23 Views
Since its first release in 1989, PowerPoint presentation software has been a continuously developed component of the Microsoft Office office software package. According to a 2010 market analysis, Microsoft Office held a dominant position in this segment with a market share of 72%. However, PowerPoint itself has been around since 1984, and was transferred to Microsoft in 1987. It is estimated to be used for 95% of presentations.
Reading PowerPoint presentations is easy if you have the program. If you don’t have access to this Office add-on, you can export a presentation to various other file formats. For most users, the most accessible is PDF ( Portable Document Format ).
The Acrobat Reader for viewing these documents is freely available and widely used. Today, even web browsers are capable of viewing PDFs. And there are plenty of alternative PDF readers as well .
Save a PowerPoint file to PDF: how to do it in Windows?
Have you finished your presentation and want to make it available to people who don’t have the Microsoft Office PowerPoint program? You must use the “Export / Create PDF” function. The PDF is a secure file format that you can use without problems, even if you prepare your presentation without knowing what kind of computer or operating system you’ll meet there. The widely used format can be read on all devices and by all operating systems.
The presentation does not change regardless of the device on which the file is opened. First export your PowerPoint file with the extension “example.” ppt “or” example .pptx »Directly from the PowerPoint program as a PDF. Proceed as follows:
Step 1: In your open PowerPoint presentation, click on the “File” tab at the top right
Step 2: in the left menu, click on “Export”
Step 3: among the different options that appear, click on “Create PDF / XPS”
Step 4: Then you can choose the name and location of the file, as well as the save options
Step 5: Use these options to specify what is produced in the PDF
This window allows you to select the desired location to save the PowerPoint file as PDF. Before publishing, you can use the “Options” button to specify the details of the PDF file to export.
The “Options” menu offers other possibilities to specify the conversion of PowerPoint to PDF. To obtain the full version of the presentation in PDF, click on the “All” button and in the “Slides” selection menu. The option “PDF / A compatible” is relevant if the document is intended to be stored for the long term. This minimum standard guarantees display on future devices. The other checkboxes are predefined. Make sure that the underlying “Bitmap text when fonts cannot be embedded” check box is activated. This ensures that the presentation is displayed on another computer with the original font, even if it is not installed there. By clicking on OK you confirm the settings in this window, which closes.
Before converting, check the “Open file after publishing” box . This avoids having to search for the file in Windows Explorer, as it is immediately displayed in the available PDF program. With “Optimize for: Standard” , the converted file is prepared for printing. If you select “Minimum size”, PowerPoint optimizes the display for online publication with the smallest file size : this option should only be chosen if it is certain that the presentation will not be printed. If all settings are correct, click on “Publish”.
Step 6: The converted PDF presentation will then open in the program you choose (Acrobat Reader, Internet Explorer, etc.)
If you have enabled the “Open file after publication” option , the converted presentation will appear on the default PDF reader on your PC. Otherwise, you will find the exported PowerPoint file as PDF in the selected folder on your local storage media. File extension ppt or pptx has been converted to pdf.
Save PowerPoint file to PDF with macOS
Under macOS, the principle is more or less the same. You have two options:
- Variant 1: File -> Save as , PDF
- Variant 2: File -> Export , PDF
The same steps are performed for both variants. The Windows option ‘Include comments’,’ Include handwritten notes, “” Include hidden slides “as well as changes in file size are not available under macOS. In newer versions, from 2011, it is possible to set PDF print quality higher or lower to save PowerPoint files as PDF.
Save PowerPoint file to PDF over the Internet
With the PowerPoint web application , the presentation software works in the provider’s cloud . The program has the same functionality there, but the advantage is that the user always has the most recent (and safest ) version to work with.
A window opens in which the process is started with “Download as PDF”. A status bar will appear indicating that the file is ready to be saved to your local drive. With “Save As” you determine where you save the converted PowerPoint to PDF.