PowerPoint Presentation to a CD on Old PC

Creating a PowerPoint presentation can take a lot of time and effort. After spending hours perfecting your slides, fonts, animations, and more, you’ll likely want to save your hard work to share with others or have as a backup. Burning your presentation to a CD is a great way to preserve and distribute your PowerPoint file.

However, if you have an older computer, you may run into compatibility issues when trying to burn a CD. Older operating systems and hardware can cause problems, but with a few tweaks you can often get a PowerPoint presentation burned to a disc. Here’s what you need to know.

Checking Compatibility on an Old PC

Before attempting to burn a CD, make sure your old PC has the necessary capabilities:

  • A CD burner – Most older computers have a CD drive that can write to blank discs. Check Device Manager or your computer manual to confirm.
  • Compatible software – Older versions of PowerPoint (before 2007) will likely work. Test opening and editing a sample presentation.
  • Sufficient storage space – PowerPoint files take up storage space quickly with images and videos. Make sure you have enough room on the hard drive.
  • Up-to-date drivers – Check for driver updates for critical components like the CD drive. Outdated drivers can prevent burning.

If your old PC passes these compatibility checks, you should be able to successfully burn a presentation.

Packaging the PowerPoint File

To keep all linked files and fonts together, use PowerPoint’s built-in “Package for CD” tool:

  • Click File > Package for CD in PowerPoint.
  • Select options like fonts and linked files to embed.
  • Type a CD name and choose “Copy to CD” to burn.

This consolidates all presentation files into one folder then burns it directly to a CD. It helps avoid missing files and fonts when viewing the presentation on another computer.

Burning Issues and Solutions

If you have trouble getting an old PC to burn a PowerPoint presentation, try these tips:

  • Update PowerPoint – Old versions may not support burning to CD properly. Try updating to a newer version.
  • Reduce file size – Delete unused slides/media. Compress images and video. This puts less strain on old hardware.
  • Use compatible media – Try different brands and types of blank CDs. Cheaper discs often cause issues.
  • Adjust compatibility mode – Access Properties for PowerPoint and set compatibility to an older Windows version like XP.
  • Clean the CD drive – Use a lens cleaner kit to clear dust. Dirty drives struggle reading and writing discs.

With some adjustments to the presentation itself and your computer’s settings, an older PC should be able to handle burning PowerPoint files without too much difficulty.

Alternative Options

If you still can’t get an old computer to cooperate with burning presentations, consider these alternatives:

  • Use external burner – Connect an external USB CD drive for burning instead of an internal one.
  • Convert to video – Export presentation as a WMV video file then burn to disc. This avoids compatibility issues.
  • Use cloud storage – Upload the PowerPoint file to cloud storage like Google Drive to access from other devices.
  • Copy to flash drive – Flash drives work similarly to CDs for transferring files between computers.

While burning a presentation directly from an old PC is ideal, these backup options allow you to still share important PowerPoint files when hardware won’t cooperate.

Preserving Old but Important Presentations

PowerPoint presentations often contain meaningful information – old family photos, special event slideshows, professional portfolios, and more. Don’t let an aging computer stop you from preserving those memories and important work.

With some effort and workarounds, you can likely get that old presentation burned to a durable CD. And if not, alternative storage options help you to still access the files for years to come. The most important thing is finding a way to save your presentation before software or hardware can no longer run it.