PPTshare Desktop Slide Library

Introduction
About PPTshare Desktop Slide Library
Creating a Library
Create a Presentation
Share a Presentation
Pricing and Support
Conclusion

Introduction

Many of us find it easy to share photos online, but as far as PowerPoint files go, the more common option is to email the PowerPoint as an attachment. However, PowerPoint files can be huge and can quickly fill up inbox and mail accounts.

The product that I am reviewing today offers a solution -- PPTshare Desktop Slide Library does more than allowing you to share your presentations, it also allows you to manage your presentations at the slide level, and create new presentations from those slides without opening PowerPoint.

About PPTshare Desktop Slide Library

Desktop Slide Library is from PPTshare, company based in New York, USA that also creates several other products such as File Compressor. You can learn more about the product and download the 30 day trial version of the product from their site.

In addition to PowerPoint presentations, Desktop Slide Library also manages video files. Both the presentations and the videos are placed in a library that allows further manipulation at the slide and video level.

My contact at PPTshare for this review was James Ontra - thank you, James. I asked James for this product evolved, and here's his response:

PPTshare Desktop Slide Library evolved from our clients' need to better manage and control all of their disparate PowerPoint files, and to simplify video within PowerPoint. There's a wealth of valuable content stored within hundreds of PowerPoints, and our clients needed a better way to tap that resource. Before, users, typically sales people, wasted a lot of time hunting and pecking, copying and pasting, and recreating new presentations for every meeting. The PPTshare Desktop Slide Library consolidates all of a user's PowerPoints and videos into one central location. And it automatically formats a video into a full-screen PowerPoint slide. It is the ‘go to’ place where users can quickly find single  slides and videos for making new presentations.

Our clients asked for some specific functionality, and we built it, using the Slide Library as a foundation.

• Users asked to drag video files into library, so video slides are part of the library.
• Users asked to share presentations with video easily.
• Users asked that when their laptop is disconnected from the network, the presentation with video works.
• Managers asked to ‘push’ up to date slides into the users' library.
• Managers asked to do it without IT getting involved.

With the user requests in mind, we created PPTshare

Thank you, James.

Creating a Library

Follow this steps to create your library of presentations and video clips:

1. Go to your Windows Start menu and choose All Programs | PPTshare | PPTShare Desktop (see Figure 1)
2. 
   Figure 1: PPTShare Start menu Group
2. This launches the PPTShare Desktop interface, as shown in Figure 2
3. 
   Figure 2: PPTShare Desktop interface
3. Choose File | New Library, and save the PPTShare file.
4. Choose any PowerPoint presentation in Windows Explorer, or your Desktop -- and drag and drop your file over the Import File window on the left pane.
5. This will import the presentation as individual slides into the new library -- the import may take a while to complete, especially if you have a large presentation. When done, you'll find the slides within the library, much like the Slide Sorter view of PowerPoint (see Figure 3)
6. 
   Figure 3: Slides imported into a PPTShare Desktop Library
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to import more presentations, or a video clip. Videos show up as thumbnails -- similar to PowerPoint slides, with the video already set to run full-screen.
7. Multiple presentations and videos can be imported within a single library. Choose File | Save Library to save your library.

Create a Presentation

Once you have created a library of slides, you can select multiple slides from different presentations, combine them with video if required, and cook up a new presentation. Follow these steps to do so:

1. Select any of the imported presentations in the left pane to see all the slides it contains. Select one or more slides, and drag it to the bottom pane, as shown in Figure 4 .
2. 
   Figure 4: Slide Show View
2. Repeat the process until you have all the slides you want for your presentation. To add the video, click the name of the PPT file library within which the video is contained -- then drag the thumbnail of the video to the bottom pane.
3. Once you have all the slides and videos in the bottom pane, you can drag them within the pane to reorder their sequence.
4. When you are done, click the Save as New PPT button above the pane (refer to Figure 4).

Share a Presentation

1. Any new presentation you create within the library, or even the ones you imported can be shared with colleagues and friends. Select the file you wish to share from your PPT File Library in the left pane, right click and choose the Share option in the context menu, as shown in Figure 5.
2. 
   Figure 5: Share Presentation
2. This opens the SharePPT dialog box as shown in Figure 6 -- provide an author name and title for the presentation, and click Share.
3. 
   Figure 6: SharePPT
3. The presentation will be uploaded by PPTShare Transfer Manager (see Figure 7).
4. 
   Figure 7: Transfer Manager
4. Once the upload is complete, just right click the name of the presentation within the Transfer Manager, and choose the Copy Link option as shown in Figure 8.
5. 
   Figure 8: Copy Link
6. Thereafter, just paste the link in an email and send it to anyone you want to share the presentation with.

Pricing and Support

PPTShare Desktop is available on a subscription basis for $9.95 per month. Payments are processed through PayPal -- this means you can pay either from your PayPal balance or credit card.

Support is through an online FAQ.

Conclusion

For this price and capability, PPTShare Desktop Slide Library presents amazing value for money -- even if you don't need to share presentations too often, you can still justify this product at this price:performance ratio. It's a great alternative to uploading or FTPing to servers, or even sending email attachments -- your recipients will love this elegant solution for not filling up their mail inboxes!

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