If you have PowerPoint 2007, you may not realize that you can download a free add-in from Microsoft that allows you to export and save your business presentations as PDF files. This feature is not included in a standard installation of Office 2007. Over the years, I’ve used several third-party tools that provided this functionality; however, the translation of the PowerPoint presentations into PDF files usually exhibited some small flaws (e.g., poor conversion of images, objects with gradients, and shadows).
Once you have installed the Save As PDF add-in, you can save PowerPoint 2007 presentations as Acrobat PDF files.
After installing and using this new add-in, I’ve been impressed by the quality of the PDF files produced for my presentations. The add-in enables the PDF save as functionality for not only PowerPoint, but also seven other Office products including Excel and Word. In addition to the PDF file format, the add-in includes Microsoft’s version of Acrobat PDF, the new Windows Vista XPS file format.
Why do PowerPoint ninjas convert their business presentations into PDF files?
The main reason is control. If you are concerned about someone altering or reusing your slides without permission, then converting them into a PDF file reduces the probability of that happening. Less people have access to a full-version of Adobe Acrobat that is needed to edit PDF files. If you are sharing your slides externally or even with other internal groups within your company, you may want to consider saving your presentation as a PDF version in order to preserve your original content.
In previous versions of PowerPoint, converting a PPT file into a PDF file was another way to reduce the file size. However, with the new PPTX file format in PowerPoint 2007, I have found the PPTX files to be more compact than PDF versions of the same presentation. The new PPTX file format combines XML architecture with ZIP compression to create smaller file sizes. Another reason for converting a presentation into PDF format is compatibility – anyone with Adobe Reader can view a PDF file.
It is important to note that when you convert a presentation into PDF format, it will not retain animations or transitions within your slides. In addition, a genuine copy of PowerPoint 2007 is required in order to download this Save As PDF add-in. You can download this Save As PDF add-in here.
