[CRITICAL UPDATE - Anyone using Office 2003 should install the critical
update as soon as possible. From PowerPoint, choose "Help -> Check for
Updates".]
[TOP ISSUE - Are you having difficulty opening presentations in PPT 2003
that you just created in PPT 2003? -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=329820]
Hello,
PowerPoint doesn't try to be a multimedia authoring tool, so it doesn't
support the kind of timing/synchronization that you are looking for. For
example, with media, it can only synchronize the BEGINNING of the media to
another event. It can't control the beginning of other events based on how
many seconds of a media file has been played. The features for this degree
of timing control are simply not built into the product.
Part of this is because two completely different architectures are used.
For multimedia playback we use system API calls (PowerPoint has very little
control over what happens after the media has begun to play) while
animations and transitions are controlled using PowerPoint's built in
procedures. Then, add to that, system specific performance when it comes to
moving data between physical devices, virtual system memory and the memory
that PowerPoint is using, etc and, because tight synchronization was never
a design goal for PowerPoint, you will get variable playback even on the
same system because the state of the system resources and memory is
different than the last time the presentation was shown.
So, for example, if you want to sychronize animations and transitions with
something other than just the beginning of media playback (on same slide or
over multiple slides), you will get inconsistent results from system to
system or even on the same system (depending on what data is still cached
in virtual memory). For true synchronization you should look into tools
which output to a streaming format (such as movie), So, for example, if
synchronization is the primary factor for choosing the right tool and your
"presentation" consists primarily of photos (picture shows), a simple
application like "Microsoft Plus! Photo Story" is a much better tool than
PowerPoint.
If some kind of more deterministic, system independent, multimedia
synchronization with animations and transitions is important to you (or
anyone else reading this message) for Microsoft to consider for some future
version of PowerPoint (or if it's not possible, perhaps features within
PowerPoint to help you avoid trying to sychronize something that we can't
guarantee will always be synchronized), so you don't have to attempt to
exporting to other formats (movies, shockwave flash, etc.), which would
result is some loss of formatting and/or fidelity, don't forget to send
your feedback (in YOUR OWN WORDS, please) to Microsoft at:
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp
It's VERY important that, for EACH wish, you describe in detail, WHY it is
important TO YOU that your product suggestion be implemented. A good wish
submssion includes WHAT scenario, work-flow, or end-result is blocked by
not having a specific feature, HOW MUCH time and effort ($$$) is spent
working around a specific limitation of the current product, etc. Remember
that Microsoft receives THOUSANDS of product suggestions every day and we
read each one but, in any given product development cycle, there are ONLY
sufficient resources to address the ones that are MOST IMPORTANT to our
customers so take the extra time to state your case as CLEARLY and
COMPLETELY as possible so that we can FEEL YOUR PAIN.
IMPORTANT: Each submission should be a single suggestion (not a list of
suggestions).
John Langhans
Microsoft Corporation
Supportability Program Manager
Microsoft Office PowerPoint for Windows
Microsoft Office Picture Manager for Windows
For FAQ's, highlights and top issues, visit the Microsoft PowerPoint
support center at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=ppt
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbhowto
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