Macromedia Flash meets Microsoft Powerpoint

1. What do I need to make this Macromedia Flash and Microsoft Powerpoint magic work?
   Getting Flash to work inside of Powerpoint requires that you have the ActiveX component installed. (If you have no idea what I just said, please visit this tutorial.) Nowdays, this ships with Internet Explorer on Windows machines by default, but you want to make sure that you have the latest and greatest ActiveX control on the presenter's machine. Send them to Macromedia. Better yet, send them a link to this tutorial.
2. I want to put a Flash movie (swf) inside of a Powerpoint presentation (ppt).
   Who don't? Follow the tutorial instructions here, and you'll soon be wowing everyone in the boardroom with all of your Flash-y presentations.
   
3. I think I've got the movie in there but all I see is a big red X.
   If your Flash movie or Powerpoint presentation is about a big red X, congratulations! You're done. If not (the more likely choice), that's a problem. Check here to see some possible ways to resolve it.
4. I've got the movie in there, but it only plays the first time through. I need it to keep playing.
   When I first wrote this tutorial, I expected people to use it to put interactive graphics in their presentations. Silly me and my low-ball expectations. Everyone pushed the envelope and started putting entire Flash movies in Powerpoint presentations. Those movies always stalled. Sometimes presenters stall. Movies shouldn't. Want to fix it? Check this tutorial.
5. a. How do I rewind my movie in Powerpoint 97 to the beginning every time the slide is loaded?
   Obviously the real question is: Why are you still using Powerpoint 97? The short answer is "you don't," at least not automatically. The good answer is that there's a pretty seamless workaround that only involves a simple mouseover and some creativity. Wahoo!
   b. How do I rewind my movie in Powerpoint 2000 to the beginning every time the slide is loaded? This tuorials now applies to the more recent versions of Powerpoint (2000 and XP). No more shifty maneuvers or wacky workarounds. Well, okay, it's still a bit of a workaround, but Powerpoint now supports actions that trigger on slide show events! What a wonderful world.

Projector Launching: Calling Other Files

6. I happen to have Microsoft Visual Basic and I want to launch a files from the projector environment.
   You're actually going to admit to owning Visual Basic? You must be as geeky as I am. Oh well. Here's a project that will allow you to create small executables that will launch any registered files: html, pdf, doc, xls, ppt... anything that the Windows environment understands and has assigned a default launcher.
7. I don't happen to have Visual Basic, you nerd. How do I launch files from the projector environment, smarty pants?
   You either don't have Visual Basic or you don't want to admit to it. (I can understand that.) But, you still want to launch files from a projector environment without shelling out hundreds of clams to do so? I hear you. That's why I've created this ...

The Infamous Flash 3 Preloading Technique

8. OUTDATED: Macromedia made preloading easier for Flash 4, but I still use Flash 3. How do I make an effective preloader?
   Again, why are you still using Flash 3? (I was using Flash 3 back in 1997 or something when I originally wrote this tutorial. But you, you have no excuse.) I don't know if anyone still uses Flash 3 to be honest, but some sense of nostalgia makes me cling dearly to this old original Flash tutorial. So, if you happen to be running a clocked out Pentium 133 and you're using Flash 3 and you need an easy way to create a preloader, check this tutorial. Hopefully, it will help you. You want to know what else will help you? Buying a new version of Flash.

Powerpoint and Flash: Getting Powerpoint into Flash

9. OUTDATED: I need to go the other way. How do I get my Powerpoint content into Flash?
   Some people already have completed content in Powerpoint presentations that they would like to leverage in their Flash presentations. To you I say, bravo! It's about time. (Back when I orignially wrote this tutorial, there's was no magic Powerpoint to Flash conversion. Now, I think there are tons. In fact, I bet if you glance to the right of this tutorial that there is probably an ad or two for products to do exactly that.) In any case, if you want to give it a shot, there are some ways to salvage your content and keep you from starting all over from scratch. This tutorial will help salvage all of your copy and most of your imagery if you're using an old version of Powerpoint. Newer versions of Powerpoint convert the imagery differently and render this old tutorial completely obsolete. As I said above, there are a number of tools for doing this, now that we're in the 21st century.