessor set previously. You can then save the file where you choose, edit it or print all or part of the spreadsheet. If the browser is set wrongly (e.g. it loads the wrong application), you can alter the setting (Nav3, use Options, General Preferences, Helpers; Nav4, use Edit, Preferences, Navigator, Applications) or force the browser to save the file on your computer by clicking on the blue link with the right mouse button (Windows) or click and hold on the link (Macintosh). From the pop-up menu that appears, choose Save this link as..., and then show the computer where to save the document.

If it has not been set? You will be shown a small window with 4 buttons, something like this... Which button will you click? If you wish to set the browser to automatically start a Powerpoint viewer Click the Pick app button and show Navigator (ie, the Web browser) the location of the viewer program that you want to use. That viewer will be started, the presentation file will be loaded into it, and Navigator will remember next time. If you just want to save the file so you can, for example, take it away with you Click the Save file button and show Navigator where you want the file saved (eg on a floppy disk). Then you can open it later (here or elsewhere) using many popular wordprocessors. If you want to save the file, but it automatically gets loaded into a viewer when you click on the blue link Use the File menu in the viewer to Save the document wherever you want it to go. If you see gibberish on the screen You'll have to set your browser so it does NOT view the file. From the Edit menu, select Preferences - Navigator - Applications, then edit the entry for Powerpoint, choosing the option Save to disk.

Powerpoint viewers

You can download these programs the ITS Software Downloads pages.

PowerPoint Viewer ­ Macintosh

The PowerPoint Viewer allows Macintosh users who do not have MS PowerPoint to view and print PowerPoint presentations, but it does not allow them to edit PowerPoint presentations.

The PowerPoint 4 Viewer is a 600 kB compressed, self-extracting and Bin-Hexed archive. A decompression utility such as Unstuffit will be needed to decode the .sea (self-extracting archive) file which can then be opened to extract the Viewer.

The PowerPoint 98 Viewer is HUGE (5 mB), and, like Powerpoint98, only works on PowerMac machines.

PowerPoint 97 Viewer ­ Windows (2.7 Mb file)

This Microsoft PowerPoint® Viewer 97 now also supports PowerPoint 2000 files. The Windows version of the PowerPoint 97 Viewer is a compressed archive. This file is a self installing executable file and no decompression utility is needed. Double-click on the file to run the install program.

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