Weird PPT formatting conversion on iPad 3

[indesertum]

I use my iPad for classes. A few of my classes upload PPT documents to blackboard which I download to read and markup using a stylus and a keyboard.

Unfortunately the formatting gets lost and a lot of elements (images, image placements) on the powerpoints get lost and I'm not sure why and how to fix this.

Will buying Keynotes from the App Store solve this?

 

[twerppoet]

Keynote has better than average conversion of Power Point docs, but it's not 100%. It is better than the built in QuickLook API that Blackboard is probably using.

However, if you are doing your markup in BlackBoard (I'm not familiar with it past the App Store description), then the Keynote files probably won't be compatible after conversion. You could export them to PDF and use one of the many excellent PDF annotation apps.

If you have a sample (small) Power Point that contains no private data and you are free to share, feel free to PM me with a shared link. I'll be happy to import, convert to PDF, and send the result back to you so that you can look over the results.

Then, if you like, you can take screen shots of the BlackBoard and Keynote/PDF results, and post them for the edification of all.

 

[BocataDeChoped]

IMHO Keynote does the best job at keeping transitions compared to other office solutions but, before you expend the money, I suggest you to try SlideShark. The app itself is only for viewing the presentations but, in order to do that, you'll need to convert the presentations from Office format to SlideShark format which you'll do through its website (the basic mode is free and comes with 100 mb of storage). After the conversion is done you can download the doc from within the app for offline use.

 

[AQ_OC]

If the slides don't have transitions, then I would get the converted to PDF first, then download them to your iPad and use one of the PDF annotation tools around. Perhaps you can ask your instructor for PDF versions, if they are not heavy with transitions. IMO, a PPT full of transitions in not a useful think to annotate, anyway. PDF is just better (with minimal to zero transitions).

 

[AQ_OC]

Really iPad is as wonderful and fun But it's Keynote feature is very disappointing.Somtimes I could have deal with incompatible jpg images not displaying, font substitutions, and aspect ration glitches. I was expecting those. But stripping out mater is nuts. What a terrible design decision.

IMO, keynote should be used for creation of presentations on and for iPad. Expecting it to work with anything more than a very, very basic and simple ppt is unreasonable. OTOH, iPad can annotate PDFs all day long. Mush better to work that way.