G
Guest
Here’s the situation (this applies to PowerPoint 2003 and has not been tested
in PowerPoint 2002): I have two copies of a horizontal line segment stacked
on top of each other. There is a third object, a rectangle, positioned off
the lines to one side that moves along those lines such that its motion path
extends over and covers the entire length of the horizontal line segments.
Because that motion path totally covers the line segments, I can only select
the motion path if I attempt to click on the top line in the overlay. If I
close the Custom Animation task pane so that the motion path no longer shows
and attempt to select the top line by clicking on it, it is as if nothing is
there and nothing is selected. If I drag a bounding box around the lines I
can select both lines, but they cannot be moved. A bounding box would be an
adequate work around if I didn’t have two lines stacked on top of each other
and if moving the line were not necessary. Just as clicking on the line will
not select it, clicking on the top line will not deselect it either.
Therefore, neither the top nor the bottom lines in the overlay are editable
individually. Pushing the animated object to the bottom of the overlay does
not change the situation.
The work around I have implemented is to first make sure the animation task
pane is closed, save the file, and then reopen it. The two lines are
individually editable as long as the animation task pane is not opened. Once
the animation task pane is opened, I can no longer individually edit or
select the lines until the file has been saved and reopened. This is the
case regardless of whether or not the lines were touched at all before the
animation pane is opened. If the animation pane is left open when the file
is saved, the animation pane is already open when the file is opened
rendering the lines individually uneditable.
I have ruled out my copy of PowerPoint or my system being at fault as I have
had the same experience on a different system running a version of PowerPoint
installed and maintained by a separate entity. The file is not corrupt in
that I have recreated the problem from scratch on both systems starting with
a default blank PowerPoint file.
I am getting ready to start on a major animation project which will utilize
the situation described above as the key component of the animation. As the
complexity of the animation increases the current work around will eventually
be such a time suck as to jeopardize my deadline and I can’t charge my client
for time spent dealing with this problem. Please help. Thanks.
A sample file is available for download at the following URL:
http://www.doug-morgan.com/PPtIssues/
in PowerPoint 2002): I have two copies of a horizontal line segment stacked
on top of each other. There is a third object, a rectangle, positioned off
the lines to one side that moves along those lines such that its motion path
extends over and covers the entire length of the horizontal line segments.
Because that motion path totally covers the line segments, I can only select
the motion path if I attempt to click on the top line in the overlay. If I
close the Custom Animation task pane so that the motion path no longer shows
and attempt to select the top line by clicking on it, it is as if nothing is
there and nothing is selected. If I drag a bounding box around the lines I
can select both lines, but they cannot be moved. A bounding box would be an
adequate work around if I didn’t have two lines stacked on top of each other
and if moving the line were not necessary. Just as clicking on the line will
not select it, clicking on the top line will not deselect it either.
Therefore, neither the top nor the bottom lines in the overlay are editable
individually. Pushing the animated object to the bottom of the overlay does
not change the situation.
The work around I have implemented is to first make sure the animation task
pane is closed, save the file, and then reopen it. The two lines are
individually editable as long as the animation task pane is not opened. Once
the animation task pane is opened, I can no longer individually edit or
select the lines until the file has been saved and reopened. This is the
case regardless of whether or not the lines were touched at all before the
animation pane is opened. If the animation pane is left open when the file
is saved, the animation pane is already open when the file is opened
rendering the lines individually uneditable.
I have ruled out my copy of PowerPoint or my system being at fault as I have
had the same experience on a different system running a version of PowerPoint
installed and maintained by a separate entity. The file is not corrupt in
that I have recreated the problem from scratch on both systems starting with
a default blank PowerPoint file.
I am getting ready to start on a major animation project which will utilize
the situation described above as the key component of the animation. As the
complexity of the animation increases the current work around will eventually
be such a time suck as to jeopardize my deadline and I can’t charge my client
for time spent dealing with this problem. Please help. Thanks.
A sample file is available for download at the following URL:
http://www.doug-morgan.com/PPtIssues/