Don''t have specifics for PowerPoint but check wotsits there might be something there regarding the ppt format. If not or if there''s only a partial description - then make a simple ppt that you know the content of and then open it in a hex editor and reverse engineer the format for yourself. It''s highly likely that ppt''s have a simliar format to bitmaps or windows meta files - and if there''s any compression its most likely generated through the LZ dll''s - just like cab files. Another investigative course is to open up power point in dependency walker to take a look at which dll''s are statically linked. That won''t tell you much about any dll''s that might be loaded at runtime - but it''s a start. Along these same lines, opening powerpoint up in a hex editor might reveal the names of those dynamically linked libraries. If not a hex editor than a program that extracts strings from exe''s - there''s a free one at analogx.com - a bit easier to find that kind of tool there than searching a shareware site. Once you have an idea of how ppt''s are built then you''ll also have an idea on how to manipulate the data. Then you''ll need to figure out how to build an addin interface - most likely a COM interface - check the headers in the psdk too. It''s highly likely that a powerpoint add in is simliar to an add in for outlook or one of the other office progs. And don''t forget there are a ton of microsoft newsgroups - google can search those too - it''s helped me out plenty of times. Best of luck.

Powerpoint supports the embedding of ActiveX controls, so as long as you can develop an ActiveX control (e.g. in C++ or VB), that might be one way do it.
Alternatively, you could embed the Flash ActiveX control into the Powerpoint presentation, to make use of Flash effects.

thanks. I think I''m going to look into the activex control thing.