[kwlug-disc] .ppsx to .pdf (oh the misery)

[Johnny Ferguson]

On 09/25/2010 06:09 PM, unsolicited wrote:
> Johnny Ferguson wrote, On 09/25/2010 5:35 PM:
>> I've been given .ppsx files (supposedly some kind of play-only
>> slideshow format from microshaft). I'd really like to turn them into
>> PDFs.
>
> - the form of the name calling isn't helpful to your cause, reflecting
> more on you than anything else.

point taken.

> - as other threads have noted, in some senses this is just good and
> profitable business practices by Microsoft.

Unfortunately it's not working, because it doesn't really compel me to 
purchase their products.

>> I've tried all the solutions on the OOo site, and none of them seem to
>> work (at least not for .ppsx (which is never listed explicitly as a
>> supported format)).
>
> This is likely PowerPoint 2007 or 2010.

 From what I've read I think you're right.

> Download powerpoint viewer from MS, write to pdf printer, under Windows.
> Bite the bullet - such is the nature of the world. Oops - I forget
> whether or not the viewer will let your print.

Is not the nature of the world influenced by what we find acceptable and 
act upon? I might bite the bullet on a job (where I'm getting paid), but 
to have to do so in education (where I'm paying) is a little much for me.

> Or find a file conversion web site.

Not much luck with those, they don't like .ppsx

> Or try Google Apps - up as powerpoint, down as openoffice? Not sure
> about that for power point. I've used it for Excel and Word.

Will definitely give this a try. I haven't used docs in a while, it'd be 
optimal if it could just export PDF.

<snip />

>> I guess if no solution is available, I'll have to beg my instructor to
>> click 2 extra buttons to make some PDFs (though I tried it with
>> another, and he was resistant to the point of flat-out refusing).
>
> I've had success with this more often than not, at least with Conestoga
> instructors.
>
> If this is Conestoga, then you should also have access to their
> computers, at least long enough to open the power point, and print to a
> .pdf printer, perhaps via a web site.

It is Conestoga. To give them partial credit, at least 1 of my profs 
uses PDF, and another uses the open-source Moodle (nice to not have to 
use ANGEL all of the time).

> I've seldom not been able to get the prof to do this - the winning
> argument always seeming to be that not everyone has MS Office, let alone
> the later versions.

I tried that one, he told me to go buy the student version (which isn't 
very helpful as I don't run windows).

> A similarly useful and usually successful argument is to have the guy
> save as a PowerPoint version you can use (Open Office can take .ppt, up
> to 2003?) The argument being not everyone has the latest Office. At
> least once I've got in in OpenOffice I've gotten where I needed to go,
> in the past.

I'll see if I can coerce him.

> If anything, the reverse has been true - there is a perception that .pdf
> is less copyable, and frequently I can't get the original slides - so I
> can print them 2 up, duplex.
>
> Often they will print (export?) the slides to 2 up, but the slides are
> really small with the useless lines on the side for making notes with.

Definitely an issue, but moreso with the person exporting than the format.

> I've had some success with referring the instructor to
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ (the problem usually being
> the instructor has no way to make .pdf's, unlike OpenOffice), or
> http://products.softsolutionslimited.com/ - IIRC, the latter has both a
> local and a web conversion facility.

I thought the newer versions of Office could export to PDF out of the 
box. Good recommendation regardless.

> There is an argument here to keeping a Win vm kicking around, if you
> want to get on with your day. Perhaps with a student version of MS
> Office for $10 - if you can arm-twist Conestoga into selling it to you.
> I was never successful - and it took 2 years to get anywhere with MS
> Project.

I've tried using virtualbox in the past without much luck. It'd just be 
nice if I didn't have to go to such efforts (while my mind is on other 
things). Perhaps there should be an academic standard requiring anyone 
publishing in proprietary or unconvertible formats to additionally 
provide a PDF.

In lieu of that, thanks for the recommendations. Looks like I'm stuck 
dealing with the devil for now (or taking a hike to his open-access labs 
for a few printouts).

>
> Good luck.
>
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