A common question I hear is “how can I put my PowerPoint presentation on a kiosk?” While PowerPoint does have a “kiosk mode” it’s not secure enough for an unattended environment like a self-service kiosk.
A fairly simple workaround is to take advantage of the free Google Docs service which allows you to view your PowerPoint presentation from a web browser.
Once your PowerPoint presentation is published to the web in Google Docs it’s simply a matter of using kiosk software to lockdown your kiosk and prevent malicious user tampering.
The simplest way to create your kiosk screens if your not a developer is to create a slideshow with buttons that allow you to jump between slides.
Options for creating your slides
Option 1 is to create your slideshow in PowerPoint. For people already familiar with PowerPoint this will be your best option.
Once you’ve created your PowerPoint presentation you’ll still need to publish it to Google Docs in order to make it viewable online. The advantage of using PowerPoint is that it’s more feature rich than directly creating the presentation in Google Docs but it also involves this extra step.
Option 2 is to create your slideshow in Google Docs. It’s pretty trivial to create your slideshow in Google Docs using Google Slides.
This service is much more limited than PowerPoint, but still has all the basic functionality you’ll need for your kiosk and saves you the step of having to convert your PowerPoint presentation to a Google document.
Getting your PowerPoint online with Google Docs
Assuming you created your presentation in PowerPoint and need to publish it to Google Docs then the first step is to signup for a Google Account if you don’t already have one.
Once you signup you’ll have access to the free Google Docs service. Google Docs allows you to create slideshow presentations which you can view from a web browser.
The following video shows how to import your PowerPoint presentation into Google Docs after you create a new slideshow.
Next we need to publish the slideshow so that we can embed it in our website.
You’ll receive an embed code like the following which you’ll want to save to your local computer with a .html extension as shown in the above video.
<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15PO4CJBCRrqVSL-cEmy9ZuTXfRgSnt9le2VwQv90GlU/embed?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000" frameborder="0" width="960" height="569" allowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true" chrome="false"></iframe>
Now you’re ready to put your PowerPoint presentation on your kiosk.
Putting your PowerPoint presentation on your kiosk with KioskSimple
Now that you have the embed code from Google Docs saved as a local webpage you’re ready to put your PowerPoint presentation on your kiosk.
We make it really simple to run your website in “kiosk mode” with KioskSimple. Just complete the following steps and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Before getting started you’ll need to install the free demo of KioskSimple.
Configure KioskSimple to run your PowerPoint presentation:
- Run the KioskSimple configuration tool
- Select the BROWSER left menu
- Select JAVASCRIPT
- Under Start-up Web Page enter the path of the local file you just created (i.e. “file:///C:/ProgramData/RedSwimmer/KioskSimple/MyPowerPoint.html”)
- Save your settings and close the configuration tool
- Start KioskSimple in Test Mode and you should see your PowerPoint presentation on your kiosk!
Got Questions?
Please contact us if you need help getting your PowerPoint presentation working on your kiosk.
We’re dedicated to making your next kiosk project a success and are happy to hold your hand and help you get up and running quickly.
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