Topics in this help page:

• For Users Who Have MS PowerPoint
• Downloading and opening files
• Downloading and Using the PowerPoint Viewer

For Users Who Have MS PowerPoint

Your computer's combination of hardware and software -- and the versions of the software -- are important factors in determining what you will see when you click on an MS PowerPoint file. Rather than trying to predict exactly what you will see under the numerous possible combinations of hardware, browsers, and PowerPoint versions, we will describe the most common situations for users who have the PowerPoint application installed:

Viewing via a plug-in:

• When you click on a link to an MS PowerPoint file, the browser automatically launches a PowerPoint plug-in that lets you view and print the PowerPoint file directly from the browser.
• To go back to the previous page in the browser, simply click the browser's "back" arrow in the upper left corner of the screen.

Viewing via PowerPoint:

• When you click on a link to an MS PowerPoint file, the browser asks you whether you want to open the file or save it to disk. To view the file, choose the "open" option. The browser will launch PowerPoint (not a plug-in) and open the file in PowerPoint. Occasionally, you may have to use the Windows Task Bar (or the Apple Active-Applications list (in the upper right corner)) to activate PowerPoint after it's launched by the browser.
• If you chose to save the file, choose a folder and enter a file name in the Save dialog. Remember to note the name you give the file and which folder you put it in. Then you can launch MS PowerPoint from your computer's START menu and use the File/Open menu to open the downloaded file. Or you can find the file on your hard drive or server and double-click the file icon -- the file will automatically launch in PowerPoint.
• To go back to the previous page in the browser, simply close PowerPoint. Or you can click the browser's button on the Windows Task Bar (or choose the browser application from the Apple Active-Applications list).
• Note: Some older versions of your browser or MS Office may not offer this smooth click-and-open integration, in which case you should use the download option (see below).

Downloading the file:

You can download any file (Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF) to your hard drive or server according to the following table:

Platform	Browser	Mouse Action	Pop-Up Menu Command
PC	Internet Explorer	Right-Click	Save Target As
PC	Netscape Navigator	Right-Click	Save Link As
Mac	Internet Explorer	Control-Click	Download Link to Disk
Mac	Netscape Navigator	Control-Click	Save this link as

Older versions of the browsers may have slightly different menu command names.

• When the Save dialog comes up, select your folder location and enter a file name. Remember to note the name you give the file and what folder you put it in. After the file has been downloaded, you may need to close the download status box.
• Then you can launch MS PowerPoint from your computer's START menu (Windows) and use the File/Open menu to open the downloaded file. Or you can find the file on your hard drive or server and double-click the file icon -- the file will automatically launch in PowerPoint.

The PowerPoint Viewer

If you click on the link to a PowerPoint presentation and a black screen appears within the browser window, you probably do not have MS PowerPoint installed on your computer. You may, however, still view the files using Microsoft's free PowerPoint Viewer.

To download the viewer, you must go to the Microsoft site at: http://www.microsoft.com/2000/downloadDetails/Ppview97.htm. Click on their DOWNLOAD NOW link (usually on the upper left side of the screen) and follow the instructions on the page to download and install the Viewer.

Then go back to the page in the browser that had the link to the PowerPoint file. Download the PowerPoint file that you want to view (see above if you need download help). Remember to note the name you give the file and which folder you put it in. After the file has been downloaded, you may need to close the download status box.

To view the downloaded file, launch the MS PowerPoint Viewer from your computer's START menu. A Viewer menu will automatically pop up; use this menu to select the file that you downloaded, then click SHOW. You can then view the whole presentation, with each mouse click taking you to the next slide in the presentation. When the presentation is finished, a black screen will be displayed. At that point, one last mouse click will take you back to the PowerPoint Viewer screen. To go back to the browser, simply close the PowerPoint Viewer. Or you can click the browser's button on the Windows Task Bar (or choose the browser application from the Apple Active-Applications list).

Note: If you double-click the downloaded PowerPoint file from your computer's desktop or the Windows Explorer, your computer will not be able to open it -- even if you have the PowerPoint Viewer installed. (A screen will pop up and ask you to locate the PowerPoint Executable file (which you do not have). If you get to this point cancel the request.) To view PowerPoint files using the Viewer, you must launch the Viewer first, and then open the file from the Viewer's menu.

Other available topics:

• File Format Overview
  
• MS Word files
  
• MS Excel files
• PDF files and the Adobe Acrobat Reader
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