SlideFab 2 version 8.0 brings a couple of small new features. First of all, it is possible to let SlideFab write Excel content into the notes area of all created output slide. Secondly, there is a new feature to disable the Refresh All to improve performance. Thirdly, when using the decomposition feature, it is possible to additionally save the parts in PDF format.
New features
Slide notes
In order to let SlideFab write into the slide notes, not much is required. In the slide linking pane all it requires is a link to an Excel cell within the Slide notes input field. During the automation process SlideFab will write the content of the linked cell into the slide notes area at the bottom of PowerPoint. This supports formulas, of course.
Disable Refresh All
The need to disable Refresh All during slide making originated from the wish for performance improvement. Actually, letting SlideFab refresh the data connections for external sources during slide making is pretty neat. The reason is that when these external data sources are queried based on the Master Cell, then refreshing the data sources extends the power of the SlideFab automation. However, when this is not the case, because all data is already available for all loop candidates, then this refresh is superfluous. It does not add any value and only costs time. For such a cases this Refresh All during slide making can be disabled via the Advanced pane.
However, this does not refresh filtered Pivot tables (cf. SlideFab 2 v 7.0 update) anymore. For these cases, it is possible to exclude external data sources from the Refresh All call via Excel settings (ribbon -> Data tab -> Queries and Connections -> right click the external data source in the opened pane, go to Properties… and then untick “Refresh this connection on Refresh All”).
Additional PDF output
The last novelty is an option within the Advanced pane for the file decomposition feature. “Save also as PDF” does exactly what it says. But this applies only to the slide decomposition feature and does not affect the “PowerPoint destination file” which is there in order to save all created slides into one output file.
Bugfixes in version 8.0:
- In some cases SlideFab had issues decomposing the created slides into multiple presentations. This was caused by trying this on a network path (starting with \\) or a Sharepoint/OneDrive path (starting with https://). The implemented fix now tries to obtain the ordinary disk drive path (starting with C:\ in most cases).
This new version is available at the download page. Already installed SlideFab updates automatically.