Hidden data in PowerPoint presentations

[Yoni Leitersdorf]

Hello!

I work for a company which gives out a multitude of presentations.
People who view them may request a CD copy of the presentation. So
far, it's okay.

Well, one of our presentations contained content copied from an Excel
document. The Excel document contained a huge amount of data which is
confidential to the company and we did not desire for it to be
released. The CDs on which the PPT was burnt had already been given
out and some of our clients found that data.

This is something that couldv'e been avoided if we knew that
PowerPoint does these things.

Is there a way to edit the PowerPoint format and look for *hidden*
data (such as stuff copied from Excel, Word, etc.)?

It also turns out PPT saves the path in which it was created which is
also something we'd rather not have public.

Thanks for your help,
Yoni.

 

[Echo S]

Hello!

I work for a company which gives out a multitude of presentations.
People who view them may request a CD copy of the presentation. So
far, it's okay.

Well, one of our presentations contained content copied from an Excel
document. The Excel document contained a huge amount of data which is
confidential to the company and we did not desire for it to be
released. The CDs on which the PPT was burnt had already been given
out and some of our clients found that data.

This is something that couldv'e been avoided if we knew that
PowerPoint does these things.

Well, when you embed a chart, for example, you embed the whole
worksheet. It's just the way OLE (object linking and embedding) works.

Is there a way to edit the PowerPoint format and look for *hidden*
data (such as stuff copied from Excel, Word, etc.)?

I'd probably get the RnR PPT Optimizer -- it has an option to ungroup
OLE objects, which will disassociate it from the underlying data (which
is really what you want here). http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/

Of course, you can always do that manually. Just go to Edit/Links and
break all the links. Thing is, that won't necessarily take care of the
Word stuff (or all the Excel stuff, for that matter). See, it depends on
how you inserted the information in the first place -- did you copy and
Paste Special/Paste Link, or did you use Insert/Object?

You may have to just manually activate all the OLE objects and delete
the metadata from those files individually. But at least the Optimizer
would give you a head start. (It won't ungroup something you inserted
using Insert/Object, though -- just tested that. It did ungroup stuff
inserted using copy/paste special--paste link, though.)

It also turns out PPT saves the path in which it was created which is
also something we'd rather not have public.

Yeah, that's also part of the metadata. See
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314797
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314800
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=223793
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=223396
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=222910

for info on how to remove metadata from files.

 

[Kurt]

Hi Yoni,
With www.take-off.as/datapoint you can link a presentation to excel data
(also text files and databases) to generate new 'static' presentations.
With that add-on you just link a text box to a specific excel cell and the
data is copied over without a reference to its original source, nor other
(unused) data. Sounds like you what you are looking for.
Regards,
Kurt

 

[Troy @ TLC Creative]

In addition to Echo's suggestions (which is exactly what I use - RnR's
Optimizer), you may also want to consider RnR's Fix Links Pro. If you do not
ungroup an excel chart it will eliminate the option for others to see the
path to the original data by giving it a relative link (which just listed
the Excel files document name).
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/FAQ00035.htm

--
Best Regards,
Troy Chollar
==============================
"troy at TLCCreative dot com"
TLC Creative Services, inc.
www.tlccreative.com
==============================

 

[B]

My 2 cents ....

Of course, the best way to keep the extra data from being found would be to
convert the spreadsheet to a picture. Then what you see is the only thing
they will be able to get, no exceptions.

I would assume that your boss is going to be very, very picky about what is
allowed to be sent out in your next presentations. Manually severing the
links and ungrouping are great, but even with double checking you could
still miss something. I would error on the side of extreme caution, just to
keep the boss from ... well, you know.


Now as far as the paths go...

If you must use an excel spreadsheet, why not, create a first excel sheet
that references the data you will need for the presentation from all the
other sources. Then use VBA in Excel to create a entirely new data sheet
containing just the data you need for this presentation from the first xls.
Place these excel sheets in the same folder as the presentation prior to
embedding the 2nd xls as an object. That should make the link to the second
(copy only) spreadsheet relative and not absolute, they'll know you call it
"data2.xls", but not where you keep it. Obviously the first xls sheet nor
the source data would not be included in the CD.


These are just my opinions, I do not work in your field and do not know what
other considerations are placed on your work.

B
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