How To Use PowerPoint’s “Package for CD”

Have you ever needed to share a PowerPoint file with co-workers, clients, or customers but you weren’t sure if they owned a copy of PowerPoint? Or have you ever created a PowerPoint deck that included a lot of videos, but tried to play it on another computer and it wouldn’t work because the video were absolute, not relative? As it turns out, there’s an easy solution to both of these scenarios and it’s to use one of PowerPoint 2007’s built-in, but perhaps little-known features called “Package for CD.” To use this feature, just go to the Publish menu and choose Package for CD from within PowerPoint 2007. This brings up the following dialog: $0 You can then choose either “Copy to CD” or “Copy to Folder” for a redistributable package that can include all of your videos (and other multimedia) as well as a built-in PowerPoint viewer for people who don’t have PowerPoint installed. That’s really useful! (Thanks to Brian Keller for this tip!)