Converting WMF pastes in 2007

[Joseph M. Newcomer]

In PPT 2003, I would go to my third-party clipart collection, copy a WMF image, and paste
it into PPT. Then I would select it, click "ungroup", and it would say something to the
effect that this was not a PPT drawing, did I want to convert it? Of course, I would say
"Yes", then I'd have to ungroup it again (silly program, should have just converted and
ungrouped!)

But that was much better than 2007, where I apparently do not have the option of
converting a drawing. There is a relatively confused discussion about the Clip Organizer,
which has no relevance to anything I'm doing, and a menu item called "Edit Picture", which
doesn't exist. I pasted the WMF file into the Clip Organizer (which took some work to
figure out how to invoke, since it doesn't seem to be part of PowerPoint), and it still
doesn't work. Now, this third-party collection is mission-critical to a lot of what I do,
and the removal of the ability to "ungroup" or "convert" in any way a file is a complete
total flaming disaster.

Of course, nearly every time I touch Office 2007, I hit some insanely stupid change that
blocks me, which is why I've been avoiding it, but my only machine that held PPT 2003
fried itself last week, and until I get it restored, I have to use the "other" machine.

It makes me wonder if anyone was paying attention to how users actually use PowerPoint...

So how do I get the ability to paste WMF files and convert them and ungroup them?
joe
Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: (e-mail address removed)
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm

 

[jpforestier]

Copy your clipart then paste it as special.
Should it work now?

 

[Matti Vuori]

You can't copy/paste WMF files.

I just did. Three times. Not "files", or course, but WMF data from another
application.

Copied from Inkscape, which doesn't use OLE. Pasted as "Picture (Windows
Metafile)".

Ungrouping behavior was just like Joseph M. Newcomer described for 2003.

Diagnosis: The default Paste method has changed and Joseph needs to use
Paste As from now on.

 

[Joseph M. Newcomer]

Yes! (Too bad they broke the obvious mechanism)
Thanks!
joe

Copy your clipart then paste it as special.
Should it work now?

Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: (e-mail address removed)
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm

 

[Joseph M. Newcomer]

Well, it's still broken. If I select an object, I no longer have the "edit points"
capability!

My workflow is this:
Identify a clipart that resembles what I need
Copy to clipboard
Paste into PowerPoint
Ungroup
Edit Points on components to modify the image

So we're still missing the last point, which was a way of life in PPT 2003.
joe

Copy your clipart then paste it as special.
Should it work now?

Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: (e-mail address removed)
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm

 

[Joseph M. Newcomer]

Actually, for the last 15 years or so, I have been doing it, through a variety of
third-party clipart collections. It worked up until today, when I first tried to use
PPT2007. So it is not clear why it broke.

As I pointed out, the problem now is that I can't "edit points" on the individual
components of the drawing, which I have been doing since 1995 or so.
joe

You can't copy/paste WMF files. You can insert them as pictures, or
you can open them in some other app and copy/paste, in which case you
may be getting an OLE object.

Given your description of what happened in 2003, it sounds as though
that's the case. That'd explain the need for the double ungroup, by
the way. The first ungroup converts the OLE object (WMF+data) to just
a WMF graphic, minus the OLE data. The second ungroup converts the WMF
graphic to PPT drawing objects. Reasonable behavior in that it still
allows you to convert to lots of individual objects *if you want to*
but doesn't force that behavior on you.

We complain when MS forces decisions on us but want them to make the
decisions WE want for us automatically.

==============================
PPT Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pptfaq.com/

PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
http://www.pptools.com/

Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: (e-mail address removed)
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm

 

[Joseph M. Newcomer]

Paste As doesn't work because I can't edit the points of the components!

Unless I can do this, PPT2007 is completely useless. Or has negative value, since it
wastes disk space and provides none of the capability I need.

I keep wondering why things that worked perfectly continue to be broken in new releases.
We have the same problem in Visual Studio. It hasn't worked correctly in four releases
over eight years, and there are no prospects we will ever see certain critical features
repaired.
joe

I just did. Three times. Not "files", or course, but WMF data from another
application.

Copied from Inkscape, which doesn't use OLE. Pasted as "Picture (Windows
Metafile)".

Ungrouping behavior was just like Joseph M. Newcomer described for 2003.

Diagnosis: The default Paste method has changed and Joseph needs to use
Paste As from now on.

Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: (e-mail address removed)
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm

 

[Echo S]

I dunno, I can paste special as WMF or EMF, then ungroup twice, and then I
can right-click and edit points. But it depends on the clipart I start with.
Animated GIFs, for example, don't seem to work this way. And sometimes after
I ungroup the clip a couple of times or right-click and choose Edit Picture,
it tells me "This picture contains only a bitmap."

So I suspect it's got to do with the actual clip, because some of them
definitely work fine here. Others don't.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2010? http://www.echosvoice.com/2010.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx