Password protect PowerPoint 2003 for distribution

[Nicole]

I need to find a solution for someone who wants to distribute her PowerPoint
2003 Presentation over the internet. Problem is, that I can't find one
product that would work on every operating system. I have tried and tested
all the tips I could find. Secure Pack is really good, however, that still
doesn't solve the problem that the Viewer won't work on certain operating
systems e.g. NT4 (Office 2000), hence, some users won't be able to open it.

What other options do we have? How do other people distribute their
presentations over the internet without having to use one software/solution
for users with XP/2003 and another one for users with 2000 or even 98. Other
solutions don't support animation, sound or video the other software doesn't
support another feature, which is pretty frustrating.

Is there one solution only that provides a secure way to distribute the
presentation, together with the animation, sound, video etc. for all users?

Thanks.

 

[Sandy]

Password Protect a PowerPoint Presentation (I'd use the "show within a show"
option). http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00038.htm

Sandy

 

[Nicole]

Hi Sandy,

Many thanks for your quick reply.

I already tried most of the solutions on that page. Trouble with the "show
within a show" is that I already found the solution how to copy the content
and this is what we are trying to block.

Nicole

 

[Echo S]

Internet-based? Hm. I'd probably opt to convert to Flash. There are
converters out there. I have a list at
http://www.echosvoice.com/autoruncdlinks.htm It's a bit out of date, but I
can't remember the link for the more up-to-date list (someone's posted that
link here in the past, oh, maybe 6 months).

Most of these converters aren't cheap, though. If the animation's not
important, you could create your own Flash (SWF) file or even export PPT as
a series of images and then use Movie Maker (free download from MS) to
convert to WMV.

If it has to be PPT-based, I'd use the "images as slides" option. You could
even do a hybrid where the slides are images, but the stuff that animates
isn't. I had to do exactly that recently, as a matter of fact.

 

[Nicole]

Hi Echo,

Thanks for the information. I was looking into Flash but as you correctly
said most of them aren't cheap.

Even if I sound dumb what exactly do you mean with "hybrid"?! Never heard of
it before.

Nicole

Internet-based? Hm. I'd probably opt to convert to Flash. There are
converters out there. I have a list at
http://www.echosvoice.com/autoruncdlinks.htm It's a bit out of date, but I
can't remember the link for the more up-to-date list (someone's posted that
link here in the past, oh, maybe 6 months).

Most of these converters aren't cheap, though. If the animation's not
important, you could create your own Flash (SWF) file or even export PPT as
a series of images and then use Movie Maker (free download from MS) to
convert to WMV.

If it has to be PPT-based, I'd use the "images as slides" option. You could
even do a hybrid where the slides are images, but the stuff that animates
isn't. I had to do exactly that recently, as a matter of fact.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

I need to find a solution for someone who wants to distribute her
PowerPoint 2003 Presentation over the internet. Problem is, that I
can't find one product that would work on every operating system. I
have tried and tested all the tips I could find. Secure Pack is
really good, however, that still doesn't solve the problem that the
Viewer won't work on certain operating systems e.g. NT4 (Office
2000), hence, some users won't be able to open it.

What other options do we have? How do other people distribute their
presentations over the internet without having to use one
software/solution for users with XP/2003 and another one for users
with 2000 or even 98. Other solutions don't support animation, sound
or video the other software doesn't support another feature, which is
pretty frustrating.

Is there one solution only that provides a secure way to distribute
the presentation, together with the animation, sound, video etc. for
all users?

Thanks.

 

[Echo S]

Hi Echo,

Thanks for the information. I was looking into Flash but as you correctly
said most of them aren't cheap.

Even if I sound dumb what exactly do you mean with "hybrid"?! Never heard of
it before.

No, you don't sound stupid at all. "Hybrid" isn't anyone's term but my own,
so it makes sense to ask for clarification.

What I mean by a "hybrid" piece is a cross between a protected set of slides
(using images) and a wide-open set (leaving things editable).

What I do is make a copy of the presentation and delete all animated
objects. Then I export the slides as images using File/Save As and choosing
PNG in the drop-down. Then I reinsert those images back into a new, blank
PPT slide. (Actually, what I *really* do is use RnR Tools' PPT Protect
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/FAQ00032.htm -- it does this export/import
routine for me and gives me the option to keep the speaker notes or not.)

Then I put the original slides and the new set side by side and copy all the
animated stuff from the original to the new set. And since I like my stuff
to work exactly right, I finally go in and change the colors of the pasted
objects from the old color scheme to generic colors so the animated items
don't change color when they're inserted into someone else's slide set. See
http://www.echosvoice.com/colorschemes.htm for color scheme info if you
don't understand what I mean there.

Sometimes I have to make images of some of the animated pieces and
re-animate, but it just depends on what the object/text is.

Does that give you a better idea of what I mean?

And you know, I just realized you didn't really ask about protection from
someone making changes--you asked about a distribution option for all
operating systems. In that case, and assuming that the slides don't have to
be protected, just turn off the new animations/transitions in PPT 2003 and
see how they'll look in PPT 2000. (Tools/Options/Edit turn off new animation
at the bottom of that tab.) Tweak the animations as necessary so that
they'll pass in previous versions.

If you have video and sound, though, that opens up more worms because of
both linking issues and file size issues. How much video and sound are you
talking about?

When you say "internet-based," do you mean that people should be able to
download the file(s), or do you mean that they should be able to view the
thing in their browser?

And just to reassure you, you're not being stupid. In fact, it's pretty wise
to ask about this stuff because, as you can see, there are a million
variables that can have an impact when deciding how to distribute a PPT
presentation.

Have you looked into Producer? It might be your best solution here.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...d5-fc75-4f99-94bc-784919468e73&DisplayLang=en
free download for Win2000/SP-3 and WinXP users. You only have to download
Producer to create the file. Be aware that it does tend to create pretty
large webpages, though.