PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

pptXTREME Add-ins for PowerPoint: Conversation with Keith Tromer

Keith Tromer is the Founder and President of Corporate Imaging, Inc. since 1989. His strategic vision for Corporate Imaging, Inc. focuses on three fundamental aspects: generating the best creative content possible; fostering innovation; and utilizing the latest technologies.

In this interview, Keith discusses PowerPoint add-ins from pptXTREME.

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Filed Under: Interviews
Tagged as: Add-in, Interviews, Keith Tromer, PowerPoint, pptXTREME

ToolsToo v6.2 for PowerPoint: Conversation with Gil Segal

  Gil Segal is the creator of ToolsToo and a senior software consultant. 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 his new ToolsToo v6.2 add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint.

Geetesh: Can you tell us more about the new features added to ToolsToo v6.2?

Gil: ToolsToo v6.2 adds support for manipulating shapes within groups. Now, many of the powerful ToolsToo productivity tools can be applied to the shapes within a group and not just to the group in its entirety. The new version also adds the exciting ability to add shapes to an existing group (or to a single shape) while preserving any animation applied to the original group (shape) and its layering.

ToolsToo v6.2 also adds a new tool to Make Same Table Column Width. This tool applies the column widths of the table the user specifies as the Reference Shape to the selected target tables. If any of the target tables have more columns than the Reference Shape table, the additional columns retain their original widths. If the Reference Shape is not a table, then all columns in the target tables are set to the width of the Reference Shape.

One oddly missing feature in PowerPoint is the ability to set the language across the presentation. Instead, PowerPoint sets the language separately for each object: shapes (text boxes, in particular), notes, chart titles and axes, and tables. ToolsToo v6.2 rectifies this with its new Set Language tool.

Lastly, ToolsToo v6.2 expands on the set of tools used to reduce presentation size by adding two tools to remove unused layouts. Some layouts can get quite large, particularly if they contain embedded images.

Geetesh: What according to you is the most time-saving option available within ToolsToo?

Gil: That is a difficult question to answer given that ToolsToo has more than 70 tools specifically designed to improve PowerPoint editing productivity. It is a question of whether we are looking at saving a small amount of time for something that is used very frequently (such as the various alignment tools) or a lot of time for things that are done less frequently. It also depends on the nature of the presentation itself as to which tools are used while editing that presentation.

The tools that stand out in my experience as saving the most time when they are used are the Copy Agenda Slide tool, the Reformat Slides tool, and the new Add to Group tool.

The Copy Agenda Slide tool replicates Agenda slides throughout a presentation wherever one is needed and shows progression through the presentation by dimming all topics other than the current topic. Instead of tediously manually updating all of the agenda slides throughout the presentation, you update just the wording for one agenda slide without worrying about the current topic and then click on the tool to take care of all the rest.

When copying slides from one presentation to another, often some or all of the colors of the slide content change to match the color scheme of the target presentation. When this is not wanted, it is quite tedious to manually change the colors. The Reformat Slides tool merges the look and feel of the target presentation with the color scheme of the source presentation in a single click.

The Add to Group tool adds shapes to an existing group (or a single shape) while preserving any animation applied to the original group and its layering. A single click on the Add to Group tool replaces all the manual steps required to add the shapes to the group, restore all the animations, resequence all the animations, and place the group in its correct layer.

You May Also Like: ToolsToo 5.1: The Indezine Review | ToolsToo: Conversation with Gil Segal

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.

Filed Under: Interviews
Tagged as: Add-in, Gil Segal, Interviews, PowerPoint, ToolsToo

Automatic Group Cards in Sway

The intent of Group Cards in Sway is to keep related content together visually. There are several types of Group Cards. The first of the Group Cards is called Automatic, and this Card can contain any Card types within the Text and Media categories. In other words, there are no restrictions when adding content to an Automatic Group Card.

Explore how Automatic Group Cards works in Sway.

Filed Under: Sway
Tagged as: Cards, Docs.com, Group Cards, Sway, Tutorials

Office 365 Subscriptions

Office 365 is Microsoft’s cloud-based subscription offering that lets you run always upgraded and updated Office applications on the desktop, on tablets and smartphones – and also online. This Office 365 product is different from the perpetual versions of Office. Additionally, some plans also include extra niceties like a subscription to the Skype for Business web conferencing tool, hosted email via Microsoft’s Exchange Online, online storage through OneDrive, plus phone talk time via Skype.

Learn about the different Office 365 subscriptions.

Filed Under: PowerPoint All Versions
Tagged as: Microsoft Office, Office 365, Subscriptions, Tutorials

Group Cards in Sway

Other than Text and Media Cards, Sway also provides a third category of Cards – these are Group Cards. Unlike Text and Media Cards, Group Cards are not just a mere Card category. Group Cards, in fact, are a set of Cards. Think of a pack of playing cards, and the many ways in which you can arrange them? In the same way, the content in Group Cards can be arranged in 5 ways at the time of writing this article.

Explore the various options within the Group Cards category in Sway.

Filed Under: Sway
Tagged as: Cards, Group Cards, Microsoft, Sway