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If you have used PowerPoint 2003 or 2007 for very long, you have probably had a presentation fail to play correctly on a third party’s computer. Some examples - the font is wrong, the movie clip was just a black square on the slide, or the person’s machine did not have PowerPoint even installed.

Never fear, there is a very easy solution to your problem right inside PowerPoint, it’s just kind of hidden. If you don’t know to look for it, you might not even know it’s there. This tip will walk you through how to use the
“Package for CD” option in PowerPoint.  It puts everything you need in one folder! Of course, you can also use it to package your presentation to a CD if you don’t happen to have a flash/thumb/jump drive.

[[Image:Package_powerpoint_for_cd.jpg|center|Figure 1]]

# PowerPoint 03/07 - Save your PowerPoint slide show as normal
# Once saved,
## PowerPoint 03 - Click File > Package for CD
## PowerPoint 07 - Click the Office button > Publish > Package for CD
# Once Package for CD has been selected, the Package for CD dialog box will open (figure 1)
# Click the options button
# On the options tab, check Link Files and Embedded TrueType fonts
# Click Ok
# From the Package for CD dialog box, click Copy to Folder
# Give your Package a folder name
# Select Browse from the location line and navigate to your Thumb Drive or Flash Drive
# Click Select
# From the Copy to folder dialog box, click OK
# Answer Yes to the question, “Do you want to included Linked files in your package?”
# You may receive an additional message regarding Macros etc, just click Continue
# From the Package for CD dialog box, click Close

You can now explore the contents of your thumb/flash/jump drive you will find a folder with your PowerPoint slide show and many additional files. To run the presentation make sure you open the PowerPoint file from THIS folder (don’t copy the PPT file to the desktop or it won’t work properly). You can create a shortcut on the desktop that points to the file in the packaged folder and it will work fine. PowerPoint puts everything you need to run the slide show in a single folder for you and links it to the presentation.

Additionally, the folder will include an application called PowerPoint Viewer. PowerPoint Viewer allows you to play a slide show on a computer that may or may not have PowerPoint installed.

So make your presentation a “to go” order next time you hit the road.