Opening PowerPoint Files on Docs.com

We explored how to search and browse content available on Docs.com, a file sharing site from Microsoft. Rather than just search, you can additionally filter search results to show only files of a particular type, license, or language. In this tutorial we'll show you how you can open a PowerPoint file. You might be wondering about what's so special about opening a PowerPoint file and how it is different than opening any other file type on Docs.com? The difference is not really in opening -- but within the many options you see after you open your file. We will walk you through these options within this tutorial.

Before you proceed, it's a good idea to sign into your Docs.com account.

Let's now explore how to open PowerPoint files:

1. Browse and choose a file you want to open, as shown in Figure 1. Once you hover your cursor over the file thumbnail, the bottom half of the thumbnail may show extra options such as Share and Collection. Ignore these options for now, and click on the top half of the thumbnail to open your file.
   
   
   Figure 1: Chosen file
2. This opens the chosen file in a new page within PowerPoint Online, as shown in Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: File opened within PowerPoint online



What is PowerPoint Online?

PowerPoint Online is the web-based version of PowerPoint that runs within a browser. Typically, PowerPoint Online is part of your Microsoft Account, and is accessed via the OneDrive site. But PowerPoint Online is now also integrated with Docs.com and Office Mix -- these services directly interact with PowerPoint Online without directly invoking OneDrive. For this reason, the PowerPoint Online options you see via Docs.com is different than what you see via OneDrive.com.
Within PowerPoint Online, you'll find some options. These options are explained below, as marked in Figure 2 above:


1. Details: Display details associated with the open file, such as file name, description, author, etc. You can also see the number of likes and file views.


2. Preview: Here you can preview the slides. To go to the next or previous slides, use the navigation buttons (explained next).


3. Navigation Buttons: Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate through the presentation.


4. Switch view / Slide number: Here you can see total number of slides and the active slide number displayed in preview section. Additionally, you can press a toggle button to switch to full screen mode and then to revert to Normal mode.


5. Like, Add to collection, Embed, and Share buttons: Here you will find buttons to Like, Add the file to a Collection, Embed, and Share.


Note: For some files you may also see a Download button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below. The Download button is only visible if the original user has enabled the Download option.


Figure 3: Do you want to download the original file?