Convert a PowerPoint (ppt) Into a Flash (swf) Animation With OpenOffice Impress

Turn your powerpoint slideshow into an Adobe Flash file that can easily be added to web pages. You can do it for free using OpenOffice.

Steps

Run the OpenOffice Impress program
Click the File tab and then Open and select your previously created Powerpoint (.ppt) file.
After the ppt is opened, on the File tab click export and select the location it will be saved as on your Computer.
Select .swf on the export as menu and click OK
You can open the .swf in your Internet Explorer browser to view. If there is a yellow box warning about an activeX control, right-click and click allow blocked content.
Clicking on the slide in the .swf will make it go to the next slide

Don't spend time on animations in powerpoint if you are only planning on converting it to an .swf as animations will not be included in the .swf file

Creating the .swf files for free requires downloading and installing the free open-source office suite alternative to Microsoft's Office, from OpenOffice.org. By all means it is worth it.
Powerpoints saved as .swf files lose some if not all of the animations you added to words and pictures (eg. Fade In/Out)