How to Share PowerPoint Presentations Online
Recently a client came to me with a question about how best to offer PowerPoint presentations from previous conferences online. I thought I would share the notes I created for them here for others that might have the same question.
In my client's case it was important that viewers not be able to edit the original file, so we took additional steps needed to protect the file. I'll include a basic how-to or just linking to the original file as well as a couple of links for the other options.
Upload the PPT (or PPS) to your web server and provide a download link
This is probably the easiest option if your content management system allows .ppt or .pps files to be uploaded through its media management system. Even if you need to manually upload the file via FTP and link it on a web page the process is not too complicated.
Since the Web doesn't handle big files (over 10 mgs) as well as our hard drives do, reducing the file size by optimizing the presentation is a good idea.
In PowerPoint you can also save your file as a "PowerPoint Show" which always opens in slide show view so viewers don't have access to edit your material. Another way to prevent changes is to assign a password for modifications.
PowerPoint 2003 - Tools>Options>Security
PowerPoint 2007 - Save As>Tools>General Options
Pros:
Cons:
Resources:
PDF or Portable Document Files have become something of a de facto standard for online file links. The software to view these files is available on most operating systems or as a free download from Adobe, so its a safe bet that anyone and everyone will be able to see your material once its converted to this file type.
You can do this by choosing the Save As PDF option from within PowerPoint and through the options in the Print menu on most systems. You'll want to optimize the file size if you have access to a PDF editing program since the resulting file might even larger than the original.
Pros:
Use an online service for slide sharing
There are several good online services for sharing (and even creating) slide-based presentations. Slideshare.net is one of the first and most mature and like Zoho and the others allows you to import/upload your PowerPoint (or Keynote) presentations to be converted to their own sharing format. The usual Software as a Service caveats apply here as with any other "free" service on the web.
Pros:
There are additional options if you are interested in modifying the final presentation and distributing it as a movie, flash presentation or web pages. Microsoft provides some basic tools for doing this right in the program itself and there are third party tools that yield even more robust final products.
Whichever method you choose you might also want to check out the resources at Social Source Commons for some added alternatives and file compression tools.
I hope the information here will make it fairly painless to share and reuse your presentation content for your web audience and get more mileage out of the ideas and effort that went into its original purpose. If you have recommendations on software or other sharing methods, please leave them in the comments below.
In my client's case it was important that viewers not be able to edit the original file, so we took additional steps needed to protect the file. I'll include a basic how-to or just linking to the original file as well as a couple of links for the other options.
Upload the PPT (or PPS) to your web server and provide a download link
This is probably the easiest option if your content management system allows .ppt or .pps files to be uploaded through its media management system. Even if you need to manually upload the file via FTP and link it on a web page the process is not too complicated.
Since the Web doesn't handle big files (over 10 mgs) as well as our hard drives do, reducing the file size by optimizing the presentation is a good idea.
In PowerPoint you can also save your file as a "PowerPoint Show" which always opens in slide show view so viewers don't have access to edit your material. Another way to prevent changes is to assign a password for modifications.
PowerPoint 2003 - Tools>Options>Security
PowerPoint 2007 - Save As>Tools>General Options
Pros:
- No conversion necessary beyond save as in PowerPoint itself/ No need to learn new software
- Ability to share original file with collaborators if desired
- You host and maintain control of your files.
Cons:
- Can result in large files to upload and download - so describe file size for visitors when offering presentations for download
- Only viewable with software that reads .ppt and .pps files
Resources:
- How to trim down the size of your PowerPoint presentation
- Lock PowerPoint File From Being Edited
- List of free Powerpoint viewer programs
PDF or Portable Document Files have become something of a de facto standard for online file links. The software to view these files is available on most operating systems or as a free download from Adobe, so its a safe bet that anyone and everyone will be able to see your material once its converted to this file type.
You can do this by choosing the Save As PDF option from within PowerPoint and through the options in the Print menu on most systems. You'll want to optimize the file size if you have access to a PDF editing program since the resulting file might even larger than the original.
Pros:
- Standard file format that will appear the same to users on all platforms
- Embeds fonts and images and can be optimized to reduce file size.
- Not editable by the end viewer
- Can mangle presentation formatting
- Individual slides are difficult to reference or find
- Doesn't retain transitions and animations.
- Browsers deal with PDF files differently and user experience can be poor and unpredictable
Use an online service for slide sharing
There are several good online services for sharing (and even creating) slide-based presentations. Slideshare.net is one of the first and most mature and like Zoho and the others allows you to import/upload your PowerPoint (or Keynote) presentations to be converted to their own sharing format. The usual Software as a Service caveats apply here as with any other "free" service on the web.
Pros:
- Enables remote presentations easily since it is browser based
- Hosts the files so you don't have to use your own server or bandwidth serving large files.
- Most include version and organization options that can help you keep track of presentations if you have a lot of them.
- Not all features of the original PowerPoint may be available in the online service so read through their conversion information carefully if you have media or animations that are crucial to your presentation.
- Currently free but could require advertising or fees in the future and your materials are hosted on their servers so losing access to them is always a possiblity.
- May not allow downloads for presentation files.
There are additional options if you are interested in modifying the final presentation and distributing it as a movie, flash presentation or web pages. Microsoft provides some basic tools for doing this right in the program itself and there are third party tools that yield even more robust final products.
Whichever method you choose you might also want to check out the resources at Social Source Commons for some added alternatives and file compression tools.
I hope the information here will make it fairly painless to share and reuse your presentation content for your web audience and get more mileage out of the ideas and effort that went into its original purpose. If you have recommendations on software or other sharing methods, please leave them in the comments below.
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9 Comments:
I'm really surprised and disappointed to see sharing the native, proprietary format file as the leading option here. You suggest that it's "probably easiest," but note that the presentation will need to be optimized, without describing how that gets done. File size optimization is not a familiar concept for most end users still. The "only viewable in software that reads the proprietary format" is the killer, and it's given pretty short shrift.
Conversion to PDF is a pretty good option, and aside from transitions and animations it shoudl not mangle any formatting. However, the ability to save Powerpoint to PDF within Powerpoint is available on Windows only in Office 2007, and even then via a separately downloaded and installed add-in, or Service Pack 2, not due out until next week. The assertion that "most systems" have PDF options available through the print system is highly questionable at best.
SlideShare and its competitors are, IMO the best option by a significant margin. The need to worry about optimization is mostly put on the site's software (though you may face upload size constraints in long and/or photo-heavy presentations). The loss of access isn't as much of a concern with these services - you're not going to use them as the primary storage space for your presentations. Also, what I regard as the two best features of these services aren't mentioned, namely: you can embed the slideshow right into your Web page so that viewers don't have to leave your site for another application or site to see the slides, and you can include sound, like an audio recording of a live presentation or separately recorded audio, and provide a much richer slideshow experience for your site's viewers.
I found another useful guide. 5 ways to share PowerPoint on web
Thomas, Slideshare and the like are great options to be sure and thanks for adding the additional Pro's, which can add a lot to the user experience.
My client in particular will find sharing the original file the easiest and most desirable method, but I shouldn't have made a general assumption. I do think that most of the audience looking to download PowerPoints will have MS Office or another program to view them but included a list of free viewers in the resources and Web sites posting PPTs should do the same. The first link in resources has tips on reducing file size by the way.
My bad on saving PDFs on Windows, which does still rely on 3rd Party software as you say. Although these are readily available, the online PDF converters like the one in resources section are probably the best option if you can't save as PDF on your platform. Which supports your point - if you are going to use a Web app to convert your PPT, you might as well create an online slideshow.
Sarrena, I missed that article somehow when I was looking for resources to send my client, hence this post - thanks for sharing.
Sometimes, we may also want to share our PowerPoint online running like a movie video. Some PowerPoint to video converter empower us to do so, like the one shared here.
I'd also recommend Slideshare.com. So easy to use and lots of great presentations shared on their site.
Only problem I've had is that animation within slides doesn't carry across into the online version. One or two of my presentations didn't quite work as I'd intended.
You mentioned briefly about saving the presentation as a video or Flash file ... I would guess that for many people this is a better solution than saving as PDF. I've been using a new PowerPoint add-in called Coral Presenter from http://www.bermuda-scientific.com. I use Coral to record my narration before saving as a Flash presentation. My colleague records a narration in Chinese which we use withthe same set of slides.
Thanks for the tips!
For those with difficulty producing PDFs, you can install free software, such as PrimoPDF, that let's you produce PDFs in any software that allows you to print.
We recently launched a free version of our enterprise product here at Brainshark called mybrainshark. mybrainshark is a powerpoint sharing service that allows you to upload powerpoint, video, or photo albums and narrate by phone. The flash player converts your power point so that all animations are retained.
Take a look and let me know what you think:
www.mybrainshark.com
Very informative post.I was searching for such kind of information.Thanks for sharing.
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