# Save a Powerpoint pres to be viewed on computer w/o PP? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943 "2012-06-22T14:42:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/1 "2012-06-22T14:42:09Z")
Is there a way to save or convert a Powerpoint presentation so it can be viewed on a computer that doesn’t have Powerpoint? I have PP2007 in Microsoft Office (PC), and I want to send to a friend who has a Mac and may or may not have PP. (I don’t want to ask him ahead of time, because it’s a surprise.) PP2007 has many options under “Save as…” – not sure which one to choose. Or do I need somehow to convert it to a Quicktime movie? ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/2 "2012-06-22T14:44:56Z")
Go to ‘Publish’ and the ‘Package for CD’…it will be viewable on a machine w/o PP. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/3 "2012-06-22T14:51:01Z")
Thanks ever so! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/4 "2012-06-22T20:10:55Z")
You can probably also convert it to a PDF, which may be better. The “package for CD” might create something that a Mac wouldn’t know what to do with. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/5 "2012-06-22T20:15:40Z")
I was just going to suggest saving as a .pdf as well. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/6 "2012-06-22T20:32:03Z")
I want my viewer to see the animations, i.e., to have the slideshow play automatically. Will that happen if I save it as a PDF? ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/7 "2012-06-22T21:42:03Z")
There will be no animations in a pdf. Such a shame… ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/8 "2012-06-22T22:09:47Z")
No, no animations in a .pdf (tbh, there should never be animations in a PP, unless it’s for kids or something) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/9 "2012-06-22T22:13:01Z")
Can Windows Powerpoint export a Video (Movie) file? The Mac version can, and that should be playable on his machine. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/10 "2012-06-22T22:49:13Z")
There used to be a free viewer for Macs for PPT 98, but it seems to be no longer available, though I found some possible download sites. If you save the presentation as a PPT’98 file and used that viewer it might work. The viewers for more recent versions are Windows only. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/11 "2012-06-22T23:43:16Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > … > (tbh, there should never be animations in a PP, unless it’s for kids or something) Agreed. Animations and layers were the bane of my existence when I was producing web-streamed presentations. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/12 "2012-06-23T00:46:23Z")
By “animations,” I mean I want the slideshow to play, that is, automatically move from one slide to the next without intervention from the viewer. (I didn’t mean “animated” figures like in a cartoon.) I thought saving it as a PDF would create a document with a series of images, not a moving slideshow. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/13 "2012-06-23T01:33:00Z")
**Sicks Ate,** looks as if you’ve got it. I’m looking at PP 2003, and the “Package For CD” command seems to be the one that’ll do what you want. I’ve never used the feature before, and I don’t know about PP 2010. From the PP 2003 Help: > [@](#): > > The Package for CD feature in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 allows you to copy one or more presentations along with supporting files onto a CD. The Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer is included by default on the CD and will run the packaged presentations on another computer even if PowerPoint is not installed. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/14 "2012-06-23T01:51:49Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > **Sicks Ate,** looks as if you’ve got it. > > I’m looking at PP 2003, and the “Package For CD” command seems to be the one that’ll do what you want. I’ve never used the feature before, and I don’t know about PP 2010. > > From the PP 2003 Help: Make sure the included viewer works under OS X before you waste a lot of time… ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/15 "2012-06-23T10:54:11Z")
If none of this works you can try using [Google Docs](http://docs.google.com). I didn’t suggest it before because of the animations, but if it’s just automatic slide transition then maybe it will work. I’ve barely used it for presentations so I’m not sure what features it supports. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/save-a-powerpoint-pres-to-be-viewed-on-computer-w-o-pp/625943/16 "2012-06-23T13:05:52Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > If none of this works you can try using [Google Docs](http://docs.google.com). I didn’t suggest it before because of the animations, but if it’s just automatic slide transition then maybe it will work. I’ve barely used it for presentations so I’m not sure what features it supports. Sorry for the confusion. Strike the word “animations” and substitute “automatic slide transitions.”