How do I export EPS files from PowerPoint^TM for Use in LaTeX with Acrobat Distiller?

Make sure you have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Distiller installed on your machine

If you do not have Distiller, you may wish to look at the FAQ on how to produce EPS files without it.
Load PowerPoint
Create the content in PowerPoint
For example, you may wish to copy a figure over from Matlab and add some PowerPoint annotations to it. Alternatively, you may wish to use PowerPoint's drawing features themselves to create the file from scratch.
Center the content

Press <CTRL>-"A", <>, "G", "G" to select and group all of the content you've created. Press <ALT>-"R", "A", "C" and <ALT>-"R", "A", "M" to horizontally and vertically center the content. This is not technically necessary, but it will make setting the LaTeX parameters easier in the end (avoids dealing with printer margins, Window's annoying habit of forcing landscape or portrait mode when you told it to use the other, etc.).
Determine the content size

Although there are plenty of other ways to do this, here is a fairly foolproof method that is easy to explain. Create a rectangle that is just larger than all of your content. Double click on the rectangle and go to the "Size" tab. Record the width and height of the rectangle. You will need this information when you are ready to use the EPS output in your LaTeX file. Delete the rectangle when you are finished.
Save the PowerPoint file
Open the print dialog
Go to the "File"|"Print..." menu. In general, you do not want to use the print button on the toolbar right now because it will not open the dialog. Make sure that you have a PostScript printer selected.
1. Select the Distiller driver
  
  In the printer name drop-down, select "Acrobat Distiller". If you do not have Distiller, you may wish to look at the FAQ on how to produce EPS files without it.
2. Check the "Print to file" option
3. Open the printer "Properties" dialog
4. Go to the "Advanced" options
  1. Set the PostScript Output Option to EPS
    
    Go to the "Document Options" | "PostScript Options" | "PostScript Output Option" pull-down and select "Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)".
  2. Set the PostScript Language Level to 1
    
    Go to the "Document Options" | "PostScript Options" | "PostScript Language Level" spinner and select "1". You may experiment with Level 2 or 3 if you wish. For usage in LaTeX documents with our current software, Level 1 seems to be required.
  3. Modify any other applicable settings
    
    For example, you may want to experiment with the print quality settings, etc. if your document contains any bitmapped graphics. For inclusion in LaTeX, the other options seem to be okay if left at their default values.
  4. Press "OK" to close the Advanced Options dialog
5. Press "OK" to close the Acrobat Distiller Document Properties dialog
Press "OK" to close the Print dialog
Save the EPS output

After pressing the "OK" button in the previous step, PowerPoint will pop up a new dialog asking where you would like the EPS file to reside. In general, you will want to set the "Save as type:" option to "All files (*.*)" to avoid requiring you to rename your ".prn" file as a ".eps" file. Go to the proper directory and save the result, remembering to include the ".eps" extension in the filename. You will usually want to save the EPS file to the same directory as your .tex file that will use it.
Enter the LaTeX figure code

For a typical LaTeX figure, you would want to enter something like the following code:
```
\begin{figure}
  \centering
  \includegraphics*[2.25in,4.5in][6.25in,6.5in]{myfile.eps}
  \caption{A picture of ``myfile''}
  \label{fig:myfile}
\end{figure}
```
The following assumptions were made for this code:
- The content is 4x2 inches
- The paper size is 8.5x11 inches
- The EPS output was saved to "myfile.eps"

Last updated: 2008-01-25 09:23:57 -0500

How do I export EPS files from PowerPointTM for Use in LaTeX with Acrobat Distiller?

How do I export EPS files from PowerPoint^TM for Use in LaTeX with Acrobat Distiller?