Exporting a PDF to a PPT presentation

[DigitalChickster]

Hi all! I have a 300+ page document that needs to become a PowerPoint presentation. I did this last year by hand (i.e., I exported each page as a single pdf, which I then imported into PPT). I was hoping to figure out a way to just have it be created automatically. Before starting the process, I played around with the export feature in Acrobat. I was able to export a simple PDFs as a PPT file. However, now that I've created the InDesign file (which I then save as a PDF), I find that the process isn't going smoothly. Weird things are happening with shadows and fonts.

So my question is... is this just an inherently flawed way to export a PDF? Or am I doing something wrong? Is there a better way to do this? The original file is an InDesign file. What is the most efficient way to get THAT file into a PPT presentation? It's already set up in the correct ratio. I had thought I had it all figured out. But... I haven't. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

julie

PS I should mention I'm on a Mac computer. Apparently Microsoft does not have the "create albums" feature for Macs. That would have been helpful.

[Dov Isaacs · Accepted solution]

If I understand what you are trying to do, it is a workflow in which you create a presentation in InDesign, export PDF from InDesign, and then try to export PDF to PowerPoint (.PPT or .PPTX) from Acrobat. Is this correct?

The most important thing here to understand it that you are dealing with three distinct imaging models. InDesign's imaging model is a subset of everything available in PDF and that the PDF generated from an InDesign document doesn't lose anything from the graphical richness of your InDesign document.

HOWEVER, Microsoft's imaging model used in PowerPoint as well as Word, Excel, and Punisher is a small subset of InDesign's imaging model not to mention the PDF imaging model.

Some examples:

• Drop shadows in InDesign and Illustrator are implemented via PDF transparency's multiply transparency blending mode (one of 16 available transparency blending modes available in both PDF and in InDesign and Illustrator) although Microsoft's imaging model has only on transparency blending mode which corresponds to Adobe's normal transparency blending mode. The visual results are potentially very different.

• InDesign type layout allows for tracking kerning, automatic pair kerning, and various line spacing and justification capabilities that simply don't exist in Office formats.
• Font identification and naming with Microsoft is very different than that used by Adobe. Typically, at least for the Windows version of Office applications, font families consist of regular, italic, bold, and bold italic members. Hacks must be used to represent light, semibold, and black styles, much less condensed, semicondensed, and extended width styles.
• The world of Office is strictly non-color managed RGB. InDesign is always color-managed with support of CMYK and Lab color spaces.

And I could go on-and-on. What you are trying to do is not simple. At best you will achieve a PowerPoint file that you will have to do significant manual adjustment of, unless all you want to do is produce PowerPoint slides that are each one big honk'in raster image representing each page! 

Can we assume you are using this workflow because the final users of your content are doing further edits and don't want to or aren't capable of using InDesign? That would be the only justification for going through all this pain. Otherwise, you might be stuck having to produce content in PowerPoint.

Otherwise, my advise is to use InDesign itself to create your presentations. Export PDF (preferably PDF/X-4) and present using that resultant PDF file for the presentation. FWIW, I've personally been doing that at Adobe since InDesign 1.0. Haven't had one issue with this at all. And my audience certain hasn't missed any cheesy “transitions.” Plus, the graphics are to die for and the presentations can be readily printed at full fidelity.

          - Dov

[DigitalChickster]

Thank you, Dov, for your in-depth response. It's funny you say this, because I also had the thought of just presenting with a PDF. I even figured out how to do fades between each "slide" of the PPT.

Here's what I'm worried about. I'm going to be running this presentation from laptop. I did this last year. I need to be able to see the "slides" before and after what is being presented on the screen. We have a presenter speaking... and if he goes on and on, I need to go back to a certain group of slides and repeat them (there are 10 per group) until he finished talking. Then I can go on to the next slide. So it's important that I be able to see more than one slide on my computer... but have the audience only see one slide at a time. If I can figure out how to do this using Acrobat... I'd be thrilled. I do feel like I'm doing backflips trying to get PPT to cooperate. If you can tell me how I can see many slides at once while my audience only sees the one projected, then I'm golden.

[Dov Isaacs]

Alas, I never encountered that issue or had reason to have to see multiple pages separate from what I am showing on-screen. I guess I have been very lucky over the last 25 years of doing this with PDF files.

Only solution I can imagine is two computers?!? 

          - Dov

[DigitalChickster]

When I'm at the hotel tomorrow working with the AV people, I will test the PDF to see if I can use it. If so, it would make my life SO much easier. I ended up spending pretty much the entire day creating JPGs of my PDF pages... and importing them ONE BY ONE into PPT (because for some reason Microsoft didn't think Mac people needed to be able to input a bunch of slide images at once). If I get the PDF to work, I'll report back. Thanks again for your help.