How to show PowerPoint shapes in presentation mode after clicking (but not during editing, without macros)

0

In order to build an on-screen menu during presentation mode ...

Is there any way to make shapes appear (after a click) in presentation mode, but hide them during editing mode?

When the shapes have a "appear animation" they are permanently visible during edit ...

When the shapes are hidden via the selection pane, they never "appear" even when they have an animation ...

The solution should be PowerPoint only for showing the shapes (not for creating/updating). So that no macros/add-ins are necessary to play the presentation.

Cilvic

Posted 2015-04-02T17:50:03.790

Reputation: 569

If they are hidden during edit mode how would you edit them? – DavidPostill – 2015-04-02T18:25:43.793

1A macro could hide/show various shapes while editing; another could restore visibility to all of the shapes on the slide once you're done editing and ready to view the presentation. The code could reside in an add-in or in another presentation file, so the actual presentation wouldn't contain any code, wouldn't run afoul of security restrictions, and it wouldn't need code/add-in to play, so long as you remember to set everything to visible with code/add-in before distributing it. – Steve Rindsberg – 2015-04-04T15:14:13.107

@SteveRindsberg that's right, one could "arm" the presentation that way. I was hoping for a way that would not show the shapes when the presentation is opened on another machine in edit mode. – Cilvic – 2015-04-06T06:07:44.020

@DavidPostill the shapes would be auto-generated so the user would not really need to edit, otherwise they would un-hide > edit > hide. – Cilvic – 2015-04-06T06:08:47.433

Once the shapes are hidden, they're hidden in slide show and normal view. In fact, since PPT 2007 or so, you can no longer even select hidden shapes other than via the selection pane. But keeping the shapes entirely hidden and uneditable isn't really possible. Macro code could generate shapes on the fly DURING a show, but that'd require that the presentation contain the macro code, which is off the table, correct? – Steve Rindsberg – 2015-04-06T14:54:02.040

Answers

0

I sometimes do this sort of thing and want to have some of the shapes hidden for the printed version for example. They way I do it is cover the shapes I want hidden with a white (or whatever the background colour is) borderless shape. I then make that shape disappear as the first move in the animation.

Morag Hughson

Posted 2015-04-02T17:50:03.790

Reputation: 210

Interesting approach, in our particular case there are other content elements which we can not hide. Maybe we could change the z-order with an animation. I'll check. Update: unfortunately the z-order can't be set via animations .. – Cilvic – 2015-04-06T06:10:37.007

Could you add some more details to your question so we can tell what you are doing so we can offer more advice? – Morag Hughson – 2015-04-06T08:24:56.337

@MoragHughson Instead of using a white shape or shape set to the background color, try PPT's "Slide background fill" option in the Format Shape | Fill dialog box. This will allow you to hide things even on gradient/patterned/picture filled backgrounds. – Steve Rindsberg – 2015-10-25T16:07:11.550

Asked: 2015-04-02T17:50:03.790

Viewed: 1 388 times

Active: 2015-04-03T21:10:50.527