Control PowerPoint from Flash

A reader sent me this question:

Is it possible to control the PowerPoint presentation with Flash? The opposite of this works, as can be seen on this link on the Microsoft site -- I would like to make Flash navigation to advance slides and control the PowerPoint animation.

The short answer is that this is not possible!

But there's a workaround -- and a rather long workaround. You can get your PowerPoint content into a product like Wildform Flair, and then add controls to the animations from within the program -- and then export this as a Flash SWF movie. Not exactly what you are looking for, but just another option.

Labels: flair, flash, powerpoint, wildform

posted by Geetesh @ 10:04 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

iSpring Free 3.5 -- Review Score

We just did a review on iSpring Free 3.5 on Indezine.com.

This review was based on the FlashPPT Evaluate benchmark presentation -- here are the individual scores:


Note: All scores are provided by the Indezine test team, and are the opinion of the individual tester -- all results are double-checked and the reviews go through a QC process.

Labels: add-in, evaluate, flash, ispring, powerpoint, review, score

posted by Geetesh @ 11:19 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

iSpring Free vs. Pro

Often users ask about the differences between the free and pro versions of iSpring -- and while iSpring Solutions does have extensive documentation on the differences, I thought it will be nice to have that information available on the FlashPPT site.

Nina Lezhnina from iSpring sent me an exhaustive comparison.


There are two more versions of iSpring: Ultra and SDK that add different or expanded abilities -- this page on the iSpring site has more info about these abilities.

Labels: flash, ispring, powerpoint, slideboom

posted by Geetesh @ 2:51 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

iSpring Pro 3.5 -- Review Score

We just did a review on iSpring Pro 3.5 on Indezine.com.

This review was based on the FlashPPT Evaluate benchmark presentation -- here are the individual scores:


Note: All scores are provided by the Indezine test team, and are the opinion of the individual tester -- all results are double-checked and the reviews go through a QC process.

Labels: add-in, evaluate, flash, ispring, powerpoint, review, score

posted by Geetesh @ 5:16 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

FlashPoint Pro -- Review Score

Last September, we did a review on FlashPoint Professional on Indezine.com.

This review was based on the FlashPPT Evaluate benchmark presentation -- here are the individual scores:


Note: All scores are provided by the Indezine test team, and are the opinion of the individual tester -- all results are double-checked and the reviews go through a QC process.

Labels: add-in, evaluate, flash, flashdemo, flashpoint, powerpoint, review, score

posted by Geetesh @ 1:54 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

FlashPoint -- Review Score

Last September, we did a review on FlashPoint on Indezine.com.

This review was based on the FlashPPT Evaluate benchmark presentation -- here are the individual scores:


Note: All scores are provided by the Indezine test team, and are the opinion of the individual tester -- all results are double-checked and the reviews go through a QC process.

Labels: add-in, evaluate, flash, flashdemo, flashpoint, powerpoint, review, score

posted by Geetesh @ 1:46 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Wondershare PPT2Flash Professional -- Review Score

We recently did a review on Wondershare PPT2Flash Professional on Indezine.com.

This review was based on the FlashPPT Evaluate benchmark presentation -- here are the individual scores:


Note: All scores are provided by the Indezine test team, and are the opinion of the individual tester -- all results are double-checked and the reviews go through a QC process.

Labels: add-in, evaluate, flash, powerpoint, ppt2flash, review, score, wondershare

posted by Geetesh @ 7:54 AM 1 Comments Links to this post

Cannot Embed Flash Movies in PowerPoint 2007

Here's one of the typical questions I have been asked about no longer being able to embed Flash movies in PowerPoint 2007:

I've been working with inserting Flash movies in PowerPoint without any problems in PowerPoint 2003, but since upgrading to 2007 I've not been able to embed a single Flash movie! PowerPoint 2007 poses no problems in getting the Shockwave Flash object into the PowerPoint slide, and it even allows me to set the embed option to True, but the fact is that the Flash file does not embed at all -- it does not travel with the PowerPoint presentation. This makes sharing impossible -- have you run into this issue, or know any workarounds?

There's no official word on this yet as to what is causing the issue, but it is clear that PowerPoint 2007 is preventing the embedding of a Flash movie -- maybe this is due to enhanced security controls in this version -- or it could be due to some other reason.

You can still continue using PowerPoint 2003 to create presentations with embedded Flash movies. If you must use PowerPoint 2007, you could make sure that the Flash movie and the PowerPoint presentation are in the same folder -- and then copy the entire folder if you need to move the presentation to another computer.

Labels: 2007, embed, flash, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 1:15 PM 3 Comments Links to this post

Benchmark Presentation for PowerPoint to Flash Conversion

There are scores of PowerPoint to Flash converters out there, and they all do some things right, and they all have their problem areas. In such a scenario, it's difficult to rank them all. So I decided on a points system, and created a benchmark presentation. This benchmark presentation has 24 slides, and I provide 5 points for each slide for a total of 120 points.





And then I provide another 80 points for:

• Program interface (10 points)
  
• Support options (10 points)
• Output (10 points)
• LMS options (10 points)
• Integration with quizzing features (10 points)
• Output to a non-Flash format (5 points)
• Output to Flash based screen savers and EXEs (5 points)
  
• PowerPoint 2007 compatibility (10 points)
• Pricing (10 points)

This gets me the score for the product -- anything up to 200 points. Then I convert this score to percentage points. Watch out soon to see how the different converter products score.

And the benchmark presentation is not available as a free download now, although you can request access through the feedback form...

Labels: add-in, flash, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 4:17 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Extract Flash: Conversation with Rhys Jeremiah

Rhys Jeremiah has been working in IT after graduating from Bristol University with a degree in mathematics. He started writing database applications for a large insurance company and quickly moved into web development, the largest site for a major international motor manufacturer. Although now teaching mathematics, he still manages some IT work. He currently lives in Cardiff, Wales with Sarah, his wife, and their children Lloyd and Carys.

Geetesh: Tell us more about your Extract Flash product, and what inspired you to create this.

Rhys: As is often common, the reason for creating the Extract Flash product was to solve a problem that could have easily been avoided. The company I was working for at the time was a major client of a marketing firm here in the UK. Last thing on a Friday afternoon, we were asked to update a flash file on a website and that the replacement file would be winging its way to us via email very soon. None of us in the office were quite prepared for the fact that the file had been placed into a PowerPoint presentation. It seemed that the last thing the marketing company did before the weekend was to send that file as numerous phone calls to get the original file failed. So we had a problem.

I noticed that it was possible to drag and drop the embedded Flash object between Office products and even drop it onto the desktop as a scrap file (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/138275). So I reasoned that the file must contain the Flash file that we were searching for. Hence it was worth digging a bit deeper. On opening the scrap file in a binary editor, I was able to locate the header block of the SWF file and without too much effort it was the possible to pull the binary data out and write it back to disk. The reason I wrote an application to do this is that I enjoy the challenge of trying something new, and also providing a useful tool to the community. In theory the scrap approach would work for any type of embedded object so long as the header block could be read and processed. With a small amount of knowledge it would be possible to change the file to search a binary file for any header block and extract the embedded data. From memory I think that SWF files are held in PowerPoint files without encryption so you don't necessarily need to mess about with the scrap file.

Geetesh: Many people believe that their embedded Flash content in a PowerPoint slide is secure -- so this does prove them wrong. How important is it for them to be aware of this, and would the scrap approach also work with any other embedded content in Microsoft Office documents.

Rhys: From my experience many people think that all embedded files in Office documents are secure. I can't count how many times someone has sent me a Word document containing loads of images. I've never really considered the people actually use this method to protect their files. It's certainly naive to approach security in this fashion. Personally I think that the only way to secure your sensitive data is not to give it away, as soon as you release any information you lose the ability to control the distribution. If you really want to secure your embedded content don't embed it.

Labels: embed, extract, flash, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 6:12 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Embedded Flash in PowerPoint: Can it be Extracted?

Here's a fictitious question: I have embedded a Flash movie in a PowerPoint presentation, and I would not like anyone to be able to save that embedded Flash movie from my PowerPoint presentation and use it elsewhere. And it does not seem doable -- so are my Flash files really safe?

OK -- yes they are reasonably safe only because many people are just not aware of that possibility, but remember that technology moves faster each day. There are indeed third party products that allow you to extract Flash content from PowerPoint files quite easily, and although these are not too well known or documented, they do exist.

So don't assume those Flash movies cannot be extracted.

If you need a Flash movie that's within a PowerPoint file, you can always request the creator of the presentation for a copy of the Flash movie. And just in case you created the presentation and lost the Flash movie, you can use the third party tools!

Labels: embed, extract, flash, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 7:53 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Insert the Control (PowerPoint 2007)

Labels: flash, insert, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 10:52 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Enable the Developer tab in the Ribbon

The options that allow you to insert Flash movies in PowerPoint 2007 (and maybe later versions) are found in the Developer tab of the Ribbon.

By default, this tab is not visible (as shown in Figure 1) -- and has to be turned on. If the Developer tab is indeed visible in your Ribbon (see Figure 2), you need not enable it.


Figure 1: There's no Developer tab in the Ribbon by default.


Figure 2: Now there's the Developer tab!

Otherwise, this is how you can enable the Developer tab in the Ribbon:

1. Choose Office Button | PowerPoint Options, to bring up a dialog box of the same name.
   


2. In the Popular tab (on the left pane), check the option that says Show Developer tab in the Ribbon, as shown in Figure 3.
   
   
   Figure 3: Check the option to show the Developer tab
   
   
3. Click OK to get back to the PowerPoint interface -- you should now see the Developer tab in the Ribbon (refer to Figure 2).
   

Once the Developer tab shows in the Ribbon, make sure that you have everything else you need to insert Flash movies in PowerPoint 2007...

Labels: 2007, flash, insert, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 8:34 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Insert Flash Resources

Although this site is the most complete resource of Flash-in-PowerPoint information anywhere, I wanted to share other resources with you as well:

• Indezine has a separate PowerPoint and Flash section.
  
  
• Microsoft has a detailed page on controlling a Shockwave Flash Control in PowerPoint.
  
  
• Rick Turoczy's FlashGeek site has plenty of Flash in PowerPoint info.
  

Labels: flash, insert, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 11:14 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Converting PowerPoint to Flash with Third Party Products

There are many reasons to attain various ends that people go on the path of converting PowerPoint to Flash. And almost a decade after this started, I have to say that I have found no perfect automated solution!

Many products claim to do this, and some do come quite close to perfection. But if they are suitable for one presentation style or purpose, they may not work out as well in another scenario.

And so the search continues!

On this site, I'm going to explore all these products and share my opinions. And your opinions count even more -- so feel free to comment on all these products. Maybe, we'll find the perfect product!

Watch this blog, and keep commenting.

Labels: add-in, convert, flash, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 11:06 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Using FlashBack

In a previous post, I introduced FlashBack -- a PowerPoint add-in that rewinds (and replays) Flash movies in PowerPoint slides.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on using the add-in:

1. First download FlashBack from here... Next you'll want to install the add-in. Here are detailed step-by-step instructions...
   
   
2. Once you install FlashBack, you'll find a new option in the Tools menu within the PowerPoint interface (see Figure 1).
   
   
   Figure 1: FlashBack shows in the Tools menu in PowerPoint.
   
   
3. Now place a Flash movie inside PowerPoint, or open a presentation that has an inserted Flash movie that needs the rewinding.
   
   
4. Now choose Tools | FlashBack | Initialize FlashBack (refer to Figure 1 above).
   
   
5. This brings up the Initialize FlashBack dialog box that you can see in Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 1: FlashBack options.
   
   
6. Choose one or both of the options provided:
   
   Rewind and play the movie: If you want to just rewind the movie, leave this option unchecked. More often than not, you'll want to leave this checked. Remember, all your Flash movies in all presentations you play get rewound automatically as long as FlashBack is installed. If you don't want that behavior to happen, you'll have to disable FlashBack altogether. Instructions on how you can disable FlashBack can be found here...
   
   Eliminate 'residual' image flashing: The last frame in a Flash movie may provide a flicker when it is rewound. This flicker or flashing may happen when you revisit the slide that contains the Flash movie. If you want a solution for this behavior, check this option.
   
   
7. Click the Initialize button to get back to PowerPoint.

Remember that FlashBack is a machine specific solution, not a presentation specific one. If you want a presentation specific solution, you'll have to use the manual VBA route...

If you use the VBA route, you must first disable FlashBack...

Labels: add-in, flash, flashback, insert, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 9:13 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Install and Disable FlashBack

This post will show you how you can download, install, and disable FlashBack, a free PowerPoint add-in that automatically rewinds inserted Flash movies in PowerPoint slides.

1. First download FlashBack from Shyam Pillai's site...
   
   
2. Next unzip/extract the downloaded files to a location on your computer. Make sure this is not on your Desktop, or any location where you may move or delete files often. Make a note of the location where you extracted the files. Within the folder created, you'll find a file called FlashBack.ppa (see Figure 1).
   
   
   Figure 1: Extracted FlashBack files.
   
   
3. Now launch PowerPoint, and choose Tools | Macros | Security to bring up the Security dialog box that you can see in Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: Change Security Level to Medium.
   
   
4. If your Security Level is set to High or Very High, change it to Medium. Don't worry about demoting the security level now because you can set the security level higher once you have installed FlashBack.
   
   And if your Security dialog box does not show the Very High option, don't worry -- all versions of PowerPoint don't provide that option.
   
   Click OK to get back to PowerPoint.
   
   
5. Choose Tools | Add-ins to bring up the Add-ins dialog box that you can see in Figure 3.
   
   
   Figure 3: Your Add-ins dialog box may not be as crowded as mine, but that's not an issue!
   
   
6. Click the Add New... button to bring up the Add New PowerPoint Add-in dialog box that you can see in Figure 4. Navigate to where the FlashBack.ppa file is saved on your computer, select it, and click OK.
   
   
   Figure 4: Find FlashBack.ppa, and select it.
   
   
7. You might now see a Security Warning dialog box, as shown in Figure 5.
   
   
   Figure 5: The Security Warning box looks a little scary!
   
   
8. Click Enable Macros to get back to the Add-ins dialog box (refer to Figure 3). Click the Close button on this dialog box to get back to PowerPoint.
   
   
9. You should now see the FlashBack option in the Tools menu within PowerPoint (see Figure 6).
   
   
   Figure 6: FlashBack shows in the Tools menu in PowerPoint.
   

Note: You may want to change your Macro Security Level back to High or Very High once you finish installing FlashBack.

To see how you can use FlashBack, look here...

Disable FlashBack

You might want to disable FlashBack for a while, especially if you want to rewind your Flash movies manually using VBA. To do that, choose Tools | Add-ins, and uncheck the FlashBack option in the resulting dialog box. Click Close to get back to PowerPoint.

Labels: add-in, flash, flashback, insert, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 8:34 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

What is FlashBack?

FlashBack is a free PowerPoint add-in from Shyam Pillai, a Microsoft PowerPoint MVP that rewinds a Flash movie so that it plays from the starting frame when shown again in the same presentation. You can learn more about why rewinding is required here...

FlashBack automates a lengthy process that requires some coding in a VBA environment. You can download a free copy of FlashBack from Shyam's site...

Remember though that FlashBack is machine specific, not presentation specific. If you need to add the rewinding code to a presentation that will be distributed, you should use the VBA route...

Learn how to install and disable FlashBack...

And here's information on how you can use FlashBack...

Labels: add-in, flash, flashback, insert, powerpoint, rewind

posted by Geetesh @ 6:53 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Edit the Control Properties

Now that you have inserted the control, it's time to bring in the Flash movie within the control. You need two things:

1. A PowerPoint slide with the Shockwave Flash control inserted.
2. A Flash movie placed in the same folder as your PowerPoint presentation.

And of course, if you don't have a sample Flash movie, get it here...

Get started with editing the control properties:

1. Right-click the control and choose Properties (see Figure 1).
   
   
   Figure 1: Access the properties
   
   
2. This will bring up the Properties window that you can see in Figure 2. Select the (Custom) option so that you can see the three ellipses (...) towards the right -- click on these ellipses. If you don't find the (Custom) option, ignore these steps, and proceed to Step 6.
   
   
   Figure 2: Properties window
   
   
3. This will bring up the Property Pages dialog box that you can see in Figure 3. If this dialog box covers your Flash control or the slide, you can move it away a little.
   
   
   Figure 3: Property Pages dialog box
   
   
4. In the Movie URL text box, type the name of the Flash SWF file that you placed in the same folder as the presentation. You can also type an entire web URL within this text box if you want to access a SWF live from the Internet. Check the Play option, and do check the Embed option too (unless you typed in a web URL in the Movie URL text box). There are several other options in this dialog box that you can tweak as required, but do remember that the Background Color option makes no difference!
   
   
5. Click OK to get back to the slide and play the presentation. Once you play the presentation you may want to resize and reposition the inserted control.
   
   
6. Not applicable for everybody: If you branched out from Step 2, select the Movie option in the Properties dialog box, and type the name of your Flash SWF (see Figure 4) -- no path is required since we already placed everything (the presentation and the SWF) in the same folder. Also change the EmbedMovie option to True.
   
   
   Figure 4: Properties window
   
   
7. Save the presentation.

Maybe you don't want to make any more changes, or you might want your Flash movies rewound after playing. Or maybe you don't want to follow so many steps, and prefer an automated one-click process. I'll cover all these issues soon.

Labels: flash, insert, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 9:20 PM 3 Comments Links to this post

Assemble Everything

Before you start inserting your Flash movie on a PowerPoint slide, you should follow these good practices to assemble all the stuff:

1. First of all, make sure that you have all the four prerequisites in place.
   
   
2. Place your saved PowerPoint presentation in a new or existing folder. Copy your Flash SWF file to this folder.
   
   If you need to insert the Flash SWF file into a new presentation, then save the Flash SWF file into a new folder. Then create a new presentation and save it in this folder.
   
   
3. If the presentation is not open, launch PowerPoint, open the presentation and navigate to the slide where you want to insert a Flash SWF movie.
   
   
4. Thereafter, the process in which you insert the Flash SWF will differ a little if you use PowerPoint 2007 or a previous version of PowerPoint.

If you use a version of PowerPoint that's pre-2007, proceed here...

PowerPoint 2007 users should proceed here...

Labels: 2007, flash, insert, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 3:49 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Insert Flash in PowerPoint for Windows Users

Get Started With These Four:

To insert Flash movies inside PowerPoint, you need four things:

1. Microsoft Office PowerPoint: A copy of PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002, 2003, or 2007 (or a newer version). This will not work in the free PowerPoint Viewer.
   


2. Microsoft Internet Explorer: Although you really don't need this in the process of inserting Flash, it is required since this takes care of the ActiveX runtimes. Most versions of Windows come with Internet Explorer built-in. You can always get the latest version here...
   


3. Shockwave Flash ActiveX Control: This is a helper application that allows Microsoft Internet Explorer and other applications that can interact with ActiveX controls to show Flash movies. PowerPoint is one such application that can rely on the Shockwave Flash ActiveX control to play Flash movies on PowerPoint slides.
   
   Your copy of Microsoft Internet Explorer probably already has this ActiveX control installed, but since this is frequently updated, you should visit the Adobe site and check.
   
   The Shockwave Flash ActiveX control can be auto-installed at:
   

   www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?
   P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

   Since this control installs on its own, make sure you visit the above link using Microsoft Internet Explorer -- the Flash plug-in for Firefox is not the same, at least not in this case!
   
   If you need to view more options, visit:
   

   www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/alternates/
   

4. A Flash SWF Movie/File: If you don't have any Flash clips, you can get some here...

The next thing you need to do is assemble everything in one folder...

PowerPoint 2007 users also need to enable the Developer tab in the Ribbon... -- if the Developer tab is already visible for you, proceed to assemble everything in one folder...

Labels: flash, insert, powerpoint

posted by Geetesh @ 3:30 PM 0 Comments Links to this post