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CIL files are rather like ZIP files — they include the actual clip (WMF, JPG, GIF, whatever) plus the keywords and category information. You have to double-click to extract the clips into your clip gallery before doing anything with the clips themselves.

In addition to the other information you’ve received, I’ll add that this is a critical patch for PowerPoint 2003 as well. It resolves a number of issues in PPT 2003.

Shyam’s PPT Toolbox might be just the thing.

If you own Office XP, you can qualify for an upgrade to PPT 2003, even if you own Office XP Small Business Edition (which didn’t include PPT). This is a new thing. It used to be that you needed to own PPT somewhere down the line in order to qualify to use the Upgrade version of PPT. For specifics, hit the “upgrade eligibility” link on the page Wendell has given you a link to.

If your Office XP version came with your computer, though, it’s an OEM version. That means it is really only legal to use on that particular system, and if you get a new computer you’ll need to get a new version of Office to go with it. That might make your PPT Upgrade not as useful, so you may want to consider the full stand-alone version.

PowerPoint is not the best tool for this.

As others have mentioned, Flash converters are a good alternative. Articulate is my favorite. Impatica converts to Java, but it may be a good alternative as well. I did a quick Google search for the words impatica price, and it seems to be — or at least it was — in the $300 range, but that may have changed. (I only looked at a couple of the links.)

Here’s a link to some links to third-party alternatives. (See the PPT to Flash section.) http://www.echosvoice.com/autoruncdlinks.htm%5B/url%5D I need to update this list because I know it’s missing some and some are no longer available, but I can’t find the other list that I know someone-or-other maintains. The Swish Presenter you mention sounds interesting. I’ll have to look into it and add it.

Techsmith’s Camtasia might be worth a look as well. You can run your presentation, capture it using Camtasia, and output as video or SWF or whatever. http://www.techsmith.com/%5B/url%5D

Finally, there’s Movie Maker (free download from MS for Windows — this latest version requires Windows XP SP-2). If your slides have a lot of animation, this isn’t a good alternative. But if you’re using mostly photos or static text, it’s a good option. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloa…oviemaker2.mspx%5B/url%5D

Oh, wait, there’s also Producer, another free download from MS (requires PPT 2002 or 2003) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details…;displaylang=en[/url]

PowerPoint is not the best tool for this.

As others have mentioned, Flash converters are a good alternative. Articulate is my favorite. Impatica converts to Java, but it may be a good alternative as well. I did a quick Google search for the words impatica price, and it seems to be — or at least it was — in the $300 range, but that may have changed. (I only looked at a couple of the links.)

Here’s a link to some links to third-party alternatives. (See the PPT to Flash section.) http://www.echosvoice.com/autoruncdlinks.htm%5B/url%5D I need to update this list because I know it’s missing some and some are no longer available, but I can’t find the other list that I know someone-or-other maintains. The Swish Presenter you mention sounds interesting. I’ll have to look into it and add it.

Techsmith’s Camtasia might be worth a look as well. You can run your presentation, capture it using Camtasia, and output as video or SWF or whatever. http://www.techsmith.com/%5B/url%5D

Finally, there’s Movie Maker (free download from MS for Windows — this latest version requires Windows XP SP-2). If your slides have a lot of animation, this isn’t a good alternative. But if you’re using mostly photos or static text, it’s a good option. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloa…oviemaker2.mspx%5B/url%5D

Oh, wait, there’s also Producer, another free download from MS (requires PPT 2002 or 2003) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details…;displaylang=en[/url]

Open PPT and go to Help/Check for Updates. Install SP-1 for Office 2003. This is a critical update for PPT 2003 especially, as it fixes most of these “missing pictures/objects” issues.

I’ve never seen the thumbnails in the slide layout dialog (or pane, for Office 2002/2003) change order. Title and Bulleted List are the first two in PPT 2000. Title Only is on the last line of that first dialog in PPT 2000. Title, Bulleted List (now known as Title and Text), and Title Only should all three be in the top “text layouts” section in the slide layout pane in PPT 2002/2003.

I would try running Help/Detect and Repair and see if that sorts it out. There’s no way to manually change that order or add/delete to/from it. (For instance, I’d really like to have the chart layout at the top so I don’t have to scroll down for it in 2002/2003 — I’ve asked MS about that before, but it cannot be done.)

There aren’t any more slide layouts than there ever were.

It also now insists on selecting the C/R on the previous row whenever selecting a complete line which is also very irritating. Any ideas here as well?

This is also strange and something I’ve not seen. If Detect and Repair doesn’t help these issues, I’d uninstall Office, run the registry eraser for Office 2000, and reinstall Office. Reg Erasers: http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00297.htm%5B/url%5D

I’ve never seen the thumbnails in the slide layout dialog (or pane, for Office 2002/2003) change order. Title and Bulleted List are the first two in PPT 2000. Title Only is on the last line of that first dialog in PPT 2000. Title, Bulleted List (now known as Title and Text), and Title Only should all three be in the top “text layouts” section in the slide layout pane in PPT 2002/2003.

I would try running Help/Detect and Repair and see if that sorts it out. There’s no way to manually change that order or add/delete to/from it. (For instance, I’d really like to have the chart layout at the top so I don’t have to scroll down for it in 2002/2003 — I’ve asked MS about that before, but it cannot be done.)

There aren’t any more slide layouts than there ever were.

It also now insists on selecting the C/R on the previous row whenever selecting a complete line which is also very irritating. Any ideas here as well?

This is also strange and something I’ve not seen. If Detect and Repair doesn’t help these issues, I’d uninstall Office, run the registry eraser for Office 2000, and reinstall Office. Reg Erasers: http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00297.htm%5B/url%5D

Thanks for letting us know you got it worked out.

It may be that WMP defaults to the specific size of the video. In other words, if your video wasn’t rendered at 800×600 or 1024×768 or whatever, WMP won’t auto-force it to full-screen. I don’t know for sure, though.

Thanks for letting us know you got it worked out.

It may be that WMP defaults to the specific size of the video. In other words, if your video wasn’t rendered at 800×600 or 1024×768 or whatever, WMP won’t auto-force it to full-screen. I don’t know for sure, though.

I’m not aware of any bugs that would cause the behavior you describe.

The ability to animate by series or category is dependent on 2 things: the type of chart and the animation itself.

Try changing your animation to something simple like a wipe and see if all the options aren’t now available to you.

I’m not aware of any bugs that would cause the behavior you describe.

The ability to animate by series or category is dependent on 2 things: the type of chart and the animation itself.

Try changing your animation to something simple like a wipe and see if all the options aren’t now available to you.

If I’m not mistaken, you’d need to set WMP to play at full screen. So open WMP and hit Alt+Enter to play full-screen.

That may not work, though. How did you insert the file into PPT?

If I’m not mistaken, you’d need to set WMP to play at full screen. So open WMP and hit Alt+Enter to play full-screen.

That may not work, though. How did you insert the file into PPT?