PowerPoint 2007 Tips

Data Assistant Warning

2007-08-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

If you get a Data Assistant warning when you run PowerPoint 2007, here's what may be actually happening.

Data Assistant was something Microsoft provided for PowerPoint 2003 users so that they could insert and manage graphical data objects such as Visio drawings, and Excel charts and named ranges into PowerPoint presentations. They stopped providing the Data Assistant, and I'm guessing this has not been updated for PowerPoint 2007 -- you'll need to disable it.

In PowerPoint 2007, choose Office Button | PowerPoint Options, to bring up a dialog box of the same name. Click the Add-ins tab in the list on the left, and you'll find the Manage Add-ins dropdown box right at the bottom. Select both Add-ins and COM Add-ins, and disable any entries that look like Data Assistant.

You can also remove Data Assistant altogether from your computer:

Click the Start button in Windows, choose Control Panel, and then select the Add or Remove Programs option.
In the list of currently installed programs, click Microsoft Data Assistant 1.0, and then click Remove.
Follow the instructions to remove Microsoft Data Assistant 1.0 altogether.

Where is Send to PowerPoint?

2007-08-11T00:48:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for the Send to PowerPoint option in Word 2007?

By default that's no longer shown in the menu, but you can add it to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT). Follow these steps:

Choose Office Button | Word Options to bring up a dialog box of the same name.
Select the Customize tab in the left pane.
In the All Commands category, select the Send to Microsoft Office PowerPoint option, click Add, and click OK.
You'll now find this option in the QAT.

You can also import Word files into PowerPoint. Select the Home tab of the Ribbon, press the down arrow under the New Slide option, and choose Slides from Outline. In the dialog box that comes up, select your Word document.

Where is Send to Word?

2007-08-11T00:44:00.000-07:00

If you can't file the Send to Word option in PowerPoint 2007, don't worry -- it is still there.

Choose Office Button | Publish | Create Handouts in Microsoft Office Word.

Although it says handouts, it can also send outlines to Word.

Embed Fonts

2007-07-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

To embed fonts in the active presentation, follow these steps:

Choose Office Button | PowerPoint Options to bring up a dialog box of the same name.
Choose the Save tab in the left pane.
Check the option that says Embed fonts in this file.
Click OK to get back to your presentation.

You'll need to save your presentation for these changes to have effect.

Remember, not all fonts can be embedded -- and PowerPoint may still not embed any fonts used as a bullet.

SmartArt in PowerPoint 2007

2007-07-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

SmartArt is the replacement in PowerPoint 2007 (and other Office 2007 programs) for the diagramming feature in older versions of PowerPoint. It's actually much more than a replacement because it does things that diagrams never dreamt about!

Indezine.com provides a full chapter on SmartArt as a free book excerpt -- read it here...

Marking PowerPoint 2007 Presentations as Final

2007-07-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

Do you move your slide objects by mistake? Maybe that chart moved up a few nudges due to an oversensitive mouse, or you pressed the arrow keys on the keyboard when a text box was selected? Or maybe you don't want to edit a presentation even by mistake once everything is final.

You're in luck if you use PowerPoint 2007 -- just choose Office Button| Prepare | Mark as Final, and your presentation is now read-only and cannot be edited. If you save the file with a new name, it still cannot be edited.

But if you choose Office Button | Prepare | Mark as Final again, the presentation toggles back to its original status, and you can make all the edits you want. Once you are done making the edits, mark it as final again.

For sure, this is not as good as password protection against edits -- but it's great for those occasions when you or someone else might edit the presentation by mistake.