Mac-PC problem with PowerPoint

[Walt Wilser]

I created a PowerPoint presentation using a Mac version
of PowerPoint. I linked jpg photos and it works fine on
my iBook. I burned a CD of the presentation with the jpg
photos in the same folder and they do not come up on the
presentation when viewed with a PC. How can I make these
links work? If I relink a jpg photo on the PC they work
fine but I do not want to do that with the 300+ photos I
have in the presentation.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I created a PowerPoint presentation using a Mac version
of PowerPoint. I linked jpg photos and it works fine on
my iBook. I burned a CD of the presentation with the jpg
photos in the same folder and they do not come up on the
presentation when viewed with a PC. How can I make these
links work? If I relink a jpg photo on the PC they work
fine but I do not want to do that with the 300+ photos I
have in the presentation.

Linking to images is kind of a non-starter in PowerPoint. Unlike media files,
linking to images in the same folder won't produce a pathless link. You still
get a hard-coded link no matter what.

If you can load an addin on the PC, download our FixLinks demo at
http://get.pptools.com

The free demo will relink the images for you automatically and fix the links so
that they don't break as long as they stay together with the PPT file in the
same folder.


--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your help.

I downloaded FixLinks and tried to fix the links on my
photos. I selected repair in PowerPoint and it wanted me
to find the Mac file where the photos came from. Clearly
they are not on the PC but on the Mac and not
accessible. I do not know how to fix the links using the
CD that I burned from the Mac and downloaded to the PC.
Am I doing it wrong?

Walt

-----Original Message-----


Linking to images is kind of a non-starter in

PowerPoint. Unlike media files,

linking to images in the same folder won't produce a pathless link. You still
get a hard-coded link no matter what.

If you can load an addin on the PC, download our FixLinks demo at
http://get.pptools.com

The free demo will relink the images for you

automatically and fix the links so

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I downloaded FixLinks and tried to fix the links on my

photos. I selected repair in PowerPoint and it wanted me
to find the Mac file where the photos came from. Clearly
they are not on the PC but on the Mac and not
accessible.

You have to move the linked files along with the PPT for it to work; that
should be no hardship, because you'd have to move the linked files along with
the PPT for the links to work in any case.

I do not know how to fix the links using the
CD that I burned from the Mac and downloaded to the PC.
Am I doing it wrong?

Hard to say w/o watching you at it ;-)

But here's what I'd do:

Copy the presentation to a folder on the PC's hard drive.
Copy all the image files to the same folder.
Open the presentation in PPT and run FixLinks on it.
As long as the images are in the same folder as the presentation, FixLinks
should find them automatically; it shouldn't need to ask you for the file
locations.

Once it's done, you can copy the presentation AND the linked files to pretty
much any folder/any computer and all should be well. The only exception is
when you open the presentation using the Most Recently Used list on the File
menu. PowerPoint behaves a bit oddly when you do that, and can't find its
linked files. A bug.

One other thing: considering that you have to schlep the linked files and the
PPT around together no matter what, have you considered embedding the linked
files in the PPT file instead? The file will be bigger but there'll be no
linking issues.

FixLinks has a way of doing that too.

Walt
PowerPoint. Unlike media files,
automatically and fix the links so

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================

 

[Guest]

I think I did exactly what you suggested. I copied the
jpg photos and the ppt presentation from my CD to a
folder on the desktop my PC. Then I opened up the ppt
presentation, and ran FixLinks. It asked me about OLE
links and I said to ignore it. It then opened a window
that asked me to Please locat Macintosh HD:.... which I
could not do on the PC. This window was also very hard
to close. I had to close it about 10 times before it
went away.

I originally did embed the photos in the ppt presentation
and that worked but it made the ppt presentation be a
huge file and took too long to open or manipulate. This
is why I went to the link technique which worked very
well on my Mac. It also works if I reload each of the
jpg photos on my PC but with 300+ photos that is a lot of
extra work.

Walt

-----Original Message-----

I downloaded FixLinks and tried to fix the links on my
photos. I selected repair in PowerPoint and it wanted me
to find the Mac file where the photos came from. Clearly
they are not on the PC but on the Mac and not
accessible.

You have to move the linked files along with the PPT for it to work; that
should be no hardship, because you'd have to move the linked files along with
the PPT for the links to work in any case.

I do not know how to fix the links using the
CD that I burned from the Mac and downloaded to the PC.
Am I doing it wrong?

Hard to say w/o watching you at it ;-)

But here's what I'd do:

Copy the presentation to a folder on the PC's hard drive.
Copy all the image files to the same folder.
Open the presentation in PPT and run FixLinks on it.
As long as the images are in the same folder as the presentation, FixLinks
should find them automatically; it shouldn't need to ask you for the file
locations.

Once it's done, you can copy the presentation AND the linked files to pretty
much any folder/any computer and all should be well. The only exception is
when you open the presentation using the Most Recently Used list on the File
menu. PowerPoint behaves a bit oddly when you do that, and can't find its
linked files. A bug.

One other thing: considering that you have to schlep the linked files and the
PPT around together no matter what, have you considered embedding the linked
files in the PPT file instead? The file will be bigger but there'll be no
linking issues.

FixLinks has a way of doing that too.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I think I did exactly what you suggested. I copied the
jpg photos and the ppt presentation from my CD to a
folder on the desktop my PC. Then I opened up the ppt
presentation, and ran FixLinks. It asked me about OLE
links and I said to ignore it. It then opened a window
that asked me to Please locat Macintosh HD:....

It's possible that part of that was cropped off. What it was asking for was
the current location of the file that was originally on that "Macintosh HD:
..." path. Did it show the remainder of the path including the filename? If
not, it may be having trouble parsing Mac paths.

could not do on the PC. This window was also very hard
to close. I had to close it about 10 times before it
went away.

It's not that it won't go away, it's probably that there were ten linked files.
It asks for the location (currently, on your HDD) of each linked file that's
not where the link path points.

It's beginning to sound like the path to the file's getting truncated so you
can't really tell what it's asking you to locate. Does that sound about right?

I originally did embed the photos in the ppt presentation
and that worked but it made the ppt presentation be a
huge file and took too long to open or manipulate. This
is why I went to the link technique which worked very
well on my Mac. It also works if I reload each of the
jpg photos on my PC but with 300+ photos that is a lot of
extra work.

Walt

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================

 

[Guest]

Steve,

It may be having trouble parsing the path. I have no
idea. On the top of the dialog box it says:

Please locate Macintosh HD:Users:waltwilseresktop:China
CD Finalhotos + ...

In the Files of Type box it says:
Macintosh HD:Users:waltwilseresktop:China
and there are no files of that type!

I am not sure it had trouble parsing or just could not
fit it on the screen for the dialog box.

Do I need to give up and recopy all my photos into the
ppt file on the PC?

Walt

-----Original Message-----

I think I did exactly what you suggested. I copied the
jpg photos and the ppt presentation from my CD to a
folder on the desktop my PC. Then I opened up the ppt
presentation, and ran FixLinks. It asked me about OLE
links and I said to ignore it. It then opened a window
that asked me to Please locat Macintosh HD:....

It's possible that part of that was cropped off. What it was asking for was
the current location of the file that was originally on that "Macintosh HD:
..." path. Did it show the remainder of the path including the filename? If
not, it may be having trouble parsing Mac paths.

could not do on the PC. This window was also very hard
to close. I had to close it about 10 times before it
went away.

It's not that it won't go away, it's probably that there were ten linked files.
It asks for the location (currently, on your HDD) of each linked file that's
not where the link path points.

It's beginning to sound like the path to the file's getting truncated so you
can't really tell what it's asking you to locate. Does that sound about right?

I originally did embed the photos in the ppt presentation
and that worked but it made the ppt presentation be a
huge file and took too long to open or manipulate. This
is why I went to the link technique which worked very
well on my Mac. It also works if I reload each of the
jpg photos on my PC but with 300+ photos that is a lot of
extra work.

Walt

-----Original Message-----
I downloaded FixLinks and tried to fix the links on my
photos. I selected repair in PowerPoint and it

wanted
me

to find the Mac file where the photos came from. Clearly
they are not on the PC but on the Mac and not
accessible.

You have to move the linked files along with the PPT

for
it to work; that

should be no hardship, because you'd have to move the linked files along with
the PPT for the links to work in any case.

I do not know how to fix the links using the
CD that I burned from the Mac and downloaded to the PC.
Am I doing it wrong?

Hard to say w/o watching you at it ;-)

But here's what I'd do:

Copy the presentation to a folder on the PC's hard drive.
Copy all the image files to the same folder.
Open the presentation in PPT and run FixLinks on it.
As long as the images are in the same folder as the presentation, FixLinks
should find them automatically; it shouldn't need to

ask
you for the file

locations.

Once it's done, you can copy the presentation AND the linked files to pretty
much any folder/any computer and all should be

well.
The only exception is

when you open the presentation using the Most

Recently
Used list on the File

menu. PowerPoint behaves a bit oddly when you do

that,
and can't find its

linked files. A bug.

One other thing: considering that you have to schlep the linked files and the
PPT around together no matter what, have you

considered
embedding the linked

files in the PPT file instead? The file will be

bigger
but there'll be no

linking issues.

FixLinks has a way of doing that too.




Walt
-----Original Message-----

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Steve,

It may be having trouble parsing the path. I have no
idea. On the top of the dialog box it says:

Please locate Macintosh HD:Users:waltwilseresktop:China
CD Finalhotos + ...

It's cropping off the last part of the full path, the bit that shows the file
it wants you to point to on the PC's hard drive.

Try running a link report to see what image file links it's found.
It should be asking you for the missing images in the same order as it presents
them in the links report.

Is the info in the file proprietary? I'd like to see a copy of it if possible
(just the PPT file if it's not too big ... I don't need the images too).

Email to steve atsign pptools dot com if you can.

In the Files of Type box it says:
Macintosh HD:Users:waltwilseresktop:China
and there are no files of that type!

I am not sure it had trouble parsing or just could not
fit it on the screen for the dialog box.

Do I need to give up and recopy all my photos into the
ppt file on the PC?

Walt

-----Original Message-----

I think I did exactly what you suggested. I copied the
jpg photos and the ppt presentation from my CD to a
folder on the desktop my PC. Then I opened up the ppt
presentation, and ran FixLinks. It asked me about OLE
links and I said to ignore it. It then opened a window
that asked me to Please locat Macintosh HD:....

It's possible that part of that was cropped off. What it was asking for was
the current location of the file that was originally on that "Macintosh HD:
..." path. Did it show the remainder of the path including the filename? If
not, it may be having trouble parsing Mac paths.

could not do on the PC. This window was also very hard
to close. I had to close it about 10 times before it
went away.

It's not that it won't go away, it's probably that there were ten linked files.
It asks for the location (currently, on your HDD) of each linked file that's
not where the link path points.

It's beginning to sound like the path to the file's getting truncated so you
can't really tell what it's asking you to locate. Does that sound about right?

I originally did embed the photos in the ppt presentation
and that worked but it made the ppt presentation be a
huge file and took too long to open or manipulate. This
is why I went to the link technique which worked very
well on my Mac. It also works if I reload each of the
jpg photos on my PC but with 300+ photos that is a lot of
extra work.

Walt
-----Original Message-----
I downloaded FixLinks and tried to fix the links on my
photos. I selected repair in PowerPoint and it wanted
me
to find the Mac file where the photos came from.
Clearly
they are not on the PC but on the Mac and not
accessible.

You have to move the linked files along with the PPT for
it to work; that
should be no hardship, because you'd have to move the
linked files along with
the PPT for the links to work in any case.

I do not know how to fix the links using the
CD that I burned from the Mac and downloaded to the
PC.
Am I doing it wrong?

Hard to say w/o watching you at it ;-)

But here's what I'd do:

Copy the presentation to a folder on the PC's hard drive.
Copy all the image files to the same folder.
Open the presentation in PPT and run FixLinks on it.
As long as the images are in the same folder as the
presentation, FixLinks
should find them automatically; it shouldn't need to ask
you for the file
locations.

Once it's done, you can copy the presentation AND the
linked files to pretty
much any folder/any computer and all should be well.
The only exception is
when you open the presentation using the Most Recently
Used list on the File
menu. PowerPoint behaves a bit oddly when you do that,
and can't find its
linked files. A bug.

One other thing: considering that you have to schlep
the linked files and the
PPT around together no matter what, have you considered
embedding the linked
files in the PPT file instead? The file will be bigger
but there'll be no
linking issues.

FixLinks has a way of doing that too.




Walt
-----Original Message-----

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================