PowerPoint Limitations?

[Rajah]

PowerPoint has one lovely feature - resizing the slide to fit the screen on
which it is viewed.

But I keep running into problems. The biggest problem right now is #3.

1. Using Viewer from PP2003 - brings up warnings every time I try to
hyperlink out of the slide. This is very cumbersome. Any way to supress
these warnings? Probably a registry edit....

2. Trying to avoid #1, using Viewer from PP97. No warnings when
hyperlinking off the page, but the browser window comes up behind the PPT
show. Any way to have the browser pop on top of the PPT show?

3. Trying to run PP show using Viewer(2003) on a CD. It doesn't run on PCs
that do not have PowerPoint installed on the hard drive. I use the "Package
for CD" option, and then save it to a folder. Then, I copy the whole folder
over.

4. PP has an option to run a program - yet it doesn't deliver on that
offer. I can't open a .pdf, nor can I run the Adobe Reader.

In summary, I need a presentation to (a) run on a wide range of Windows PCs;
(b) to be flexible with different screen layouts without losing anything on
the page, especially controls; (c) be able to open up a web page (in a
browser); be able to either open a sub-process and run a .pdf reader or
allow a document to open using its default file type.

 

[Sonia]

1. This will only occur with certain types of links. What are you linking to?

2. Close the browser before you run PowerPoint 97 Viewer. I think that should
cause the browser to open on top of the presentation.

3. Did you copy the folder? You should only copy the contents of the folder.
The autorun.inf file must be in the root directory and the CD *MUST* autorun.

4. You can get around this. Create a bat file that runs the Reader and link to
the bat file via Action Settings > Hyperlink to > Other file.

 

[Rajah]

hi sonia - appreciate you taking a look at this. Here are more details,
respectively.

1. A personal web site; a page on Bank of America; here's a third,
specifically: http://www.mortgage101.com/Calculators/Index.asp?p=mtg101;
and then other community-based web sites (Baltimore City Govt, county school
sites, and more). Every page I've linked and tried has popped up the
security warning.

2. I've run it with no browser open. The browser opens, but behind the PP
show. Not helpful for user-based presentations.

3. It would not run on a WinXP pc that was running a limited-user profile.
It also would not run on a different WinXP pc that was running an
administrator profile. Once PPT viewer was installed on the hard drive, the
CD operated fine.

4. When run in Viewer, I get the msg: "PowerPoint Viewer could not run the
selected program. The PowerPoint Viewer does not support running programs."

 

[Rajah]

Steve, thanks for the reply.

I need to run it independently of the installed program. I'll be giving the
CD to someone whom will then run it on a pc of their choice, without my
guidance. I've turned to Viewer, but the messages are unacceptable to the
users.

Yes, .pdf files wil work, but they bring up the warning with Viewer 2003.

With regard to controls... specifically buttons/hyperlink text, navigation
buttons. I'm testing other menuing/presentation programs, but they don't
adapt to different screen settings like PowerPoint does.

r.

 

[Sonia]

1. Yeh, any link to something outside of the presenation will generate a
warning so that the end user can approve proceeding. I was afraid you might be
getting the message for internal links, which wouldn't be normal.

2. Maybe it is browser dependent (I use IE) or maybe it has something to do
with browser settings, but it works for me here.

3. Not knowing what happens or what message you are getting, I can't tell you
how to correct this problem. I run the Viewer successfully from CD all of the
time.

4. As I mentioned, a bat file can get you around this.

 

[Rajah]

Hi Sonia -

2. I use IE too, and keep it up to date.

4. The .bat file doesn't work when using the Viewer. If it does, tell me
I'm wrong! As I indicated before....
r.

 

[Sonia]

2. Others have written that they have the same problem and I don't know what
causes the browser to open in the background rather than the foreground. You
may need to try it on several systems and try to determine what differences
exist, if it behaves differently.

4. Are you still be trying to use "Run Program"? If you read my original reply
carefully, you'll see that I said "...link to the bat file via Action Settings >
Hyperlink to > Other file". That will not generate the message you are getting.

 

[Rajah]

Sonia, appreciate your continued efforts. PowerPoint itself works great, but
I can't distribute the entire pkg on each CD. Is there some way the Viewer
warnings can be disabled?

4. ok, it ran it but I still got a warning for running the bat file. No
need to mention the blink as the cmd window opens and closes in the
foreground. Darn!!!

I return to my original "needs" list and clarify it: I need a presentation
program to
(a) run on a wide range of Windows PCs;
(b) to be flexible with different screen layouts without losing anything
on the page, especially controls (navigation buttons, hyperlinks, etc);
(c) be able to open up a web page (in a browser);
(d) be able to either open a local sub-process and run a .pdf reader or
allow a local file to open using its default file type.
(e) run without generating warnings

"local" in this case means within the current PC including the CD that
includes the presentation, and any necessary apps/drivers.

If I'm being forced to include the entire PPT software to avoid the
warnings, the PP Viewer is worthless to me. When viewing the show within the
PPT software, I don't get the warnings.

r.

 

[Rajah]

Agreed - I sent a brief note to MS as you suggested. I just found KB237891,
where it says:

If you want to run your PowerPoint presentation and the PowerPoint Viewer
from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, Microsoft suggests that you look for third-party
solutions on the Web.