PowerPoint 2007 - Automate Check for Slide Updates

[Alan Z. Scharf]

Hi,

I'm looking for a way to automate the PPT Check for Slide Updates feature,
but cannot find any methods in Object Model to do this with.


Details
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1. Slides in SharePoint MOSS 2007 slide library can be linked with PPT
presentations, so that when presentation is opened, it can check for any
changes in slides contained in library.


The option to check for slide revisions can be set in SharePoint when a new
presentation is constructed from library slides. Then when a presentation
is opened, a dialog is displayed which asks user if he wants to accept or
reject any changes subsequently made to linked slides in library..

Or the check for slide updates can be performed manually from within PPT
2007 by selecting a slide and right-clicking for context menu and selecting
Check for Slide Updates.


2. My objective - I want all slide updates to be accepted automatically,
without the 'Accept or Reject Slide Changes' dialog being displayed to user.

3. I don't see any Object properties or methods that I can use to suppress
the dialog and just accept all changes.

4. I'd even be willing to accept a macro that would simulate the keystrokes
of clicking on the first slide, simulate right-clicking to get the context
menu and then selecting Check for Slide Updates action.


I'd very much appreciate any help with this.

Thanks.

Alan

 

[Jeroen]

have you ever found a solution for this? I'm trying to do the same thing but
it seems like the Slide Updates feature is not exposed through the object
model at all.

if any MVP's or Microsoft moderators are reading this, please help.

jeroen

 

[Chris]

I would like to do the same thing and take it one step further. Currently, the update logic doesn't include checking the "Approval Status" of a slide, meaning "Draft" slides will end-up in your slideset. To avoid this, you would have to configure the Draft Security Settings ("Version Settings" of slide library) to "drafts only seen by people having approval rights or owning content". this unfortuantely means, that workflows only work with "Approval" rights, since seing drafts is essential for the workflow process

I wonder what Microsoft has been thinking when creating this logic. A simple inclusion of the "Approval Status" in the PPTX would have solved the problem. It is really not logical to include DRAFT slides in a presentation.

So my idea would be to reject slides which do not have Approval Status = Approved (major versions) from being updated.

 

[Jeroen]

we also ran into this issue and i fully agree that PowerPoint should only
update approved slides, regardless of library settings or permissions.

because of this and the issue that workflows can only run if you have at
least contribute permissions, we have decided to create a working/staging
library (normal document library) and after approval in this library, the
slides are copied to a slide library (using a custom coded event handler on
the staging library). not very clean but at least this way we are always sure
that PowerPoint will only update presentations with approved slides.

anyway, MS really needs to fix this in the next version!