Printing handouts by default (but not that simple!)

[Gavin]

I need to set up PowerPoint so that by default it prints 6 slides to a page.
I am aware of going into Tools > Options and choosing the appropriate options
on the Print tab, but that is only a temporary fix in my case.

The problem is I am working in a computer lab in a university, and the
students use the PCs under a general, shared login name. What this means is
that when the PCs are rebooted, a new instance of the general profile is
created, and settings changed in one log-in instance are NOT retained for the
next log-in. As far as I can tell, I am left with the following options for
resolving this problem:

1) Modify a value in the Registry under HKEY LOCAL MACHINE

2) Run a function from a VBScript file, which is going to be executed with
each log-in

3) Create a VBA add-in that will be effective across all future profile
instances, be transparent to the user and will not conflict with the
universities policy of having macro security set to 'High'

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Gavin

 

[Bill Dilworth]

You are exactly the person that will benefit the most from this add-in:

http://skp.mvps.org/savetree.htm


--
Bill Dilworth
A proud member of the Microsoft PPT MVP Team
Users helping fellow users.
billdilworth.mvps.org
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
yahoo2@ Please read the PowerPoint
yahoo. FAQ pages. They answer most
com of our questions.
www.pptfaq.com
..
..

 

[Gavin]

I appreciate the suggestion, but I already tried that and there two problems
with going that route:
- It doesn't work (discussed in another thread)
- I don't want to eliminate the ability to print 1 slide per page
(sometimes they need to), but rather have it default to the handout mode.
Most of the students are willing to print in handout mode, but either don't
know how to do it or it does not occur to them to do so.

 

[Bill Dilworth]

You may want to directly contact the author to either 1) resolve the
problem, or 2) discover a better solution.

As far as I know, his is the only add-in that addresses his issue.


--
Bill Dilworth
A proud member of the Microsoft PPT MVP Team
Users helping fellow users.
billdilworth.mvps.org
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
yahoo2@ Please read the PowerPoint
yahoo. FAQ pages. They answer most
com of our questions.
www.pptfaq.com
..
..

 

[Gavin]

I'm not necessarily looking for an add-in solution. What would be ideal is a
registry solution - it is not uncommon for changes in program preferences to
be stored in the registry. If making the change within Tools > Options >
Print makes a change in the registry somewhere, then I can easily duplicate
it any way I want. But, I don't know where in the registry to look, if it
does exist there.

I'll even do something in VBscript if it's plausible. And, I'm willing to
create my own add-in. I just need a push in the right direction because I've
never fooled around with VBA for powerpoint before.

 

[David H. Straayer]

Here is a VBA solution that you can edit for your own uses. I couldn't get
savetree to work on my system, so I wrote this handoutprinter.ppt with
embedded VBA code. The .ppt is more-or-less self documenting.

Download from http://www.iel.spokane.edu/mla/handoutprinter/