Working with other file formats

Presentations normally saves documents in its "in-house" file format called Presentations document. Presentations documents can be recognized easily by the name extension .prdx. If, for example, you save a document under the name "Company Profile", its complete file name will be Company Profile.prdx.

You can also instruct Presentations to save files in another file format. This is necessary, for example, if you want to edit a Presentations document with another program. You can also open documents in Presentations, which have been created with other programs.

Note: In addition, you can export presentations as PDF files, HTML files, picture files or as a movie. For more information, see Outputting presentations.

This section provides information on saving and opening documents in another file format.

Saving a document in another file format

To save the current document in another file format, choose the ribbon command File | Save as and open the dropdown list Save as type. Select the desired format, enter a different file name if required and confirm saving.

Opening a document in another file format

To open a document in another file format, use the ribbon command File | Open (click directly on the icon itself) to open the file dialog box, open the dropdown list of file types and select the format in which the file is available. Then select the file you want to open and confirm that it is open.

Supported file formats

In the dialog boxes for opening and saving documents, the list of file types includes the following file formats:

▪Presentations document

The in-house format for Presentations documents in which you usually save documents (name extension: .prdx).

▪Presentations slide show

This is generally the same as a Presentations document (name extension: .prsx).

The difference: When you double-click such a file in Windows Explorer, Presentations opens the file, starts running it automatically, and then closes the document again. (Also see notes below.)

▪Presentations template

Document template for Presentations documents (name extension:.prvx). For more information, see also Changing the slide design.

▪PowerPoint document

You can also open and save documents in Microsoft PowerPoint file format. The program supports .ppt files (PowerPoint 97 to 2003) as well as .pptx files (PowerPoint 2007 or higher).

▪PowerPoint template

The document template for Microsoft PowerPoint documents.

▪PowerPoint slide show

This is generally the same as a PowerPoint document. If you double-click on such a file in Windows Explorer, however, Microsoft PowerPoint will open the file (or Presentations, depending on the setting), automatically start running the slide show, and then close the document again.

▪Presentations 2016 document

Documents are saved in the file format of Presentations 2016, an older version of Presentations (name extension: .prd).

▪Rich Text Format

Outline of a presentation in Rich Text Format (RTF). This format can be used to export the outline of a presentation to a document in RTF format or to import the outline from such a document.

Notes on the "Presentations slide show" file format

As mentioned above, the Presentations slide show format is identical to the Presentations document format – except for the following special feature:

▪If you open a Presentations slide show (.prsx) in Presentations with the command File | Open, it behaves like a normal document.

▪If you double-click on such a file in Windows Explorer, however, Presentations will open this file, automatically start running the slide show, and then close the document again.

If Presentations is not already running at this time, it will start automatically, run the slide show, and then end again.

To create such a file that starts automatically, simply open any Presentations document and save it in the Presentations slide show file format. To do so, choose the command File | Save as and select the entry Presentations slide show from the list of file types.