Overtype Powerpoint?

Question

Is there overtype in powerpoint 2011? If not, will there be an update so that there is? If there is where to I find it to turn it on?

Answer 1

>> The lack of the overtype function is a reason I generally refuse to translate PowerPoint docs of any length or complexity. I'm not going to recreate the formatting in a new doc, and adding text within the existing doc before deleting the existing text creates a giant mess.

While I agree that the loss of overtype is unfortunate, I think you may have missed Bob's point:

If you first select the text that you want to replace, then type the text you want to replace it with, you've overtyped the original for all intents and purposes, and in general the original formatting should be retained.  

I think you might actually find it less error-prone, in fact, since you can select exactly the word or phrase you're translating and type in the replacement this way; if the replacement word/phrase happens to be longer or shorter than the text in the original language, you don't end up overtyping or leaving behind unwanted characters.

Answer 2

Please don't be offended, but Overtype Mode is something that has been all but done away with - even in Word - for quite some time :-) It's still there in word processing but it's buried so deep you have to go out of your way to find it. Most users with less than 10 years of experience don't even know what it is. IIRC, it never was available in PPT & I seriously doubt it will ever be added. It often presents problems & inconvenience for even its most experienced users.

FWIW, I've found that keyboard selection methods as well as those available using a mouse are far more accurate & infinitely more efficient. Being able to select exactly what needs to be replaced & simply typing exactly what's needed in its place without ever leaving Insert Mode - then having to switch back at the right time - really enhances productivity. Granted, there is a 'learning curve' for those who are accustomed to relying on Overtype, but IMHO it's well worth the effort.

If you aren't familiar with the techniques I'm referring to have a look at the Help information on PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts... particularly those for Editing text and objects & Moving around in text:

PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts

Regards,

Bob J.

Answer 3

Heh, sorry, but the non-translators are missing the translators' point.

We don't want to delete text and substitute our own. We want to see the text we are substituting ours for, as we do it.

If we have deleted the text we are translating, we can no longer see it. We can't actually memorize a document sentence by sentence - look at a sentence, memorize it, delete it, then type the equivalent in the new language.

We do use a mix of overtype and insert, since yes, lengths vary, and also word/phrase order differs -- so, for instance, I may start out a sentence in insert mode (because a phrase that is mid-sentence in the French needs to be at the beginning of the sentence in the English, but I don't want to type over the part of the sentence it will then precede), and then switch to overtype for the rest of the sentence and delete the straggling bits at the end of the original sentence, then start over on the next one. Because the order often varies, we do not work one word or phrase at a time, which would be insanely time-consuming anyway: delete a word/phrase, type the corresponding word/phrase, delete the next word/phrase, type the corresponding word/phrase ... aieee.

Trust us when we say what *we* need. ;) No, we would not find that process less error-prone. I've been translating for nigh on 40 years, and I know what works and what doesn't!

The thing here is that, like many things in this world, PowerPoint has been designed for USAmerican users. Translation is not a big factor for them. Out here in the rest of the universe, many users work in more than one language - multinational corporations, international organizations, public and private sector entities in bilingual/multilingual countries, etc. For instance, I am about to start working on an 80-slide PPT presentation by a Canadian law firm for a bilingual (FR/EN) conference on recent developments in corporate law. A US law firm would seldom have similar materials translated; in Canada, this kind of material, whether from government, bar associations, law firms or academics, will commonly be translated from French to English or vice versa. Translation really is a big factor for many users.

By the way (re the original answer here), as far as I know (although I am not using the latest Word), overtype is still readily accessible in Word. The day it is done away with is the day I retire!

Those of us who have investigated this flaw in PPT have resigned ourselves to it, but I'm sure that new translators will continue to come along and wonder why this useful - virtually essential - function has been omitted from it. Q&As like this at least answer the question of how to find the function: it isn't there.

Answer 4

Are you kidding me?  If we're being technical ... It's so incredibly inefficient to take my hands off the keyboard to move the mouse and select any amount of data when I can just ... TYPE ...  I'm so done with Microsoft.  I've actually researched what it would take to run Android on my laptop -- Not my "notebook" or tablet, my actual PC.  JUST so I can get work done without the irritations of Mr. Gates.

/FrustratedWithInefficientTechnology

have a nice day!

:)

Answer 5

Just fyi, this answer was helpful to the extent that it confirmed that the function does not exist, but not helpful in that it dismissed the question itself.

I too am a translator. Like virtually all other translators, I depend on overtype mode for doing my work. (Creating a Word doc from a PDF or hard copy original is the annoying exception to our work, for which we prefer working *within* an existing Word doc using overtype mode.)

The lack of the overtype function is a reason I generally refuse to translate PowerPoint docs of any length or complexity. I'm not going to recreate the formatting in a new doc, and adding text within the existing doc before deleting the existing text creates a giant mess.

Just so's you know.