Links to *.ppsx and *.pptx on Web won't open

G

Guest

I posted some PowerPoint shows on the web and when I click the links to the
ppsx and *.pptx files, I get a prompt to open or save the file and then it
looks like I need to use a zip program to unzip files. I thought these would
open automatically. What am I doing wrong? The page with the links is
http://gdpkeyboarding.com/test.htm. Thanks in advance.

Arlene
 
S

Steve Rindsberg

I posted some PowerPoint shows on the web and when I click the links to the
ppsx and *.pptx files, I get a prompt to open or save the file and then it
looks like I need to use a zip program to unzip files. I thought these would
open automatically. What am I doing wrong? The page with the links is
http://gdpkeyboarding.com/test.htm. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Same thing happened here earlier with your other page.

The link itself points to a PPTX or PPSX file but the browser treats it as
though it were a ZIP. I'm guessing that it's a media-type issue, something to
bring up with the webmaster on your site. I suspect they'll have to change
some web-server settings.

The web server doesn't know what PPTX and PPSX are, so it returns the PPTX/PPSX
filetypes as:

Content-Type: text/plain

As near as I can tell, MSIE will look at text/plain content and work out that
"Hey, that's not a text file, it's a ZIP file" (which a PPTX/PPSX in fact is)
and deal with it semi-appropriately. Some other browsers will probably just
display acres of gibberish text.

By comparison, the web server's returning the PDF link correctly as:

Content-Type: application/pdf
 
M

Michael Koerner

Try saving them as backward compatible slides and upload that and see what happens.

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


I posted some PowerPoint shows on the web and when I click the links to the
ppsx and *.pptx files, I get a prompt to open or save the file and then it
looks like I need to use a zip program to unzip files. I thought these would
open automatically. What am I doing wrong? The page with the links is
http://gdpkeyboarding.com/test.htm. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Same thing happened here earlier with your other page.

The link itself points to a PPTX or PPSX file but the browser treats it as
though it were a ZIP. I'm guessing that it's a media-type issue, something to
bring up with the webmaster on your site. I suspect they'll have to change
some web-server settings.

The web server doesn't know what PPTX and PPSX are, so it returns the PPTX/PPSX
filetypes as:

Content-Type: text/plain

As near as I can tell, MSIE will look at text/plain content and work out that
"Hey, that's not a text file, it's a ZIP file" (which a PPTX/PPSX in fact is)
and deal with it semi-appropriately. Some other browsers will probably just
display acres of gibberish text.

By comparison, the web server's returning the PDF link correctly as:

Content-Type: application/pdf
 
G

Guest

Steve--I was reading your article "Put your PowerPoint-generated HTML on the
web" and you mention long file names being an issue. This is a very long file
name. Do you think that might be causing issues with PP07?

Arlene
 
M

Michael Koerner

You might also save it as a .pps file so that it opens in the slideshow mode rather than the edit mode. thanks for getting back to us with your success.

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


I saved the presentation again as ppt and it opens fine, so evidently this is
a PP07 issue. Please see http://gdpkeyboarding.com/test.htm again.
 
M

Michael Koerner

As long as the filename including path does not exceed 128 characters there should not be a problem. If you publish your presentation as an htm/html file then you do not have the problem of contending with different versions of PowerPoint. Looking at the presentations you provided I see no problem of converting them to html files and having them open full screen. See here:
Making PowerPoint 2002, PowerPoint 2003 and PowerPoint 2007 HTML open full screen
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00428.htm


--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


Steve--I was reading your article "Put your PowerPoint-generated HTML on the
web" and you mention long file names being an issue. This is a very long file
name. Do you think that might be causing issues with PP07?

Arlene
 
S

Steve Rindsberg

They are indeed ppt files. I saved the presentation again as ppt and it opens
fine, so evidently this is a PP07 issue
Click to expand...

Nope. Reread my earlier post. It has to do with how the web server serves up the
files.
 
S

Steve Rindsberg

Steve--I was reading your article "Put your PowerPoint-generated HTML on the
web" and you mention long file names being an issue. This is a very long file
name. Do you think that might be causing issues with PP07?
Click to expand...

Nope. It's a web server issue, I'm fairly sure. See my other post again.
 
G

Guest

I saved it as a pps file and posted it on my Test page. It still opens
PowerPoint. Maybe I've just saved this file too many times. Are there any
rules about that? Should you always open a PP file in a certain format (such
as ppt or pptx) and then save to other formats like html, pdf, pps, etc.?
 
M

Michael Koerner

If you save it as ppt it can be opened by all versions of PowerPoint in the edit mode.
If you save it as pps it can be opened by all versions of PowerPoint in the slideshow mode.

If you save it as pptx it can be opened by PowerPoint2007. in the edit mode.
If you save it as ppsx it can be opened by PowerPoint2007. in the slideshow mode.

If you publish to html and upload your files, it can be viewed by anyone who can access the page just using their internet browser.

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


I saved it as a pps file and posted it on my Test page. It still opens
PowerPoint. Maybe I've just saved this file too many times. Are there any
rules about that? Should you always open a PP file in a certain format (such
as ppt or pptx) and then save to other formats like html, pdf, pps, etc.?
 
G

Guest

WOW! Thank you for that clarification. But bottom line is the *.pps version
is opening PowerPoint, but not in slide show mode--they open in normal mode
with the Slides and Outline tabs on the left and the active slide on the
right. I can't test the ppsx version because it goes into the Zip mode. Isn't
a pps version supposed to open PowerPoint but go directly to the slide show?
Thank you for your patience. I hate to sound dense but many issues are
preventing me from figuring this out very easily.

Arlene
 
M

Michael Koerner

Make sure that in your slide show set up it is set to "Presented by speaker (full screen)"

Looking at the sample file you posted, I'd save it as a web page which you can set to open Full Screen, and all that is required is you Internet browser.

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


WOW! Thank you for that clarification. But bottom line is the *.pps version
is opening PowerPoint, but not in slide show mode--they open in normal mode
with the Slides and Outline tabs on the left and the active slide on the
right. I can't test the ppsx version because it goes into the Zip mode. Isn't
a pps version supposed to open PowerPoint but go directly to the slide show?
Thank you for your patience. I hate to sound dense but many issues are
preventing me from figuring this out very easily.

Arlene
 
S

Steve Rindsberg

Wow! The mystery is that it just started happening. I have links on other
pages that work fine so I don't think it's the site. See my links on this
page: http://gdpkeyboarding.com/Methodology.htm Any other ideas?
Click to expand...

To follow up on this:

I downloaded your PPTX file and posted it temporarily to my own web site.
As it happens, my site and yours both run under Sun OS and Apache web server.
The result was pretty much the same at this end ... MSIE wants to download the PPTX
as a ZIP file.

I emailed the ISP and asked them to change the media type/MIME config on the web
server to reflect the new extensions for Office 2007; as soon as I heard back that
the fix was in place, I went back to the same link and voila, it offers me the
choice of downloading as PPTX or opening (and if I choose Open, it opens into
PowerPoint.)

So again, it's a web server issue.
 

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