NovaMind 5 for Mac gets Presentation Slides Export capabilities

In the latest beta release of NovaMind 5.4, you can export the slides from your presentation to images.

This is useful if you need to have images of the slides to send to people, or if you need to create presentations in other programs such as Keynote or Powerpoint, using your Mind Maps.

This is available in the Platinum edition of NovaMind 5.4, and you can download the beta from here: http://downloads.novamind.com/novamind5/mac/NovaMind540b6.dmg

How to export your slides

This can be achieved either by using the File / Export option on the menu, or from within the presentation slides panel context menu. If you are using the menu, you can export just the slides selected in the presentation slides panel by holding down the Option key while using the export menu (you will see the title of the menu item change accordingly). If you want to use the presentation slides panel directly, just right click on it and you will be able to export from there, and if you have any slides selected, you will also be able to export just the selected slides.

When you export slides, an open panel will be shown, allowing you to select the folder in which you want to put your slide images. You don’t need to worry about the contents of this folder, since the export creates a new folder within the selected folder for the exported images. The new folder will be named according to the name of the NovaMind file you are exporting from if you have saved it, or the title of the first Mind Map in the file. If a file or folder of that name already exists, it will start adding numbers after the name until it finds an unused name, and then creates that folder, so as to not disturb anything already there. The slides are exported to the newly created folder, and at the end of the export process, that folder is opened in the Finder.

The panel has an accessory view like this:

The first section allows you to choose which slides to include in the export. If you select All Slides, it will include all the slides you have created. If you select the Slides: option, you will be able to type in the slide numbers you want to export using comma separated values or slide ranges, as shown on the panel. If you have chosen to export only selected slides (as described above), the Slides: option will already be selected, and the slide numbers field will already be pre-populated with the slides you had selected.

If you choose to include the intro slide, then the title and subtitle will be used according to your presentation setup, and if you have checked the “Help spread the word” option, there will be a small “Created using NovaMind” text in the bottom right corner of the intro slide image.

If you export the intro slide, it will be numbered 0 in the exports, and each other slide will be named according to the slide number.

When you export, you can set the size of the files that are produced either according to the popup, or if you choose the custom size, you will be able to set the width and height in the text fields below the popup.

In the options, you can choose to export the Mind Map background as part of the image, in which case, the images get produced with the backgrounds you have set for those Mind Maps. If you choose this option, and also produce an intro slide, the intro slide will be colored according to the average color of the first Mind Map’s background, and the text will be either black or white, according to the most contrasting color for the background that is used.

If you decide not to export with the background, the image produced will have a transparent background, so you can include it in other presentation software like Keynote or PowerPoint. There are two options if you are exporting without a background: Export for light background and Export for dark background. This determines the coloring of automatic colored text and link lines – the automatic coloring will be white if you choose to export for a dark background, or black if you are exporting for a dark background. This means it will show up nicely when you place it in your other documents.

Creating a Keynote presentation from your exported slides

• Create a Keynote presentation using the theme you want to use.
• In the Masters options, choose Blank (if you don’t do this, it will put default content boxes on each of your slides).
• Select all the exported slide images, and drag them onto the slides sidebar (not on to a slide).
• Set up your transitions (usually a crossfade looks good). Note that when you first drag on the slides to add them, they are all selected (they have a yellow border in the slide selector), so when you set the transition in the inspector, it will apply to all the slides, but you can select single or multiple slides to use different transitions if you like.
• Run your presentation.

Creating a Powerpoint presentation from your exported slides

The following instructions require Powerpoint 2008 or later.

• Open Automator (it’s in your Applications folder).
• When Automator opens, you’ll see a “Choose a type for your document” dialog. Click “Application” then click “Choose”.
• In the search box next to “Variables” type “Ask for Finder Items” (the Actions item should be selected).
• Drag “Ask for Finder Items” to the right, into the workflow area.
• Put a check next to “Allow Multiple Selection” in the “Ask for Finder items” item you just added.
• Go back to the search box and type “Create PowerPoint Picture Slide Shows”. Add that item to the workflow.
• Choose File | Save. Give the Automator application a name and save it to any convenient location.

Now whenever you want to create a presentation from your slides, double click the application, choose the images you want to use and click Choose, and your presentation will be created.