Hyper linking to other PowerPoint presentations

[Noel and Cathy Bailey]

I am preparing a series of six PowerPoint presentations to help my students
revise for their French exams - one presentation for each of six topics.
Each one is fairly large (between 8 and 10 Mb) as they contain spoken French
sentences.

I want to burn them onto CD for my students to use on their Windows PCs.

Would there be a problem with file size if I were to merge the six topics
into one presentation (PowerPoint show)?

If keeping them separate would be better, how do I create the link between
them? I can do it when they're simply in my Documents folder bon my Mac, but
presumably hyperlinks I set up won't work when the presentations are played
off a student's CD in his / her CD drive...


Noel Bailey

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

If you put all the presentations in the same folder and then do the
linking, the links should remain local and continue to work from one
machine to another and from a CD.

If you want to link presentations, you should have a master presentation
that has a menu that links to other presentations. When returning to the
master, the user should click on a button linked to End Show. That way,
you will only have two presentations open at once. Never link from one
presentation to another and then to another and another. You could end up
with many shows open at once, and you are likely to crash.

There shouldn't be a problem putting it all in one presentation, but with
stuff that large, keeping it separate might be the best idea.

--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I am preparing a series of six PowerPoint presentations to help my students
revise for their French exams - one presentation for each of six topics.
Each one is fairly large (between 8 and 10 Mb) as they contain spoken French
sentences.

I want to burn them onto CD for my students to use on their Windows PCs.

Would there be a problem with file size if I were to merge the six topics
into one presentation (PowerPoint show)?

If keeping them separate would be better, how do I create the link between
them? I can do it when they're simply in my Documents folder bon my Mac, but
presumably hyperlinks I set up won't work when the presentations are played
off a student's CD in his / her CD drive...

It'll be simpler all around if you combine it all into one file and use
embedded sounds. Given the numbers you've tossed out, I don't think you'll run
into file size problems as long as you're distributing on CD

- convert all of your sound files to WAV format if they're not already that to
begin with.

- in PPT's preferences, set the value for "Link sounds over xx" to a WAY high
value to ensure that your sounds are embedded, not linked

- add your sounds again
================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Noel and Cathy Bailey]

If you put all the presentations in the same folder and then do the
linking, the links should remain local and continue to work from one
machine to another and from a CD.

If you want to link presentations, you should have a master presentation
that has a menu that links to other presentations. When returning to the
master, the user should click on a button linked to End Show. That way,
you will only have two presentations open at once. Never link from one
presentation to another and then to another and another. You could end up
with many shows open at once, and you are likely to crash.

There shouldn't be a problem putting it all in one presentation, but with
stuff that large, keeping it separate might be the best idea.

--David

Thanks David. I'll try that. and also get back to you on the random slide
thing - sent you a reply to that but I've discovered it was sent back to me
and ended up in my Junk folder


Noel Bailey

 

[Noel and Cathy Bailey]

It'll be simpler all around if you combine it all into one file and use
embedded sounds. Given the numbers you've tossed out, I don't think you'll
run
into file size problems as long as you're distributing on CD

- convert all of your sound files to WAV format if they're not already that to
begin with.

- in PPT's preferences, set the value for "Link sounds over xx" to a WAY high
value to ensure that your sounds are embedded, not linked

- add your sounds again
================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

Thanks, Steve, What do you mean by 'embedded' sounds? The sounds I'm using
(my French sentences) are ones I have recorded directly within PowerPoint
from the Insert > Movies and Sounds > Record Sound menu. If I search my Mac
I can't find them anywhere - only from within the PowerPoint presentation in
which they were recorded. Is this what you mean by 'embedded'?


Noel Bailey

 

[Noel and Cathy Bailey]

If you put all the presentations in the same folder and then do the
linking, the links should remain local and continue to work from one
machine to another and from a CD.

If you want to link presentations, you should have a master presentation
that has a menu that links to other presentations. When returning to the
master, the user should click on a button linked to End Show. That way,
you will only have two presentations open at once. Never link from one
presentation to another and then to another and another. You could end up
with many shows open at once, and you are likely to crash.

There shouldn't be a problem putting it all in one presentation, but with
stuff that large, keeping it separate might be the best idea.

--David

Tried that, but there's a problem: How do you create an action setting (for
a navigation button) that both closes the current presentation and links to
a slide in another presentation? Or do I need to use a macro?


Noel Bailey

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

What you want to do is to have a menu that links to a presentation but
doesn't close it. Then, in the linked presentation, you set the Action
Settings to End Show. This will take you back to your menu, at which
point you can link to something else. If you want to do two things at
once, you probably will need a macro.

By the way, if you need to contact me directly (as you indicated in your
previous message), you need to remove the NOSPAM from my email address:
(e-mail address removed)

--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Thanks, Steve, What do you mean by 'embedded' sounds? The sounds I'm using

(my French sentences) are ones I have recorded directly within PowerPoint
from the Insert > Movies and Sounds > Record Sound menu. If I search my Mac
I can't find them anywhere - only from within the PowerPoint presentation in
which they were recorded. Is this what you mean by 'embedded'?

I haven't recorded narration on the Mac versions of PPT; on the PC version, you
have the option of linking the recorded sounds or not. If you don't choose to
link, then the sounds will be embedded.

Embedded as in "Included in the Powerpoint file itself rather than in independent
files"

Sounds like you're in good shape here, but to be sure, try playing the file back
on a different computer; better, make it a Windows PC. If the sounds play back
there, all's as you want it to be.

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Noel and Cathy Bailey]

I haven't recorded narration on the Mac versions of PPT; on the PC version,
you
have the option of linking the recorded sounds or not. If you don't choose to
link, then the sounds will be embedded.

Embedded as in "Included in the Powerpoint file itself rather than in
independent
files"

Sounds like you're in good shape here, but to be sure, try playing the file
back
on a different computer; better, make it a Windows PC. If the sounds play
back
there, all's as you want it to be.

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

Okay, thanks. I'll try that.

Noel Bailey