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Office 365 PowerPoint Compatibility between MacOS / Windows / iPad

Anonymous
2020-01-25T18:16:51+00:00

I am a graphic designer that creates/designs selling tools and content for our sales team. Due to a company-wide transition to Office 365, I need to convert all presentations I create to PowerPoint. I am hoping some of you could give me some advice.

The nature and requirements of these PowerPoints: These are set presentations that I create on my device and are stored in a shared location for the sales team to use on their device during sales calls. Every PowerPoint needs to be fully customized to our company's brand standards and also need to be compatible with macOS, Windows, and iPads. 

The issues:

  1. I work on an iMac running OS Catalina and the end-users use either a PC running Windows 10 or an iPad. Despite embedding the fonts used, the formatting is disrupted when the end-user opens the PowerPoints.
  2. We also use Microsoft Teams to collaborate on some of these PowerPoint presentations. This too poses compatibility and formatting issues since I use an iMac and the other collaborators utilize a PC.
  3. Video Formatting: We need the ability to embed videos into the PowerPoint as they are occasionally used in areas with no internet access. How do we go about embedding a video that can be accessed on Mac, PC, and iPad? We have tried many different formats and what works on one doesn't work on the other, etc. Is there a way to embed a video that can be accessed on all devices.
  4. Advice on ways to make PowerPoints fully customizable? I've been playing around with creating themes and templates but still feel like there are many limitations that I'm struggling to find workarounds for.

If anyone has great advice that can solve all these issues, I would be forever grateful!

Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For home | Windows

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John Korchok 232.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2020-01-25T22:25:56+00:00

In your situation, hiring a PowerPoint technical professional would smooth this process. In my experience, designers are fantastic at visual design, but often lack the technical expertise to make bullet-proof presentations.

Not all fonts are embeddable. Definitely not PostScript and often enouigh, not OTF either. The best bet for Office is TTF format. In addition, foundries can set font permissions that prohibit embedding. PowerPoint Online will make a presentation with embedded fonts into a read-only file.

Here is Microsoft's page on recommeded video formats: Video and audio file formats supported in PowerPoint MP4 encoded with H.264 video and AAC audio should work on all devices. I explain in more detail here: 

I'm not sure what you mean by making presentations fully customizable. A common complaint is that they are too customizable and standards are difficult to enforce. 

PowerPoint uses inheritance, where defaults are set in a lower layer that are used by a higher one. Start with the font and color themes (here's how to make a font theme in macOS: ), then format the Slide Master as completely as possible with the default for most slides. Then create Slide Layouts that are based on the master. The very last step is to create the slides.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-01-25T20:13:21+00:00

    Dear KSB,

    Thanks for posting the thread on our forum.

    Based on the questions you posted, I’d like to share some suggestions as follows.

    1. Generally, some third-party fonts may be incompatible with PowerPoint applications on all devices. Please check whether you are using third-party fonts on the PowerPoint application. If yes, it is better to contact the corresponding font provider to get a solid solution. Here are some articles about the fonts for your reference: Use Safe Fonts Available on All Systems in PowerPoint. I also suggest you use the Office applications’ built-in fonts on all devices to move forward.

    Embed fonts in Word or PowerPoint

    About the formatting issues, I’d like to confirm whether the format can be showed fine in PowerPoint Online. If yes, I suggest you use the online version to avoid the incompatibility issues.

    1. For the video format, I recommend you use MP4. Based on the article, MP4 should support all devices you mentioned.
    2. Regarding customizing the PowerPoint slide, the following articles for your reference.

    How to Quickly Customize a PowerPoint Template Design

    HOW TO CREATE A CUSTOM THEME IN POWERPOINT FOR BRANDING

    Create and save a PowerPoint template

    Disclaimer: Microsoft provides no assurances and/or warranties, implied or otherwise, and is not responsible for the information you receive from the third-party linked sites or any support related to technology.

    Best Regards,

    Cliff

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