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Use iPad as a trade show presentation tool in a secured mode?

Hello,


I want to use an iPad during a fair / trade show, where it shall run a Keynote (or formerly PowerPoint) presentation. In order to restrict the users to manipulate thepresentation, I want to run it in a "secure" mode, where the user cannot access via double-clicking or gestures the edit level of Keynote.


If an admin needs to reach the edit level again, this should be achieved via a password or reboot.


I know, that the Keynote app for OS X is able to secure access as well as quitiing the app via a password protection. But unfortunately (…or should I better say: idiotically ?) this very behaviour is ignored / deleted from the Keynote file when importing it to the iPad version of Keynote!


Is there a way to use Keynote as a trade show presentation tool in a secured mode?

ANY help is VERY welcome!

Keynote-OTHER, iOS 6.0.1

Posted on Dec 5, 2012 4:39 AM

Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 30, 2018 12:14 PM

So, here is what we finally did:


As it was impossible to set up Keynote (iPad version) in such a way that users were no longer able to reach the editing level (…which is really a bad, bad joke. Apple can you hear me?), we decided to use interactive PDFs with hyperlinks to achieve an app-like behaviour.


We created the presentation with all buttons and target pages in Adobe InDesign CS5 and exported the whole thing as an interactive PDF.


On our iPads, we used the app "Kiosk Pro"

https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/kiosk-pro/id409918026?mt=8

which is a fine and very flexible app for presenting PDFs (amongst other great features that we do not need right now). You can even turn of swiping which creates a more app-like feeling!


In order to copy the PDF into the correct Kisok Pro folder on our iPad, we used a handy iOS utility called "DiskAid"

http://www.digidna.net/diskaid

which is availabe for Mac OS and Windows.


In order to restrict the user from exiting the app "Kiosk Pro" we had to activate "Guided Access" within iOS.


A theft-proof frame won't hurt either if you put your iPads on display during a trade show!


Thanks ev'body for taking care of our problem, hopefully my solution might help others as well.

15 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 30, 2018 12:14 PM in response to Community User

So, here is what we finally did:


As it was impossible to set up Keynote (iPad version) in such a way that users were no longer able to reach the editing level (…which is really a bad, bad joke. Apple can you hear me?), we decided to use interactive PDFs with hyperlinks to achieve an app-like behaviour.


We created the presentation with all buttons and target pages in Adobe InDesign CS5 and exported the whole thing as an interactive PDF.


On our iPads, we used the app "Kiosk Pro"

https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/kiosk-pro/id409918026?mt=8

which is a fine and very flexible app for presenting PDFs (amongst other great features that we do not need right now). You can even turn of swiping which creates a more app-like feeling!


In order to copy the PDF into the correct Kisok Pro folder on our iPad, we used a handy iOS utility called "DiskAid"

http://www.digidna.net/diskaid

which is availabe for Mac OS and Windows.


In order to restrict the user from exiting the app "Kiosk Pro" we had to activate "Guided Access" within iOS.


A theft-proof frame won't hurt either if you put your iPads on display during a trade show!


Thanks ev'body for taking care of our problem, hopefully my solution might help others as well.

Nov 30, 2018 12:14 PM in response to Kevin Neal

Kevin, thanks you for telling me about guided access. But unfortunately it does not solve my problem as the user still reach the edit level of Keynote!


Which leads to the question:

Is there a way in keynote to just display a presentation without being able to enter the edit mode?


Message was edited by: GPROMS. Reason: typo

Nov 30, 2018 12:14 PM in response to Kevin Neal

I am very sorry to say, that your ideas are not a solution.


Disable multitouch gestures:

In the iOS preferences, only four and five finger gestures can be disabled, but no two or three finger gesture!


Convert to PDFs:

If PDFs are being used, all interactivity is lost: No more hyperlinks within the presentation, only navigating with swipes is possible.

Dec 6, 2012 6:18 AM in response to Community User

perhaps Keynote isn't the right route at the moment, there are other options, iBook Author springs to mind so you can create an interative iBook, or if you are willing to spend money Adobe Digital Publishing Suite will let you create a interactive app/presentation using InDesign and sync it the Adobe's content viewer app, or depending on the amount of interativity you could use adobe acrobat to add hyperlinks to PDF's and view them using adobe reader app

Nov 30, 2018 12:14 PM in response to Kevin Neal

Thank you for bringing other options into play!


As this requires some research as well as some testing afterwards, I will spend the weekend to do so!

Mar 12, 2013 10:18 AM in response to Community User

GPROMS,


Thanks so much for sharing your solution!


Surely seems like a long way to go, when Apple could simply have enable the Keynote "lock" function on the pad.


My client requires a certain amount of animation - video and "Magic Move"-type transitions. Can your InDesign/ Kiosk Pro solution support either of those?


I only spent a couple minutes with this, but I was able to pull my into iBook Author and save it out as an iBook. It seems like all of the Keynote functionality is intact, and of course a reader cannot edit it.


A couple of downsides - an iBook requires some book-type compenents - Cover (which is OK) and a Table of Contents - which I just left blank, but still requires a click-through to the first page (slide.)


If you don't mind your interface being the lovely pine bookshelves (at least it's clear pine, and not the knotty variety ;-) of the iBook library, this is a potentially easier solution than the hoops Apple made you jump through, and it does support almost all of the original Keynote functionality.


Thanks again! I hope Apple is listening. (Hello?)

Use iPad as a trade show presentation tool in a secured mode?

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