PPT: Can't Create EPS File if Using Windows NT PostScript Driver

You cannot create Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files from Microsoft PowerPoint if you are using the Microsoft Windows NT Workstation PostScript printer driver. In contrast, if you run these versions of PowerPoint on Windows 95 or PowerPoint 4.0 on a computer running Microsoft Windows 3.1, you can create EPS files using the Windows PostScript printer driver.

The Windows NT PostScript printer drivers send the output directly to the PostScript printer. They cannot be configured to print to EPS files. This functionality is different from the Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 PostScript printer drivers that can be configured to print to EPS files instead of directly to the PostScript printer.

To work around this problem, create a PostScript print file (also called PostScript dump or PS file) from Windows NT. In many cases, you can use a PostScript print file instead of an EPS file. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Print.
2. Click to select the Print To File check box.

You can also convert PowerPoint slides to Windows Metafile (.wmf), Portable Network Graphics (PNG), CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), or Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPEG) files. If you have a graphics program that can create EPS files, you can export your slides from PowerPoint in one of these formats and import them into a graphics program. You can then use that graphics program to create the EPS files.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Windows NT Workstation, versions 3.51 and 4.0.

PostScript is a page description language that is used by a large number of printers, including most image-setters and large format color printers.

A PostScript file is a file that contains a collection of PostScript commands necessary to print one or more pages to a device that uses the PostScript page description language. To use a PostScript file, you simply copy the file to the device. PostScript files are not designed to be placed or imported into other programs.

An EPS file, on the other hand, contains additional information. EPS files are designed to be opened in a graphics program or placed in a word processing or desktop publishing program and printed from there. Unlike a PostScript file, an EPS file can only contain the information needed to print a single page. To use a PostScript file, you should insert it into a document created in another program and print it from that program. EPS files are not designed to be copied directly to a PostScript device.