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If you are transitioning from another system to Informa or if you have some existing PowerPoint slides that you would like to use without having to re-design.  Don't worry.  Informa allows you to use over 30 different graphics file formats and PowerPoint provides a way to save your slides as a jpg.

 

To use PowerPoint slides in Informa open the slide in the PowerPoint program and choose "Save As".  When the "save as" window pops up use the dropdown to select the file format.  Pick JPEG File Interchange Format (.jpg) and your slide will be saved as a JPEG graphic file.  PowerPoint will ask if you want to save a single slide or all slides in the presentation.  If you have more than one slide and choose to save all slides as jpg's the program will save each slide separately in a folder and give each slide a generic name such as slide1.jpg so be sure and rename each slide with a better description.

 

Save the slides in your Master Folder called Informa Projects.  If you have not created a file management system for Informa please access Issue #6 for some tips on "How to Manage Project Files"

 

Open Informa Create to start a new project.  Select the Images tab.  Click the file open icon and browse to the location where your PowerPoint slide(s) reside.  Click on it and the file name will appear in the List of Elements window.  Drag it to the Draw Screen and position it.  Give it a life span by selecting the slide on the screen and clicking the clock.  Select "End on Project Completion" and you are ready to publish and schedule.  Don't forget you can use all of the transitions available in Informa as well.

 

PowerPoint slides can also be used as background images.  Save the slide as described above and drag them to the Draw Screen.  Expand the image so it covers the screen beyond the Safe Zone.  Give it a life span and lock the Z order and you can then add other graphics or text and transitions on top of the background just as you do normally.  This would include the use of "wildcards" to dynamically update text.  For more on "wildcards" review Issue #8 and Issue #9 in the Archive.

 

If you have any questions about this or other past tips please call or email and we promise a quick response.