OB3 - Export Powerpoint outline

As of writing, this process requires that you are using PPT on windows with MS office 2007 or more recent. It will eventually work on Mac as well (but the script may require further modifications to run due to limitations of VBA on Mac Office).

You will require a copy of the "OB3-outline-export.pptm" file which contains the VBA script.

First you will need to locate and open your copy of OB3-outline-export.pptm (if you can't find it, or it's not linked here, please email support@oceanbrowser.com to request a copy).

Create a folder "OB3 PPT Export" in your Documents folder. Drag the OB3-outline-export.pptm file to this folder

So that PPT knows the macro in this file can be trusted, we need to let it know that Documents/OB3 PPT Export is a "trusted location".

Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click PowerPoint Options.
Click Trust Center, click Trust Center Settings, and then click Trusted Locations (1)
Click Add new location. (2)
Navigate to Documents/OB3 PPT Export and select the folder

Click OK to exit out of Powerpoint Options and restart Powerpoint.

To make it easier to access the VBA scripts from powerpoint, let's add a button to your command bar using Powerpoint Options.

Click on Customize, and access the Developer menu (1)

... select Macros from the menu ...

Select the "View Macros" button and "Add" (2) then click OK to close the options dialog.

PPT will add two button the view button 1, and a button for you to run the macros (2) - this is the one we will be using.

First, navigate to Documents/OB3 PPT Export/ and open OB3-outline-export.pptm so we can use the Macro it contains.

Leaving this file open, open the powerpoint file you wish to export.

It is desirable to remove any custom backgrounds from slides. To do this will edit the design theme applied the presentation.

In this example the design (template) selected has a swurly coloured background we don't want in the exported images. To eliminate this and choose a neutral white background: choose the Design tab (2) and click on a theme with a white background (3)

The slide background is now white. Review the remaining slides in presentation and repeat if necessary. for any that were not changed.

Click the macro button to begin the export process

Go t othe Macro in area and select OB3-outline-export.pptm (2)

Click on the macro (1) and click Run (2).

A busy cursor will appear on screen while the presentation exports.

Navigate to the folder on disk containing the PPT you have just exported. You'll find a sub-folder of the same name with "_xpt4ob3" on the end. Double click on that folder to view the exported presentation

You'll find this contains an HTML file and two subfolders. The slides folder contains every full slide from the presentation, while the images folder contains just the original images used at the highest resolution available (typically medical presentations have lots of images in them).

We may also export sound too, as of writing that isn't included but don't be surprised if you see it there as well...

Double click on the HTML file, it will appear in your browser. Each slide is hyperlinked to the original high res slide. Slides containing images will have the original images linked in the HTML as illustrated.

To copy this presentation to OB3 we need to first move this folder onto the server

Instructions on how to shift the files to the web server

In the HTML document, select all and copy. Be sure the HTML file and images are on the server (as otherwise attached images and URLs will not copy, browsers are unable to copy and paste images from a local computer for security reasons)

IMPORTANT
Please take the time now to consider whether to import the entire presentation as a single document, or whether to break it up into two or more smaller documents. Often medical presentations can have an excessive number of slides, making them hard for students to navigate. In an online environment large documents take longer to load especially where they have lots of images or other resources. This is a golden opportunity to consider if you can break the presentation up into smaller files making it easier for students to study.

To import the whole presentation as one, select all and choose copy from the file menu (or right click mouse, select Copy).

If you want to import the document in sections, select only the slides you wish to transfer rather than the whole document.

Switch to OB3, make a new document, click in the first paragraph and type control + v to paste. A dialog will probably appear (unless your presentation is very small) to confirm you wish to proceed. CLick "Yes". The import process may take a minute.

A progress dialog will appear on screen while importing occurs....

Review the completed presentation to ensure it has imported correctly.

If an image is too large, click on it and drag the selection handles to make it smaller

Sometimes a slide in PPT may have arrows and labels on it. Students can view the image on it's own, or click the Slide title hyperlink to view the annotated image.

In a future release will add image annotation features to OB3.

Consider adding an audio commentary to relevant slides within the presentation.