PDFs are pretty slick. They look good and take up little space. Powerpoint files are bulky. Especially if material is pasted in from various sources, the files can get huge. Often, a lot of space is taken up by image files which really don't need to be so big.

I propose that Adobe make a slideshow program in which each slide is a pdf file. The Adobe program would take a ppt slideshow and translate each slide into a pdf. It would then assemble the pdfs such that they can be shown as a show. One could not use the flying pictures etc from powerpoint. But it would be much much smaller and quicker.
-- bungston, Apr 04 2008

PrimoPDF http://www.primopdf.com/
Freeware that works well. [csea, Apr 05 2008]

You can do this with Powerpoint, but it still keeps the full res pictures imbedded in the file. I've done crazy compression on powerpoint files by converting the slides into JPGs and then merging all the JPGs into a PDF.
-- MisterQED, Apr 04 2008


I use a freeware .pdf maker that converts anything you would print to a .pdf file. [link]

I just tried it, and it took a 49 MB .ppt to a 1.56 MB .pdf.
-- csea, Apr 05 2008


(-) Using sane compression rates on images has nothing to do with pdf vs. PowerPoint. These are just accidents of specific commercial developments.
-- jutta, Apr 05 2008


(marked-for-tagline)

"These are just accidents of specific commercial developments"
-- normzone, Apr 05 2008


I haven't used Powerpoint for a long time, since Apple released Keynote, but I do remember saving completed projects as QuickTime movies... may not work on PCs, of which I know absolutely nothing.
-- xenzag, Apr 05 2008


Baked, probably many times over but for sure by PrimoPDF. You can actually print anything to a pdf with that thing, I love it.
-- Ratwoman, Apr 06 2008


On Macs, you can choose "pdf" instead of a printer whenever you print anything, and it creates a pdf file. Just tried this from Powerpoint.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 06 2008


Powerpoint - just compress all your pictures: right-click>compress - ensure that you have "Compress all pictures" checked and away you go. In 2007 it's under format on the picture tools menu.

PS I get very tired of executives turning up with pdf presentations, then asking me to "make a few changes" and "drop it into the morning's slides", so [-].
-- wagster, Apr 07 2008



random, halfbakery