PowerPoint 2013 - Kiosk Mode with Touch Enabled - Touch does not work with Mouse Click Action Configured on Text Boxes

Thanks for your reply Matt.  Sorry, I didn't see it before posting.  The charms bar is certainly a problem.  Unfortunately, I'm not aware of a way to disable it directly from PowerPoint :(.  I'm going to start an email thread with our Program Managers and see if we can come up with a good solution here.

Interesting.  I did some testing and think I understand one of the problems.

While in Kiosk mode:

1. I noticed that I could not navigate the presentation with the keyboard or mouse by simply clicking on a slide.  This is the primary reason for kiosk mode.
2. I noticed that I could navigate hyperlinks with the mouse.
3. I noticed that I could not navigate hyperlinks with touch.
4. I noticed that I could get the "exit slideshow" button to popup by using tap+hold.

A few things that I will discuss with our team.

#3 is clearly a bug.  From some of the other comments, it seems like you guys would like hyperlinks + touch + kiosk mode to work and I agree.  It should work the same as the mouse.

Being able to navigate the presentation with touch in kiosk mode (outside of hyperlinks) is most likely not going to get approved.  In this scenario, what does kiosk mode provide that normal slideshow would be insufficient?

#4 is a problem.  A museum certainly wouldn't want users to ink or exit their presentation using touch.

Zach, thank you for your description of your scenario.  Please help me understand why normal slideshow was not sufficient for you scenario.  I know that I'm being a bit of a hassle but I need as much information as I can to be able to sell code changes, especially to in-market products that don't get updated often.

Hi Ryan,

As the user has mentioned, if they've set up an interactive presentation on a touch-enabled device, users will be able to use normal viewing gestures to e.g. advance from one slide to the next.  Typically in one of these presentations, the developer adds the navigation features they WANT the user to work with (links, action buttons, etc) and use KIOSK mode specifically to disable any of PPT's usual nav features.

Example usage:  

Any museum these days, especially ones that cater to kids/younger adults, will have interactive displays that let the visitors look up information and so on.  

I've seen several interactive building directories; the Home page might be nothing more than an alphabet, with each character a link to a different page that lists all of the companies/doctors/residents in the building whose names begin with the selected letter.

My guess is that you'd offer far greater benefit to users by ENABLING kiosk mode on touch devices.  That would still allow for using non-kiosk mode where desired, and if the end user doesn't want to permit interactivity in kiosk mode, they can simply not provide any navigation buttons.  Or put the screen behind plexiglass.

I also wanted to use the Kiosk with touch-enabled.  I created the Powerpoint intended for use on a Microsoft Surface.  It allows very interesting Powerpoints to be created, instead of a linear presentation it acts more like an app.  I was able to create a Powerpoint in an hour, emulating an application I was to develop, handed it to UI folks to give feedback on design prior to even starting the code.  Unfortunately I had to deliver the Powerpoint on a PC and have people use the mouse and tell them to imagine it as touch screen, not nearly as helpful.

Hello Ryan,

While Power Point makes a great presentation as a SlideShow kiosk, it's better if the user can interact with the program, such as touching an action button to hyperlink to another page, or press an action button to play a video or sound. I used Powerpoint Viewer as a work around, it allowed me to use Power Point in kiosk mode with touch enabled. The other issue is Windows 8 charms bar, that allows to swipe in from the side, (and people to get into your computer!). The second kiosk I built, I used a windows 7 PC connected to a touch screen overlay kit, with PowerPoint Viewer.

I think you will find that most people today want to use PowerPoint Presentations as an interactive program in Kiosk Mode, not only as a static presentations in shopping centres (malls), but it can be used as a learning tool in schools and in the workplace.