PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

Post your working scripts, libraries and tools for AHK v1.1 and older
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

27 Jul 2020, 19:32

Last updates:
Toolbar: v. 3.1 (August 19, 2021)
PowerPoint add-in: v. 1.1 (April 21, 2021)

The PowerPoint Inking Toolbar is a program that makes the annotation of slides easier during a PowerPoint slide show. It creates a hovering toolbar that provides quick access to pens of different colors, to the eraser, and to many other functions.

PowerPoint has some good annotation capabilities that can be used during a slide show but most annotation functions are several clicks away, which can break the flow of a presentation. The PowerPoint Inking Toolbar can prove to be especially useful during online lectures where a good flow when annotating slides is crucial. Almost every feature of the program can be easily customized by manually editing the .ini file in which the settings are saved. This includes changing the size of and adding/removing/reordering buttons, changing icons, adding a second toolbar, customizing menus, etc.

Starting with version 3.0, there is now a second toolbar that you can customize completely independently of the main toolbar. By default, this second toolbar is set to a "navigation" toolbar to make it easier to navigate between slides during a slide show.

You can use the program on its own, launching it manually by double-clicking on the .ahk file whenever you need it. Alternatively, it can optionally be used with the PowerPoint add-in: if you decide to use the add-in, the program will start automatically whenever a PowerPoint slide show starts (and the program will automatically get closed when you quit the slide show). See below for instructions to install the add-in and for videos briefly showcasing the add-in and most recent features of the program. Version 1.1 of the add-in should be compatible with all recent versions of PowerPoint, including 2019, 365, and 64bit.

If you had changed the buttons in the .ini file of a previous version of the toolbar, you can download version 3.1 and let it create its own .ini file. Then you can copy the list of buttons from your previous .ini file and paste it under the same key in the new 3.1 .ini file.

The basic features of this program are highlighted in this short demo video for version 2.4:



The following video highlights the new features included in version 3.0:



The following video highlights the new features included in the more recent version 3.1:



To use the program, you can just download the .ahk file from the following Google Drive link:

DOWNLOAD THE CURRENT VERSION OF THE POWERPOINT INKING TOOLBAR: Version 3.1, uploaded August 19, 2021: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UphY5YwWdqnAl4Q3CFGr9nSWyh04_oCz/view

DOWNLOAD A .ZIP FILE CONTAINING THE INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL THE CURRENT VERSION OF THE POWERPOINT ADD-IN: Version 1.1, uploaded April 21, 2021: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_rDTWWD3oh1u4JKdzqDxMBr1c_CW7pVk/view

Then download the .ahk script below, which you can run by double-clicking on it. The first time you run the script, it will ask you to create a .ini settings file that will contain all the settings for the program. Make sure to keep this .ini file in the same folder as the .ahk script. Starting with version 3.0, when you first run the program you will have the option to open the program's instructions. These instructions are also available at all times through the toolbar's menu.

If the toolbar buttons are too small or too large for your needs, just open the .ini file in a text editor such as Notepad, change the dimensions of the buttons on lines 90-91 of the .ini file, save the .ini file, then relaunch the program.

Let me know if you have any comments, bug reports, or suggestions for improvements!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:

- The code for the main functions is actually pretty short. The great majority of the script's code is for the the icons and images that were included in the script as very long hBITMAP codes using Image2Include.ahk. I'd love to make the source code directly available here, but the source code has too many characters to be accepted here. But let me know if you're not comfortable downloading the script from the Google Drive link above!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changelog:
- Version 3.1, uploaded August 19, 2021: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UphY5YwWdqnAl4Q3CFGr9nSWyh04_oCz/view

- New buttons available in 3.1:
- Color_Picker: Hit this button during a slide show in order to select a color for the pen from a color picker panel. Recently used colors form the color picker will be automatically saved on the right side of the panel, so that you can easily re-select them later.
- Copy_Color: Once you click this button, the next time you click anywhere (inside or outside of the slide show), the color where you click will be copied and transformed into a pen of that color. When you first click on the button, the button will take the color of the last copied color, on which you can click in order to re-use this color.
- Timer_1: This button allows you to show/hide a timer during a slide show. The time on the timer is variable and can be adjusted with buttons on the timer.
- Timer_2: This button allows you to show/hide a timer during a slide show. The time on the timer is set to a specific value defined by the user in the .ini settings file.
- AddSlide_Color: Add a completely new slide during a slide show with a background color of your choice that can be customized in the .ini settings file.
- AddSlide_Picture: Add a completely new slide during a slide show with a background picture of your choice that can be customized in the .ini settings file.
- Other changes:
- The volume up/down buttons are now repeat buttons: as long as you click on them, the volume will keep increasing/decreasing.
- Fixed a bug where the toolbar instructions wouldn't show up correctly when using the compiled .exe version of the toolbar during a slide show.
- Cleaned up some of the code.
- Added the AHK forum address at the top of the instructions.
Previous versions
Last edited by lblb on 20 Aug 2021, 02:19, edited 45 times in total.
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

28 Jul 2020, 16:27

Updated to v. 2.1.

New to version 2.1: You can now set hotkeys to switch between some of the toolbar tools and to show/hide the toolbar. You can also set the toolbar to not show up when the program is started (and subsequently show the toolbar through a hotkey or by clicking on the program's tray icon). This means you can, for example, use hotkeys to quickly switch between pen colors without ever showing the toolbar. There is also a new command to create a blank black page during a presentation to act as a "blackboard", to complement the "whiteboard" command that was already present.
Last edited by lblb on 29 Jul 2020, 00:47, edited 1 time in total.
burque505
Posts: 1732
Joined: 22 Jan 2017, 19:37

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

28 Jul 2020, 16:55

Hi, this looks very interesting indeed. I'm running Win7 Pro 64-bit SP1, and get the following error regardless of what encoding I save the file in.

Code: Select all

---------------------------
PowerPoint Inking Toolbar 2.1.ahk
---------------------------
Error:  Can't load icon.

Specifically: HBITMAP:*0

	Line#
	340: Icon_Volume_Up := "HBITMAP:*" . Create_Volume_Up_png()
	341: Icon_Zoom_In := "HBITMAP:*" . Create_Zoom_In_png()
	342: Icon_Zoom_Out := "HBITMAP:*" . Create_Zoom_Out_png()
	346: Menu,ProjectorMenu,Add,Display properties,DisplayProperties
	347: Menu,ProjectorMenu,Icon,Display properties,%Icon_Menu_Display%,,%General_Menu_Icon_Size%
	348: Menu,ProjectorMenu,Add
	349: Menu,ProjectorMenu,Add,Connect to projector,ProjectorConnect
--->	350: Menu,ProjectorMenu,Icon,Connect to projector,%Icon_Menu_Projector%,,%General_Menu_Icon_Size%
	352: Menu,VolumeMenu,Add,Volume equalizer,Equalizer
	353: Menu,VolumeMenu,Icon,Volume equalizer,%Icon_Menu_Equalizer%,,%General_Menu_Icon_Size%
	354: Menu,VolumeMenu,Add
	355: Menu,VolumeMenu,Add,Sound settings,MSSound
	356: Menu,VolumeMenu,Icon,Sound settings,%Icon_Menu_MS_Sound%,,%General_Menu_Icon_Size%
	357: Menu,VolumeMenu,Add
	358: Menu,VolumeMenu,Add,Sound settings (classic),Sound

The current thread will exit.
---------------------------
OK   
---------------------------
I will experiment with downloading again to see if the encoded png might have gotten corrupted when I downloaded.
Edit: If I comment out line 350, all is well. There's a missing icon in the menu then, but it works fine.
Regards,
burque505
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

28 Jul 2020, 17:01

@burque505

Are you using the latest version of AHK? I had the same error message when using a Win 7 computer with an old version of AHK, but the message doesn't show up after updating to the latest version of AHK.
burque505
Posts: 1732
Joined: 22 Jan 2017, 19:37

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

28 Jul 2020, 17:06

1.1.33.02, probably same as you. I'll try an older version to see if that works.
EDIT: 1.1.33.02 32-bit works fine, for 1.1.33.02 64-bit I have to comment out line 350.
Regards,
burque505
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

28 Jul 2020, 17:23

@burque505

Thanks for reporting it and doing some investigating. Indeed, it seems like this error is specific to Windows 7... At least, the script works on all versions of the latest AHK on Windows 10, and this message only pops up with AHK Unicode 64 on Win 7. I'll investigate!
burque505
Posts: 1732
Joined: 22 Jan 2017, 19:37

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

28 Jul 2020, 17:51

@lblb, it's kind of got me baffled. Here's a check I did to decode the icon with 64-bit AHK on Win7:
Spoiler
.

And got this:
inktest.png
inktest.png (11.69 KiB) Viewed 13297 times
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

28 Jul 2020, 18:08

@burque505

Yeah, I don't know what's going on. I even recoded it on Win7 using 64-bit AHK (not that I thought it would make a difference, but one never knows) and it gives the same behavior.
For the sake of the program I'll just choose a different icon (that hopefully will encode better) but I am very puzzled by what's going on!
burque505
Posts: 1732
Joined: 22 Jan 2017, 19:37

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

28 Jul 2020, 18:35

Really cool program, by the way!
As a humble suggestion, I would propose adding a default hotkey to show/hide the toolbar and letting the user know what it is in the message that shows when the default .ini is being created.
For example, I changed my setting to

Code: Select all

;Hotkey to show/hide the toolbar
Toolbar=^!#t
Then maybe something like this in the initial message (untested):

Code: Select all

If !FileExist(General_IniFile)
	{
    Msgbox, 0x40044,, The settings files named "PowerPoint_Inking_Toolbar_Settings.ini" should be in the same folder as this script but is not detected.`n`nDo you want to create a new file with default settings?`n`nIf you select No, the script will exit.`n`nThe default hotkey setting to show/hide the toolbar is Ctrl-Alt-Win-t.`nEdit the settings file to change this.
	IfMsgBox Yes
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

28 Jul 2020, 20:28

I'm glad you like it!
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll add that to the next version.
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

29 Jul 2020, 00:50

Updated to v. 2.2.

New to version 2.2: The toolbar can now be used with the new PowerPoint add-in: using this add-in, the toolbar can be set to be launched automatically whenever a PowerPoint slide-show starts. See the full changelog, the link to download the add-in, and an updated video featuring the add-in in the first post.

If you had changed the buttons in the .ini file of version 2.1, you can download version 2.2 and let it create its own .ini file. Then you can copy the list of buttons from your 2.1 .ini file at the same place in the new 2.2 .ini file.
ptswilson
Posts: 1
Joined: 10 Jan 2021, 18:37

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

10 Jan 2021, 18:50

This is a fantastic program. I use it almost every day for teaching mathematics online. What I would really love is the ability to draw straight lines during a PowerPoint slideshow, preferably without using the cumbersome ruler included in Microsoft Whiteboard. This would be really helpful when drawing axes for graphs. Most whiteboard apps include this, but at the expense of PowerPoint animations and transitions. I am really after the best of both worlds. Is this possible?
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

10 Jan 2021, 21:14

@ptswilson
I'm glad that you like it and are able to use it for your online teaching.

I understand what you mean. I teach chemistry and the ability to draw straight lines during a slideshow would be great. Unfortunately, this function is not directly possible in PowerPoint. However, there are a couple of possible workarounds, each with its limitations:

- If you use a tablet PC with a stylus to ink your slides (which is what I do), you can just use a physical ruler on your screen. That works well for me.
- If you have multiple monitors, you can set your slideshow to play on one monitor while you have the main slide edit window on another monitor. You can then add lines to the slide in edit mode and they will show up in your slideshow. To add lines, you can use the "line" tool, or go to the "Draw" tab and use the dreaded Microsoft ruler to add lines while inking with the mouse or stylus.

There might be indirect ways of doing some of the above with AutoHotkey. In any case, I can think of a few things to try, so thanks for the suggestion. If any approach is successful, I might try to include something about it in a future version.
jrleighton
Posts: 2
Joined: 19 Jan 2021, 02:40

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

19 Jan 2021, 02:50

Hi. This is fantastic software. Many thanks to the creators.

I get an error each time I open a PowerPoint. A VB pop-up box displays saying 'run time error 13'. Unfortunately, the code seems to be protected so I cannot see where the error arises. I hit 'end' on the pop-up box, and the box appears again. I hit 'end' again, and my file opens, and everything works as it should from what I can see - so there's no problem in functionality, just that these pop-up boxes are appearing. I've not changed the .ini file settings, and to my knowledge am using the latest script and AHK and PowerPoint. Can you please help? Many thanks once again
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

20 Jan 2021, 03:44

@jrleighton

I'm glad you like it!

Depending on the version of PowerPoint that you have, the add-in may or may not work correctly once installed. This is because Microsoft recently modified their VBA engine in more recent versions of Microsoft Office and some of the macros involved in the add-in are now giving errors. I have three laptops, and it works correctly on two of them while on the third one it throws errors when the slideshow starts. Anyway, I'm actively working on updating it to a newer version and hope to be able to share it soon.

In the meantime, you should still be able to use the toolbar (either from the.ahk or .exe files) by starting it manually instead of having the add-in do it automatically.
jrleighton
Posts: 2
Joined: 19 Jan 2021, 02:40

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

21 Jan 2021, 21:50

@lblb

Many thanks for the prompt reply! Ah, interesting - so the PowerPoint add-in only launches the toolbar. My IT department at work are doubtful about dropping the macro security level to allow all scripts. So maybe I could use the toolbar without changing the macro security level and without using the add-in, just that I need to launch manually every time. Would this work? Great to hear that you're working on an update too. It's a wonderful tool - am sharing with colleagues at work too.
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

22 Jan 2021, 15:02

@jrleighton
Indeed, the add-in is just there to automatically launch the toolbar when you start a slide show (and close it when you quit the slide show) but all it does is to launch the toolbar script file. So you can totally use the toolbar without the add-in just by double-clicking on the .ahk file (or .exe file).
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

21 Apr 2021, 19:31

UPDATE!

The toolbar has been updated to v. 2.4 and the add-in to v. 1.1. See the top post for a list of changes. Importantly, the add-in should now work with all recent desktop versions of PowerPoint, including PowerPoint 19, 365 and 64bit.
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

22 May 2021, 04:46

UPDATE!

The toolbar has been updated to v. 3.0. See the top post for a list of changes. Among major changes, there is now a completely independently customizable second toolbar, and instructions are made available within the script. Thanks to everyone here and in other forums for feedback and user requests!
Last edited by lblb on 20 Aug 2021, 02:22, edited 1 time in total.
lblb
Posts: 190
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 11:31

Re: PowerPoint Inking Toolbar

03 Jun 2021, 13:41

UPDATE!

A link to a YouTube video highlighting the new features included in v. 3.0 of the PowerPoint Inking Toolbar has been added to the top post.

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