Automator and PowerPoint

March 25, 2008 9:00 AM

How can I use Automator to make a PowerPoint presentation run?

This is probably easy, but I can't make it work, and I can't google enough pieces of the picture to bring it together. So here goes: how can I set up an Automator workflow to make a PowerPoint presentation open automatically and start scrolling through slides? The more detailed you can be about the workflow, the better, as the whole Automator interface feels really weird and counterintuitive to me.

posted by COBRA! to computers & internet (15 comments total)

First, download some PowerPoint Automator Actions.

You probably want to start your Automation with a "Get Selected Finder Items" action. Then drag in the PowerPoint actions you want (probably "Play Slideshow"). Save it as a plug-in and it will be available in the Finder when you right-click on an item.
posted by bcwinters at 9:59 AM on March 25, 2008

Hi COBRA!, a quick googling suggests that you will need an Automator Action for starting a PowerPoint presentation in Office 2004 (or are you using 2008? I believe 2008 comes with Automator actions...).

This can definitely be done via AppleScript, and I found a set of scripts online that purport to do this, although they appear to be shareware and currently broken.

Would an AppleScript that does the same action be sufficient? Do you need the slideshow opened and started at a specific time, or do you want to be able to activate it from the Desktop using your mouse or keyboard commands?
posted by onalark at 10:09 AM on March 25, 2008

Thanks, guys.

I'd gotten as far on my own as downloading the PowerPoint Automator actions, but even with that, I was having trouble putting it together. Actually, just knowing to start the workflow with "Get Selected Finder Items" helps a ton.

As for the details you're asking for, onalark, it's Office 2004, and I'm agnostic on Automator-vs-AppleScript... started out with Automator just because I've meesed with it a tiny bit before. The goal here is to have a computer in our galleries just turn itself on every morning and run the slideshow in a loop on startup (and I've got the computer-turning-on-and-off part covered, it's just the slideshow loop I'm working on).
posted by COBRA! at 10:29 AM on March 25, 2008

Ah OK, then you probably want something more like Get Specified Items, which will let you set up a pre-determined list of files. And you'll want to save your action as a Program (rather than a plug-in) so you can have it run automatically at startup.
posted by bcwinters at 10:59 AM on March 25, 2008

Hi COBRA!, I actually found the same link that bcwinters did and tried to set up an Automator action using them. I got an error message saying that the 'beta is expired', which I guess means the author hard-coded some sort of use-by date into his software that now makes it useless.

Anyway, now that I have more of an idea of what you want, I'm going to try and write some AppleScript code that does what you want, and that can be used as a standalone Startup Item.
posted by onalark at 11:13 AM on March 25, 2008

Oh, and COBRA!... Is there a reason you don't want to export the PowerPoint presentation as a Quicktime Movie and just use Quicktime to automatically open and play the movie using Automator?
posted by onalark at 11:21 AM on March 25, 2008

Whoa, right on, thanks a lot!

I did download the PP Automator actions from a different source, and got no expired beta message when I was trying to figure it out on my own... but I was so hit-or-miss with that usage that I might not have even gotten to the point where the error would crop up.
posted by COBRA! at 11:22 AM on March 25, 2008

Is there a reason you don't want to export the PowerPoint presentation as a Quicktime Movie and just use Quicktime to automatically open and play the movie using Automator?

I was worried about image degradation (the PPT is a bunch of photographs that're running in a little kiosk in an art museum). If there's no degradation moving from PPT to Quicktime, that sounds like another good way to go.
posted by COBRA! at 11:24 AM on March 25, 2008

Hi COBRA!, I've got the AppleScript working, here's a link to my site with the script and an application version. If you open the application it should automatically start a slideshow using slide timings in PowerPoint. See if one of those works for you and I'll help you out if Automator is still giving you trouble.
posted by onalark at 12:01 PM on March 25, 2008

Awesome, thanks for putting those together.

I get mixed results; if I try to run the .exe version, my system seems to think it's a Quicktime file, and I get an error message saying that it's not a movie file (I have no idea where the Quicktime association came from). The .scpt version does what it's supposed to as long as I've got the slideshow open; but when I tried to create a workflow which would open the slideshow and then execute the script, I get this AppleScript error:

Can't set «class SwTy» of missing value to «constant pSSt
posted by COBRA! at 12:20 PM on March 25, 2008

Think I got it to work. For posterity:

1. Saved the PowerPoint show as a .pps, so that it runs as a slideshow automatically upon opening.
Used Set Up Show options to make it full-screen and loopy.

2. Created the following workflow:
Get Specified Finder Items: (show).pps
Open Finder Items; Open with Powerpoint

3. Saved workflow as an app, set to run at login, bingo.

So, yeah, not too tough, I guess, but I still think the Automator interface sucks (I never would've worked it out if I hadn't had these answers to set me on track).
posted by COBRA! at 1:05 PM on March 25, 2008

Hey COBRA!, Glad you got things working. I think I fixed the 'app' side, though it looks like you no longer need it. As for that bit of nefariousness with the "Can't set «class SwTy» of missing value to «constant pSSt", you get that error if PowerPoint doesn't currently have a slideshow open, which I guess could occur if Automator tells it to start the show before it's finished opening it.
posted by onalark at 1:15 PM on March 25, 2008

I'd be interested in seeing the fixed app, if you're up for it, just in case my fix doesn't work the way I want it to when i release it into the wild tomorrow...
posted by COBRA! at 1:26 PM on March 25, 2008

It's up on my site.
posted by onalark at 1:42 PM on March 25, 2008

Right on, thanks.
posted by COBRA! at 2:00 PM on March 25, 2008