Thursday, December 18, 2014

Tech Thursday: 5 Save Tips for Office Apps



Technology Thursday is a weekly linky dedicated to all things technology related. Share reviews of websites or apps you've tried, tech tips that make your {teaching or personal} life easier, and helpful tutorials. Our hope is that this linky provides a place for teachers to share and learn new ways to use technology and engage students!

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This is the 6th installment in our PowerPoint Potential series, and I'm excited to share something I learned over the summer! I have to admit, I had never paid any attention to the save options in PowerPoint (and Word, and Excel) before, but there is a lot of good stuff hidden in those menus!

First, let's talk about some things you can do when you click Save Options...
1. Autosave Intervals - The default is usually 10 minutes. I don't know about you, but I can get a lot done in 10 minutes that I don't want to lose! I change mine to every 3 minutes. In Word & Excel, I set it at 1 since the files usually much smaller.

2. Embed Fonts - This was a HUGE game changer for me! You know that cute font you have at home that you really want to use in the PowerPoint you're making for your class, but you know you can't because the IT department will.not.let.you.install.anything on your school computer? If you embed the fonts in your file (PPT or Word), then you can see and use the cute fonts you've installed at home in this file on any computer - anywhere!

All you have to do is check the box that says "Embed fonts in this file." If the file is final and you won't change it, you can leave it set to "embed only the characters used" (for a smaller file size), but if you plan to edit on another computer, change it to "embed all" so that all characters in the font are embedded. Just to clarify, it will only embed the fonts you have used in this file. Thank you, Mary from Fit to be Fourth, for sharing this one with me last summer!

Now, let's look at the next option when you click Tools, General Options...
3. Password Protection - Did you know you can add a password to your file to protect it from unwanted changes? This is where you can do that! I know most of us secure our PDF files for this purpose, but if you are making and selling a PowerPoint file, this is a must-do! Be sure to enter your desired password beside Password to Modify instead of Password to Open. You wouldn't want buyers not to be able to open your file! 

Last, but not least, we'll look at the last option, Compress Pictures...
4. Delete Cropped Areas - This option deletes parts of pictures you have cropped off. This is especially helpful when you've used a 12x12 paper to fill a 3 inch shape in your file, and can really make a difference in file size!

5. Target Output - What you do here will depend on how you're using this file. The number in parentheses beside each option refers to the number of pixels per inch (ppi), which determines the size of the photo. For my print products, I want to ensure that no one complains of pixelated pages, so I leave it set to use the document resolution. If you are showing it as a PowerPoint only (or printing notes pages for students), you can change it to Screen.

I hope these tips help you make the most of your PowerPoint save options. We'd love for link up with your own tech tips while you're here. Since next Thursday is Christmas, we will be taking the week off, but be sure to stop by the following week, on New Year's Day for a New Year surprise!  



   

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2 comments:

  1. Wow. . . you answer questions I never knew who to ask!! Thanks for your clear directions, especially for embedding font!! I love Tech Thursday because I'm so not tech-savvy, but you make it easy!! Thank you!!

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  2. Thanks so much.... It always drove me crazy that I couldn't edit at school with the cute fonts from home! I used to always save it as a PDF, but this is so much better. Thanks!

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