FlashPPT

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!

Filed Under: Embed, Extract, Flash, PowerPoint

Edit the Control Properties (PowerPoint 2007)

Important Note: Make sure you read this post on not being able to embed a Flash movie within a PowerPoint 2007 presentation.

Now that you have inserted the control in your PowerPoint 2007 slide, 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.

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).
2. 
   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.
3. 
   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.
4. 
   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 make sure that the EmbedMovie option remains set to False.
7. 
   Figure 4: Properties window
8. Make sure you set the EmbedMovie option to False since PowerPoint 2007’s new security options don’t respect the True value for EmbedMovie. Look at this post too: Embedded Flash Does Not Work On Another Computer
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. In that case, look at FlashBack.

Filed Under: Flash
Tagged as: Control Properties, Flash in PowerPoint, PowerPoint

Insert the Control (PowerPoint 2007)

Filed Under: Flash, Insert, PowerPoint

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…

Filed Under: 2007, Flash, Insert, PowerPoint

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.

Filed Under: Flash, Insert, PowerPoint