{rw_text}Software reviewed in this article:

Simpo PDF to PowerPoint

Version reviewed:

v1.1.0.0

Software description as per the developer:

Simpo PDF to PowerPoint Converter is a professional PDF converter helps to convert PDF documents to Microsoft PowerPoint 2003/2007/2010 (.ppt/.pptx). It can convert PDF to PowerPoint presentations accurately, with original text layouts, tables, charts preserved exactly from PDF to PowerPoint. You don’t need to reformat the converted PowerPoint, as Simpo PDF to PowerPoint will convert each PDF page to one PowerPoint slide.

Download size:

4.3 MB

Supported OS:

Windows XP/Vista/Win7

Price:

$29.95 (USD)

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{rw_good}

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{rw_bad}

• Output/conversion accuracy needs improvement.
• Does not give users the option to add an entry into right-click context menu for quick access.
• Requires Microsoft Office/PowerPoint to be installed.

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{rw_score}
{for=”Ease of Use” value=”10″}Extremely easy to use.
{/for}
{for=”Performance” value=”6″}Converts at a good pace, and doesn’t use an unreasonable amount of computer resources. However, output/conversion accuracy/quality is a hit or miss: Either a slide is converted at or near 100% accuracy or it is completely off.
{/for}
{for=”Usefulness” value=”5″}Because it needs Microsoft PowerPoint to convert, the amount of people that can make use of this program is limited.
{/for}
{for=”Price” value=”7″}In of itself, $29.95 is a good price (it is either the same or cheaper than its rivals). However, personally speaking, I would not pay $29.95 for this software until the conversion/output quality is improved.
{/for}
{for=”Final Score” value=”6″}
{/for}
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{rw_verdict}[to]
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Simpo PDF to PowerPoint is an easy-to-use converter that converts PDFs to PowerPoint presentations (.PPT or .PPTX – you can pick).

This is what Simpo PDF to PowerPoint’s main program window looks like:

(Although the interface of Simpo PDF to Word resembles that of AnyBizSoft PDF to PowerPoint, the two programs are no way the same; they are not the same product rebranded. I know this because the output/conversion quality of both products differs.)

Using SPtP (Simpo PDF to PowerPoint) is very easy. You simply click on “Add PDF(s)” and add the PDFs you want to convert (you can also drag + drop the PDFs – drag + drop is supported). SPtP supports batch processing, so feel free to add as many PDFs as you want.

Once you have added a PDF, you can select to convert only specific pages…

…or if you would rather just convert the whole PDF you can leave it at “All Pages”. After that, simply hit “Convert” to begin converting the PDFs. When the conversions are done, you will be told with a pop up message…

…and you can click on the hyperlinks under “Status” to access the output files directly:

Conversions are done at a good pace – although not “blazing fast” – and computer resource usage is not too bad either (typically around 30 MB of RAM and 25-50% CPU while converting, and 5 MB of RAM and 0% CPU while idle).

Unfortunately, the output/conversion quality is nothing to brag about; it needs improvement. It isn’t that the output quality is “bad”. It is rather that the output quality is “hit or miss”, varying from slide to slide within a PowerPoint: If “hit”, than the quality is at or near 100% accuracy; but if “miss” the quality is at or near 0% accuracy. The following are the results of four tests I conducted:

1. Example (PDF) | Example (PPT)
2. Example (PDF) | Example (PPT)
3. Example (PDF) | Example (PPT)
4. Example (PDF) | Example (PPT)

Note: I do not claim any ownership to any of the example PDFs… they are used for testing and demonstration purposes only. They were found via a Google query here and here and here and here.

As you can see, although not 100%, the first PDF was converted very well and the second PDF was converted decently. The last two PDFs, however, were converted terribly. Furthermore, my observation that SPtP’s conversion/output quality is “hit or miss” is not just based off the four examples I showed above. I converted more than a dozen other PDFs to test SPtP, and the results of those conversions reinforce the idea that if “hit”, the conversion/output quality is great but if “missed”, it is terrible. (I am not displaying those other PDF conversion examples because they are of PDFs that contain personal data that I cannot share on the Internet; you will just have to take trust that I am not lying.)

Furthermore, two other noteworthy aspects of SPtP are:

• SPtP can convert encrypted PDFs. If the PDF is encrypted with a “user” password, you first need to enter the password (SPtP will not crack it for you):

If the PDF is encrypted with an “owner” password, you need not do anything; just load it into SPtP and convert like normal – SPtP will do the rest for you.

• Users can select if they want PDF -> PPT or PDF -> PPTX via Settings:

IF Convert to Office 2007/2010 compatible files is checked, than SPtP will do PDF -> PPTX. If it is unchecked, SPtP will do PDF -> PPT. (=It is checked by default, so if you want PDF -> PPT you need to manually uncheck it.

Last but not the least, there is one feature I would like to see added to SPtP…

• The option to have an entry in the right-click context menu of Windows (i.e. when right-clicking on a PDF there is an option to “Convert with Simpo PDF to PowerPoint”). The developer should make this an optional thing so users that don’t want this don’t have to have it.

…and one change I would like to see made to SPtP:

• SPtP uses Microsoft PowerPoint during the process of conversion (towards the end):

If it doesn’t detect Microsoft PowerPoint, SPtP crashes:

(I renamed my Microsoft Office program files folder to make SPtP think Microsoft PowerPoint was not installed; that is how I confirmed SPtP requires Microsoft PowerPoint.)

I would like the developer to remove this dependency on Microsoft PowerPoint because not everyone has Microsoft PowerPoint. Some people may use alternative Office Suites – like OpenOffice – and still use PPT files, hence may still need to do PDF -> PPT conversions.

This review was conducted on a laptop running Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. The specs of the laptop are as follows: 3GB of RAM, a Radeon HD 2600 512MB graphics card, and an Intel T8300 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

{rw_freea}I don’t know of any free alternatives, but AnyBizSoft PDF to PowerPoint ($29) is a rival shareware program.
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{rw_verdict2}Simpo PDF to Word is easy-to-use, but it needs to be more consistent in its output/conversion quality: Sometimes conversions are great, while other times they are not. A product that costs $29.95 needs to be more consistent and produce good output/conversion quality most – if not all – the time. The inconsistent output/conversion quality isn’t bad enough to earn Simpo PDF to PowerPoint a thumbs down, but it is bad enough to make Simpo PDF to Word just an ordinary program.
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