Print slides without dark background in OpenOffice

Some speakers provide Powerpoint .PPT slides with a dark background, which wastes a lot of ink when you print them off. Or slides with yellow text on a white background, which are near impossible to read.

Previously I blogged about how to print Powerpoint slides without the dark background and similarly how to solve the too-light text issue, when you print them in Microsoft Powerpoint.

Here's another tip: you can do the same thing using the free open source office suite OpenOffice too - Impress being the component of OpenOffice that you use for preparing and viewing presentation slides. Impress can open Powerpoint .PPT slides. (Download OpenOffice.)

To print out PPT slides minus the dark background in Impress:

1. Open the slides
2. Menu File >Print
3. Click the Options button:
   
   
4. Under Quality, pick Black and White, then OK.
   
   

In case you worry, it shouldn't print out the dark background as black, the background will be converted to a white background, with the text in black. Much more easy to read, and more environmentally (and pocket) friendly.

Tags: Powerpoint, print, printing, presentations, slides, environment, green, Improbulus, A Consuming Experience