mp3 sound won't play because I can't eliminate link paths - HELP!

  • Thread starter Thread starter r21
  • Start date Start date
R

r21

I have a Powerpoint presentation that includes several mp3 files,
linked to specific slides, and they provide background music for those
and subsequent slides.

Even though I was careful to include all the mp3 files in the same
folder as the .ppt file and to insert the sound files from that folder
(same folder as ppt file), each mp3 file has a path prefix in its
link.

This is troublesome because my My Documents folder is on my D drive.
So for example, my project is in
D:\My Documents\200403\PowerPointFile.ppt

Of course it works great on my computer. But if I zip the entire
folder (folder and its ppt and mp3 contents) and send it to someone
who lacks a D drive, they can't extract it so the mp3 files are on the
same path and the sound won't play. That's how I understand it
anyway; am I correct?

YES... I have looked at http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/fixlinks/ and
I'm sure it works and is marvelous. But the $70 is not worth it for
me, who might do maybe two ppt projects a year, not necessarily always
including sound.

How in PowerPoint 2000 can I manually remove the path prefix, so PPT
will always just look in the same folder as the ppt file is?

If I can't manually remove the path prefix, is there a free tool to do
this?

If neither of the above options works, what might I try? Developing
any ppt file to include linked objects on my C drive, ensuring that
anyone to whom I send it can create the same path? Would that work
though for Macintosh and other non-Windows users?

Please, suggestions from anyone!
 
If you have linked them as you describe, you needn't worry. They will work when
you move them together to *ANY* folder on *ANY* drive on another system. What
you are seeing on your system when you inspect the link is the current "fully
resolved" address. When the presentation is run on another system, PowerPoint
will look for the linked files in the folder where the presentation resides on
that system.

It's kind of hard to explain. The best thing is for you to test it to satisfy
yourself. You can do that on your own system. Create a new folder called
C:\Test. Copy and paste your presentation and the linked files to that folder.
Temporarily rename D:\My Documents\200403\ to D:\My Documents\Temp200403\. This
last step will ensure that the links are broken if they are indeed *absolute*
(which they aren't).

Now run the presentation from C:\Test. I believe that you'll find that
everything runs fine.

When you've completed the test you can delete C:\Test and you can rename D:\My
Documents\Temp200403 back to D:\My Documents\200403.
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com
 
If you have linked them as you describe, you needn't worry. They will work when
you move them together to *ANY* folder on *ANY* drive on another system. What
you are seeing on your system when you inspect the link is the current "fully
resolved" address. When the presentation is run on another system, PowerPoint
will look for the linked files in the folder where the presentation resides on
that system.

It's kind of hard to explain. The best thing is for you to test it to satisfy
yourself. You can do that on your own system. Create a new folder called
C:\Test. Copy and paste your presentation and the linked files to that folder.
Temporarily rename D:\My Documents\200403\ to D:\My Documents\Temp200403\. This
last step will ensure that the links are broken if they are indeed *absolute*
(which they aren't).

Now run the presentation from C:\Test. I believe that you'll find that
everything runs fine.

When you've completed the test you can delete C:\Test and you can rename D:\My
Documents\Temp200403 back to D:\My Documents\200403.
Click to expand...

This is helpful. BUT - it confuses me at the same time. I tried what
you said and it worked. In fact, I went one better and dragged my
original folder to the trash after copying its contents (I'd been
careful and made a CD backup of the folder first!).

When I opened the .ppt file in the new folder and edited the sound
links, they pointed to a d: path still. But even though the file and
folder was gone from D:, the sound played. But now here is the weird
part. I edited the presentation once it was in the new folder. None
of the changes were to slides that had music files linked to them - I
just rearranged a few slides, again, none with music links. But guess
what? When I opted to edit the sound files this time, now the path
was a C: path.

Am I crazy or did this happen? Are the links re-established every
time the file (not the slide, just the file) they're linked to is
edited?

I'm going to get some friends to help me test this, by ftp-ing the
show onto their computers.

But I still would like to have my mind set straight here.
 
When I opened the .ppt file in the new folder and edited the sound
links, they pointed to a d: path still. But even though the file and
folder was gone from D:, the sound played. But now here is the weird
part. I edited the presentation once it was in the new folder. None
of the changes were to slides that had music files linked to them - I
just rearranged a few slides, again, none with music links. But guess
what? When I opted to edit the sound files this time, now the path
was a C: path.

Am I crazy or did this happen?
Click to expand...

You're not crazy. PowerPoint is, but you're ok. Or seem to be. So far.
But we *know* about PPT, so let's talk about it instead. ;-)

It seems to pick unpredictable moments to wake up, realize that "Oh. The links
aren't where they're supposed to .... oh, but here they are. Let me tidy those
messy paths up then."

There are other reasons why the links might not work but so long as you inserted the
files as you described, you should be good to go.
 
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