How to Use the "Flatten Presentation" Group of the Time Savers Add-in for PowerPoint
Please note: Some changes may have been made to the Time Savers Add-in for PowerPoint since the making of this video.
The “Flatten Presentation” group is part of the “TS Publish” tab (previously called “Time Savers 3”) of the Time Savers Add-in for PowerPoint.
The tools in this part of the Time Savers Add-in make it possible for you to:
- Quickly and easily flatten your resources to protect clipart and fonts.
Tag shapes as:
- Movable: shapes WILL NOT BE FLATTENED. They will remain unchanged on the normal editing slide.
- Editable: shapes WILL NOT BE FLATTENED.
- When flattening for PPT, they will be moved to the slide master layout, where you will still be able to edit them if desired.
- When flattening for PDF, they will remain unchanged on the normal editing slide (the same as ‘Movable’ shapes).
- Flatten: shapes WILL BE FLATTENED. This is the default setting for all shapes. If you do not tag a shape, it will automatically be flattened. When the presentation is flattened, any shapes tagged as ‘flatten’ will be flattened as part of the background. They will not be editable but links belonging to these shapes will automatically be detected and WILL BE PRESERVED.
- Only links to URLs and specified slides will be preserved. Links to Next, Previous, First or Last slides will not be preserved.
- Links belonging to linked text will not be preserved. If you wish to keep text links intact, you will need to tag the shapes containing the linked text as either ‘movable’ or ‘editable’.
All slides:
- Apply tags of all selected shapes to matching shapes on all slides. Matching shapes are shapes that have exactly the same SIZE and POSITION as the selected shapes.
Check:
- Check the flattening tags on all shapes in your presentation.
- ‘Movable’ shapes will be outlined in yellow
- ‘Editable’ shapes will be outlined in aqua
- Be sure to turn the flattening tag checker OFF when you are not busy working on the tags
Flattening Options:
Don’t flatten text:
- When flattening, all shapes containing text will automatically be tagged as ‘Editable’ unless you have tagged them as ‘Movable’.
- Automatically search the presentation for all shapes containing text and tag them as ‘Editable’ when flattening your presentation.
- This helps with accessibility so that the PDF can be read by screen readers.
Flatten PDF:
- Flatten when creating PDFs.
- Automatically flatten your presentations when creating PDFs using the ‘Export PDF’ function in the ‘Presentation’ group or the ‘Export PDFs’ function in the ‘Time Savers 4’ tab for multiple marketplaces.
Background Images Options:
Set resolution
- You can set the resolution (in dpi) for the slide backgrounds.
- This resolution will be used for the slide background images.
- If your resolution and slide size cause the background images to be greater than 3000px, and you have the ‘Max 3000px’ option selected, then the images will be exported at the maximum resolution, while still keeping the image smaller than 3000px.
Max 3000px
- Limit slide background image sizes to 3000px.
- On some older versions of PowerPoint, images greater than 3000px in either direction may come out a bit messed up. If this happens, it is recommended that you keep this option selected.
- This will export the slides at the maximum resolution, while still keeping the image smaller than 3000px.
Image format
- You can choose if you want the backgrounds to be saved as PNG or JPG images.
Flattening method Options:
The add-in should detect if you are working on a Mac or a PC and use the appropriate code to flatten your presentation.
2 Stage
- If for some reason it does not work on your computer, you can try this option instead.
- You will need to click the ‘Flatten’ button once to start the flattening process.
- Your presentation will be prepared for you to export all your slides as images. You will then need to insert all the images on the last slide (which gets inserted at the end of the presentation for you).
- Once you have done this, you can click the ‘Flatten’ button again to finish the flattening process.
Flatten for PPT:
- Flatten your presentation to be used as an interactive or editable PowerPoint.
- Your presentation will be flattened, with all tags you have set being applied.
Movable shapes
- Any shapes that are tagged as ‘movable’ will remain unchanged on the normal editing slide.
Editable shapes
- Any shapes that are tagged as ‘editable’ will be moved to the slide master layout, where you will still be able to edit them if desired.
Linked shapes
- Any shapes that are not tagged as ‘movable’ or ‘editable’ will be flattened as part of the background, but links belonging to these shapes will automatically be detected and WILL BE PRESERVED.
- However, links belonging to linked text will not be preserved. If you wish to keep text links intact, you will need to tag the shapes containing the linked text as either ‘movable’ or ‘editable’ before flattening.
Text
- If you have chosen to keep text unflattened, the add-in will automatically detect any shapes containing text and treat them as though you had tagged them as ‘editable’.
Saving
- Your unflattened presentation will automatically be saved before the flattening process starts, and the flattened presentation will be saved with a new name (which you will be asked to provide).
- PLEASE NOTE: This flattening method cannot be undone, so you be careful not to delete the unflattened copy of the presentation.
Flatten for PDF:
- Flatten your presentation to be used as an interactive or editable PowerPoint.
- Your presentation will be flattened, with all tags you have set being applied.
Movable shapes
- Any shapes that are tagged as ‘movable’ will remain unchanged on the normal editing slide.
Editable shapes
- Any shapes that are tagged as ‘editable’ will remain unchanged on the normal editing slide (the same as ‘Movable’ shapes).
Linked shapes
- Any shapes that are not tagged as ‘movable’ or ‘editable’ will be flattened as part of the background, but links belonging to these shapes will automatically be detected and WILL BE PRESERVED.
- However, links belonging to linked text will not be preserved. If you wish to keep text links intact, you will need to tag the shapes containing the linked text as either ‘movable’ or ‘editable’ before flattening.
Text
- If you have chosen to keep text unflattened, the add-in will automatically detect any shapes containing text and treat them as though you had tagged them as ‘editable’.
Unflattening
- This flattening method can be undone by clicking the ‘Unflatten’ button.
Unflatten:
- Unflatten your presentation.
- Return your presentation to its unflattened state.
- PLEASE NOTE: This function will only work if your presentation has been flattened with the ‘Flatten for PDF’ option.
