can't paste RTF text in powerpoint anymore...

[Guest]

I've been working on a powerpoint presentation that consists of slides that
are, in effect, flashcards. I have the title placeholder box as the question
and the body placeholder box as the answer with a fade in as the transition.
I've been dragging and dropping text from a PDF file, duplicating the
previous slide each time, with no problems until I reached about 250 slides,
at which point the drag and drop does not work. What I get is a quick flash
in the placeholder and then nothing.

I can, however, drag/drop or copy/paste from a PDF to Word and then Word to
Powerpoint. I can also drag/drop or copy/paste from a text file to
Powerpoint. I can also copy from the PDF and then use "Edit/Paste Special -
unformatted text" to get the text into the slide. I just cannot simply "drag
and drop" or "copy and paste" from a PDF to Powerpoint.

Just to cover the obvious:

-The text color is not the same as the background
-The problem is not dependent on machine
-The problem is unique to this one file
-I cannot copy a new slide from a new presentation... if I do the problem
spreads to the "new" slide
-I've tried deleting slides to see if the problem is isolated to one slide
with no luck

I have hundreds of slides yet to create so I would very much like to drag
and drop due to the ease and speed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Jamie Rademacher

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I've been working on a powerpoint presentation that consists of slides that
are, in effect, flashcards. I have the title placeholder box as the question
and the body placeholder box as the answer with a fade in as the transition.
I've been dragging and dropping text from a PDF file, duplicating the
previous slide each time, with no problems until I reached about 250 slides,
at which point the drag and drop does not work. What I get is a quick flash
in the placeholder and then nothing.

I can, however, drag/drop or copy/paste from a PDF to Word and then Word to
Powerpoint. I can also drag/drop or copy/paste from a text file to
Powerpoint. I can also copy from the PDF and then use "Edit/Paste Special -
unformatted text" to get the text into the slide. I just cannot simply "drag
and drop" or "copy and paste" from a PDF to Powerpoint.

Just to cover the obvious:

-The text color is not the same as the background
-The problem is not dependent on machine
-The problem is unique to this one file
-I cannot copy a new slide from a new presentation... if I do the problem
spreads to the "new" slide
-I've tried deleting slides to see if the problem is isolated to one slide
with no luck

I'd avoid dragondropping if at all possible.

Depending on the format of your PDF, you might be able to select all the text at
once, copy it to notepad then reformat it thus:

Question
[tab]Answer
Question
[tab]Answer

and so on. Save that as a TXT file then from PPT choose Insert, Slides from
File, Browse. Force it to accept All Files in the Files of Type box and choose
your TXT file.

That should automatically create the needed slides with questions and answers in
the proper text boxes. So much simpler, if it works.

 

[Guest]

The slide layout requires that the question be in one text placeholder, the
answer in another, and a reference in a third. The suggested method will
not allow a practical way to produce slides while preserving this layout (tab
does not force text into the next placeholder).

I don't understand the aversion to drag and drop... until now it has worked
perfectly. It allowed me to preserve my slide layout on every slide and
provided a way to manipulate the text quickly. Keep in mind, I still have
hundreds (if not thosands of slides) to produce.

The problem still stands... I cannot figure out why all of a sudden I cannot
drag and drop or copy and paste text from a PDF into a powerpoint slide.
Either the file became corrupted or I changed a setting inadvertantly. I am
very interested in finding the root cause of this problem.

Jamie

I'd avoid dragondropping if at all possible.

Depending on the format of your PDF, you might be able to select all the text at
once, copy it to notepad then reformat it thus:

Question
[tab]Answer
Question
[tab]Answer

and so on. Save that as a TXT file then from PPT choose Insert, Slides from
File, Browse. Force it to accept All Files in the Files of Type box and choose
your TXT file.

That should automatically create the needed slides with questions and answers in
the proper text boxes. So much simpler, if it works.




-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

The slide layout requires that the question be in one text placeholder, the
answer in another, and a reference in a third. The suggested method will
not allow a practical way to produce slides while preserving this layout (tab
does not force text into the next placeholder).

The title and body text ones, yes. The third placeholder, which you didn't mention,
no.

I don't understand the aversion to drag and drop... until now it has worked
perfectly.

And suddenly, for no apparent reason, it doesn't. Happens pretty often in different
ways. Hence the aversion.

It allowed me to preserve my slide layout on every slide and

provided a way to manipulate the text quickly. Keep in mind, I still have
hundreds (if not thosands of slides) to produce.

If you're pasting text into placeholders, I don't quite see what the source of the
text has to do with the layout. PPT itself controls that, no? Seems like I'm
missing something here.

The problem still stands... I cannot figure out why all of a sudden I cannot
drag and drop or copy and paste text from a PDF into a powerpoint slide.
Either the file became corrupted or I changed a setting inadvertantly. I am
very interested in finding the root cause of this problem.

Jamie

I'd avoid dragondropping if at all possible.

Depending on the format of your PDF, you might be able to select all the text at
once, copy it to notepad then reformat it thus:

Question
[tab]Answer
Question
[tab]Answer

and so on. Save that as a TXT file then from PPT choose Insert, Slides from
File, Browse. Force it to accept All Files in the Files of Type box and choose
your TXT file.

That should automatically create the needed slides with questions and answers in
the proper text boxes. So much simpler, if it works.




-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Guest]

Update:

249 slides seems the maximum number of slides you can have and still be able
to drag and drop from a PDF into a Powerpoint slide. After that time you
need to copy from the PDF and then use Edit/Copy Special... you can paste
either RTF or Unformatted Text.

Peculiar quirk... but probably not the only one.

The slide layout requires that the question be in one text placeholder, the
answer in another, and a reference in a third. The suggested method will
not allow a practical way to produce slides while preserving this layout (tab
does not force text into the next placeholder).

I don't understand the aversion to drag and drop... until now it has worked
perfectly. It allowed me to preserve my slide layout on every slide and
provided a way to manipulate the text quickly. Keep in mind, I still have
hundreds (if not thosands of slides) to produce.

The problem still stands... I cannot figure out why all of a sudden I cannot
drag and drop or copy and paste text from a PDF into a powerpoint slide.
Either the file became corrupted or I changed a setting inadvertantly. I am
very interested in finding the root cause of this problem.

Jamie

I'd avoid dragondropping if at all possible.

Depending on the format of your PDF, you might be able to select all the text at
once, copy it to notepad then reformat it thus:

Question
[tab]Answer
Question
[tab]Answer

and so on. Save that as a TXT file then from PPT choose Insert, Slides from
File, Browse. Force it to accept All Files in the Files of Type box and choose
your TXT file.

That should automatically create the needed slides with questions and answers in
the proper text boxes. So much simpler, if it works.




-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================