Sometimes, it’s unthinkable to imagine life without remotes. Just think about watching TV or controlling the controls of your DVD player without a remote. Now we even have remote controls for switching electrical devices in one’s home. Then why not extend this functionality to PowerPoint presentations using Windows Phone 8 as your remote!
Using WP 8, WP 7.5, or WP 7 as a remote, you can perform basic functions with a PPT, such as going to the next slide, previous slides, stopping your presentation, or giving a temporary blank screen.
How to Remote Control Your Office 2013 PPT with Windows Phone 8?
The basic requirements are as follows:
Download PC Remote Server on your Windows machine. This application acts like a server for the wireless network between your PC and Windows Phone. Once you download the PC Remote Server and install it on your computer, you can leave the default settings for the software. This statement is true if your phone is on the same network as your computer and also if a wireless network is available.
If your phone and PC are on different networks or there’s no Wi-Fi, use the “HotSpot” setting. Initially, the status will be “Unable to connect to Wi-Fi service.” The hotspot server must then be started by clicking the “Start Hotspot” button. Also, there will be a “key” generated, which you need to re-enter in your Windows Phone.
Note: This “Hubspot” is only useful if your default settings don’t work.
Download PowerPoint Remote on your Windows Phone 8. This app acts like a client for your network connection. If you are using the “HotSpot” setting, just enter the key that was generated earlier.
Now launch the client on your WP 8. For first-time installation, it will also provide a guide if you have trouble connecting. There are two basic steps in this guide. The first step is to install PC Remote Server on your computer as said above. Launching this app on your Windows phone and allowing it to automatically find your computer is the next step. Tap on the PC name to connect.
In case your PC is not auto-discovered, you can add your computer by entering the local IP (Internet Protocol) address of your PC.
Once the connection is set up, you are ready to go. You will get some standard options like next slide, previous slide, blank screen, and start and stop slideshow. In addition to these common options, you will also get some standard keyboard settings like arrow keys and other hotkeys.
The client is a FREE app. The latest version is 3.19.0.0. The download size of the app is just 2 MB. The additional feature in this version is that the phone can act both as a mouse and a keyboard. You can move the cursor and click, drag and crop, zoom, and vertically scroll from your phone. The phone provides full keyboard support, encompassing control, shift, alt, tab, function, home, end, and other special keys. You can type from your phone.
Other features, like the ability to pin a computer to the start, the “Wake up LAN” feature for selected computers, etc., are also available.
That’s it! You now have a smartphone, which can be used as a remote. You save money on buying another piece of hardware to remote control your PPT.
This is very useful indeed. Thank you very much for sharing.