Package to CD Woes

[Thomas M.]

PowerPoint 2003

I have a user who is reporting a problem with using the Package to CD
feature of PowerPoint 2003. She goes into Package for CD, adds her files
(10 or so), goes into Options and selects the PowerPoint Viewer and Linked
Files options, sets it to allow the user to select the file to view, and
enters a password for modifying the file, and then clicks the OK button and
finally the Copy to CD button.

The files burn to the CD. When the CD is inserted into a CD-ROM drive, the
PowerPoint Viewer opens and she sees her presentation files. The problem is
that a couple of the files have been given odd names. I've not seen it
myself, but she reports that on some of the files the file names contain the
first 2 or 3 letters of the original file name, followed by a string of 5 or
6 apparently random numbers.

I'm wondering if the files in question might be corrupt. Would that cause
the problem that the user is reporting? If so, are they any good utilities
out there for recovering corrupt .PPT files? If not, what else might be the
problem?

Thanks for any help that you can offer.

--Tom

 

[Echo S]

I'd have her start by naming the files (before doing the package process) to
something short, with no spaces and no characters. Tell her to use just
letters and numbers. I know three of us MVPs just ran into something bizarre
when trying to index an Acrobat file because of long names with odd
characters (commas and the like) in them.

If that doesn't do the trick, see if Package to Folder and then burning the
files in the folder to CD (not the folder itself, though) works.

 

[Chris Marks]

Although I can't find it now, I recall seeing somewhere in the FAQ or
elsewhere that the viewer would not package properly with password protected
files.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

First, is it really a problem? That is, do the linked files work correctly?

To echoEcho, my guess is that the original files have names that wouldn't be
permissible on some systems or don't meet CD naming standards and that Package
For CD has substituted the DOS-style short name that Windows maintains for all
files.

In other words, it may not be a problem, it may be a feature that's PREVENTED
problems.

 

[Thomas M.]

I had her do the Package to Folder option, and then burn the files with
Nero. She reports the same problem. However, she did mention that the
files are encrypted with a password, and according to Chris's reply, that
could be the problem.

--Tom

I'd have her start by naming the files (before doing the package process)
to something short, with no spaces and no characters. Tell her to use just
letters and numbers. I know three of us MVPs just ran into something
bizarre when trying to index an Acrobat file because of long names with
odd characters (commas and the like) in them.

If that doesn't do the trick, see if Package to Folder and then burning
the files in the folder to CD (not the folder itself, though) works.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

PowerPoint 2003

I have a user who is reporting a problem with using the Package to CD
feature of PowerPoint 2003. She goes into Package for CD, adds her files
(10 or so), goes into Options and selects the PowerPoint Viewer and
Linked Files options, sets it to allow the user to select the file to
view, and enters a password for modifying the file, and then clicks the
OK button and finally the Copy to CD button.

The files burn to the CD. When the CD is inserted into a CD-ROM drive,
the PowerPoint Viewer opens and she sees her presentation files. The
problem is that a couple of the files have been given odd names. I've
not seen it myself, but she reports that on some of the files the file
names contain the first 2 or 3 letters of the original file name,
followed by a string of 5 or 6 apparently random numbers.

I'm wondering if the files in question might be corrupt. Would that
cause the problem that the user is reporting? If so, are they any good
utilities out there for recovering corrupt .PPT files? If not, what else
might be the problem?

Thanks for any help that you can offer.

--Tom

 

[Thomas M.]

Chris,

Thanks for the reply. As I mentioned in my post, she *is* password
protecting the files, so that may be the problem. I'll see if I can dig up
the article that you are thinking about. I'll also ask the user to do a
test using files that are not password protected.

--Tom

 

[Thomas M.]

Steve,

Thanks for the reply. I don't know if the files work or not. I've been
assuming that they do, and that the file name is the only issue, but that
could be an erroneous assumption so I'll double-check with the user.

Proceeding, for the moment, on the assumption that the files do work, I
think that she wants to correct the problem because the CDs will be
distributed to a wide variety of users, and she wants the files names to
make sense so that people will know which files they need to view.

--Tom

 

[Thomas M.]

Also, I forgot to mention that she is password protecting the files to make
sure that no one can save them off to a hard drive and make changes to the
files. I don't know too much about PowerPoint so let me ask, does
PowerPoint provide any security options beyond password protection that
might serve the same purpose, kind of like the way that Adobe provides
security options when creating a PDF file that can be used to prevent
certain actions from being done on the file?

--Tom

 

[Echo S]

The Viewer should support password protection. IIRC, what causes problems is
if she chooses an encryption type that's different than the default (RC4,
Microsoft Base Cryptographic Provider v1.0 with key length = 40).

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

I had her do the Package to Folder option, and then burn the files with
Nero. She reports the same problem. However, she did mention that the
files are encrypted with a password, and according to Chris's reply, that
could be the problem.

--Tom

I'd have her start by naming the files (before doing the package process)
to something short, with no spaces and no characters. Tell her to use
just letters and numbers. I know three of us MVPs just ran into something
bizarre when trying to index an Acrobat file because of long names with
odd characters (commas and the like) in them.

If that doesn't do the trick, see if Package to Folder and then burning
the files in the folder to CD (not the folder itself, though) works.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

PowerPoint 2003

I have a user who is reporting a problem with using the Package to CD
feature of PowerPoint 2003. She goes into Package for CD, adds her
files (10 or so), goes into Options and selects the PowerPoint Viewer
and Linked Files options, sets it to allow the user to select the file
to view, and enters a password for modifying the file, and then clicks
the OK button and finally the Copy to CD button.

The files burn to the CD. When the CD is inserted into a CD-ROM drive,
the PowerPoint Viewer opens and she sees her presentation files. The
problem is that a couple of the files have been given odd names. I've
not seen it myself, but she reports that on some of the files the file
names contain the first 2 or 3 letters of the original file name,
followed by a string of 5 or 6 apparently random numbers.

I'm wondering if the files in question might be corrupt. Would that
cause the problem that the user is reporting? If so, are they any good
utilities out there for recovering corrupt .PPT files? If not, what
else might be the problem?

Thanks for any help that you can offer.

--Tom

 

[Echo S]

Password protect a presentation http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00038.htm spells
out a variety of options (not just passwords!).

I don't know if that page mentions it or not, but Microsoft also has
"Information Rights Management." In PPT 2003, check File | Permission. In
PPT 2007, see Office Button | Prepare | Restrict Permission. To be
completely honest, I can't remember right now if this option is available in
all editions of PPT. (So, using Office 2007 as an example, you may need to
be using Office Ultimate to see these options -- if you have Office Pro, the
option may not be there.)

 

[Guest]

Hi Tom

If the file names are the issue, she could rename them to be more PC
friendly then create a powerpoint slide with hyperlinks to them all using
whatever text she wants so end users will understand. Then package for CD,
include linked files, but only show users the index ppt.

Does that make sense? Would it workfor her do you think?

Lucy
--
MOS Master Instructor
www.aneasiertomorrow.com.au

PowerPoint Live 2007 28-31 October in New Orleans www.pptlive.com
See you there

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Steve,

Thanks for the reply. I don't know if the files work or not. I've been
assuming that they do, and that the file name is the only issue, but that
could be an erroneous assumption so I'll double-check with the user.

Proceeding, for the moment, on the assumption that the files do work, I
think that she wants to correct the problem because the CDs will be
distributed to a wide variety of users, and she wants the files names to
make sense so that people will know which files they need to view.

In that case, as Lucy says, I think her best bet would be to name them using
only characters that won't cause problems on other systems so P4CD doesn't feel
obliged to change the names.

 

[Thomas M.]

All,

This problem has been resolved. Another tech who works more with PowerPoint
was able to figure out the problem. It turns out that all the presentation
files were linked (she hadn't told me that) and that the user was burning
all the linked files. If I understand correctly, the solution was to burn
only the files for the main presentation, and let the linking in that file
take care of the rest. Does that make sense?

--Tom

 

[Echo S]

All,

This problem has been resolved. Another tech who works more with
PowerPoint was able to figure out the problem. It turns out that all the
presentation files were linked (she hadn't told me that) and that the user
was burning all the linked files. If I understand correctly, the solution
was to burn only the files for the main presentation, and let the linking
in that file take care of the rest. Does that make sense?

Kind of.

Regardless, thanks for letting us know you guys got it figured out!