Minor Problem: PPT Viewer playing a PPT XP Presentation--

[Lloyd Lindsay]

Hi:

I encountered a minor problem using the PPT Viewer 97 to play a 225
slide PPT XP presentation I created using PPT XP. With PPT Viewer
2003 the problem does not exist.

PPT Viewer 97 plays all the slides perfectly (including animations
and transitions) ... that's not a problem. However, when I use the
"Go By Title" selection, titles after the 101st are grayed out and I
can't click on them to go directly to them.

Several slides later, they appear as they should, but I can't go to
them directly or any other slide after the 101st.

I've tried many things.

1. I made sure that I did not have animations, or transitions
that were not available prior to PPT XP.

2. I tried saving it all the other formats (95, 97-2000, html
etc.), but I still got the same results.

3. I also tried creating a new slide show and imported the slides
from the original. It also did not work.

Has anyone encountered this before?

Is there a fix?

 

[Echo S]

Do your slide titles have commas in them, Lloyd? If so, it's a known
oddity. Remove the commas, and you'll be able to see the titles again.

Or copy the title placeholder and paste it on the slide, then drag the
original placeholder off the slide and remove the comma from it. That
way you'll have a "regular" textbox so your audience sees the title with
the comma, but the true placeholder doesn't have a comma so you can
navigate to it.

 

[Lloyd Lindsay]

Echo:
Thanks for your help.

Unfortunately, it's not a comma issue, but I've identified the
problem.

When my PPT Viewer 97 shows my PPT XP Presentation and I use the Go to
Title command, the titles in this function dim on my 101st slide ----
always.

If I break a 250 slide PPT XP file into 3 files (two 100 and one 50
slide files), all titles are available, not dimmed and accessible.

So if I link the three files, can the PPT Viewer run them seamlessly?

 

[Echo S]

I'm sorry, Lloyd, I read your question and thought for some reason that
it was only a chunk of slides in the middle which weren't showing the
titles. On second read, I see that *every title* after 100/101 doesn't
show.

So it seems as if you have indeed hit a limit of some sort, and I
suspect that linking them probably is your best solution.

The 97 Viewer should show these seamlessly, especially if you use the
technique described at
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointlinking.htm

Apologies for the misdirection!

 

[Lloyd Lindsay]

Hi Echo:

Many thanks for your help and for mentioning the TAJ Simmons Web site
regarding linking to another PPT file.

If only it were a perfect world....but it isn't.

First, when you start a linked presentation, I get the annoying beep
and question whether I want to update the link.

Second, there's a good chance it won't work :-(

Now, on my computer it does work --- only if I change certain
settings. But if I run my presentation on someone else's computer,
chances are the linking won't work.

Here's why:

Both Microsoft and Norton Anti-Virus prevent MS Office macros and
linking from running to prevent virus attacks.

So, in my PPT XP program, I must lower the security by going to: Tools
| Options | Security | Macro Security and then lower the security from
High to Low by clicking on the Low radio button. Then I must remember
to raise the limit back to High after I do my Presentation.

Now in my Norton Anti - Virus program I have to go into the options
and unchecked the "Enable Office Plug-In" feature.

Then, just to make sure, I turn off Norton's Auto Protect.

Now I can run the linking perfectly.

Of course, I've left myself vulnerable to a virus attack, but at least
I can run a PPT Presentation that links to another one --- <laughing
and crying at the same time>.

Running each file in sequence may be inelegant, but it does accomplish
the job.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Lloyd,

There are a lot of fundamentally different types of links in PPT. Sounds like
you're running into different problems with different ones. Maybe breaking it
down a bit will help:

First, when you start a linked presentation, I get the annoying beep
and question whether I want to update the link.

This normally only happens when you have OLE links (ie, links to content from
other apps like Excel, Word or possibly even PPT). You should be able to use
the Links item on the Edit menu to set the links to manual update and prevent
this particular message. Or locate each of the linked bits of content and
ungroup then regroup it. On a *COPY* of your presentation, since this will
destroy the link leaving just a picture of the content.

So, in my PPT XP program, I must lower the security by going to: Tools
| Options | Security | Macro Security and then lower the security from
High to Low by clicking on the Low radio button. Then I must remember
to raise the limit back to High after I do my Presentation.

Are there macros in the presentations you've linked to? That'd be the only
reason to have to change Macro Security. If macros aren't necessary, you
should be able to get rid of 'em. That might calm Norton's tummy a bit too.

Now in my Norton Anti - Virus program I have to go into the options
and unchecked the "Enable Office Plug-In" feature.

Probably ought to be left off all the time anyhow; it causes all sorts of other
problems and doesn't seem to be all that necessary if you let Norton scan
incoming files before opening them.

 

[Lloyd Lindsay]

Hi Steve:

Many thanks for replying.

Lloyd,

There are a lot of fundamentally different types of links in PPT. Sounds like
you're running into different problems with different ones. Maybe breaking it
down a bit will help:


This normally only happens when you have OLE links (ie, links to content from
other apps like Excel, Word or possibly even PPT). You should be able to use
the Links item on the Edit menu to set the links to manual update and prevent
this particular message. Or locate each of the linked bits of content and
ungroup then regroup it. On a *COPY* of your presentation, since this will
destroy the link leaving just a picture of the content.

Wow!

In the Edit menu, I opened the links item and set it to Manual Update.
Everything worked fine then as it should without the annoying beep
<very happy and excited>. I never knew that except... I was using
PPT.

When I used the PPT Viewer the linking didn't work <sad and dejected>.

The Viewer gave me the beep and said: "PPT Viewer could not open the
selected link or embedded object. The PPT Viewer does not support
opening linked or embedded objects." <crying>

Well, you cant win them all.

But, I did find a work around. It's called a coffee break. After I
finish using the viewer for the first file, I'll call for a coffee
break and open up the second file while the audience takes the break.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Wow!

In the Edit menu, I opened the links item and set it to Manual Update.
Everything worked fine then as it should without the annoying beep
<very happy and excited>. I never knew that except... I was using
PPT.

When I used the PPT Viewer the linking didn't work <sad and dejected>.

The Viewer gave me the beep and said: "PPT Viewer could not open the
selected link or embedded object. The PPT Viewer does not support
opening linked or embedded objects." <crying>

Please, please, PLEASE write MS about this:
Contact Microsoft: Use MSwish to request features, report problems, etc.
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00545.htm

The older viewer will probably work better; the new one doesn't support
linked/embedded objects because <irony_drip>MS wants to protect you.</irony_drip>

Personally, I want less warmfuzzy and more functionality. ;-)

But again, if you ungroup the OLE stuff, you'll get a static picture of it. As
long as you do this only to a copy of the original PPT and use it for the version
you distribute with the player, you won't get MS
This-hurts-us-more-than-it-hurts-you-grams and the end user doesn't lose anything.