powerpoint files

[bertsch]

I have many powerpoint documents with lots of text in them. Of course I can pdf them and get them in DevonThink, but are you working on importing or linking direct to the PPT format?

[jchou]

@bertsch

I have many powerpoint documents with lots of text in them. Of course I can pdf them and get them in DevonThink, but are you working on importing or linking direct to the PPT format?

I’ve also requested this before; I don’t remember the developer’s answer (and am too lazy to search right now), but I think there was an issue about the time required to support interpreting propietary formats.

That being said, I also would love to be able to import the large amount of information I have in Powerpoint presentations, even if only a text document of indented outline-style bullets.

[Bill_DeVille]

@bertsch

I have many powerpoint documents with lots of text in them. Of course I can pdf them and get them in DevonThink, but are you working on importing or linking direct to the PPT format?

Here’s a workaround that I use for capturing the text of important PowerPoint presentations into my DT database:

[1] Within PowerPoint, choose File > Save As > Outline to save the text content of the presentation as an RTF file in the same directory as the original PowerPoint file.

[2] Within DEVONthink choose File > Import and select the new RTF file for import into DEVONthink.

[3] Within DEVONthink, open the newly imported file, then Show Info. In the Info panel, change the Path suffix from .rtf to .ppt. Now, using the Path or Open External command to open the item will open the original PowerPoint presentation!

[4] Within the Finder, delete the RTF file, as it’s no longer necessary to keep it after importing the test into DEVONthink.

That’s a bit of work, but it serves to capture the text of a PowerPoint presentation into DEVONthink, with a link to the original PowerPoint file.

[system]

@jchou

I’ve also requested this before; I don’t remember the developer’s answer (and am too lazy to search right now), but I think there was an issue about the time required to support interpreting propietary formats.

Right. Powerpoint is a proprietary file format that can only be read by one application: Powerpoint itself. So, to support it, we would have to build a little Powerpoint ourselves. If we find a free library or if we can partner with some other company for doing this, we’ll incorporate it, of course.

But: You can “print” the presentation into a PDF and import this into DEVONthink.

Best,

Eric.

[bertsch]

@admin

@jchou

I’ve also requested this before; I don’t remember the developer’s answer (and am too lazy to search right now), but I think there was an issue about the time required to support interpreting propietary formats.

Right. Powerpoint is a proprietary file format that can only be read by one application: Powerpoint itself. So, to support it, we would have to build a little Powerpoint ourselves. If we find a free library or if we can partner with some other company for doing this, we’ll incorporate it, of course.

But: You can “print” the presentation into a PDF and import this into DEVONthink.

Best,

Eric.

Thanks Eric for clarifying the problems with directly importing Powerpoint. The PDF import is an option I use and the saving as RTF and changing the subsequent path under get info is another one. I appreciate the feedback.