Make PowerPoint work like Excel!

November 1, 2005 12:08 PM

I am wasting paper because I can't train myself to print a selection of slides in PowerPoint!

I am constantly selecting the slides I want to print in the slide sorter, and then hitting the print button. It's just like printing out a selection of tabs in an Excel spreadsheet, I realize. The problem is: unless I click "Selection" under "Print Range" in the Print dialog, it prints out the entire presentation. Is there a way to make PowerPoint default to printing out only the slides I've selected? I'm realizing my mistakes way too late!

posted by skryche to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

My suggestion would be to use ctrl+p and then alt+s on your keyboard, instead of using your mouse. This is easier, faster, and more likely to result in muscle memories, which may help you remember to do it that way.
posted by acridrabbit at 12:59 PM on November 1, 2005

Quick kludge: delete all the slides you don't want, save that version then print it out.....

Also you know that if you go to print (on a mac) you can print 3,4,6 or 9 slides per piece of paper?
posted by lalochezia at 12:59 PM on November 1, 2005

Or this: Select the "Slides" radio button, and type in the slide numbers (read: page numbers) of what you want printed. No need to mess with selection.
posted by grateful at 1:35 PM on November 1, 2005

on the left side, you have the slide panel. if you have outline tab selected, select slides tab.
then, right-click on the slide you don't want to print and select "hide slide".

by default, PPT won't print the hidden slides.
posted by grafholic at 4:09 PM on November 1, 2005