Reader D. Rogers Asked:

“Is there a way to embed a powerpoint document in Outlook so that you can actually view the presentation from the body of the email?”

Yes there is! If you are using Outlook 2007 there is a built-in preview function. There are two ways to use it.

I personally like to use the Reading Pane function in Outlook (set to the right) to see the entire body of an email message I have selected. To enable this option open Outlook and select View -> Reading Pane:

Then, click on an email in your inbox that contains a PowerPoint attachment (or a Word Document or Excel File) and you will see the following warning:

Selecting Preview File will start the preview engine and you will see the contents of the attachments right in the the email message itself!

If you choose not to use the reading pane, you can open any email with a previewable attachment and you will get the same option to preview the file:

Select Preview File and and you never have to fire up PowerPoint, Word, Excel, etc – the contents of the file will be viewed right in the email body!

I received a request for the following how-to: “I want to embed an outlook calendar entry in a document to allow people to click on the object to add an event to their outlook calendar. How do you do that?”

So you want to create a Word / Excel / PowerPoint document and embed a calendar event in it? No Problem!

1. Create a new calender entry / event in Outlook

2. Click on the entry so it is highlighted or selected and then click FILE -> SAVE AS

3. Save it as an “iCalendar Format” or “vCalendar Format” type document. I saved mine to my desktop.

4. Open Word (or Excel, Or PowerPoint, etc) and there are several ways to embed the file:

a. Drag the file from your desktop into the document. This gives you the least amount of control over the format.

b. Choose INSERT -> OBJECT -> CREATE FROM FILE. Browse to the file and select it, and choose the “Display as Icon” option. If you have an icon you prefer select it. (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12 has the office icons)

You now have an icon embedded in your document. You can right click on it to rename it (Select Package Object). When another user double clicks it their calendar event will open. All they have to do is select SAVE AND CLOSE!

Keep in mind, you can also email the file you saved to your desktop as well!