Supercharge your PowerPoint productivity with
Supercharge your PPT Productivity with PPTools - Click here to learn more.

Proud member of

PPTools

Image Export converts PowerPoint slides to high-quality images.

PPT2HTML exports HTML even from PowerPoint 2010 and 2013, gives you full control of PowerPoint HTML output, helps meet Section 508 accessibility requirements

Merge Excel data into PowerPoint presentations to create certificates, awards presentations, personalized presentations and more

Resize your presentations quickly and without distortion

Language Selector switches the text in your presentation from one language to another

FixLinks prevents broken links when you distribute PowerPoint presentations

Shape Styles brings styles to PowerPoint. Apply complex formatting with a single click.

Preparing Mac Files for the PC (or Doin' The Illustrator Two-Step)

Illustrator format is the lingua franca of graphics exchange, both Mac-to-Mac and PC-to-Mac. Here are some tips that will help you prepare your Mac Illustrator files for best results in mainstream PC presentation programs like PowerPoint and Freelance. There are two main problems to overcome: Fonts and Colors.

1. Fonts

Two problems:

Two possible solutions:

If they don't have the fonts, or if their version of the font comes from a different manufacturer, or if you're not sure which fonts you used, the safe bet is to convert all of the text to outlines. To do this:

2. Colors
Except in the most recent versions, Illustrator works in Pantone or CMYK colors. These are the standard for the printing industry, but most presentation programs work strictly in RGB. Some CMYK colors convert nicely to RGB, others look horrible.
Like it or not, your carefully chosen colors will get converted to RGB. You can trust that the conversion will work (let me know if you do … I have some very nice bridges for sale) or you do the conversion yourself and make certain it's done right. Assuming you want to do the right thing, here's how you convert to RGB-friendly colors:

Once you're done converting fonts and colors, re-save the file under a new name. Don't simply resave the file under the original name. Once the text is converted to outlines, you can't edit it, and the colors will no longer be appropriate for other uses.

In the Save dialog box, choose Illustrator 3 format (this may show up as Illustrator 3.02 or similar) and give the file a PC-style name … 8 characters, then a period, then "AI". Spaces, commas or more than the one period are verboten. In other words, XXXXXXXX.AI

Doing the Illustrator Two-Step … taking care of fonts and colors … won't make all the potential problems disappear, but it will prevent the majority of Mac-to-PC misfires.

Search terms:


Did this solve your problem? If so, please consider supporting the PPT FAQ with a small PayPal donation.
Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape Contents © 1995 - 2022 Stephen Rindsberg, Rindsberg Photography, Inc. and members of the MS PowerPoint MVP team. You may link to this page but any form of unauthorized reproduction of this page's contents is expressly forbidden.

Supercharge your PPT Productivity with PPTools

content authoring & site maintenance by
Friday, the automatic faq maker (logo)
Friday - The Automatic FAQ Maker

Preparing Mac Files for the PC (or Doin' The Illustrator Two-Step)
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00449_Preparing_Mac_Files_for_the_PC_-or_Doin-_The_Illustrator_Two-Step-.htm
Last update 07 June, 2011
Created: