How to import PowerPoint into ProPresenter 6

Hi, I’m Paul Alan Clifford from TrinityDigitalMedia.com, where you can find hours of church tech tutorials, just like this one, courses, and my exclusive community, ChurchTechU.com, because Ministry Loves Company.

I just got back from a week-long gig where I got to run ProPresenter for a corporate client and I had a great time. One thing that happened as a result of this trip is that I got to play with the integration between Pro6 and PowerPoint. Boy, was I surprised.

It used to be that ProPresenter needed an older version of powerpoint to work, and I thought it basically just exported stills, so you lost all ability to edit.

Whether that was ever true or if it was something I was confused about, I’d been telling people bad information.

So, let me show you, on my computer just how this works.
—
First, make sure you have PowerPoint on your computer. The home version of office is about $10 a month and I believe it’s fine to use that for church. There is nonprofit program, but you might not, depending on your church, be able to agree to all of their “non-discrimination” policies. Either way, it’s pretty cheap ($3 a month for the non-profit version or $10 for the home version.)

Once office is installed, make sure that you open it, at least once to get past all the “look at all the good stuff that powerpoint can do” screens. I don’t think it will affect things, but Pro6 does open PowerPoint, so it might.

Now, go to ProPresenter and go to File then Import. Next click on Import Powerpoint…

Next, navigate to the file you want to import. Once you’ve done that, a dialog box will pop up asking how you want to import it.

Here are your choices:

Import all slides as jpeg images
Import text objects as ProPresenter Slide Elements
Or
Import Text and Graphic objects as ProPresenter slide elements

Note that, if memory serves, Pro6 for Windows has another option. It allows you to import animations, too. I only played with the PC version for a day on my recent trip freelancing for a company that used ProPresenter to add motion backgrounds to their slides. I could be remembering wrong on that one.

So, which should you choose? Well, I depends.

Don’t you hate that answer? I know I do, but in this case, it’s true.

Normally, I’d choose “Import text and graphic objects as Propresenter slide elements.” This gives you the greatest flexibility. Once you do it, you can treat the PowerPoint as if it’s a ProPresenter file and do what you normally would with it. You might need to do some tweaking as far as text box sizes go, but generally, you’ll get the best results with this one.

If the PowerPoint you bring in, is just text, or you know the images aren’t helpful, then choose the second one.

If you want the powerpoint to look identical to the original, and you’re okay with losing the ability to edit it, choose the first.

So, here’s what the last one does.

Notice that I can apply a template like I normally would or even just do quick edits on text like this.

So, that’s the basics of importing PowerPoint into Propresenter.
—

Quick story. Before I tried this, I actually sent a newsletter out saying that ProPresenter couldn’t edit imported powerpoint files. Someone kindly pointed out that I was wrong. Boy, am I glad they did.

I get stuff wrong all the time and I’m glad this was one of those things because it’s so much better than I imagined.

Now, you can import your pastor’s notes, that look like they were created in Office 95 and make them look like something that fits in the rest of your service. When a missionary stops by with a powerpoint, you can make it more engaging. When a lay teacher speaks at your recovery ministry, you don’t have to spend extra time fixing black text on a white background; you can apply a template instead.

This technique really frees you up to present the information in the best possible way, even if you don’t start with the best file type.

That’s what’s great about ProPresenter, it gives you flexibility you wouldn’t otherwise have.

If you liked this tutorial, go ahead and subscribe and hit the bell icon on YouTube to make sure you hear about all my videos when they come out.

But if you’d a deeper dive into ProPresenter, I think you’d like to take one of my ProPresenter mini courses…for free. Just go to T D M dot f y I slash pro the number 6 mini (m I n i) and sign up for the mini course of your choice for free.

Until next time, this is Paul Alan Clifford from TrinityDigitalMedia.com and ChurchTechU.com, go out and change eternity.