Microsoft KB Archive/131831

{| = WT1175: PowerPoint--Lotus Freelance for Windows Translator =
 * width="100%"|

Last reviewed: May 1, 1998

Article ID: Q131831 The information in this article applies to:
 * Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0a, and 4.0c

SUMMARY
The Application Note &quot;Lotus Freelance for Windows 1.0-2.1 for Windows Translator&quot; (WT1175) contains a conversion utility that can be used to convert files from Lotus Freelance to Microsoft PowerPoint. Because the two products do not function the same, some information may be lost or may changed in the conversion process.

You can obtain this Application Note from the following sources:


 * Microsoft's World Wide Web Site on the Internet
 * The Internet (Microsoft anonymous ftp server)
 * Microsoft Download Service (MSDL)
 * Microsoft Product Support Services

For complete information, see the &quot;To Obtain This Application Note&quot; section at the end of this article.

THE TEXT OF WT1175
Microsoft(R) Product Support Services Application Note (Text File) WT1175: LOTUS(R) FREELANCE(R) 1.0-2.1 FOR WINDOWS(R) TRANSLATOR Revision Date: 6/95 1 Disk Included The following information applies to Microsoft PowerPoint(R) for Windows, version 4.0. - -
 * INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT AND ANY SOFTWARE THAT MAY    |
 * ACCOMPANY THIS DOCUMENT (collectively referred to as an Application |
 * Note) IS PROVIDED &quot;AS IS&quot; WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER     |
 * EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED     |
 * WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR      |
 * PURPOSE. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and   |
 * the use of this Application Note. This Application Note may be     |
 * copied and distributed subject to the following conditions: 1) All |
 * text must be copied without modification and all pages must be     |
 * included; 2) If software is included, all files on the disk(s) must |
 * be copied without modification (the MS-DOS(R) utility diskcopy is  |
 * appropriate for this purpose); 3) All components of this           |
 * Application Note must be distributed together; and 4) This         |
 * Application Note may not be distributed for profit.                |
 * Freelance is manufactured by Lotus Development Corporation, a      |
 * vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or   |
 * otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.    |
 * Copyright (c) 1995 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.     |
 * Microsoft, MS-DOS, PowerPoint, and Windows are registered          |
 * trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.                               |
 * Lotus and Freelance are registered trademarks of Lotus Development |
 * Corporation.                                                       |
 * Corporation.                                                       |

INTRODUCTION
The translation program (FL21WIN.PDI) included with this Application Note allows you to open files in Microsoft PowerPoint version 4.0 for Windows that were created in Lotus Freelance versions 1.0 through 2.1 for Windows. Because the two products do not function the same, some information may be lost or changed in the conversion process. This document describes the procedure for installing the translator file and presents information about the conversion features and limitations.

INSTALLATION
Use the following steps to install the Freelance translator:

 Quit PowerPoint if it is running.  Copy the FL21WIN.PDI file to your PowerPoint translators subdirectory, as follows: a. If you do not have an XLATORS subdirectory in your PowerPoint program directory, create one. For information about creating directories, see the &quot;File Manager&quot; section of your Microsoft Windows user's guide. b. If you received a disk with this Application Note, insert the disk in the appropriate floppy disk drive. If you downloaded this Application Note from an online service, skip to step 2c. This procedure assumes that you have already downloaded and extracted the compressed file. c. From the Main group in Windows Program Manager, choose the MS-DOS Prompt icon. When the MS-DOS prompt appears, type the following line and press ENTER copy :\fl21win.pdi \xlators

where is either the letter of your floppy disk drive or      the path to the directory containing the file you downloaded and extracted from online services, and  is the path to      your PowerPoint program directory (usually, C:\POWERPNT). For example, if you are installing from a floppy disk that you inserted in drive A, and C:\POWERPNT is the path to your PowerPoint program directory, type the following line and press ENTER:

copy a:\fl21win.pdi c:\powerpnt\xlators

Or, for example, if you downloaded WT1175.EXE from online services to C:\DOWNLOAD and C:\POWERPNT is the path to your PowerPoint program directory, type the following line and press ENTER:

copy c:\download\fl21win.pdi c:\powerpnt\xlators

d. Quit the MS-DOS prompt (type &quot;exit&quot; without the quotation marks      and press ENTER) to return to Windows.   Modify your POWERPNT.INI file to show the new translator, as follows: a. From the File menu in Program Manager, choose Run. b. In the Command Line box, type &quot;notepad&quot; (without the quotation      marks) and choose OK. c. From the Notepad File menu, choose Open. d. From the Windows directory, select the POWERPNT.INI file and choose OK. e. Find the [MS PowerPoint Translators] section. NOTE: If you do not find this section in your POWERPNT.INI file, you will need to add it. Place the insertion point at the end of the file, press ENTER, and type: [MS PowerPoint Translators]

Then continue with the next step.

f. Place the insertion point to the right of the closing bracket (]) and press ENTER.

g. Type the following line (where  is the path to your      PowerPoint directory [usually, C:\POWERPNT]):

FL21PRE=Freelance 1.0-2.1 for Windows,\XLATORS\FL21WIN.PDI,PRE

h. From the File menu, choose Save.

i. From the File menu, choose Exit. 

CONVERTING FREELANCE FILES
Use the following steps to open a Freelance file in Microsoft PowerPoint:


 * 1) Start PowerPoint.
 * 2) From the File menu, choose Open.
 * 3) In the List Files Of Type list, select &quot;Freelance 1.0-2.1 for Windows (*.pre).&quot;
 * 4) Select the Freelance file you want to open, and choose OK.

TRANSLATION ISSUES
The following is a list of features that are not converted or are converted to different measurements.

Text
  Text entered in the page layout of a Freelance presentation is not preserved when translated to a PowerPoint presentation. The Freelance page layout contains text, such as the &quot;Click Here&quot; messages, that does not appear in the translated presentation. You can restore the text in the PowerPoint presentation by adding it to the master slide. To add text to the master slide: 1. From the View menu, choose Master, and then choose Slide Master. 2. Use the Text Tool on the Drawing toolbar to create a text box, and then type the text that you want to appear on all slides.  Line spacing of text is not maintained. All text is translated to single-spaced text. You can adjust line spacing after translation by selecting the text and choosing Line Spacing from the Format menu.</li> Text in Number Grids is not preserved.</li> Text translated to PowerPoint may not be indented as it was in Freelance. PowerPoint requires that text be in hierarchical order when it is indented, with text indented only one level more than the previous text. Text in Freelance that does not follow this order is translated as a first-level indent and lined up along the left edge of the text box.</li> Fully justified text is converted to the default justification (usually Left Justify). You can fully justify text in PowerPoint after translation by selecting the text, choosing Alignment from the Format menu, and choosing Justify from the menu that appears.</li></ul>

Transitions
This transition in   Converts to this transition in PowerPoint Freelance

Blinds               Blinds Horizontal Bottom               Wipe Up   Box In                Box In   Box Out               Box Out Center               Box Out Checkerboard         Checkerboard Across Diagonal Left        Strips Down-Right Diagonal Right       Strips Down-Left Draw                 Cover Down Fade                 Dissolve Hsplit In            Split Horizontal In   Hsplit Out            Split Horizontal Out LeftSide             Wipe Right Louvers              Blinds Vertical Paint Brush          Cover Left Pan Left             Uncover Right Pan Right            Uncover Left Rain                 Random Bars Vertical Replace              Cut RightSide            Wipe Left Scroll Top           Cover Down Scroll Bottom        Cover Up   Shade                 Cover Left Text Top             Uncover Down Text Bottom          Uncover Up   Text Left             Uncover Left Text Right           Uncover Right Top                  Wipe Down Use Bitmap Colors    Cut Vsplit In            Split Vertical In   Vsplit Out            Split Vertical Out Zigzag               Strips Down-Right

Slide Boundaries

 * Because of differences in the coordinate systems used by Freelance and PowerPoint, there may be slight differences in the scaling and placement of objects relative to the slide boundaries. In Freelance, the slide area represents the entire printed page, whereas in PowerPoint, the slide area represents only the printable area of a printed page.

Quantity of Slides

 * For some Freelance files, the translator cannot determine the number of slides in the presentation, so the &quot;Slide Total&quot; that appears in the progress dialog box is 0. This does not affect the number of slides that are actually in the presentation.

Handling of Master Objects

 * For each slide in the Freelance presentation, objects in the master slide are placed in the slide foreground in PowerPoint rather than in the master slide. PowerPoint supports only a single master slide per presentation.

Bullets

 * Numbered bullets and symbol bullets are translated to dash (-) bullets in PowerPoint.

Shapes

 * Corners in a rounded rectangle are converted to straight corners. You can change the corners in PowerPoint after translation by selecting the rectangle, choosing Change AutoShape from the Draw menu, and selecting the rounded rectangle. Once the rectangle is rounded, you can change the roundness of the corners by selecting the rectangle, and dragging the adjust handle (the small diamond- shaped object to the left of the rectangle).

Color and Patterns

 * Color-to-color shading is translated to color-to-black or color-to- white shading.
 * Patterns are translated to the closest matching pattern.
 * Colors of all objects in Freelance 1.0 files may not be preserved in PowerPoint.

Tables

 * Tables are translated into tab-delimited text boxes, with lines and borders translated to graphic objects. You can align columns in PowerPoint after translation by adjusting the tab locations for the text box.

Graphs

 * Graphs are translated to Microsoft Graph 5.0 objects.
 * The appearance of graphs may change slightly when translated from Freelance to PowerPoint due to differences in the two graphing components.
 * When minimum and maximum Y-axis values are set to Automatic, the actual values may differ slightly in the translated graph.
 * When tick marks are set to Automatic, the number of tick marks used may differ slightly in the translated graph.
 * The frame area that is used as the background of a graph is slightly different in PowerPoint graphs.
 * The alignment of axis labels is not maintained. Axis labels appear in their default alignment in the translated graph. You can change axis label location after translation. To change axis labels alignment, double-click the axis, and set the alignment in the Alignment tab.
 * Notes attached to graphs are not preserved. PowerPoint graphs do not support attached notes.
 * The axis label On/Off setting is not maintained. Axis labels are On in the translated graph. You can change this setting in PowerPoint after translation.
 * Tick mark color is not maintained. Tick marks have the same color as the axis in the translated graph.
 * A series that is hidden in a Freelance graph is displayed in the translated graph in PowerPoint. You can hide the series in PowerPoint after translation by selecting the data series on the data sheet and then choosing Data, Exclude Row/Col.
 * If different side and top face colors are set for 3-D pie charts in Freelance, these are not preserved when translated. In PowerPoint, each slice in a 3-D pie chart can have only one color.
 * Multiple pie charts are displayed as single pie charts when translated. The data for all series is preserved in the data sheet, but only the data for the first series is displayed.
 * Only one line of legend text per data series is preserved.
 * The legend On/Off setting is not maintained. The legend will appear On in the translated graph. You can turn off the legend in PowerPoint after translation by clicking the legend with the left mouse button to select it and pressing DELETE.

Organization Charts

 * Organizational charts are translated to Microsoft Organization Chart 1.0 objects.
 * The formatting of organizational charts, including box layout, box style, box color, and line style, is not preserved when translated to PowerPoint.
 * Only five levels are supported. Levels greater than five are converted to level five.

Slide Show

 * The &quot;Advance screen show automatically&quot; setting is not preserved. The Advance option in the Slide Show dialog box is set to Manual Advance in the translated presentation. However, the slide timing for each slide is preserved.
 * The &quot;Run screen show continuously&quot; setting is not preserved.
 * The &quot;Show range&quot; setting is not maintained.
 * The Text Top, Text Bottom, Text Left, and Text Right transition effects are not maintained.

TO OBTAIN THIS APPLICATION NOTE
You can find WT1175.EXE (size: 123481 bytes) , a self-extracting file, on the following services: - Microsoft's World Wide Web Site on the Internet On the www.microsoft.com home page, click the Support icon. Click Knowledge Base, and select the product. Enter kbfile WT1175.EXE (size: 123481 bytes) , and click GO! Open the article, and click the button to download the file.

- Internet (anonymous FTP) ftp ftp.microsoft.com Change to the Softlib/Mslfiles folder. Get WT1175.EXE (size: 123481 bytes)

- Microsoft Download Service (MSDL) Dial (425) 936-6735 to connect to MSDL Download WT1175.EXE (size: 123481 bytes) For additional information about downloading, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: ARTICLE-ID: Q119591 TITLE    : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services If you are unable to access the sources listed above, you can have this Application Note mailed to you by calling Microsoft Product Support Services Monday through Friday, 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Pacific time at (425) 635-7145. If you are outside the United States, contact the Microsoft subsidiary for your area. To locate your subsidiary, call the Microsoft International Sales Information Center at (425) 936-8661.
 * }