ToolsToo Pro v11: Conversation with Gil Segal

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  Gil Segal is the creator of ToolsToo Pro for PowerPoint and an expert technologist with a deep understanding of a wide range of architectures, tools, and technologies and their impact. Gil is always on the lookout for ways to automate manual tasks in any software he uses and has been a PowerPoint power-user since the mid-90s.

In this conversation, Gil talks about the new ToolsToo Pro v11.

Geetesh: Gil, ToolsToo keeps getting better and more matured as a tool for PowerPoint users. Looking back over the last 11 versions, what are the thoughts that come to you?

Gil: ToolsToo Pro for PowerPoint was born in 2000 with just 6 tools for my personal use. It has grown to over 130 tools with thousands of users around the world. Many users report that they find it difficult to work in PowerPoint without ToolsToo Pro for PowerPoint and it follows them from job to job. It has truly been an incredible journey.

It is clear that the PowerPoint community yearns for ways to be more productive and while the PowerPoint software itself has improved considerably over the years, there is still a large need for more tooling and more productivity. Despite the technology shifts of the last 20 or so years, there is still strong demand for tools like ToolsToo Pro for PowerPoint.

Many of the fantastic enhancement requests for additional tools and capabilities submitted by users often cannot be implemented. As an example, I’d like to be able to apply ToolsToo Pro for PowerPoint’s many capabilities to SmartArt, but there is actually very little that can be done programmatically with a SmartArt object. Ultimately, an add-in is constrained by what Microsoft exposes to the add-in developers. But, please keep the suggestions coming!

Geetesh: What’s new in v11 for ToolsToo users? Also, do you have a trial version available?

Gil: ToolsToo Pro for PowerPoint V11 adds 9 new tools and lots of new/improved features to the already expansive toolset in prior versions of ToolsToo Pro for PowerPoint.

One fun new tool is Autofit Text to Shape. This tool sets the largest font for each selected shape such that its text fits in one line at the shape’s current width. This tool is particularly useful in sizing long titles to fit in one line.

Before:

After:

ToolsToo Pro for PowerPoint V11 now includes an often-requested tool to create Agenda Slides from the sections of the presentation. Not only does it automatically create an Agenda Slide, but it also inserts one at the beginning of each section and highlights the current topic, showing the progression through the sections, all in one click!

Before:

After:

v11 features a new Advanced Spacing pane. Here you’ll find new tools to increase/decrease spacing, new options to manually set the spacing interval and direction, and to apply the spacing settings in pairs, moving every other shape.

ToolsToo Pro for PowerPoint has featured a Set Language tool to set the presentation language for several versions. New to v11 is the ability to choose the language (instead of just the default editing language) and whether to apply to the whole presentation or just to selected slides.

To simplify navigation, most of the settings have been moved to a new Settings dialog. Here you’ll also find a frequently requested option to set the anchor point for the Swap Shapes tool (see picture below).

Further enhancements in v11 include additional Select Same tools for easy selection of multiple shapes that share the same size, right-click option to pick up a shape, ability to make arbitrary shapes perfectly square or round, expanded support for videos, and new options to stagger shapes.

Lastly, ToolsToo Pro for PowerPoint no longer requires Administrator privileges to install, making it easier to use in corporate environments.

A fully featured 30-day trial version is available for download at the ToolsToo site.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.