Quickstart to SlideFab 2: This is how it works

Providing a quickstart for SlideFab 2 is a rather difficult topic. This is because of the fact that SlideFab has the same characteristic as Excel and PowerPoint: There are so many things possible and there is no one size fits all approach.

These are the steps required to set up SlideFab

1) Connecting the PowerPoint template presentation with an Excel workbook

The first step to use SlideFab is to go to PowerPoint and use the “Excel: Ready” button to open up an existing workbook or to connect it to the active workbook (if Excel is running).

2) Defining the iteration loop

One of the concepts in SlideFab 2 is that the same template slides can be created with different data over and over again. Therefor, SlideFab 2 needs to know two things:

What cell in Excel defines the current loop? This is called the “Loop Master Cell”.
In what Excel range are the entries to repeat? This is called the “Loop Candidates Range”.

Define these two and the software will create you as many slides and presentations as you wish. Basically, it works as follows: SlideFab iterates the entries in the Candidates Range and puts their value into the Master Cell. Of course, your formulas should build upon the Master Cell to get the right content, e.g. using VLookup or Index/Match.

3) Linking your PowerPoint shapes to Excel

Basically, to connect PowerPoint with Excel, there are only three steps required:

Select a PowerPoint shape
Choose the Excel range
Click the SlideFab crosshair icon

Easy, isn’t it?! Creating a “Hello World” project takes less than two minutes.

4) Starting the slide creation

With the links being set up between PowerPoint shapes and Excel ranges and also with the iteration loop in place, it is now time to make some slides. All you have to do is to click “Start” in the slide making window.

These four steps give a first impression on how it works. Even better, some nifty customization tricks most people haven’t heard of make SlideFab 2 a real asset.