Teach with the CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in

The CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in 2008 enables the creation of Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentations using images in CONTENTdm collections. You can use images in CONTENTdm collections or CONTENTdm images already saved to CONTENTdm My Favorites. After images and their metadata are downloaded to PowerPoint, the slides can be modified using PowerPoint editing tools.

This guide provides instructions for downloading the plug-in to create PowerPoint slides with images managed on CONTENTdm.

Learn About:

• Overview & System Requirements
• Installing CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in 2008
• Getting Started
• Importing Items
• Selecting Slide Layout & Choosing Metadata

Overview & System Requirements

This guide provides instructions on how to install the plug-in, then search for CONTENTdm images or locate your existing CONTENTdm My Favorites and download them into a PowerPoint presentation through the following steps:

1. Installing CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in 2008.
2. Opening PowerPoint and the CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in 2008.
3. Entering the CONTENTdm Web site address (URL) that contains the collections and images you want to download.
4. Searching collections on the CONTENTdm Web site for items to download or locating your existing CONTENTdm My Favorites.
5. Downloading selected items to PowerPoint.
6. Editing the PowerPoint slides and saving the presentation.

Note: The CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in 2008 supports the following file formats: JPEG, JPEG2000, GIF, and TIFF. Audio, video, MrSID, and PDF files are not supported.

System Requirements

• Windows XP or Windows Vista, running Microsoft Windows .NET Framework Version 2.0 or later
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, 2003, or 2007
• To create and download images from CONTENTdm My Favorites:
  • Cookies must be enabled on your computer in order to create My Favorites
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, or Firefox 2.0 must be used to save My Favorites

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Installing CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in 2008

Installing the plug-in includes downloading the file and running the installation wizard. If your computer is not yet running the .NET Framework version 2.0 or later, you will need to install it before installing the plug-in.

To install the PowerPoint Plug-in:

1. Close Microsoft PowerPoint, if it is open.
2. Download the CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in 2008.
3. Double-click the executable file to install CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in 2008.
4. Follow the installation directions.

Note: If you have a previous version of the CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in installed on your computer, we recommend that you uninstall it using the Windows Control Panel Add or Remove Programs before installing the CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in 2008. However, removing the previous version is not required.

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Getting Started

After you have installed the PowerPoint Plug-in, you are ready to create your presentation by searching for images or by importing My Favorites. This section covers opening the plug-in, selecting a Web site, and editing settings.

Opening the PowerPoint Plug-in

To open the CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in:

1. Start Microsoft PowerPoint, and then open an existing or new PowerPoint presentation.
2. Open the CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in by clicking the CONTENTdm button on the PowerPoint toolbar, usually located in the upper-left corner, under other toolbars.
   
   
   Figure 1: The CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in button usually appears in the upper-left of the screen.
   
   If your PowerPoint application has other plug-ins or if you have customized your toolbar display, the CONTENTdm button may display elsewhere.
   
   
3. The CONTENTdm PowerPoint Plug-in Welcome screen displays. Click Next to continue.
   
   
   Figure 2: The Welcome screen.
   
   

Selecting a Web Site

After advancing from the Welcome screen, you can specify a CONTENTdm Web site address.

To select a Web site:

1. Enter the Web site address or select an address from the combo box.
   
   
   Figure 3: Selecting the CONTENTdm Web site.
   
   

Editing Settings

The Edit Settings option on the Select Web Site screen enables you to set default log-in information for accessing restricted items and to choose default browser settings.

To set defaults within the plug-in:

1. Click the Settings button to display the Edit Settings dialog box.
   
   
   Figure 4: Clicking the Settings opens the Edit Settings dialog box.
   
   
2. If you will be accessing restricted items, enter your default CONTENTdm Web site user name and password. (You may be prompted for a different log in to access some items.)
   
   
   Figure 5: Enter log in information and select browser preferences.
   
   
3. To improve performance when importing CONTENTdm My Favorites to PowerPoint, specify the browser you used when saving My Favorites.
4. Click Save to keep your edited settings and return to the Select Web Site screen.
5. Click Next to begin importing items.

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Importing Items

After you have selected the CONTENTdm Web site address, you are ready to select your import method and then begin finding and importing items.

Selecting Your Import Method

You can find items to download from CONTENTdm by searching collections or by selecting items you have saved to My Favorites. If you wish to import items from My Favorites, you first need to save items to My Favorites outside of the plug-in.

To select your import method:

1. From the Select Import Method screen, select whether you want to search CONTENTdm collections on the specified Web site or to import CONTENTdm items you have already saved to My Favorites.
2. Click Next to continue.
   
   
   Figure 6: Select Import Method screen.
   
   

Searching for Items

To search for images on CONTENTdm servers:

1. On the Select Import Method screen, select Search for Items in Collections and click Next. The Search for Items screen displays.
   
   
   Figure 7: Search options consist of any of the words, all of the words, and the exact phrase.
   
   
2. Specify your search parameters and the CONTENTdm collection.
3. Click Search. Your search results display.
   In this example, the search term water matched 14 items in the specified collection:
   
   
   Figure 8: Search results.
   
   
4. All results are selected by default. Deselect any items you do not want to download to PowerPoint.
   Note: Your results may include restricted items or compound objects. For more information about working with those types of items, see the following sections.
5. Click Next to select your slide layout and metadata.

About Restricted Items

The CONTENTdm administrator may restrict access to items for copyright, confidentiality, or other reasons. If you wish to download a restricted item to PowerPoint and have been authorized to access it, you may need to log in to obtain that item. To access restricted items, enter your user name and password when the log-in prompt displays.

Figure 9: Log-in prompt.

About Compound Objects

Some of the items you retrieve may be made up of multiple images or pages logically associated in CONTENTdm to form compound objects. For example, the two sides of a postcard may comprise a compound object.

Compound objects display in results with a Select More Pages link in the far-right column.

Figure 10: Select More Pages link displays in the far-right column for compound objects.

By default, if the CONTENTdm item you select is a compound object, only the first item (or page) is downloaded. However, you can also select to download individual or multiple pages of a compound object by clicking the Select More Pages link.

To select pages of a compound object:

1. From your search results or My Favorites display, click Select More Pages for the compound object you want to include in your presentation. The Select More Pages dialog box displays.
   
   
   Figure 11: Selecting more pages of the compound object.
   
   
2. Select the pages that you want to download.
   Note: By default, the overall description of the compound object is downloaded as the metadata for the first page (rather than the metadata for the first page itself). To download the metadata for the first page and not the object-level metadata, clear the Download description of object's check box. (You can still specify which metadata fields to include in your presentation later in the plug-in screens.)
3. Click OK to save your specified pages and close the dialog box. The Search for Items screen displays, and you can continue selecting other items.

Importing Items from My Favorites

To import My Favorites into PowerPoint, you must first create a collection of Favorites.

Note: To save a selected CONTENTdm item to My Favorites, your Web browser privacy settings must allow cookies, and you must use Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, or Firefox 2.0 to save My Favorites.

To add an item to My Favorites in CONTENTdm:

1. Search or browse a CONTENTdm collection. When you open an item to view it, links to add items to My Favorites appear in the upper- and lower-left corners of the display pages.
   
   
   Figure 12: This example shows Add to Favorites in the lower left corner.
   
   
2. Click Add to Favorites. The image and its metadata are added to My Favorites.
3. When viewing documents, add whole documents by clicking Add Document to Favorites or add single pages by clicking Add Page to Favorites.
   
   
   Figure 13: The whole-document and single-page My Favorites options appear in the upper-left corner.
   
   
4. Click Back to Results to return to browsing or searching for more items to add.

To add multiple items to My Favorites:

1. From the browse or search-results view, place a check in the boxes to the left of the desired items or click Select All. The Select All link is in the upper- and lower-left corners of the display page.
   
   
   Figure 14: This example shows Select All in the upper-left corner.
   
   
2. Click Add to Favorites.
   Note: Only items on the current Web page can be added to My Favorites. In other words, you cannot select items on one results page, and then move to another page to select more items before adding the first page's selected items to My Favorites.

To import items from My Favorites:

1. After you have selected Import My Favorites on the Select Import Method screen, your Favorites are downloaded to the plug-in and displayed on the Choose Items from My Favorites screen.
   
   
   Figure 15: Favorites are displayed for selection.
   
   
2. All results are selected by default. Deselect any items you do not want to download to PowerPoint.
   Note: Your Favorites may include restricted items or compound objects. For more information about working with those types of items, see the previous sections.
3. Click Next to select your slide layout and metadata.

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Selecting Slide Layout & Choosing Metadata

After you have selected the items you want to download into your presentation, choose your slide layout and specify which metadata to include.

Selecting Slide Layout

On the Select Layout screen, first choose the number of images to include on each slide. (Images are automatically sized smaller when you choose to include more than one on each slide.) Then specify the metadata you want to include for each item.

Figure 16: Images are automatically sized smaller when layout is defined as more than one image per slide.

Choosing Metadata to Import

You can determine what item information you want to download into your presentation by clicking the Select Metadata Fields button on the Select Layout screen. All items have at least one metadata field that describes them - the Title field - and they may have others from which you can choose. If the item has other metadata fields in addition to the Title, the plug-in preselects commonly used fields, so choosing which fields you would like to include is an optional step.

To select metadata fields:

1. Click the Select Metadata Fields button on the Select Layout screen. The Select Metadata Fields to Export screen displays.
2. From the list of fields, uncheck any metadata you do not wish to download. If you have imported items from more than one collection, you can use the collection drop-down list to specify the metadata to include for each collection.
   
   
   Figure 17: Clear All and Select All offer convenient shortcuts when selecting metadata to download.
   
   
3. Click OK to save any changes. Click Close to close the dialog box without saving any changes.
4. On the Select Layout screen, click Download to download your selected items and associated metadata to PowerPoint.
   Note: Depending on the number and types of items you selected, downloading may take a few minutes. The Downloading Options screen displays a progress bar (you can stop downloading by clicking Cancel).
5. The Item Download Complete screen confirms the number of items downloaded.
   
   
   Figure 18: The number of items downloaded successfully is displayed.
   
   To import more items from the same or a different CONTENTdm collection or server, click Start Over on the Item Download Complete screen to display the Select Web Site screen again.
6. Click Finish on the Item Download Complete screen to close the plug-in and review your presentation.
   Note: If the plug-in does not support the file type of an item you selected for download - audio, video, MrSID, or PDF - you will receive a notification message and only the item metadata for the unsupported file type will be downloaded.
   
   Following is an example of a PowerPoint slide presenting one image with metadata from a CONTENTdm collection. You can edit your slides to include other information or formatting.
   
   
   Figure 19: PowerPoint slide showing one image with metadata.
   
   

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