How can I find "binary tags" in a .PPT file using PPT 2007?

[Dave Jenkins]

I'm running PowerPoint on Windows XP SP3, Office 2007 SP1.

I've opened a .PPT file, and would like to save it as a .PPTX. I get a
popup saying the the file contains either a hyperlink OR a binary tag, and
that those will be discarded when the file is saved as a .PPTX. I'd like to
locate the objects that cause this message to appear, and I seem to have some
knowledge gaps to fill.

First of all, I can create a new file, save it as a .PPT, open it, insert a
hyperlink and save it as a .PPTX and the message is _not_ triggered.
Therfore, it would seem to me that not _all_ hyperlinks are discarded when
saving a .PPT file as a .PPTX. If not, then which ones are? Or am I missing
something?

However, I _do_ have a file that always causes the message to occur. I have
removed all the slides but one blank one, and I'm pretty positive that that
slide contains no hyperlinks (using the code shamelessly borrowed from PPTFAQ
- thanks, Steve!). There are no tags (that I can find) either - not on the
presentation, the single slide, or any shapes that I know about. And yet
this message always appears when saving that particular file as a .pptx.

The popup message states that the offending objects will be deleted from the
saved .PPTX file. However (follow closely), if I have open the .PPTX file
that the .PPT was saved as (remember that PowerPoint has said it is going to
delete the offending objects from it), resave it as yet another .PPT, close
it, reopen it, and then try to save *that* file as .PPTX, then I get the
error message again. So apparently PowerPoint did _not_ remove the offedning
objects form the saved file?

So what _really_ triggers that message (go here:
http://screencast.com/t/n4s4dHvvNUs to see a screenshot of what I'm talking
about) and how can I identify in any given file whether that mesage will be
triggered or not?

 

[Glen Millar]

Hi,

I would image things that do not convert to html or xml. Like charts or
anything embedded. If you go to the presentation properties and the the
Contents tab. IS there anything listed there?

--

Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Please tell us your PowerPoint version

Tutorials and PowerPoint animations at
the original www.pptworkbench.com
glen at pptworkbench dot com

 

[Dave Jenkins]

Hi,

I would image things that do not convert to html or xml. Like charts or
anything embedded. If you go to the presentation properties and the the
Contents tab. IS there anything listed there?

--

Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Hi Glen:

Here's a screenshot of the contents of the Properties -> Contents [tab]:

http://screencast.com/t/ibgYNNI329

If I create a totally new pres file, blank presentation, I don't have this
issue. I thought it might be becuase I was using a custom slide master for
my test case, so I subsituted a slide master from a plain vanilla defautl
blank pres. into my test case file, and deleted the old slide master. The
file still yields up the error message when I save as .PPTX. (Actually, as I
reread this, could slide master incompatibilities be the cause of all this?
I'll do some more tests ...)

I can _see_ no shapes in the lone remaining slide, but I'll cobble together
some code or do some debugger work to see if there are any. But I don't
think there are.

Any other suggestion? Or do you perhaps see seomthing significant in the
referenced screenshot?

Thanks.

 

[Glen Millar]

Hi,

Curious and curiouser! Could you perhaps send me an example, please?

--

Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Please tell us your PowerPoint version

Tutorials and PowerPoint animations at
the original www.pptworkbench.com
glen at pptworkbench dot com
------------------------------------------

Hi,

I would image things that do not convert to html or xml. Like charts or
anything embedded. If you go to the presentation properties and the the
Contents tab. IS there anything listed there?

--

Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

Hi Glen:

Here's a screenshot of the contents of the Properties -> Contents [tab]:

http://screencast.com/t/ibgYNNI329

If I create a totally new pres file, blank presentation, I don't have this
issue. I thought it might be becuase I was using a custom slide master
for
my test case, so I subsituted a slide master from a plain vanilla defautl
blank pres. into my test case file, and deleted the old slide master. The
file still yields up the error message when I save as .PPTX. (Actually,
as I
reread this, could slide master incompatibilities be the cause of all
this?
I'll do some more tests ...)

I can _see_ no shapes in the lone remaining slide, but I'll cobble
together
some code or do some debugger work to see if there are any. But I don't
think there are.

Any other suggestion? Or do you perhaps see seomthing significant in the
referenced screenshot?

Thanks.

 

[Dave Jenkins]

Take a look at this test file: http://www.mediafire.com/?ezcj9a9abnh

--
Dave Jenkins
K5KX

Hi,

Curious and curiouser! Could you perhaps send me an example, please?

--

Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

[snip]

 

[John Wilson]

Hi Dave

Run:
MsgBox ActivePresentation.Tags.Count

You will, I guess, find that there are tags.

Binary Tags were supported in 2003 and could be used by third party programs
or Add Ins to incorporate data in files. This is no longer supported in 2007
hence the message?

When you save as a pptx open it and resave back as a ppt the offending tags
should be stripped and you should see a reduction in the count?
--

Amazing PPT Hints, Tips and Tutorials

http://www.pptalchemy.co.uk/powerpoint_hints_and_tips_tutorials.html

email john AT technologytrish.co.uk

Take a look at this test file: http://www.mediafire.com/?ezcj9a9abnh

--
Dave Jenkins
K5KX

Hi,

Curious and curiouser! Could you perhaps send me an example, please?

--

Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

[snip]

 

[Dave Jenkins]

Hi John:

Progress! Yes, my sample file contains some presentation tags - 3 of 'em
that are automatically inserted in all of our pres. files that are opened
under control of our macros. However, following your MsgBox suggestion
revealed that were 5 of them! Always before, I had just looked at those tags
(using PPT Tools "Tell me about this object [the presentation]" function
(a.k.a. "Miss Piggy") and it showed the three that I expected to be there and
which always survived the save from .PPT into .PPTX.

However! When I ran a little snippet of code in debug, and examined the
*names* of each of the 5 tags - lo and behold! Two of them had a blank
string for the tag name (and an empty value). It was these two tags which
were causing the conversion error message to appear. And since these two had
blank names, they were essentially invisible in PPT Tools without actually
cursoring through the tags display, in which case you might be able to sanp
to the fact that there were some anamolous tags in the collection.

I have no idea how those two tags got into the file -- its provenance is
murky.

Many thanks for your suggestion, John -- made things easy from that point on!
--
Dave Jenkins
K5KX

Hi Dave

Run:
MsgBox ActivePresentation.Tags.Count

You will, I guess, find that there are tags.

Binary Tags were supported in 2003 and could be used by third party programs
or Add Ins to incorporate data in files. This is no longer supported in 2007
hence the message?

When you save as a pptx open it and resave back as a ppt the offending tags
should be stripped and you should see a reduction in the count?
--

Amazing PPT Hints, Tips and Tutorials

http://www.pptalchemy.co.uk/powerpoint_hints_and_tips_tutorials.html

email john AT technologytrish.co.uk

Take a look at this test file: http://www.mediafire.com/?ezcj9a9abnh

--
Dave Jenkins
K5KX

Hi,

Curious and curiouser! Could you perhaps send me an example, please?

--

Regards,
Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP

[snip]

 

[John Wilson]

And now that Steve has located the names

Sub zappem()
With ActivePresentation.Tags
..Delete ("___PPTMAC11")
..Delete ("___PPT2001")
..Delete ("___PPT12")
End With
End Sub

The other three tags should be there either so you might want to zap them
too! Strangely in PPT2007 code my count was 5 (not 6) and like Steve in 2003
it was 6
--

Amazing PPT Hints, Tips and Tutorials

http://www.pptalchemy.co.uk/powerpoint_hints_and_tips_tutorials.html

email john AT technologytrish.co.uk

 

[John Wilson]

I missed you reply - obviously don't delete the other three tags!!!
--

Amazing PPT Hints, Tips and Tutorials

http://www.pptalchemy.co.uk/powerpoint_hints_and_tips_tutorials.html

email john AT technologytrish.co.uk

 

[Dave Jenkins]

Seems to me that we might be safe in deleteing the ones the OM says have a
null name, dont ya think? Of what use would a tag with no name and no value
be? That is, is it even conceivable that someplace, somewhere, someone is
counting on tags of that ilk?

Is it not exceedingly weird that in looking at the .PPT file in 2007 it says
that there are 5 tags, and in looking at identically the same file in 2003,
it says there are 6? What in the world is up with that?

Also, your script file exposes a lot of stuff that's not in the OM (AFAIK) -
where is all that stored? Are "datasize," "type," et al. just some secret
properties?

And another thing, while I'm still cranky: What kind of low-budget error
message is it that will warn you that your file has EITHER hyperlinks OR
binary tags? How hard would it have been to create TWO individual errors -
one for each condition? At the very minimum they could have supplied
instructions on how to tell which of thse conditions was causing the error.

Thanks for looking at this, Glen, John and Steve!

 

[Enric Mañas]

And with the script editor gone from 2007, no way to get at them from

there, at least none that I can think of.

Shyam's ToolBox to the rescue...

Toolbox > Developer > Erase Tag Info... Presentation Tag Info... etc...

;-)

(ToolBox also says Total tags are 6 in 2003, 5 in 2007)

Very cordialmente

Enric

 

[Enric Mañas]

Dave,

http://skp.mvps.org/toolbox/index.html

free time-limited trial version

1. I don't like the Arial Unicode there (it is not necessary)
2. Why is the notes master in German?
3. The <Nº> in notes master is "suspicious" to me...

Don't go back and forth 2003 & 2007, and if PowerPoint:mac is also in the
equation... all will be worse...

;-)

Very cordialmente

Enric

 

[Dave Jenkins]

Dave,

http://skp.mvps.org/toolbox/index.html

free time-limited trial version

1. I don't like the Arial Unicode there (it is not necessary)

Not sure what you mean with that comment - this clinet uses Arial a lot.
Where did you see it that it concerned you?

2. Why is the notes master in German?

Most of the client personnel using these PPT files are German. I'm
presuming that they will be creating their speaker notes using a lot words
that will be fmailiar to them, and hence want to specify a German
dictionary. Why - do you see that as an impediment to proper processing of
their templates?

3. The <Nº> in notes master is "suspicious" to me...

Where do you see that?

Don't go back and forth 2003 & 2007, and if PowerPoint:mac is also in the
equation... all will be worse...

;-)

Very cordialmente

Enric

 

[Enric Mañas]

Dave,

Not sure what you mean with that comment - this clinet uses Arial a lot.
Where did you see it that it concerned you?

"Arial" is not "Arial Unicode". "Arial" weighs 359 Kb, "Arial Unicode"
weighs 22731 Kb.
Imagine the weight increase if fonts are embedded... but the main problem
is... is *really* Arial Unicode needed? Is it used somewhere?

Where did you see it that it concerned you?
http://www.screencast.com/users/Jenkins.Ear/folders/Jing/media/86a6a4f2-7290-40f0-9a17-f84379e916ea

Most of the client personnel using these PPT files are German. I'm
presuming that they will be creating their speaker notes using a lot words
that will be fmailiar to them, and hence want to specify a German
dictionary. Why - do you see that as an impediment to proper processing
of their templates?

OK.

;-)

You know who your clients are... I don't...
but...
Notes master is German, first Note is English (U.K.)... Does *the German*
"remain" when you create a new slide and type text on the notes? is it
German in 2003? is it German in 2007?

Where do you see that?

At the bottom of the Notes page's Master (centered).
Neither in 2003 or in 2007's Notes page's Master are you using the *real*
"Page number" placeholder... It *seems* a placeholder... and behaves like a
placeholder... but I don't like it. *Another* placeholder appears when I
select "Page Number" in Placeholders in Notes Master.

Very cordialmente

Enric
--
Enric Mañas [PowerPoint MVP]

Dave,

http://skp.mvps.org/toolbox/index.html

free time-limited trial version

1. I don't like the Arial Unicode there (it is not necessary)

Not sure what you mean with that comment - this clinet uses Arial a lot.
Where did you see it that it concerned you?

2. Why is the notes master in German?

Most of the client personnel using these PPT files are German. I'm
presuming that they will be creating their speaker notes using a lot words
that will be fmailiar to them, and hence want to specify a German
dictionary. Why - do you see that as an impediment to proper processing
of
their templates?

3. The <Nº> in notes master is "suspicious" to me...

Where do you see that?

Don't go back and forth 2003 & 2007, and if PowerPoint:mac is also in the
equation... all will be worse...

;-)

Very cordialmente

Enric
--
Enric Mañas [PowerPoint MVP]



"Dave Jenkins" <[email protected].(spam-ugh!)> escribió en el
mensaje

Seems to me that we might be safe in deleteing the ones the OM says
have a
null name, dont ya think? Of what use would a tag with no name and no
value
be? That is, is it even conceivable that someplace, somewhere, someone
is
counting on tags of that ilk?

Is it not exceedingly weird that in looking at the .PPT file in 2007 it
says
that there are 5 tags, and in looking at identically the same file in
2003,
it says there are 6? What in the world is up with that?

Also, your script file exposes a lot of stuff that's not in the OM
(AFAIK) -
where is all that stored? Are "datasize," "type," et al. just some
secret
properties?

And another thing, while I'm still cranky: What kind of low-budget
error
message is it that will warn you that your file has EITHER hyperlinks
OR
binary tags? How hard would it have been to create TWO individual
errors -
one for each condition? At the very minimum they could have supplied
instructions on how to tell which of thse conditions was causing the
error.

Thanks for looking at this, Glen, John and Steve!

--
Dave Jenkins
K5KX


:

What's weird is that PPT/the OM won't reveal the names.
And with the script editor gone from 2007, no way to get at them from
there, at
least none that I can think of.



Wilson
wrote:
And now that Steve has located the names

Sub zappem()
With ActivePresentation.Tags
..Delete ("___PPTMAC11")
..Delete ("___PPT2001")
..Delete ("___PPT12")
End With
End Sub

The other three tags should be there either so you might want to zap
them
too! Strangely in PPT2007 code my count was 5 (not 6) and like Steve
in
2003
it was 6


-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Live and in personable in the Help Center at PowerPoint Live
Sept 21-24, San Diego CA, USA
www.pptlive.com

 

[Barb Reinhardt]

Steve,

I'm having a similar problem and am not sure where to look for the file you
call the pres.xml file. Where is this?

Thanks,
Barb Reinhardt

 

[Barb Reinhardt]

After I posted this question, I figured out how to get to the script editor.
The tag was tied to the presentation, not a slide. I'm wondering how it
got there. Does anyone have any ideas?

I have a feeling we're going to be finding a bunch more of these.

Thanks,
Barb Reinhardt