One of the annoyances with Microsoft PowerPoint is that you have to test your presentations well in advance. If the target computer doesn’t have the same fonts as your presentation, for example, things may go wrong. If the target computer doesn’t have the same version of PowerPoint as your source presentation, even more things may go wrong. Sometimes, these discrepancies are easy to fix on the fly. At other times, they are not.

I recently discovered the Package for CD menu option in Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, which tackles this very issue nicely. Package for CD will allow you to include all objects associated with your presentation, as well as a PowerPoint viewer, so that you can display presentations even if the target computer does not have PowerPoint installed. In addition to CD, Package for CD can package files for other removable devices, such as USB memory sticks, by selecting the Copy to Folder button. Finally, be sure to check Embedded TrueType fonts, found under Options, to ensure that your fonts are included in the distribution.