Imbed to open specific file

[Kozmo]

Greetings - I am trying to open a specific file using a link in a slide. It
happens to be an Excel file. I want the file opened, not an imbedded table
or chart. I can insert an action button and open Excel with it. I can add
the path of the spreadsheet to the open Excel script. The script won't open
the file though because the file path has spaces in it. I tried changing
spaces to "_" but it didn't do it. I tried pasting in a shortcut and that
didn't do it either.

Any ideas?

thanks; Kozmo

 

[Austin Myers]

Try it the simple way.

Create an object (anything) right click, select "Action Settings" Now check
the radio button for "Run Program" and then select browse. You'll have to
change "File Types" to All Files. Now navigate to the actual file you want
to open, NOT the application. Repeat NOT the application, just the file you
want to open.

Now when you run the slide show and click the object, it will fire off the
*associated* application required to open your file and your off and
running. NOTE: You may want to change your security settings in PPT to
allow it to open without all the warning screens.

Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

 

[Kozmo]

thanks for the help but I've already tried that and it doesn't work for me.
I imbed an object, go to action settings, and browse to select the file I
want opened (in this case an xls file). When I run it, I get an error
"Powerpoint couldn't locate or start C:\Documents and Settings\My Document\
...."

I can point the action setting to excel.exe and it opens fine. I add the
file name as an argument to excel.exe but it doesn't work because there are
spaces in the path like in "My Documents". Even when I put a shortcut to the
file on my desktop and name it without any spaces so the path is
"C:\desktop\shortcutbathurest.xls" I get the same error message. It seems
the path of anything put on the desktop gets changed to the location of the
original file.

I've put security settings on low; it doesn't change it.

Seems like it might be something in my Windows (xp) setup on how file names
are treated.

Kozmo

 

[Austin Myers]

thanks for the help but I've already tried that and it doesn't work for me.
I imbed an object,

That is not what I said. Please re-read it and give it another try.

Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team


go to action settings, and browse to select the file I

 

[Kozmo]

I'm not sure what part I misunderstood. I've created an object (a rectangle
or an action button); I select "Action Settings" and check
"Run Program". I then select browse, change "File Types" to All Files and
navigate to the actual xls file I want to launch. Then I run the slide show
and click on the object and get the "Powerpoint couldn't locate or start
C:\Documents and Settings\My Document\ ..." error message.

Kozmo

 

[Steve Rindsberg, PPTMVP]

Try putting quote marks around the filename after you've used the Browse
button to insert its name into the Action settings dialog.

--

Steve Rindsberg PPT MVP
PPTLive ( http://www.pptlive.com ) Featured Speaker
PPTools: http://www.pptools.com
PPT FAQ: http://www.pptfaq.com

 

[Kozmo]

Great. Thanks. That did it. I put the Excel.exe path with the xls file path
in quotes.

Kozmo

 

[Steve Rindsberg, PPTMVP]

Excellent! And thanks for letting us know it flew.

--

Steve Rindsberg PPT MVP
PPTLive ( http://www.pptlive.com ) Featured Speaker
PPTools: http://www.pptools.com
PPT FAQ: http://www.pptfaq.com