In MediaShout 6 for Windows, we have added a New Feature that allows you to Import your PowerPoint files into MediaShout and play them through. This does not require any specific version of PowerPoint to be installed. Simply go to Insert Elements and choose Import Slideshow to select your PowerPoint file and begin the import process.
Keep in mind: In doing this, you will lose all animations and transitions that were built in PowerPoint. But, you gain the ability to consistently play this content through the MediaShout program.
In light of the updates to PowerPoint 2013/2016/Office 365, some users will need an easy way to import PowerPoint slides as simple graphic files into MediaShout. Some of the following would be reasons to use this method:
1) PowerPoint is not working correctly
2) You do not have PowerPoint installed on the presentation computer
3) Your presentation computer is a Mac and is not able to run PowerPoints in MediaShout
To export PowerPoint slides as simple JPEG image files and import into MediaShout, follow these steps:
1) From the PowerPoint you would like to export, click on the FILE menu at the top left.
2) Click EXPORT and then CHANGE FILE TYPE and then double click on JPEG to the right.
(note: in older versions of PowerPoint without the Export section, you can simply go to "Save As" and change the drop down for File Type from .ppt or .pptx to ".jpeg")
3) Pick a location such as your Desktop, and give it a name. This will create a folder with this name for your slides.
4) Click on ALL SLIDES so that PowerPoint will export each and every individual slide as a graphic file.
5) You will get a confirmation message when finished-- click OK.
6) You will see a folder wherever you chose to save the Powerpoint.
7) Open MediaShout 6, then open the folder over top of it, or go back to it if it's already open-- then press CTRL + A or drag a box to select all the slides, then click and DRAG those slides right into the script area of MediaShout .
8) You will now see the slides have been inserted in order to your MediaShout script.
EXTRA STEPS TO CREATE A LOOP WITH THE SLIDES:
9) If you would like to set the slides to auto advance, such as to create an announcement loop, you can do so by clicking the down arrow in the top right corner of one of the slides while they are all selected. From there, you can change the timing from MANUAL to TIMED and assign an amount of seconds.
10) Insert a Script Control below your slides (Insert Elements and then Script Control) and set the "Target" to the first slide. Make sure it says LOOP. Now, the slides will loop continuously until you click and fire a cue not in the loop.
PUTTING THE SLIDES IN AS ONE CUE:
If you would like to put the songs in as one cue, such as how they'd appear if you had inserted the PowerPoint slideshow in the past, or how they would appear if you had multiple pages within a song, etc, follow these steps:
1. Go to Insert Elements and create a BLANK cue.
2. Click on ADD PAGE to add as many pages as you need for your PowerPoint slides. In this case, I am going to need five.
3. Once you have created the pages you need, it will look this.
4. Then you will need to open the Windows Explorer folder where your picture slides are located after exporting them from Powerpoint. You can navigate to the folder on top of MediaShout being open by clicking the folder icon on Windows 10, or pressing the Window key to bring up the start menu and go to Computer on Windows 7 for instance. Or you could even make make MediaShout smaller, and see the folder on your desktop as shown here. Once you have the folder open, you will need to drag each slide individually onto the slide you want it on in the pages area. You must drag them one at a time and drop them directly on top of the thumbnail as shown.
5. Repeat this process until you get all the slides into the cue as shown.
6. You are finished! It will look like this:
7. If you'd like to setup timings to auto advance through the slides, follow the three steps shown below. You'd add a script control directly after the cue if you want to make it loop. Revisit the earlier steps in this article for information about inserting and using a script control.