Linux – On Linux, how to export .svg files into a vector format readable by Powerpoint

You are going to find this a difficult task to accomplish, and even more so if it's on an ongoing basis. The problem is that you will have to convert to the least common denominator. If the oldest version of Powerpoint installed, for example, is Powerpoint 2000 then all files must be converted backwards to the 2000 version. While this is possible, it will mean that any of the newer features will get dropped from the file if they are being used in the presentation. And it will likely cause formatting and other problems in the file.

If the oldest version is 2003, it's a little easier. There are both software utilities such as those offered by Batchworks and online services such as Zamzar which offer conversion possibilities, but none of the software or services I've found offer good compatibility with any version older than 2003.

Your best solution is to convince your client that they need to close the gap between versions in use, but I know that's often a harder sell than trying to explain all the hours of productivity they are losing by not doing so.

It appears there is no native way to import SVG to Office programs. I did figure out what vector graphic format Microsoft Office products use natively: Windows Metafiles. This led me to figure out how to convert an SVG to WMF.

It turns out that Microsoft Office Visio can natively import and export both SVG and WMF. It appears that Visio sometimes loses a bit of data - particularly certain gradients and text shaping - when importing SVG, but enough data is copied to be able to touch it up, then export.

If you don't have Visio, Inkscape and Open Office Draw both list SVG and WMF as supported file types, and are both free, open-source software, so you could try using one of those.