Saving and Packaging a Presentation

As with previous versions of the application, PowerPoint provides a feature called Package for CD, which allows for delivery to another computer that may not have PowerPoint installed. This feature gathers all the presentation components, including linked files, and then PowerPoint compresses and saves them in a specified location.

While the feature is called "Package for CD," this is somewhat misleading, because it is not necessary to save the compressed folder on a CD. Depending on what you will be doing with the slide show, you can save it to an internal or external hard drive, to any type of storage media, or to a network drive.

Let's package our presentation now.

NOTE: For a walkthrough of packaging a presentation on Windows, view this video.

NOTE for MacOS Users: The Package for CD option does not exist in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac. You will have to take care to save all images, videos, and external content in a folder with the PowerPoint presentation. The folder will need to be saved and/or moved as a single object.

Step 1. To move to the File tab,

Click the File tab

Step 2. To begin exporting the presentation, in the left column,

Click Export

Step 3. To begin packaging the presentation, in the middle panel, in the Export section,

Click

Step 4. To continue, in the third panel,

Click

The Package for CD dialog box opens.

Let's change the name of the file.

Step 5. To change the name, in the Name the CD field,

Press & Drag the text, type: How to - PPT

We want PowerPoint to embed all the fonts, so the presentation will maintain its look, even if the destination computer does not have the fonts we used, so let's access additional options now.

Step 6. To access additional options, in the Package for CD dialog box,

Click

The Options dialog box appears:

Notice that the default settings will include the linked files and the Embedded TrueType fonts.

NOTE: It is important to select the "Embedded TrueType fonts" checkbox if you are using fonts that are not typically installed by Windows. Then when you open the presentation on a computer that does not have these TrueType fonts installed, the presentation looks the same as it did on your computer. However, these embedded fonts can increase the file size dramatically.

This dialog box will also allow us to set a password for viewing and/or modifying the presentation. We will not do this today.

Step 7. To continue, at the bottom of the Options dialog box,

Click

We are returned to the Package for CD dialog box. Now we're ready to export the package.

The Package for CD dialog box gives us two options. The "Copy to CD" button will look for a CD-R drive and begin the process of burning a CD. The "Copy to Folder..." button allows us more flexibility. With this option, we can choose the type of storage medium we want to use. We'll use this option today and store the packaged folder in the epclass folder.

Step 8. To begin the process of packaging the presentation, at the bottom of the Package for CD dialog box,

Click

A Copy to Folder dialog box opens.

Step 9. Verify that the "Open folder when complete" checkbox is checked.

Next, we need to specify the location where this folder will be saved.

Step 10. To begin to move to the correct location,

Click

The Choose Location dialog box opens.

Step 11. To move to the desktop, under Favorites,

Click

Step 12. To find and open the correct subfolder, in the large pane on the right side of the dialog box,

Double-Click , Double-Click PPT_Basics

Step 13. To accept the new location, at the bottom of the dialog box,

Click , Click

A dialog box appears explaining that you should only include linked files in your package if you trust the source. Since we created the linked files, we know they are safe, so we will continue.

Step 14. To include linked files in our package, at the bottom of the dialog box,

Click

A Copying Files to Folder dialog box will appear, and then it will close when the files have been successfully packaged.

Next, the folder we created opens, and we can see all files in the package. The pptx file is the PowerPoint presentation file. It can be used to open the presentation. The auto run file contains the code that is used for starting the presentation automatically when burned to a CD or DVD, and the PresentationPackage folder contains various images, css information as well as an html document that allows users who do not have PowerPoint installed on their machines to follow a link that will take them to the web site where they can download the PowerPoint Viewer.

NOTE: In previous versions of PowerPoint, if you packaged a presentation, the PowerPoint Viewer was included in the folder. This meant that you could then open the presentation on any computer, even if PowerPoint was not installed on the system. The 2016 version only contains a link to a web site where you can download the PowerPoint Viewer. This may be a problem if you attempt to share the presentation on a computer that does not have an Internet connection (and does not have PowerPoint installed), or if you do not have permissions to download and install PowerPoint Viewer on the machine.

Exiting PowerPoint

We've finished today's workshop, so let's close PowerPoint.

Step 1. Close all open windows.

Step 2. Save the presentation Creating_a_Presentation.pptx.

Step 3. Exit PowerPoint.

We see the desktop.

NOTE: To find more training and information about PowerPoint, visit the IT Training website.