Powerpoint slide library

Posted by moritz
Jun 15, 2009 at 10:19 PM

Hi Graham,
another approach might be to export all slides as separate presentations, e.g. using this macro: http://skp.mvps.org/ppt00036.htm#2
To manage the resulting slides you have multiple options:
1. use a “power PIM” like Zoot or Ultrarecall to manage links to slides and add metadata to facilitate categorization, management and easier retrieval
2. use Windows Explorer (Windows 7 works best; Vista is good as well; forget XP) and configure metadata columns + use search. One advantage of using metadata (structured + Windows keywords) + search is that you could “file” slides into a hierarchical folder structure and Windows search automatically considers everything in the current directory node and below.
3. use an alternate file manager with views, filters, metadata and preview capabilities. I like Directory Opus (http://www.gpsoft.com.au), this could be used effectively in that fashion.
4. use Mindmanager (again with links to slide) for moderately complex collections.
5. (for big slide libraries) maybe Personal Brain could be a good solution as well (it has tagging and in the Professional version can fulltext index your slides)

All of these options will _not_ give you “dynamic” linking (as with SharePoint) but I have used many of those approaches myself with good results. Main difference with server based solutions really is when you have to collaborate with others on a common slide deck—e.g. monthly business review presentation with 7 stake holders. In this case you have to go with an enterprise approach.

Moritz