Purpose

The add-in provides a variety of capabilities missing from PowerPoint itself.  During a slideshow, it can:

Show the current time

Show the elapsed time of the presentation

Count down the time remaining for the presentation. Optionally, it includes the ability to terminate the presentation at the end of a separately configurable grace period!

The time display is easily customized as shown in the Customization and Configuration section.

Customization and Configuration

There are two aspects to the customization of the display.  The first is how the information is shown, the second is what is shown.

Customizing the time display format

Configuring what to show

Customizing the display format

The add-in displays the user selected time information with the use of a custom textbox that it adds to every slide.  Putting the textbox on each slide adds tremendous flexibility in terms of how the time is displayed -- or not displayed -- on a slide-by-slide basis.  At the same time, this customization is completely optional.  If during a slideshow no custom textbox is available on a slide, the add-in will create and use a default box.

Customizing the display format is a two-step process, with an optional third step.

Saving the customized formatting is optional.  See the Configuring what to show section for more.

First, add the textbox needed for the time display.  In 2003 or earlier, this is done through the menu item TM | Customize Timer > Add Timer Item In 2007 this is done through TM tab | PowerPoint Timer group | Add Timer Item button.
The result is a textbox on the slide as shown on the right.
Format the text as desired (Font, Size, Color, etc.)  Move the textbox as desired.  In the example on the right, the textbox was moved to the top-left corner of the slide and the text formatted as Arial size 18 in Green.
Second, once the textbox is satisfactorily formatted, in 2003 use the TM | Customize Timer > Copy Timer Item menu item to duplicate this textbox on all existing slides. In 2007 this is done through TM tab | PowerPoint Timer group | Add Timer Item button.
Third, and this is strictly optional, customize the textbox on individual slides.  This is particularly useful if yu do not want to show the time on a specific slide.  Just select the textbox and move it off the slide.

Configuring what to show

As mentioned in the section on Purpose, the add-in can show either the time of the day, the elapsed time of the presentation, or a countdown timer for the presentation.  This is configured through the Presentation Timer dialog box.

In 2003, use TM | Presentation Timer... to access the dialog box. In 2007 use TM tab | PowerPoint Timer group | Set Parameters button. Select the desired display from the option buttons in the Select Option section.  Specify how often the display is updated while the slide show is running. The section at the left-hand bottom is specifically for use with the Count down Timer option.  It lets one configure various countdown options, including the ability to forcibly end the show after a grace period that starts after the regular countdown reaches zero.

The options on the bottom right let one customize how the timer box is handled by the add-in.  These features are new to version 3 of the add-in. Select Add timer to slides as necessary to add the timer box to a slide that does not have a custom box in it.  Selecting this box provides the same behavior as the previous version. The Post slide show processing options deal with how the add-in handles the timer textbox after a slide show is over.  Selecting the last item Delete all timer displays maintains compatibility with the previous version of the add-in.

Use during a slideshow

The customization and configuration selected before the slide show control what time element is shown on each slide and how it is shown.  Also, if the 'force end of show' option of the countdown timer is in effect, the slide show will be stopped at the end of the grace period.

Register the add-in

For those versions of the add-in that require registration after a trial period, please follow the instructions to register the product.

Contact the author

You can reach the author through his web site at www.tushar-mehta.com