Powerpoint: how to insert document property (aka 'field') in slide?

Question

How can I insert a document property (e.g. the author's name) in a slide in PowerPoint 2007? I know this can be done in Microsoft Word, but I can't find how to do it in PowerPoint.

(The idea is that with a document property it is easy to change e.g. the content of the footer in all the slides, even if you use different master pages. If there is a different solution, that would be fine as well.)

Answer 1

While Word can do this, PowerPoint can't. AFAIK, you can have document properties in PPT, but you cannot insert them on a slide. The only updating field available for PowerPoint is the date and slide number. Anyway, there could be some workaround in VBA to achieve this. You can ask this on Stackoverflow to take your chance.

Answer 2

A workaround is to use custom properties that you can easily "Go To" (no need to wade through slides).

From http://msdn.itags.org/powerpoint/4426/ :

1. Select shape or text that you want to set a bookmark to.
2. Select File | Properties... and activate the Custom tab.
3. Type a name for the bookmark.
4. Tick 'Link to content'. The value that is listed in the adjacent dropdown box when you tick 'Link to content' is a reference to your selection.
5. Click Add.
6. Click OK to close the Properties dialog.

Now that you have created a bookmark, you can jump to it as follows:
1. Select Edit | Goto Property...
2. Click the Property name from the dialog (this is the name you gave to the bookmark).
3. Click on Go to.

The "Go To" dialog presents you a list of bookmarks you can double-click, and goes to your favorite textboxes, ready to be edited / pasted to.

Answer 3

The easiest way to do this in Powerpoint (at least for values that will appear on every slide) is to edit the slide master. Put the author name there.

(A possible reason that Word lets you, and none of the others do, is that the various teams at Microsoft rarely talk to each other...)