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Home | Articles
Cross Platform PowerPoint - Windows, Macintosh
by Geetesh Bajaj
...Continued
from Page 3
Are You Compatible?
Similar,
Yet Different
What is Missing on
Each Platform?
PowerPoint
2004’s
Compatibility Report
Are You Compatible?
I’m sure there are other
PowerPoint compatibility
issues that have not been
mentioned here. A good
resource for resolving a
compatibility issue is any of
the many Microsoft
PowerPoint newsgroups
sites (http://www.indezine.com/ppnews has
a list of them). There are separate
newsgroups for both
Windows and Mac versions,
but compatibility questions
are more often than not discussed
on the PowerPoint for Mac newsgroup.
One should not fear moving
a presentation file across
platforms. Working around
the known compatibility
issues requires some vigilance,
but is not as pronounced
and troublesome
as it was a decade ago.
With each new version of
PowerPoint, the compatibility
issues seem to become
less and less apparent.
And this is good news for
presenters everywhere.
What
is Missing on
Each Platform?
PowerPoint 2003 (Windows) and PowerPoint 2004 (Mac), the
latest versions, share a number of features but also differ.
Contrary
to popular opinion, the Mac version does not lack many
features, but if you design for the latest versions, take
note of the
following:
Missing in PowerPoint
2003 for Windows:
- Direct QuickTime and Flash import.
- Exporting an entire presentation to a movie.
- Special photo effects.
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Missing in PowerPoint
2004 for Mac:
- Updated PowerPoint Viewer for OS X.
- Integrated CD-burning.
- Photo Album.
- Image compression.
- Motion-path animation editing. Motion paths will play in slideshow mode.
- Trigger animations |
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PowerPoint 2004’s
Compatibility Report
The Compatibility Report feature in
Office 2004 for Mac is found not only in PowerPoint, but
within Office 2004’s
Word and Excel applications. When used in
PowerPoint, this feature checks for cross-platform compatibility
issues every
time you open or save a file — in fact, as you edit
a presentation it even prompts you about items that may cause
issues. The Compatibility Report will also let you know which
platform version (such as Windows 98 or 2000) will be affected.
If a compatibility issue is encountered, the Toolbox button
glows, indicating that you should click on it to view the
Compatibility Report. For some issues, the Toolbox can automatically
fix
the issue for you.
This is a great way to create Windows-compatible versions
of PowerPoint presentations on a Mac as well as tailor a
presentation
to play on earlier Mac versions of PowerPoint. As of now,
no such feature is available on PowerPoint for Windows.
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