Power Point 2003 - can't burn to CD

[Ellen D]

As a brandnew PP user (and not very savvy computer person), I created a large
photo slide show 804,258 kb. Is this why Package to CD says "file cannot be
copied, not enough space on disk" ? Since there does not appear to be an
option to use successive disks to hold larger files, is there a disk I can
buy that will hold this file? Also,I inserted "new disc" when prompted and
numbered them, but they are all apparently blank, nothing was burned on to
them. I know very little about discs, speeds, whether data is different than
music, and I am desperate to get this show onto a laptop in time for a
deadline ! Anything you can do to help this beginner would be greatly
appreciated. Ellen D

 

[TDunn]

If the number you indicate is correct you're dealing with a very small file.
I'm guessing you mean it's roughly 804MB (megabytes) which will not fit on a
CDROM. Take a look at the info here: http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00062.htm
If you can get your file size under 700MB you should be able to burn a disc.

......................TD

 

[John Wilson]

Unless you have A LOT of photos (hundreds) in the presentation then they are
probably too high resolution/ There's no point in doing this as the onscreen
quality wont improve. As a quick fix do two things

a In Tools > options> save untick enable fast save (never turn it on again!)
b In the picture toolbar find the compress tool that looks like 4 inward
arrows and click it choose all pictures web / screen. If you cant see the
picture toolbar views > toolbars > picture

Resave and see what the file size is now.

 

[Ellen D]

Thank you TD. You are right, my file was actually 785mb to start with (546
photos in the show). I went to your website (excellent !) and followed
instructions, including turn off fast save. This dropped the file by 2mb.
Then I compressed all pictures. This dropped another 52mb. Then I pruned out
83 photos, which dropped another 138mb.

At 645mb, I got the show onto the CD (but not from directly from Package to
CD - had to package to folder and then burn - as suggested in threads
elsewhere on this site). Tested CD in the desk top - show started right up.
Put it in laptop - it read it as a blank. Went to the Cd drive in My
Computer - the files were all there, including the viewer, but I didn't know
how to get them started, so I just copied the ppt. presentation itself onto
the desk top, and opened it with Power Point 2000, which is what I have on
the laptop.

Once it launched, the show worked fine, but it was so slow launching -
minutes and minutes, and I was getting a message about being low on virtual
memory. I closed it and followed some more advice on your website: I cleared
out the temp folders. I also defragged and did clean disk. TROUBLE ! NOW
POWER POINT 2000 WILL NOT OPEN THE SHOW AT ALL: not from the desk top, not
from within the program, and not from the disc. Did I delete something
critical ? Can you help me fix this ? Still a beginner, and desperate once
again ! Thank you so much, Ellen

 

[Ellen D]

Thank you John, yes I did have a lot of photos, 546 of them ! I followed the
advice on your website (and also T Dunn's): turned off fast save, compressed
all pictures, then pruned out 83 photos to get the file down to 645mb.
Package to CD did not work directly, so I packaged to folder and then burned
the CD. Eventually managed to get just the ppt. show itself onto the laptop
desktop and was able to show it with Power Point 2000 (see my reply to TD
above). But it launched so slowly I did some housecleaning: deleted temp
folders, defragged, did clean disk.

As I told TD, now Power Point will not open the show at all ! What did I do
wrong ? Can either of you tell me how to fix it ? Thanks to the Thanksgiving
Day blizzard, my deadline is now Feb 22 . . . .Thank you so much any help you
can give, Ellen

 

[Ellen D]

Thank you Steve. The exact text of the message is "PowerPoint can't open the
type of file represented by C:/Documents and Settings/name of
husband/Desktop/Tuscany 05-06 compress.ppt" (I named the file "Tuscany 05-06
compress" to distinguish it from my first uncompressed version of the show
which is still on the desktop computer, too large to put on cd).

This was my first and only Power Point presentation, so there are no other
presentations that I can try opening.

I copied the presentation from my desktop to the laptop by burning a cd. To
do this I first tried PP 2003's Package to CD button, but it didn't work, so
I packaged to a folder and then used my cd burning program to put all those
files onto a cd (in order, but "loose", as advised in another thread on this
site) This cd works on the desktop - the show starts and runs up using PP
viewer. (This disc still works on the desktop, even after all my failures on
the laptop, so the disc must be ok.)

When I put this cd in the laptop, it automatically recognized it only as a
"blank", so I checked in the cd drive (My Computer). The files were all there
(auto run, viewer, presentation, etc) but I didn't know how to get anything
to start up. I dragged just the presentation itself onto the desktop (which
copied it there). When I clicked on the presentation, Power Point 2000 opened
it, slowly but successfully. But now, after cleaning disc, defragging and
emptying temp folder, it will not open. Ellen

 

[Ellen D]

Thank you again Steve. Yes, I still have the earlier uncompressed
presentation, plus the one which I compressed and put onto CD. I re-inserted
the same CD into the laptop. Again, it read as blank, but I went to My
Computer>cd drive and dragged/copied just the presentation itself to the
desktop. It offered to replace the earlier file (which is when I noticed the
earlier one had somehow lost 4mb - it must have gotten corrupted). I clicked
the re-installed file and Power Point opened it ! Hooray ! I was able to run
through the show, even make some modifications to it.

This time, however, before saving and closing, I remembered what everyone
was saying about uncheckiing "allow fast saves", and did this on the laptop
power point. (I had already done it on the desktop computer.) I have opened
and closed the presentation several times now, slowly but successfully, so
knock on wood, everything will go well for my meeting.

I think that the problem may not have been related to my hard drive
"housecleaning" at all, but that the file got corrupted when I closed it in
Power Point 2000 with fast save enabled. What do you think ?

About the CD burning: this is not only my first and only PPT presentation,
it is also the first and only time I have ever burned a CD, and I used the
only one I had, an Imation CD-RW 4x-10x compatable, which came with the
desktop. Today I bought a pack of "Memorex CD-RW up to 4x" and a pack of "HP
CD-RW 12x". Since I know nothing about speed, before I open the packs, is one
speed better or more versatile in different computers than another ? If so,
then that is the one I will use.

The CD program that came with my computer is Sonic Digital Media LE. v7. I
will look for the setting that allows me to put more files on later and turn
it OFF - and tape it ! If you will tell me which speed CD to use, if it
makes a difference, I will make a new CD of the presentation package and see
if I can get it to autorun on the laptop. Thank you again for all your help !
I am a much happier camper today than yesterday. Ellen

 

[Ellen D]

Hi Steve, success at last burning a cd with ppt. viewer operating correctly !
! Thanks to you.

You were right, it was the cd that was the problem, or rather the Sonic cd
burning software. I went into tools>options>data, found a Write-Once DVD
Compatablilty box and selected "only need disc for one recording" (which
promised that more DVD drives would be able to read the disc). But no mention
of CD "write once options" . . . so noodled around some more.

Went to tools>options>general>advanced and found that "Disable system
autorun" was checked ! Figured that may be why PPT Viewer wouldn't start, so
unchecked it.

Then went down into a another Toolbox menu and found an option for Finalize
- which involved physically reinserting the disc into the drive and pushing
the Finalize button.

I burned a new ppt package on a plain CD-R with "DVD write once"
selected(not that this would mean anything to a CD-R ?) and "system autorun
enabled". This disc worked on the laptop (show started right up ! ) without
my taking the extra step to Finalize. (Was going to try that next if it still
didn't work.).

So know I know how to do it, and I have a sucessfully packaged show, thanks
to all your help.

My next question (and hopefully last, you have been so kind), is there a
better software option than Sonic for burning cds ? It seems rather
cumbersome to have to make finalizing a whole separate step (even though I
didn't seem to need it for this disc tp work), plus when transfering the ppt
package to cd, I had to add each component of the package one at a time -
there did not seem to be a "select all" option. Ellen

 

[Ellen D]

Hello John, one final report on compressing photos. When I first compressed,
I must not have made all the correct selections, because the file only went
down 52 mb, from 785 mb to 731 mb, and I didn't know enough to recognize that
this was not satisfactory. With some more photo pruning, I got the file to
631mb, then compressed all 460 photos again for Web/Screen. This time it went
down to 61mb. I thank you, and my laptop thanks you ! Ellen

 

[Ellen D]

Hello Steve, in Sonic, CD options, I have now selected the "Disc At Once
(DAO) Closed". (Saw those options before but didn't know what they meant.)I
also tried Ctrl+A and it worked to "select all" when adding files to the
disc. Magic ! You're right, Sonic looks pretty simple to work, now that I
have it configured correctly, so I will stick with it.

I really appreciate your time and good advice. The Power Point show went
well today, and I told my audience I wouldn't be in front of them without you
and the other good people who responded to my questions on this site. Signing
off now, and thank you once again, very much ! Ellen

Hi Steve, success at last burning a cd with ppt. viewer operating correctly !
! Thanks to you.

Congrats! I'd give most of the credit to your perseverance though.

[snipsnip]

My next question (and hopefully last, you have been so kind), is there a
better software option than Sonic for burning cds ? It seems rather
cumbersome to have to make finalizing a whole separate step (even though I
didn't seem to need it for this disc tp work), plus when transfering the ppt
package to cd, I had to add each component of the package one at a time -
there did not seem to be a "select all" option. Ellen

Nero's a very popular program but is a lot more complex than Sonic. LOTS of options, but
LOTS to figure out. I suspect if you get Sonic's options set right you should be ok with
it.

I remembered that my wife's PC has Sonic on it though and checked it out there:

Tools, Options
Click DATA in the box on the left
Under CD options, choose Disc At Once (DAO) Closed

That'll automatically finalize the CD for you.

I'm not sure there's a select all option as such but you can usually click in the dialog box
where the files are listed and press CTRL+A or click the first file then hold SHIFT while
you click the last file to select 'em all. Give that a shot.




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