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Designing presentations

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Use elearning templates

Adobe Presenter is shipped with enhanced default elearning templates that contain different layouts for your presentations. These layouts let you quickly decide the placement of text and other assets on a slide.

To use the templates in your presentation, perform the following steps:

  1. Create a new project by clicking New > New From Existing.

  2. Navigate to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Adobe\Presenter Assets\PowerPoint Templates and choose a template.

You can then apply a Powerpoint theme (Design ribbon) to the new presentation.

Apply PowerPoint themes to presentations

In Adobe Presenter presentations, the slide background is determined by settings in PowerPoint. You can customize the background of the slides in a presentation by using PowerPoint design templates. When you apply a design template, all slides in the presentation are assigned the design template background.

For example, you might create a presentation in PowerPoint using the design template named Technology, add the theme named Arctic in the Adobe Presenter Theme Editor, publish the presentation to Adobe Connect Server, and view the presentation. You notice that the theme clashes with the slide background of the Technology design template so you want to change the slide background.

Follow the procedure below corresponding to the PowerPoint version installed on your computer. (To check version number, open PowerPoint, click the Help menu, and select About Microsoft PowerPoint.)

Use PowerPoint XP templates as slide backgrounds

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. From the Format menu, select Slide Design.
  3. Select an appropriate template that matches the theme you have chosen for your presentation and click Apply.
  4. To test the design template background with the presentation theme, publish your presentation locally and view the results. (In PowerPoint, select Adobe Presenter > Publish, select My Computer, and click Publish.)

Use PowerPoint 2007/2010 template as slide backgrounds

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. From the menu, select Design tab.
  3. Select an appropriate template that matches the theme you have chosen for your presentation and click Apply.
  4. To test the design template background with the presentation theme, publish your presentation locally and view the results. (In PowerPoint, select Adobe Presenter > Publish, select My Computer, and click Publish.)
Note:

Avoid using the Concourse theme background. Gradient images in this theme do not display properly.

Use PowerPoint theme colors

You can now use the colors of your PowerPoint theme in Adobe Presenter themes as well.

  1. Open the presentation and click Adobe Presenter > Theme.
  2. Click Use PowerPoint Theme Colors and click OK.

Adobe Presenter picks up the colors used in the PowerPoint theme and applies them to the skin of the presentation. You can see the preview in the Theme Editor.

Theme, Glow, Background, and Font color boxes display the colors used in the PowerPoint theme along with different shades of the colors.

Create and edit themes

The primary way to design how presentations appear in the Adobe Presenter viewer is through the use of themes. Themes serve as the container for your presentation and let you add static images, colors, and sound to create dynamic and interactive presentations. You can add a theme at any time. Try using different themes until you achieve the look you want. You can reuse the same theme for each presentation you create or design new themes.

Adobe Presenter gives you many options for customizing colors, tabs, functionality, graphics, font style, and other design elements of a theme.

Select a presentation theme

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter > Theme.
  3. Click a theme from the Theme list.
  4. Click OK.

Create a custom theme

You can create a custom theme by selecting one of the default themes, making changes, and saving the new theme with a different name. For example, you can start with the theme Sage, change the font color to dark green, and then save the new theme as SageModified. After you create a custom theme, it appears in the Theme Name pop‑up menu and can be used with other presentations.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter > Theme.
  3. Make changes as desired. For example, click Modify Text Labels to change the text in different areas of the theme, or click the colors under Appearance to select custom colors.
  4. Click the Save As button and specify a name for the new theme.
  5. Click OK.

    The new theme appears in the Theme Name pop‑up menu in the Theme Editor and can be used when publishing presentations.

Change and localize text labels in a theme

Text labels are the words that appear in a theme, such as button text and tab names. You can edit text labels in a theme at any time.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter > Theme.
  3. Click Modify Text Labels.
  4. Select a language for the text labels from the Language list
    Note:

    Presentations detect the language of a user’s operating system and automatically display the text labels in the user’s native language if their computer’s language is set to German, French, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese, or Dutch. Otherwise, English text labels appear.

  5. As necessary, change the text labels for any element of the presentation theme. For example, you can change the text that displays on buttons or panes.
  6. Click OK.

Change theme colors

You can change the colors that appear in a theme, including the background color and glow color. You can also specify a background image to use in a theme.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter > Theme.
  3. Under Appearance, click the following options:

    Theme

    Click this color square to change the color of the theme sidebar and toolbar.

    Glow

    Click this color square to change the color that appears when users hover their mouse over slides in the Outline pane and thumbnail images in the Thumb pane.

    Font

    Click this color square to change the color of the text in the theme.

    Background

    Click this color square to change the color of the background area that appears behind the slides, sidebar, and toolbar.

    Background Image

    Click Background Image > Change to navigate to an image file (in JPG format) to use as the background. The background is the area that appears behind the slides, sidebar, and toolbar. Click Background Image > Delete to remove the background image.

  4. Click OK.

Delete a theme

You can delete a custom theme at any time. However, the default themes included with Adobe Presenter, such as Sage and Sapphire, cannot be removed.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter >Theme.
  3. In the Theme list, select the theme you want to remove.
  4. Click Delete.
  5. Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the theme and then click OK.

Show and hide theme panes

Panes appear in the sidebar of a theme. The default location of the sidebar is on the right side, but the location can be changed. You can select which panes appear in the theme and which are hidden. For example, you might want to include the Outline and Search panes, but hide the Thumbnail and Notes panes.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter > Theme.
  3. In the Customize area on the right, select the panes to show and deselect the panes to hide.

    The theme preview on the left side updates to reflect your choices.

  4. Click OK.

Set a default theme pane

Panes are part of a theme and appear in the sidebar. If you have more than one pane in a theme, the panes are layered on top of one another with a tab at the top containing the name of the pane. You can select the pane that appears in front of the others. If you are displaying all of the panes, select from Outline, Thumbnail, Notes, and Search.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter >Theme.
  3. Under Panes, click the menu next to Default and select the pane to show by default when the presentation appears.

    The theme preview on the left side is updated to reflect your choices.

  4. Click OK.

Choose a location for the sidebar

The sidebar in a theme contains Adobe Presenter information, panes such as Outline and Search, and presentation timing information. You can position the sidebar on the right (default) or left side of the theme.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter > Theme.
  3. Under Show Sidebar, click the menu next to Location and select Left or Right.
  4. Click OK.

Set Adobe Presenter options for a theme

You can select exactly which Adobe Presenter options appear in a theme. For example, you might want the Adobe Presenter name and photo to appear, but not a biography (bio) or contact information.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter > Theme.
  3. In the Adobe Presenter Info area, select the options to include in your theme:

    Photo

    Select to include a Adobe Presenter photo in the published presentation.

    Name

    Select to include the Adobe Presenter's name in the published presentation.

    Title

    Select to include the Adobe Presenter’s title, such as Director of Human Resources.

    Bio

    Select to include a link to a Adobe Presenter biography.

    Logo

    Select to include a logo in the published presentation.

    Contact Information

    Select to include a link to Adobe Presenter contact information, such as a phone number or e‑mail address.

    The theme preview on the left side is updated to reflect your choices.

  4. Click OK.

You can add a custom logo to display in the Adobe Presenter viewer. This is a way to customize your presentations so that they look like other multimedia and publications your organization produces.

Note:

If you added a video file, such as sidebar video of a person speaking, that video is displayed in the logo area. If you add a logo file, the video file takes precedence and the logo will not be displayed.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter, and in the Tools group, click Preferences.
  3. In the Application menu on the left, click Presenters.
  4. Do one of the following:
    • Add a new presenter by clicking Add.
    • Select an existing presenter and click Edit.
  5. Click the Browse button adjacent to the Logo text box
  6. Navigate to the location of the logo file you want to use (JPG or PNG format).
    Note:

    A logo size of 148 x 52 pixels is recommended so that the logo appears properly in the theme and the Adobe Presenter viewer.

  7. Select the file and click Open.

    The name of the file is displayed in the Logo text box and a preview of the logo appears on the right side.

  8. Click OK.
  9. To preview the custom logo, publish your presentation locally and view the results. (In PowerPoint, select Adobe Presenter > Publish, select My Computer, and click Publish.)

Include slide notes in presentations

You can include extra notes about a slide in your final presentation. Users view the notes by clicking on the Notes pane in the Adobe Presenter viewer sidebar. Slide notes are a good location for extra information about a slide, such as numerical details, supporting materials, or footnote text. You can also use slide notes to communicate with users who do not have audio capabilities or are hearing impaired. You create slide notes in PowerPoint.

Note:

The notes appear in the Adobe Presenter viewer as unformatted text. Any formatting applied to notes in the PowerPoint note pane is ignored.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Navigate to a slide for which you want to add a note.
  3. Ensure that you are in Normal or Notes Page view.
  4. Type note text directly in the notes area under the slide. (If you are in Normal view, but cannot see the notes area, it might be collapsed. Click the separator bar until the pointer changes to allow you to drag the separator bar. Drag up to display the Notes area.)
    To view the Notes area, move the mouse pointer over the separator bar until an equal sign with two arrows appears and then drag up.

  5. (Optional) Notes text can be formatted. Click Adobe Presenter > Theme, and in the Theme Editor, change Notes Pane Font and Size as desired.
  6. You can preview the notes by publishing your presentation locally, viewing the results, and clicking on the Slide Notes pane in the sidebar. (To publish locally, in PowerPoint, select Adobe Presenter > Publish. Select My Computer and click Publish.)

Change presentation settings

You can change settings, such as the title and summary, and some presentation behavior, such as pausing and looping, using the presentation settings dialog box.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter, and in the Tools group, click Settings.
  3. In the Presentation menu on the left, click Appearance and specify the following:

    Title

    Type a name for the presentation.The title appears in the Adobe Presenter viewer.

    Summary

    Type a summary for the presentation. A summary is usually a short description of the presentation contents. This optional presentation summary is a useful organizational tool for authors. The summary appears only in the settings; it does not appear in the published presentation and is not visible to users.

    note: The presentation summary does appear in Adobe Connect Server after a presentation is published to the server. Summaries can be edited through Adobe Connect Central. Presentation authors can search summaries and see the summary when viewing content information.

  4. Click Playback and specify the following:

    Auto Play On Start

    Select to have the presentation automatically begin playing when it is opened. (If this option is not selected, a Adobe Presenter or users must click the Play button in the toolbar to start the presentation.)

    Loop Presentation

    Select to have the presentation replay continuously when opened.

    Include Slide Numbers In Outline

    Select to include the slide number within the Outline pane when the presentation is displayed.

    Pause After Each Animation

    If your presentation contains PowerPoint animations, select this option to pause the presentation automatically after the animations play. This is useful if you want to clearly define where the animation ends and the presentation begins again. (After clicking through each animation, you will need to click the Play button in the playbar to start the presentation again.)

    Duration Of Slide Without Audio Or Video

    Select an amount of time (in seconds) for slides without audio to appear. (By default, slides with audio play for the length of the associated audio file.)

  5. Click OK.

Automatically play a presentation

You can set an option so that a presentation automatically plays when it is opened, or you can require that a Adobe Presenter or user click the Play button in the toolbar to start the presentation.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter, and in the Tools group, click Settings.
  3. In the Presentation menu on the left, click Playback.
  4. Select Auto Play On Start. (By default, this option is selected.)

    If this option is not selected, a Adobe Presenter or users must click Play  in the toolbar to start the presentation.

  5. Click OK.

Loop a presentation

You can set your presentation to play once and then stop (the default setting), or to loop and replay continuously.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Click Adobe Presenter, and in the Tools group, click Settings.
  3. In the Presentation menu on the left, click Playback.
  4. Select Loop Presentation.
  5. Click OK.

Change slide display timing

By default, Adobe Presenter calculates the total duration of a slide by adding up the duration of animations and other objects on a slide. If you have specified the Advance Slide option in PowerPoint as After n seconds (Transitions > Advance Slide), you can configure Adobe Presenter to change the slide duration to this value (n).

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file)
  2. Click Adobe Presenter, and in the Tools group, click Settings.
  3. In the Presentation menu on the left, click Playback.
  4. Select Use PPTX Slide Time.
  5. Click OK.

By default, published presentations contain a small Adobe logo in the lower-left corner. You can substitute your organization’s logo for enhanced branding. The ideal size for the finished logo.swf file is 47 x 27 pixels.

Note:

When creating a custom logo.swf file, avoid creating content outside the stage area in the SWF file.

  1. Create a new file named logo.swf that contains your custom branding.
  2. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  3. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the templates folder where Adobe Presenter was installed.
  4. Add your custom logo.swf file to the Templates folder.
  5. In PowerPoint, publish the presentation to your computer.
  6. View the output to see the new logo.

By default, published presentations contain an Adobe logo in the lower-left corner. If the logo is clicked, users are taken to a web page about Acrobat Adobe Connect. You can change the destination of the link.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. In PowerPoint, save and publish the presentation to your computer.
  3. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the presentation data folder located, by default, at C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\My Documents\My Adobe Presentations\[PresentationName]\data.
  4. Right-click the vconfig.xml file and open the file using an XML editor or a text editor such as Notepad.
  5. In the <language id=”en”> section, add the line <uitext name=”LOGOCLICKURL” value=”url_of_page”/> substituting the URL you want for url_of page. For example, <uitext name="LOGOCLICKURL" value="http://www.mycompanyname.com"/>.
    Note:

    To change the logo for a different language, locate the correct <language id=”xx”> section in the vconfig.xml file.

  6. Save and close the vconfig.xml file.
  7. To test the new logo hyperlink, use Windows Explorer to navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\My Documents\My Adobe Presentations\[PresentationName] and double-click the index.htm file.
  8. Click the logo.

This procedure changes the Adobe logo hyperlink for all presentations published after the procedure is completed.

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Navigate to the language.xml by doing one of the following:
    • In Windows XP, click Start > Run and type %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Adobe Presenter.
    • In Windows Vista, click Start > Run and type %LOCALAPPDATA%\Adobe\Adobe Adobe Presenter.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Double-click the Themes folder.
  5. Right-click the language.xml file and open the file using an XML editor or a text editor such as Notepad.
  6. In the <language id=”en”> section, do one of the following:
    • If you see the line <uitext name=”LOGOCLICKURL” value=”www.adobe.com”/>, edit the value. For example, change “www.adobe.com” to “http://www.mycompanyname.com” in the line.
    • If you do not see the line <uitext name=”LOGOCLICKURL” value=”url_of_page”/>, add the line, substituting the URL you want for “url_of_page.” For example, <uitext name="LOGOCLICKURL" value="http://www.mycompanyname.com"/>
    Note:

    To change the logo for a different language, locate the correct <language id=”xx”> section in the language.xml file.

  7. Save and close the language.xml file.
  8. In PowerPoint, save and publish the presentation to your computer, selecting the View Output option.
  9. Click the logo to test the new hyperlink.

Change SWF loading text

By default, the loading screen for published presentations contains text that reads “Adobe Presenter.” You can substitute your own text, such as your organization’s name or a title, for enhanced branding.

Change the SWF loading text for a single presentation

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Save and publish the presentation to your computer.
  3. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the presentation data folder located, by default, at C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\My Documents\My Adobe Presentations\[PresentationName]\data.
  4. Right-click the vconfig.xml file and open the file using an XML editor or a text editor such as Notepad.
  5. In the <language id=”en”> section, add the line <uitext name=”ADOBE_PRESENTER” value=”Your_Text”/>, substituting the text you want for “Your_Text.”
    Note:

    To change the loading text for a different language, locate the correct <language id=”xx”> section in the vconfig.xml file.

  6. Save and close the vconfig.xml file.
  7. To test the new SWF loading text, use Windows Explorer to navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\My Documents\My Adobe Presentations\[PresentationName] and double-click the index.htm file.
  8. Read the new SWF loading text as it appears while the presentation loads.

Change the SWF loading text for all presentations

  1. In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file).
  2. Navigate to the language.xml by doing one of the following:
    • In Windows XP, click Start > Run and type %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Adobe Presenter.
    • In Windows Vista, click Start > Run and type %LOCALAPPDATA%\Adobe\Adobe Adobe Presenter.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Double-click the Themes folder.
  5. Right-click the language.xml file and open the file using an XML editor or a text editor such as Notepad.
  6. In the <language id=”en”> section, add the line <uitext name=”ADOBE_PRESENTER” value=”Your_Text”/>, substituting the text you want for “Your_Text.”
    Note:

    To change the logo for a different language, locate the correct <language id=”xx”> section in the language.xml file.

  7. Save and close the language.xml file.
  8. In PowerPoint, save and publish the presentation to your computer, selecting the View Output option.
  9. Click the logo to test the new hyperlink.

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