Too many hyperlinks?

[vahallman]

I attempted to develop a ppt. presentation in the PC-2000
version that hyperlinked to other slides in it and also to
intranet pages. At 16 slides, 15 internal links and 44
hperlinks to intranet pages, links either don't work or go
to an incorrect link. I then read at the MS site that
hyperlink storage cannot exceed 32 KB, if that. So I
started over, with 1 slide per presentation, keeping them
in the same folder. This could mean several hundred
separate presentations. I assume relinking them to a
folder that can be accessed via the intranet will mean
manual relinking, yes? Any advice for another way to
accomplish my goal of many links that's less clunky?

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I attempted to develop a ppt. presentation in the PC-2000
version that hyperlinked to other slides in it and also to
intranet pages. At 16 slides, 15 internal links and 44
hperlinks to intranet pages, links either don't work or go
to an incorrect link. I then read at the MS site that
hyperlink storage cannot exceed 32 KB, if that. So I
started over, with 1 slide per presentation, keeping them
in the same folder. This could mean several hundred
separate presentations. I assume relinking them to a
folder that can be accessed via the intranet will mean
manual relinking, yes? Any advice for another way to
accomplish my goal of many links that's less clunky?

Normally with the number of links you've described, you wouldn't be anywhere
near 32k, much less exceeding it. Unless you mean 15 internal and 44 external
links *per slide*.

For starters, download the free PPTools FixLinks Demo at http://get.pptools.com
The demo version includes a report tool that'll give you a pretty thorough
listing of all the links in your presentation AND a rough count of how much
storage the links take up.

Post the report back here if you like, and we can have a look.



--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================

 

[vahallman]

Sorry; I don't know how to send you the report but it says
I only have 4062 bytes so I guess size isn't the problem.
Any other ideas? Do I need to hyperlink in any certain
order, or finish the presentation first and then do all
the links?

Virginia

-----Original Message-----

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Sorry; I don't know how to send you the report

The report comes up in Notepad. Press Ctrl+A to select it all, press Ctrl+C to
copy it, then switch to a reply to the newsgroup and press Ctrl+V to paste in
the report. If there's anything in there you don't want the world to see, I'd
edit it out in Notepad first.

but it says
I only have 4062 bytes so I guess size isn't the problem.

Nowhere close. It seems you're safe on that score.

Any other ideas? Do I need to hyperlink in any certain
order, or finish the presentation first and then do all
the links?

No, there shouldn't be any need for that, but sometimes links can get corrupted
when they're edited; I may be able to tell from the report, so go ahead and
pop that in if you would.

Also, when you look at the report, does it appear to include all the links that
you know are in the presentation?

Virginia

-----Original Message-----

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================

 

[vahallman]

Hi,

Thanks for your notes. I've copied a portion of the
report below, but I notice that the report doesn't give
the status of any of the links. Hummmm.

FixLinks Pro DEMO
=================
File: C:\My Documents\HP Project Paula\Curriculum
Plan\Roadmap Draft\Roadmap Draft 1.ppt

This DEMO reports all links but only repairs image links.
To repair other link types, please register FixLinks Pro
at http://get.pptools.com

LINKED PICTURES, SOUNDS, MEDIA; SHAPES WITH ACTION SETTINGS
Slide ShapeName Mouse Status Link Type
===== ========= ===== ====== =========
ACTION SETTINGS ON TEXT WITHIN SHAPES
Slide ShapeName Mouse Status Link Type
===== ========= ===== ====== =========
HYPERLINKS
Slide ShapeName Status Link
===== ========= ====== =====
1 Rectangle 13 263,1,Slide 1
Link text: IT Consolidation Journey

1 Rectangle 13 267,2,Client
Relationships
Link text: IT Architecture

1 Rectangle 13 266,3,Change
Management
Link text: HP Global Method for IT Strategy
and Architecture

1 Rectangle 13
268,4,Communications
Link text: Virtualization

1 Rectangle 14 269,5,Project
Management/Consulting
Link text: Selling IT Consolidation

1 Rectangle 14 270,6,Program
Financial Management
Link text: Financial Analysis & Justification

1 Rectangle 14
http://tslearner.den.hp.com/main_app.asp?
PageName=SearchResults&PageArgs=PageNumber~~1^^ASchkType1~~
ON^^ASchkType2~~ON^^ASchkType3~~ON^^ASchkIncludeVirtual~~ON
^^ASSearchBox~~PS3131vA
Link text: Business Case Development

1 Rectangle 14 267,2,Client
Relationships
Link text: Industries

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Client Relationships

1 Rectangle 15 263,1,Slide 1
Link text: Change Management

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Communications

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Project Management/Consulting

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Program Financial Management

1 Rectangle 28 263,1,Slide 1
Link text: Tru64 UNIX

2 Rectangle 6
268,4,Communications
Link text: The Trusted Advisor

2 Rectangle 8 263,1,Slide 1
Link text: Business Facilitation: Oiling the
wheels of an Engagement

2 Rectangle 8
Link text:
http://tslearner.den.hp.com/main_app.asp?
PageName=SearchResults&PageArgs=PageNumber~~1^^ASchkType1~~
ON^^ASchkType2~~ON^^ASchkType3~~ON^^ASchkIncludeVirtual~~ON
^^ASSearchBox~~PS3131vA

2 Rectangle 17 269,5,Project
Management
Link text: Solution Architect Profession-
Client Engagement

2 Text Box 23
Link text: Home

3 Rectangle 2077
http://tslearner.den.hp.com/redirect.asp?
page=DisplayCatalogItem&item=1785
Link text: ITSM Essentials

3 Rectangle 2054 273,9,UNIX - Tru64
UNIX - Basic Level
Link text: HP ITSM Reference Model v3
Overview

3 Rectangle 2056
http://education.itrc.hp.com/TrainerII/en_US/catalo
g/catalogDetail.jsp?id=prod480044
Link text: ITSM Reference Model Website

3 Rectangle 2067
http://learning1.americas.hp.com/training/SA/Genera
lSkills.asp
Link text: Solution Architect Profession-
Business Acumen

3 Text Box 2084 263,1,Slide 1
Link text: Home

4 Rectangle 6
http://btobshop.barnesandnoble.com/textbooks/bookse
arch/isbninquiry.asp?
userid=0EJLE4ZNCP&mscssid=BH8MPTE3GGDS8P3AKP1S8K9A1JPQ3GUC&
btob=Y&isbn=0201633833
Link text: Business Writing & Grammar Skills
Made Easy and Fun

Virginia

-----Original Message-----

Sorry; I don't know how to send you the report

The report comes up in Notepad. Press Ctrl+A to select it all, press Ctrl+C to
copy it, then switch to a reply to the newsgroup and press Ctrl+V to paste in
the report. If there's anything in there you don't want the world to see, I'd
edit it out in Notepad first.

but it says
I only have 4062 bytes so I guess size isn't the

problem.

Nowhere close. It seems you're safe on that score.

Any other ideas? Do I need to hyperlink in any certain
order, or finish the presentation first and then do all
the links?

No, there shouldn't be any need for that, but sometimes links can get corrupted
when they're edited; I may be able to tell from the report, so go ahead and
pop that in if you would.

Also, when you look at the report, does it appear to include all the links that
you know are in the presentation?

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thanks for your notes. I've copied a portion of the

report below, but I notice that the report doesn't give
the status of any of the links. Hummmm.

It only checks link status for links to external files, so that's not a big
issue. I'll chop out the ones that look normal to me and comment on the
questionable ones:

HYPERLINKS
Slide ShapeName Status Link
===== ========= ====== =====

1 Rectangle 13 266,3,Change
Management
Link text: HP Global Method for IT Strategy
and Architecture

See the square there after "Strategy"?
That's almost a sure sign of a corrupted link and might be the root of your
problem. When PPT stumbles across one of those, it tends to ignore the rest of
the links on the page.

Try deleting that whole string of text, including any paragraph ends at
beginning and front, then re-enter the text and re-apply the link.
Specifically don't copy/paste the text back in. That'll just paste the problem
back in too. ;-)

1 Rectangle 14
http://tslearner.den.hp.com/main_app.asp?
PageName=SearchResults&PageArgs=PageNumber~~1^^ASchkType1~~
ON^^ASchkType2~~ON^^ASchkType3~~ON^^ASchkIncludeVirtual~~ON
^^ASSearchBox~~PS3131vA
Link text: Business Case Development

When you first saw this in notepad, did the URL have linebreaks (or did it have
any empty squares in it)? In other words, did Notepad add the linebreaks?
What if you turn off wordwrap in Notepad? Does the entire link stay as one
long line? It'd need to in order to work.

It may also be that PPT doesn't recognize all the unusual characters
I tried it here and it worked up to a point (I got a message from MSIE saying
it couldn't locate the proxy server) but I think that may just be because it's
on a private intranet, no?

The next several are probably bunged as well and should probably be recreated.

Several have no link target (ie, the "xxx,y,Slide Text" bit at the end if the
first line):

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Client Relationships

It should look like this:
v - the link target

1 Rectangle 15 263,1,Slide 1
Link text: Change Management

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Communications

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Project Management/Consulting

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Program Financial Management

On this and several of the others, I'm a bit suspicious of the linebreaks, but
let's leave those aside for now

2 Rectangle 17 269,5,Project
Management
Link text: Solution Architect Profession-
Client Engagement

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================

 

[vahallman]

Hi,

Thanks so much for taking a look at the report. Looking
at the whole thing, I find quite a few black squares; I'm
sure it will be helpful to know that means to redo the
link. The space marks in the other link appear to be part
of the original URL (again, it's an intranet so...)

I have a feeling that I'm somehow corrupting the links by
the way I am inserting them, but I've followed the Help
instructions in ppt. Do you know of any tutorial
available that walks through hyperlinking in ppt?

Thanks for all your help.

-----Original Message-----

Thanks for your notes. I've copied a portion of the
report below, but I notice that the report doesn't give
the status of any of the links. Hummmm.

It only checks link status for links to external files, so that's not a big
issue. I'll chop out the ones that look normal to me and comment on the
questionable ones:

HYPERLINKS
Slide ShapeName Status Link
===== ========= ====== =====

1 Rectangle 13 266,3,Change
Management
Link text: HP Global Method for IT Strategy
and Architecture

See the square there after "Strategy"?
That's almost a sure sign of a corrupted link and might be the root of your
problem. When PPT stumbles across one of those, it tends to ignore the rest of
the links on the page.

Try deleting that whole string of text, including any paragraph ends at
beginning and front, then re-enter the text and re-apply the link.
Specifically don't copy/paste the text back in. That'll just paste the problem
back in too. ;-)

1 Rectangle 14
http://tslearner.den.hp.com/main_app.asp?
PageName=SearchResults&PageArgs=PageNumber~~1^^ASchkType1~~
ON^^ASchkType2~~ON^^ASchkType3~~ON^^ASchkIncludeVirtual~~ON
^^ASSearchBox~~PS3131vA
Link text: Business Case Development

When you first saw this in notepad, did the URL have linebreaks (or did it have
any empty squares in it)? In other words, did Notepad add the linebreaks?
What if you turn off wordwrap in Notepad? Does the entire link stay as one
long line? It'd need to in order to work.

It may also be that PPT doesn't recognize all the unusual characters
I tried it here and it worked up to a point (I got a message from MSIE saying
it couldn't locate the proxy server) but I think that may just be because it's
on a private intranet, no?

The next several are probably bunged as well and should probably be recreated.

Several have no link target (ie, the "xxx,y,Slide Text" bit at the end if the
first line):

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Client Relationships

It should look like this:
v - the link target

1 Rectangle 15 263,1,Slide 1
Link text: Change Management

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Communications

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Project Management/Consulting

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Program Financial Management

On this and several of the others, I'm a bit suspicious of the linebreaks, but
let's leave those aside for now

2 Rectangle 17 269,5,Project
Management
Link text: Solution Architect Profession-
Client Engagement

Virginia
-----Original Message-----

Sorry; I don't know how to send you the report

The report comes up in Notepad. Press Ctrl+A to

select
it all, press Ctrl+C to

copy it, then switch to a reply to the newsgroup and press Ctrl+V to paste in
the report. If there's anything in there you don't

want
the world to see, I'd

edit it out in Notepad first.

but it says
I only have 4062 bytes so I guess size isn't the problem.

Nowhere close. It seems you're safe on that score.

Any other ideas? Do I need to hyperlink in any certain
order, or finish the presentation first and then do all
the links?

No, there shouldn't be any need for that, but

sometimes
links can get corrupted

when they're edited; I may be able to tell from the report, so go ahead and
pop that in if you would.

Also, when you look at the report, does it appear to include all the links that
you know are in the presentation?



Virginia
-----Original Message-----

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thanks so much for taking a look at the report.

No problem; thank YOU for sending it along.

Looking at the whole thing, I find quite a few black squares; I'm
sure it will be helpful to know that means to redo the
link. The space marks in the other link appear to be part
of the original URL (again, it's an intranet so...)

As long as they work for you, I won't complain. ;-)

I have a feeling that I'm somehow corrupting the links by
the way I am inserting them, but I've followed the Help
instructions in ppt. Do you know of any tutorial
available that walks through hyperlinking in ppt?

I haven't been able to replicate the exact problem here, unfortunately, so I'm
not sure exactly what's going on to create the bad links. I think it might be
something along these lines though:

Start with text that
looks like this
(including the linebreaks)

Select " text that looks like this "

Add a hyperlink.

It should work ok, but if you later edit the text the hyperlink's applied to,
you might edit just the text before the linebreak and just after but not delete
the linebreak itself. The linebreak now has a link applied to it that PPT sort
of sees and sort of doesn't see, which leaves things a bit confused.

I'd say that it's good practice when editing text that has a link applied to it
to select and edit the entire text string rather than editing bits.

But that's fairly speculative, to be honest. If you can figure out how these
things got made, PLEASE do let us know here, 'kay? Thanks!

-----Original Message-----

Thanks for your notes. I've copied a portion of the
report below, but I notice that the report doesn't give
the status of any of the links. Hummmm.

It only checks link status for links to external files, so that's not a big
issue. I'll chop out the ones that look normal to me and comment on the
questionable ones:

HYPERLINKS
Slide ShapeName Status Link
===== ========= ====== =====

1 Rectangle 13 266,3,Change
Management
Link text: HP Global Method for IT Strategy
and Architecture

See the square there after "Strategy"?
That's almost a sure sign of a corrupted link and might be the root of your
problem. When PPT stumbles across one of those, it tends to ignore the rest of
the links on the page.

Try deleting that whole string of text, including any paragraph ends at
beginning and front, then re-enter the text and re-apply the link.
Specifically don't copy/paste the text back in. That'll just paste the problem
back in too. ;-)

1 Rectangle 14
http://tslearner.den.hp.com/main_app.asp?
PageName=SearchResults&PageArgs=PageNumber~~1^^ASchkType1~~
ON^^ASchkType2~~ON^^ASchkType3~~ON^^ASchkIncludeVirtual~~ON
^^ASSearchBox~~PS3131vA
Link text: Business Case Development

When you first saw this in notepad, did the URL have linebreaks (or did it have
any empty squares in it)? In other words, did Notepad add the linebreaks?
What if you turn off wordwrap in Notepad? Does the entire link stay as one
long line? It'd need to in order to work.

It may also be that PPT doesn't recognize all the unusual characters
I tried it here and it worked up to a point (I got a message from MSIE saying
it couldn't locate the proxy server) but I think that may just be because it's
on a private intranet, no?

The next several are probably bunged as well and should probably be recreated.

Several have no link target (ie, the "xxx,y,Slide Text" bit at the end if the
first line):

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Client Relationships

It should look like this:
v - the link target

1 Rectangle 15 263,1,Slide 1
Link text: Change Management

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Communications

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Project Management/Consulting

1 Rectangle 15
Link text: Program Financial Management

On this and several of the others, I'm a bit suspicious of the linebreaks, but
let's leave those aside for now

2 Rectangle 17 269,5,Project
Management
Link text: Solution Architect Profession-
Client Engagement



Virginia
-----Original Message-----
Sorry; I don't know how to send you the report

The report comes up in Notepad. Press Ctrl+A to select
it all, press Ctrl+C to
copy it, then switch to a reply to the newsgroup and
press Ctrl+V to paste in
the report. If there's anything in there you don't want
the world to see, I'd
edit it out in Notepad first.

but it says
I only have 4062 bytes so I guess size isn't the
problem.

Nowhere close. It seems you're safe on that score.

Any other ideas? Do I need to hyperlink in any certain
order, or finish the presentation first and then do all
the links?

No, there shouldn't be any need for that, but sometimes
links can get corrupted
when they're edited; I may be able to tell from the
report, so go ahead and
pop that in if you would.

Also, when you look at the report, does it appear to
include all the links that
you know are in the presentation?



Virginia
-----Original Message-----

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================