Keynote to PowerPoint problem

21 May 2011 21:49:17

Alan Cox

I have made a short 'test' Keynote slideshow with music and 'Exported' it to PowerPoint. I put it on a memory stick and my brother has tried playing it on his Windows PC and gets the photos OK but no sound. Does anyone have an explanation or suggestion?

(I have also 'Exported' the same Keynote slideshow to QuickTime Player and he finds this works fine with the photos and the sound but this isn't really what I want.)

Re: Keynote to PowerPoint problem

23 May 2011 10:21:43

Mick Burrell

My guess would be that the audio is in a format that PowerPoint on Windows doesn't understand. Go on, tell me it's an mp3!

Re: Keynote to PowerPoint problem

23 May 2011 21:57:58

Alan Cox

Hmmmm! I never did understand formats, and I have not the least idea whether it's an mp3 or an xyz101. All I know is: (1) that I dragged the tune from my iTunes into the Sound box that Keynote provides for just this purpose; and (2) that when my brother played the slideshow exported as a QT movie on his Windows PC the music played up luverly whereas its fellow PPoint version played not the slightest peep of music. So whether or not it's an mp3, I still have a problem.

Is it OK to post an entirely different different problem or or is that being greedy?

Re: Keynote to PowerPoint problem

24 May 2011 09:14:10

Mick Burrell

Quicktime is available for Windows so will presumably store the audio in a format it understands and will play on either platform.

if you highlight the audio in iTunes in the list of music and right click you can then choose "Get Info". This will probably list the file type as an AAC Audio File. If you drag it out of iTunes and then right click on it and choose Get Info, it will probably list it as an m4a, mpeg-4 audio. I don't know but my guess is that your brother's version of PP does not understand this. (He may not be using the latest version and it may be that the latest version doesn't understand them either - I don't use PP so can't check!) You can convert to mp3 using Switch, available free from Switch Web Site. Or you could send the audio file to me, I'll convert it and send it back!

Hope that helps

Re: Keynote to PowerPoint problem

24 May 2011 21:39:10

Alan Cox

Thanks very much Mick. I have emailed you to follow through your ideas and suggestions. The Switch application may well be my saviour if I can ever work out how to use it. It claims to be easy but then it would, wouldn't it!

Re: Keynote to PowerPoint problem

24 May 2011 22:28:49

Mick Burrell

if we solve this by private mail, one of us will post the solution for anyone else facing the same issue.

Re: Keynote to PowerPoint problem

26 May 2011 15:12:06

Alan Cox

I have to confess I've more or less given up on this one, having spent some time on my brother's Windows PC and being unable to get the sound on a Keynote exported to a Powerpoint presentation. I did see the Powerpoint editing window and it is a nightmare – Keynote is simplicity itself in comparison.

To answer one of Mick's questions above, the music (alright 'song') taken off iTunes is in fact an MP3.

The solution I've settled on is to Export the Keynote piece to QuickTime Player and that works a treat with both sound and photos on a Windows PC. This is probably only acceptable because it is basically very little more than a slideshow of photos. I imagine clever stuff like 'builds' wouldn't work but don't actually know and I am not about trying to find out – I've spent enough time on this project already.