Gmail can display a Powerpoint presentation much as it’s intended to look.
Google has added a separate ppt file viewer to Gmail. A ppt email attachment now has three action options:
- View as HTML
- View as slideshow
- Download
‘View as HTML’ is much the same as the same named Google search feature.
‘View as slideshow’ launches a Flash viewer which lets you play the presentation in a browser window.
‘Download’ lets you save the email attachment to a local folder as usual.
‘View as Slideshow’ is new and only available for email attachments stored in Gmail. Click on the link to open an Adobe Flash program to view the ppt file. You’ll need to have the free Flash player installed.
The presentation shows up as complete slides. There’s forward and back arrows at the top plus a pull-down menu on top right to let you choose a particular slide.
Right-click on the presentation to see some playing options: First or Last Slide, Start Playing, Slower or Faster play plus downloading the entire presentation.
You could use this as a emergency way to display a presentation to an audience – if you can’t get the Powerpoint viewer to work. Email the presentation to a Gmail account, open it up in the viewer then switch the browser to Full Screen mode (F11 in Internet Explorer). It’s not optimal but it’ll work in a pinch.
See Also
- PowerPoint Photo Album
- Anti-PowerPoint Party in Swiss elections
- Gmail outage – but not for Outlook users
- Gmail goes offline
- More Powerpoint Portability
