I was intrigued to see an article on CNET called Word 2007 loses the ability to export outlines to Powerpoint. It says:
There’s a great little feature in Microsoft Word 2003 and earlier versions of the word-processing program that lets you export to Powerpoint an outline of any Word file formatted with headings … I was all set to tell you how to use the feature in Word 2007 when I realized it has been removed.
I wondered if perhaps the feature was still there, but the author missed it, so I used my usual technique for finding obscure commands in Office 2007. Go to Customize Quick Access Toolbar, then choose More Commands, then All Commands. Hey, there it is:
This is a great place to look if you cannot find a feature you used in earlier versions of Office.
Related posts:
Thanks very much for the tip on where to look for commands “missing” from the new version of Word. I’ll come back to this topic in a future blog post, and I’ll certainly credit you with the useful information (with a prominent link to your blog, of course).
Powerpoint 2007 also has an option in the Open dialog box to open “All Outlines(*.txt;*.rtf;*.wpd;*.doc;*.docx;*.docm;*.wps)”. The ability to share between products in the suite is enhanced in 2007 so try importing various word documents to see how Powerpoint utilizes the content in the new version. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I attempted to use this command with a docx document in Word 2007, but after processing for a few seconds it tells me that the location where I am trying to save the document is inaccessible, and that it may be full, write-protected, etc.
Also, I attempted to import the Word document using PPT 2007 using the Convert Outline to Slides command, and after a long period of processing (the progress bar inches along to about 3/4 finished), it just stops with no error message.
This is so frustrating! This is supposed to be one of the beauties of using MS Office….
Just FYI, I am using custom styles but they are all correctly assigned outline levels.
OK, I figured it out–the command does work but only with the built-in Word headings (whereas in Office 2003 you could convert documents with custom styles/custom outline levels).
Please let me know if anyone finds a workaround. Thanks.
Hi Tim,
That is a great trick! Hope you don’t mind, I shared it with my readers at my Office 2007 help site – with full kudos to you of course!
Cheers,
Paul W
(TheNewPaperclip.com)
Thanks you for the tip, i really missed this feature and was about to spend a lot of time creating a similar solution.
This is wonderful. I am a university professor and am always trying to teach/assist students with shortcuts and navigation tips and was lost without this function. Thanks so much for the direction.
Meliss B.
What a lifesaver it was to find this tip!!
Many thanks.