Relative paths for external objects (like movies)

[Dave Rudolf]

Hey all,

I have a rather large directory tree with data (mostly movie files)
scattered all over it. I want to make a powerpoint presentation that
uses some of those files. However, I want to be able to work on the same
files in the same directory tree, but on multiple machines (something
like CVS, "briefcase" folders, or Microsoft's SyncToy). So, the
directories may be rooted at a different location, but contain the same
structure underneath (e.g., it's rooted at "c:\My Docs" on one machine,
but on "f:\lets get jiggy" on another).

However, PowerPoint seems to maintain absolute paths to any files that I
include in the presentation. Thus, if I put a movie on a slide on one
machine, it will only play properly on that machine, and PowerPoint
won't be able to find the file on any other machine.

So, what I was hoping is that there was some way to get PowerPoint to
use relative paths to the files, rather than absolute paths.

I have found that it does allow one relative path: The current
directory. That is, any files I include that are in the same directory
as the PPT file itself are treated as relative, and thus works on all
machines. However, I don't want to disrupt the directory structure, and
some of these files are large so I don't want multiple copies.

So, does anyone know of a way to get this to work? I have copies of
Office 2007 on some machines, and 2003 on others (which I could upgrade,
if I had to).

Thanks.

Dave

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hey all,

I have a rather large directory tree with data (mostly movie files)
scattered all over it. I want to make a powerpoint presentation that
uses some of those files. However, I want to be able to work on the same
files in the same directory tree, but on multiple machines (something
like CVS, "briefcase" folders, or Microsoft's SyncToy). So, the
directories may be rooted at a different location, but contain the same
structure underneath (e.g., it's rooted at "c:\My Docs" on one machine,
but on "f:\lets get jiggy" on another).

lets get jiggy?
Man, don't use directory names like that. You *scare* me. <g>

For movies and sounds, it's at least theoretically possible to beat PPT in just
the right spot with some VBA and make it do relative paths. But practical?
Don't think so.

But it might be possible to work this out with some mods to your folder
structure.

If you had, say:

\Presentations\A\A.ppt and related files
\Presentations\B\B.ppt etc
\Presentations\Media with your movie files

you could use a commercially available add-in (mine, as it happens) called
FixLinks to set up the paths correctly (and even copy the movies to the right
folder).

Then it'd just be a matter of keeping a single \Presentations folder (and its
contents) on your other computers.

Oh. Right: http://www.pptools.com/fixlinks/

 

[Guest]

Along those lines, Steve:

In PPT 2003, once I had inserted a movie, and specified the path to its
file, there was no way (that I know of) to modify the file location -- to
change it, I had to delete the movie object from the slide and then re-insert
it.

1. Was I missing something in PPT 2003?
2. If not, has this been fixed in 2007? If so, I can't see how, there,
either.

Thanks.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Along those lines, Steve:

In PPT 2003, once I had inserted a movie, and specified the path to its
file, there was no way (that I know of) to modify the file location -- to
change it, I had to delete the movie object from the slide and then re-insert
it.

1. Was I missing something in PPT 2003?
2. If not, has this been fixed in 2007? If so, I can't see how, there,
either.

It's not native to PPT but this will, strangely, show you the link and let you
edit it. Who thinks up these titles, anyway??

Show me the link and let me edit it
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00433.htm

Our StarterSet Plus also lets you do this and quite a few other handy things:
http://www.pptools.com/starterset/