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General discussion

PowerPoint newbie needs quick answers

Jun 26, 2005 9:25AM PDT

I have PP 2002 and am attempting to create my first presentation. Many of my slides will be derived from documents containing images that I am scanning into my computer. I can't figure out how to get these scanned files into PowerPoint so they become slides. My simple scanning program saves the files in PDF format but I don't think PP supports PDF. I have browsed through PowerPoint for Dummies but can't seem to find the answers to my questions. So, what steps do I need to take to transform my paper documents into slides? Thank you.

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Said scan would be an "image."
Jun 26, 2005 9:46AM PDT

Or a "picture". So insert the scanned image file (you didn't tell if it's a JPG or such) and the picture shows on the slide.

PDF? You can't use that too easily. Save as a image.

Bob

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Several options...
Jun 28, 2005 10:58AM PDT

First, your scanning software should have an option that controls what the scanned file is saved as (PDF, JPEG, BMP, GIF, etc). Changing it to a traditional photo format would enable you to go ''insert->picture-from file'' in PowerPoint. (However, you didn't say what software you're using, so I can't help you there.)

Better, if your scanning software allows you to export to a particular program, set it to that option and select PowerPoint as the program. Then each scan will automatically be placed onto a Powerpoint slide. (However, depending on the program, it may create a completely different presentation for each scanned document. You'd then have to copy the image in each presentation and paste it onto a new slide in your single presentation.)

If neither of those are possible, the final option is to open each PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 (free) or Acrobat 7.0. Then click the ''snapshot tool'' button (looks like a camera), then outline the document you want to copy (by clicking and dragging starting with one of the corners). The outlined area will automatically be copied to the clipboard. Then just go edit->paste in PowerPoint, and the outlined image will be neatly placed on the slide.

Hope this helps,
John