Introduction

Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows 97 uses OLE 2 compound files; this is the OLE implementation of the Structured Storage Model standard. An OLE 2 compound file is "a file system within a file"; it contains a hierarchical system of storages and streams. A storage is analogous to a directory because it holds other storages and streams, and a stream is analogous to a file because it holds information but no other storage elements. For more information on this technology, please refer to the OLE 2 Programmer's Reference Volume one, and Inside OLE, both published by Microsoft Press.