The Overlay feature supports Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, 2010, and 2013. Creating an overlay for a topic involves the following steps: 

1. From the Topic Editor, export the topic to Microsoft PowerPoint as an overlay. 
    
2. Use the graphic and text tools in Microsoft PowerPoint to edit or call attention to screenshot areas. 
    
3. Insert partial screenshot images or graphics to mask parts of an existing screenshot that have changed between versions or that you want to hide.
     
4. Use the Overlay Editor add-in to copy graphic selections for masking, branding, and prototyping across multiple slides.
    
5. Use Microsoft PowerPoint layouts, design themes, and text tools to add conceptual content to blank Explanation frames. See Insert a Blank Frame in this chapter for more information about using blank Explanation frames.
    
6. Add or modify author notes that are exported and imported between the Frame Comments toolpane in the Topic Editor and the Notes pane in Microsoft PowerPoint.
    
7. Save the overlay and close Microsoft PowerPoint.

The first time you create an overlay, you receive a prompt to install the TopicOverlayEditor add-in, which adds a custom Overlay Editor ribbon to Microsoft PowerPoint with specific tools for working with overlay objects. If you choose to not register the add-in, the topic opens in Microsoft PowerPoint without the Overlay Editor ribbon. Once you register the add-in, the message does not appear again. While you can create overlays without registering the Overlay Editor ribbon, you do not have access to the features on the ribbon. See Edit the Overlay for more information about using the Overlay Editor ribbon.

Note: If you cancel the installation of the overlay, you can install it later by reopening the Topic Editor.

When you create or edit an overlay, a Developer Not Available message appears and closes when you exit Microsoft PowerPoint and return to the Developer. While you are editing a topic in Microsoft PowerPoint, the Developer remains open, but locked in a suspended state. The Developer is not editable while it is in this suspended state. You can use the Resume button in the message to force the Developer to resume at any time during the overlay editing session, but a warning notifies you that any changes made to the overlay during the Microsoft PowerPoint editing session are lost.

When you add an overlay to a frame, the Developer saves a backup of the original screenshot for that frame so that you can restore that screenshot. It also saves the Microsoft PowerPoint file (Overlay.pptx) for further editing. The Microsoft PowerPoint file contains the overlays only; the underlying screenshots are not included in this file. The Microsoft PowerPoint file is saved to the local cache folder for the topic and the original screenshots of frames that contain overlays are saved to an Original folder in that topic folder.

Note: The overlay file and the Original folder with the original topic screenshots are included in a topic export.

You can choose to delete all overlays from all frames from the Topic Editor and restore the original screenshots. This action also deletes the Microsoft PowerPoint overlay file. If you mistakenly delete all overlays, you can restore them during the same editing session using Undo in the Topic Editor.

Note: To remove individual overlay objects from one or more frames, edit the topic overlay in Microsoft PowerPoint.

Recaptured Screenshots

As you develop a topic, you may need to recapture a screenshot that already contains an overlay. When you close the Recorder after recapturing or re-recording a screenshot that contained an overlay, you are notified that the new screenshots do not contain the overlays. A Missing Overlays dialog box presents two options:

• View Overlays: Opens the topic in Microsoft PowerPoint and applies the overlays from the replaced screenshots to the new screenshots. You can view how the overlays affect the newly captured screenshots and make the necessary changes.
   
• Continue Editing: Returns to the Topic Editor without applying the missing overlay objects.

 Multi-user Considerations

• You can create or edit an overlay for a checked in topic, but the overlay changes are not saved until you save the topic and check it out when prompted.

To create a new overlay:

1. On the Edit menu, point to Screenshot Editing and choose  Create Overlay.
    
   If prompted, install the TopicOverlayEditor add-in.
    
   Note: Clicking Resume in the Developer Not Available message resumes the availability of the Developer, but any changes made to the overlay in Microsoft PowerPoint are lost.
    
2. Switch to Microsoft PowerPoint to view the exported topic.
    
   Microsoft PowerPoint opens with all topic frames exported as slides. The selected frame in the Topic Editor is the active slide when the overlay opens in Microsoft PowerPoint.
    
3. Edit the slide or slides as needed, adding overlay graphic objects and text.
    
4. Save the presentation and close Microsoft PowerPoint.
    
   The Developer saves the Microsoft PowerPoint overlay, the Developer Not Available message closes, and the Developer is active.

To edit an existing overlay from the Topic Editor:

1. On the Edit menu, point to Screenshot Editing and choose  Edit Overlay.
    
2. Switch to Microsoft PowerPoint to view the exported topic.
    
   Microsoft PowerPoint opens with all topic frames exported as slides. The selected frame in the Topic Editor is the active slide when the overlay opens in Microsoft PowerPoint.
       
3. Edit the slide or slides as needed.
      
4. Save the presentation and close Microsoft PowerPoint.

To remove overlays from all frames in a topic from the Topic Editor:

1. On the Delete menu, choose  Delete Overlays.
    
2. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

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