Upgrading to PowerPoint 2000

You can customize Microsoft Office 2000 Setup to install most converters that Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 users need to share presentations with users of other applications. The file formats and graphics formats available to PowerPoint 2000 users are listed in the Open and Save as dialog boxes (File menu).

Open a presentation saved in another file format

To open a presentation created in another application, click Open (File menu), and then click the appropriate file format in the Files of type box. When PowerPoint 2000 recognizes the file format of a presentation, it converts the file, and then opens it. If PowerPoint does not recognize the format, it displays a message.

If a user needs to open a presentation created in another application, but the appropriate file type is not listed in the Files of type box, the user must first save the file in a format that PowerPoint 2000 can open. PowerPoint can open a file in the following formats:

• HTML (.htm)
• Rich Text Format (.rtf)
• Plain text (.txt)

PowerPoint can also open presentations saved in graphics formats such as Windows Metafile (WMF) (.wmf) format. If the application that users are importing the presentations from doesn’t support WMF files, save the slides in a graphics file format that is built into PowerPoint or for which a graphics import filter is installed.

Toolbox   You can install graphic filters from the Microsoft Office Converter Pack. You can find this downloadable file on the Office 2000 Resource Kit Downloads page.

Save a presentation in a format that other applications can open

To save a PowerPoint 2000 presentation in a format that other applications can open, click Save As (File menu), and then in the Save as type box, click the appropriate file or graphics format.

System Policy Tip   You can use a system policy to define the default value for the Save as type option in the Save As dialog box (File menu). In the System Policy Editor, set the Microsoft PowerPoint 2000\Tools | Options\Save\Save PowerPoint files as policy. For more information about the System Policy Editor, see Using the System Policy Editor.

If users want to save presentations in a format for which there’s no converter, users can save the presentation in the following formats:

• Web Page (.htm)

  Saving a presentation in Web Page format preserves the content.

• Outline/RTF (.rtf)

  Saving a presentation in Outline/RTF format preserves text formatting.

• Plain text (.txt)

  Saving a presentation in plain text format preserves the content of the file, but not the graphics or the text formatting.

In addition to the Web Page, Outline/RTF, and plain text file formats, a PowerPoint 2000 user can save a presentation in a graphics file format. Saving a presentation in a graphics format saves each slide as a separate graphic image — including the text. The text converts to a graphical text element that cannot be edited as text, but can be moved on the slide.

Share a presentation with users who do not have PowerPoint

PowerPoint 2000 users can share a presentation with users who do not have a presentation application installed on their computer. PowerPoint 2000 users can:

• Save the presentation in Web Page format, which allows the other users to view, print, and edit the presentation by using a Web browser.
• Provide the other users with the Microsoft PowerPoint 97-2000 viewer (Pptvw32.exe).

  After installing the viewer on their local hard disk, users can view and print (but not edit) the presentation.

Toolbox   The PowerPoint 2003 Viewer allows users who don’t have PowerPoint to view and print presentations. For information about installing the viewer, see the PowerPoint 2003 Viewer download available from the Microsoft Download Center Web site.

See also

PowerPoint 2000 users can save presentations in several graphics formats, depending on the graphics filters installed during Setup. For more information, see Working with PowerPoint 2000 Files and Graphics Formats.

If PowerPoint 2000 users share presentations often with users of other applications, you can change the default format in which PowerPoint 2000 saves presentations. For more information, see How to Specify the Default Format in Which to Save Files.

Office 2000 includes some new and enhanced features for publishing presentations on your intranet or the World Wide Web. For more information, see Using HTML and Office Document Formats.