Office 2013 SP1 doesn't fix the problem with poor quality image exports

Sigh.  I was hoping to be able to report to you that the recently released Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Office 2013 solves PowerPoint 2013’s poor-quality image export problem, but unfortunately not.

Though they’re aware of it, Microsoft has chosen not to fix the problem for now.

So where does that leave us?  Well, if you use any of the PPTools add-ins that export images, I strongly suggest that you do NOT upgrade to Office 2013.

That would be:

PPT2HTML

PPT2HTML Batch

ImageExport

Protect

In most cases, you won’t notice huge differences in PPT2HTML/PPT2HTML Batch because by and large you won’t be exporting to high resolution images for use in HTML. 

But ImageExport’s main use is creating high resolution images from PowerPoint, and PowerPoint 2013 simply won’t cooperate.  If you really NEED high rez images, don’t upgrade until Microsoft sees fit to fix what they’ve broken.  We can’t do it.  It’s up to them.

When/if they fix it, we’ll let you know here. Immediately. 

 

Office 2013 Service Pack 1 (SP1) now available

Microsoft has released Service Pack 1 for Office 2013.

If you have one of the so-called Click To Run versions, you'll get the update automatically, unless you've disabled auto-updates.  Most users will have the Click To Run version.

If you have an MSI-installed (Enterprise) version of Office 2013, you can use Microsoft Update or go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2817430 which gives details about the Service Pack and includes links to both the 32- and 64-bit SPs.

 

Nolan Haims to be speaker at Presentation Summit

Nolan Haims, the newest Microsoft MVP for PowerPoint, will be one of the keynote speakers at Presentation Summit in San Diego, October 12-14.

I’m delighted because I’ll finally be able to keep an eye on the Help Center there AND hear Nolan speak.

Rick Altman, conference organizer, is happy because he won’t have to lug furniture around any more.

Or as he puts it “The decision to offer Nolan a keynote was a no-brainer for me, because when he was in the tracks, practically everyone went to his seminars. We got tired of lining up chairs in the foyer outside the breakout rooms!”

Image Resolution Gotcha

Here’s a weird one for you.

An old PowerPoint trick is to set a registry entry that controls the resolution of images that you save from PowerPoint.

For example, if you set the registry entry to 200, then PowerPoint will save your images at 200 pixels per inch; for a standard 10” wide slide, that’d be 2000 pixels (10 inches times 200 pixels per inch). 

If you have an add-in like our <a href=http://www.pptools.com/imageexport/>ImageExport</a> or write your own code using PowerPoint’s Slide.Export method, you can control the resolution yourself, so you don’t need to bother with this registry entry.

Or do you?  There’s a problem.  If this registry entry is set and you or your add-in call for a higher resolution export, you get a corrupted image, at least from PowerPoint 2010.  You end up with a partially correct image in the upper left corner but the rest of the image will be gray.

Solution:  remove the registry entry if you see this effect.

The registry entry in question is at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\PowerPoint\Options\ExportBitmapResolution

Delete it and all will be well.

New Presentation Summit video sums it all up

Rick Altman and his crew* have produced a video that really captures the spirit of Presentation Summit.

http://vimeo.com/85310302

This year, Presentation Summit will be in San Diego, CA October 12-15

*Crew:  Ric, the staff and the patrons.  The family, is what we’re saying here.  See the video.  Understand why.

But I want to enter sizes in Points. Or Metric.

If you’re in the U.S. or have your copy of Windows set to use US locale settings for measurements, PowerPoint wants you to enter size/position information in inches.

Since you’re in the U.S. or have your copy of Windows set to use US locale settings for measurements, this is perfectly reasonable.

Unless you’re trying to create work for a client anywhere else on the planet who, reasonably enough, wants to specify dimensions in metric.

Or you’re working with experienced DTP people who want to work in points and picas.  Or YOU want to.

The surprising thing is that you can. All you have to do is tell PowerPoint what units to use when you plug in your numbers.

Instead of getting out your calculator and working the conversions to inches, just type the actual measurement you want, then (no spaces) type:

 pt for Points, pi for Picas

 cm for Centimeters, mm for millimeters

And if your system’s set to a sensible measurement system but you just HAVE to use inches, in for Inches

Are there other units available?  Not that I’ve found, but hey, I just this evening discovered that pi works. Who knows what further treasures lurk?

Oh. One more tip in case you decide to go exploring:  type the number followed by your best guess as to the “mystery unit abbreviation” then press the Tab key.  If PowerPoint resets the measurement to the original measurement in inches, your best guess wasn’t good enough.  It’s a dud.  If the measurement changes (still in inches but to a new number), you’ve struck gold.  Well.  Something cool to win bar bets with, anyhow.  In bars where seriously geeky people hang out.  But still … neat.

Of course, you have to plug in a number that, converted to inches, would be a different number of inches that’s showing currently.  If the shape you’re messing about with is 10 inches wide and you change it to 2587rmk, the equivalent of 10 inches, expressed in Romulan Mikrons, you don’t have a winner.

You just have something that PPT doesn’t understand. It’s not bowing to your will.  It’s ignoring you.