FlashPPT

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.

Filed Under: Add-in, Convert, Flash, PowerPoint

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…

Filed Under: Add-in, Flash, FlashBack, Insert, PowerPoint

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.

Filed Under: Add-in, Flash, FlashBack, Insert, PowerPoint

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…

Filed Under: Add-in, Flash, FlashBack, Insert, PowerPoint, Rewind

Rewind Flash Movies Using VBA

I already discussed why you would want to rewind your Flash movies, the ones you insert into PowerPoint slides.

Now let me show you how you can do that with a little VBA code. Remember though that this code is dependent on ActiveX controls that are not supported by both the free PowerPoint Viewer on Windows, and PowerPoint on the Mac. So this will only work on PowerPoint 97 or higher for Windows.

1. First, create a backup copy of your presentation, just in case.
2. Open the presentation in PowerPoint — this presentation must have a Flash movie inserted as per the instructions provided here…

3. Make sure that the Loop option in the Property Pages dialog is left unchecked.
4. Save the presentation.
5. Press Alt F11 to bring up the Microsoft Visual Basic window (see Figure 1).

   
   Figure 1: The Visual Basic window is where you add code in PowerPoint.

6. Choose Insert | Module. This adds a new module in the left pane, as you can see in Figure 2.

   
   Figure 2: A new module has been added.

7. In the main window, add the following code, while making sure that the number in the 3rd line after the word “Slides” is the number of the slide in your presentation that contains the Flash movie.

   Sub OnSlideShowPageChange()
   Dim obj As ShockwaveFlash
   Set obj = ActivePresentation.Slides(2).Shapes(“ShockwaveFlash1”).OLEFormat.Object
   obj.Playing = True
   obj.Rewind
   obj.Play
   End Sub

   Figure 3 shows you the main window after the code was added:

   
   Figure 3: Code has been added.

   As you can see, the code simply sets the Playing property to true, rewinds the movie, and plays it.

   Also, if your presentation contains more than one Flash movie, you’ll need to repeat this process for each movie. However, change the numbering in the 3rd line again after the word ShockwaveFlash, so that you name them ShockwaveFlash1, ShockwaveFlash2, and so on. Then, in the Properties window, give the object the same name in the Name row, which is just under the Custom row (see Figure 4).

   
   Figure 4: Match the object names in the Visual Basic window, and the Property window.

8. That’s all you need to do — return to your presentation, save it, and play it to test.

Remember, your macro security settings may stop the VBA code from executing. In PowerPoint, choose Tools | Options | Security | Macro Security, and make sure it isn’t set to High. In addition, coding in the Flash file itself may stop the movie from playing.

I wish to thank Ellen Finkelstein, author of How To Do Everything with PowerPoint 2007 for providing the VBA code used in this tutorial. You can visit Ellen’s site here…

Filed Under: Insert, Rewind