Perspector™ Release Notes

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Created Perspector Lists as a subset of Perspector Standard Edition. This features insertion of new 3D lists and conversion of existing PowerPoint bullet lists.

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Added a Getting Started Guide to show how Perspector works with PowerPoint.

2

Enhancement

Added a dedicated "Insert List" command.

3

Enhancement

When a library image is inserted, allow a choice of using the original library colors or the current presentation colour scheme.

4

Enhancement

Improved some of the buttons on the Pespector Add-in toolbar and Pespector Panel.

5

Fix

The Office-style color selection dialog box does not work properly when 16-bit color depth is used.

6

Fix

Images, pictures and picture fills are distorted if the default PowerPoint AutoShape style has a shadow format.

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Added a "Save as Picture..." command to save the image in different file formats: PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP. The command is available from the Image menu.

2

Enhancement

For color selection, use an Office-style color selection picker.

3

Fix

Hang when trying to insert one of these shapes: Sphere, Rounded Rectangle, Octagon, Plaque, Double Bracket, Double Brace, Alternate Process, or any of the Corner Rectangles.

4

Fix

Rare crash related to toolbar settings.

5

Fix

Animated images generated using the best quality setting have a line around them.

6

Fix

Converted connectors and lines aren't visible.

7

Enhancement

Added new shortcut keys:

   Ctrl+Shift+C – copy the shape format
   Ctrl+Shift+V – paste the shape format

   Ctrl+Shift+G – group the selected shapes
   Ctrl+Shift+H – ungroup

   Ctrl+T – show the Font dialog box
   Ctrl+Shift+P – change the font size
   Ctrl+Shift+F – change the font

8

Enhancement

Added ability to move connectors with the cursor keys.

9

Enhancement

Simplified the buttons used to set whether a shape uses international characters, or just Western European characters.

10

Enhancement

Ensure shapes with "International Text" characters always have a fill color, as they require a fill for the text to be drawn.

11

Fix

Unable to select images with identical names in the "Edit Perspector Image" dialog box.

12

Fix

Conversions of lists use incorrect sizes when the original list is in a narrow PowerPoint placeholder.

13

Fix

Using Change Shape makes the shape forget its "International Text" setting.

14

Fix

On converted shapes, elipsis characters are shown as ampersands.

15

Fix

With the "Slide Objects Sideways" toggle on, the blue handle doesn't always work as expected.

16

Fix

Connectors disappear after setting the Size/Position values in the Format Shape dialog box.

17

Fix

Vertical text alignment isn't available with multiple selections.

18

Fix

The "Fill Color", "Line Color" and "Font Color" menus have incorrect titles when torn off.

Item

Type

Description

1

Fix

Crash on re-opening a chart after the first row or column shape in a series was deleted.

2

Fix

The "User Images" category is listed more times than it should be in the Category list of the Library pane.

3

Enhancement

Allow lines to be added around placeholders / slide images.

4

Enhancement

In the download pane, allow all new images to be listed together. Previously you could select "All images except layouts", and "Layouts", but not both together.

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Added advanced list styles with these modifiable properties: list orientation, space between list items, offset between list items, rotation of list items, linear and non-linear growth of list items.

2

Enhancement

PowerPoint bullet lists can be converted into Perspector lists, by picking which style of list to use.

3

Enhancement

Added cursor key movement between list items while editing them.

4

Enhancement

Added the ability to create and delete list items by editing the list text.

5

Enhancement

Added the ability to use presentation color scheme colors, which can be updated if the scheme changes.

6

Enhancement

Renamed "frame" to "image" throughout Perspector, and renamed the "Perspector Frame" window to "Perspector Editor".

7

Enhancement

Added a 30 day, watermark-free trial period.

8

Enhancement

Added clearer handling if the Professional Edition is being evaluated on a licensed copy of Perspector Standard Edition.

9

Enhancement

Added the ability to create new lists.

10

Enhancement

Lists can be inserted from the Perspector Library.

11

Enhancement

New lists can be created from existing shapes or slide/image placeholders.

12

Enhancement

A range of colors can be applied to a list by changing the first item and the last item.

13

Enhancement

Added "lighter" and "darker" properties for shape fill colors – useful for adjustments to color scheme colors.

14

Enhancement

Added a "Contrast with Fill Color" toggle which automatically adjusts text color if the text would appear too similar to the fill color behind it.

15

Enhancement

Added ability to change line spacing and before/after paragraph spacing.

16

Enhancement

Copying shapes to the clipboard now also copies the shape text to the Windows clipboard.

17

Enhancement

The "Special Text Toolbar" has been renamed as "Text Toolbar", and has redesigned icons.

18

Enhancement

Vertical text alignment now available from the Text Toolbar.

19

Enhancement

Text positioning now available for non-Unicode text (available on the Text Toolbar).

20

Enhancement

Shapes can be aligned to front / back / depth center.

21

Enhancement

Moved the Perspector Library files from the installation folder to the local application data folder.

22

Enhancement

When downloading images, show a more helpful message if an internet connection could not be established, and open the library folder.

23

Enhancement

In the "Insert image from the Perspector Library" task link, exclude layouts by default.

24

Enhancement

Do not show a feedback message after a single frame is updated or improved.

25

Enhancement

Fractional values can be entered for line weights in the Colors and Lines property page.

26

Enhancement

Redesigned the update buttons on the add-in toolbar to make them more recognizable.

27

Fix

Temporary files can be left behind.

28

Fix

Open a second presentation while editing an image prevents the window from being able to close.

29

Fix

Connectors created before the items they connect do not stay connected.

30

Fix

Cannot remove a picture from a grouped shape without ungrouping.

31

Fix

Setting the line width on a group of shapes changes the line colors to black.

32

Fix

Format painter from a group or grouped item does not set the fill/line/font colors correctly.

33

Fix

Nudge text does not work with groups or grouped items.

34

Fix

Unicode cannot be set on groups or grouped items.

35

Fix

The "Select Variation" dialog box might become hidden after the positioning mode is changed.

36

Fix

Failure to convert a certain line shape on PowerPoint 2007.

37

Fix

With PowerPoint 2007, with the ribbon minimized, the menu is off the top of the screen.

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Perspector images can be added to a "User's Images" section in the Perspector Library, and can then be inserted into any presentation at a later time.

2

Enhancement

In charts, changes to data shape colors are maintained if the chart values are changed.

3

Enhancement

In charts, the color of the bar/column chart background is updated if the presentation color scheme changes.

4

Fix

Unable to use Excel chart data after closing and re-opening Excel.

5

Fix

Changes to linked slides are not being picked-up.

6

Fix

Memory leaks occur with slide images.

7

Fix

Upon enabling animation, "Picture file not found" is shown on a picture in a placeholder.

8

Fix

Inserting a slide with a picture with transparent areas, the transparent areas are solid.

9

Fix

Inserting a slide image without background, the text (with no fill) has a solid background.

10

Fix

Inserting a slide as shapes using "stretch to fill", the text size on shapes is not stretched.

11

Fix

After resizing a placeholder and inserting a slide as shapes, the text size on shapes does not match the slide.

12

Fix

Inserting a slide image on PowerPoint 2007, the edges of the slides might be visible.

13

Fix

Inserting a slide as shapes on PowerPoint 2007, the wrong master is used and placeholders are shown.

14

Fix

In the Select Slide dialog box, toggling "include background" does not update the preview.

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Ignore empty rows and columns when inserting chart data from Excel.

2

Fix

Removed problems of storing Perspector scenes with lots of data.

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Added ability to enter chart data directly (in addition to using an Excel spreadsheet or a PowerPoint table).

2

Enhancement

Modify chart data while editing a chart, including inserting or deleting series and categories.

3

Enhancement

Charts now take data where the series are in rows or in columns. This setting can also be toggled while editing a chart.

4

Fix

Draw pie charts with 1 slice correctly.

5

Fix

Fix the positioning of horizontal bar charts with 1 series. Previously these went outside the top edge of the frame by default.

Item

Type

Description

1

Fix

The Perspector Panel and PowerPoint froze when the '3 Section Cycle' diagram was inserted.

Item

Type

Description

1

Fix

There were situations where the data slide could not be found and so pictures within existing Perspector frames would not be shown. Improved the ability to find the data slide in these situations.

Item

Type

Description

1

Fix

When inserting slide images, don't leave files behind in the same directory as the presentation file.

Item

Type

Description

1

Fix

For some installations, Perspector 3.1.1 would not start on Windows 2000.

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Insert PNG and TIFF pictures.

2

Enhancement

Do not show transparent areas of inserted pictures (not PowerPoint 2000).

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Ensured Windows Vista compatibility.

2

Enhancement

The edit window has a transparent background so the slide beneath the window can be seen.

3

Enhancement

Removed the need to resize the frame edit window: generated images are now automatically sized. By default the edit window now covers the whole slide. (The previous behaviour can be achieved with the expert user setting: Frame, Allow manual size and position.)

4

Enhancement

Added balloon tooltips to all menu and toolbar items in the Perspector window. These provide a fuller explanation of each command.

5

Enhancement

The edit button on the add-in toolbar now works without selecting a Perpsector frame first. If there is more than 1 frame on the slide, a choice of frames is shown.

6

Enhancement

Added "Edit Perspector image" link to the panel.

7

Enhancement

Added new rectangle shapes with snipped and rounded corners.

8

Fix

Various fixes.

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Slides can be inserted into placeholders without their backgrounds/masters. Shapes can be positioned within the placeholder.

2

Enhancement

Slide placeholders have been extended to be content placeholders. These can now contain pictures as well as slides.

3

Enhancement

When importing slides as shapes, non-overlapping shapes are inserted at the same z-depth level.

Item

Type

Description

1

Fix

Running with PowerPoint 2007, newly drawn shapes were not visible.

2

Fix

Running with PowerPoint 2007, generated images always had an opaque background.

3

Fix

Running with PowerPoint 2007, while editing an image, clicking the PowerPoint window would hide the Perspector window.

4

Fix

Running with PowerPoint 2007, the Perspector Panel was not connected to the PowerPoint window.

5

Enhancement

Made the Edit button on the Perspector add-in toolbar more prominent because double-click does not work with PowerPoint 2007.

Item

Type

Description

1

Fix

Changing the selection in PowerPoint with the panel open is now quicker and the focus will now not change to the panel accidentally.

Item

Type

Description

1

Fix

With some graphics cards, some shapes were drawn inside-out.

2

Fix

Choosing a library image variation prompted to discard changes even if there were no changes to the image.

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Made Unicode text look sharper.

2

Fix

Enabled non-English Western European characters to be entered without needing to switch to Unicode. This used to be in Perspector 2, but was accidentally omitted from Perspector 3.0.0.

3

Fix

To reflect change item 2, updated the Special Text Toolbar button icons to not use an accented Western European character to symbolize Unicode characters.

4

Fix

Closing the Perspector Frame window immediately after inserting a library image (or chart) closed without asking if the user would like to keep changes.

5

Fix

If no objects are selected then fill, line and font color options are now not shown.

6

Fix

Prevented a rare crash to do with display contexts.

7

Enhancement

Renamed panel task link "Get the most out of Perspector" to "See Perspector tips online".

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Added a Chart menu to the Perspector Frame window.

2

Fix

For all of the chart panes, the panel name now says "Insert Chart" instead of "Chart - Data Source".

Item

Type

Description

1

Enhancement

Added a link to the start-up evaluation dialog box to show the differences between the Standard and Professional Editions.

2

Enhancement

Made the evaluation mask sharper, gave it a consistent size, and gave it a partially transparent look.