STRING TOGETHER POWERPOINT SHOWS

[Johann Swart]

I have several PowerPoint Shows which I run on a TV which is visible to the
public.
Each show consists of approximately 20-50 10-second slides. Currently, I run
a show for approximately an hour or two (looped), manually stop it, and then
open another show which also then runs for an hour or so.
Is it possible:
1) to run a macro that shows the different pps one after the other, e.g.
show01.pps, show02.pps, show03.pps, etc, and then start at show01 again?
2) for a macro fundi to provide me with such a macro?
Beacause of the file size of each show, I prefer not to make one show of the
various individual shows.
Thanks

 

[TAJ Simmons]

Johann

If you use the powerpoint viewer to view the shows, then you can create a
PLAYLIST to show your shows.
see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827766


Or you can string them together seamlessly using this method of 'linking'

free powerpoint tutorial on linking
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/powerpointlinking.htm

cheers
TAJ Simmons
Microsoft Powerpoint MVP

http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com
awesome - powerpoint templates,
powerpoint backgrounds, free samples, ppt tutorials...

 

[TDunn]

Try using the PowerPoint Viewer with a playlist. Here is some info:

http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00153.htm

Look for the "PowerPoint Viewer 2003 Command Line Switches" section.

More info here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827766

And here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/176678

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

 

[Johann Swart]

To TAJ Simmons and TDunn, thank you guys. I have looked at and implemented
KB837766, and it works beautifully. I do however have a further question: Is
there a way to loop the playlist other than repeating the names of the shows
in the playlist? E.g. show01.pps, show02.pps, show03.pps, show01.pps,
show02.pps, show03.pps, show01.pps, etc
I did not mention earlier that I am running WinXP and Office2003.
Thanks a million and best wishes for 2009!

 

[Michael Koerner]

The "/L" in the KB article example is the loop indicator

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


To TAJ Simmons and TDunn, thank you guys. I have looked at and implemented
KB837766, and it works beautifully. I do however have a further question: Is
there a way to loop the playlist other than repeating the names of the shows
in the playlist? E.g. show01.pps, show02.pps, show03.pps, show01.pps,
show02.pps, show03.pps, show01.pps, etc
I did not mention earlier that I am running WinXP and Office2003.
Thanks a million and best wishes for 2009!

 

[Martin]

Hi,
I had exactly the same problem as the author of this thread, so I tried
mentioned solution, but my list of presentations still doesn't loops,
although I have used the loop indicator "/L". Could someone tell me, where
I'm making a mistake?

I have also tried this
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/powerpointlinking.htm solution, but the
loop waits for an Esc hit until it jumps to another slide and thats not
useful for me, because I need to use this as a TV stream, so everything has
to be automatic.

Thanks for an answer,
Martin

 

[Michael Koerner]

Not much information to go on. Which version of PowerPoint are you using?
Does each of your presentations automatically advance from slide to slide
within that presentation? How are you running your list? What is in your
command line?

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


Hi,
I had exactly the same problem as the author of this thread, so I tried
mentioned solution, but my list of presentations still doesn't loops,
although I have used the loop indicator "/L". Could someone tell me, where
I'm making a mistake?

I have also tried this
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com/powerpointlinking.htm solution, but the
loop waits for an Esc hit until it jumps to another slide and thats not
useful for me, because I need to use this as a TV stream, so everything has
to be automatic.

Thanks for an answer,
Martin

 

[Martin]

Sorry, there are details:
I use PowerPoint 2003 for creating presentations and PowerPoint Viewer 2007
for Viewing (I use 2007 viewer due to trying to avoid old version bugs).
Sliding goes very well until it reaches the last frame of the last
presentation. After it, the black screen with "end of slide show" appears and
waits for a click to exit.
I have all the files placed in the PowerPoint Viewer folder (1.ppt, 2.ppt,
...., list.txt) and I'm executing it by entering "pptview.exe /L list.txt"
into cmd. In my list.txt file there is only the filename of the presentation
at each row (1.ppt, 2ppt, ...).

Thanks,
Martin

 

[Michael Koerner]

In PowerPoint 2003, Choose tools, Options, choose the View tab, and uncheck
the box for the option "End with black slide"

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


Sorry, there are details:
I use PowerPoint 2003 for creating presentations and PowerPoint Viewer 2007
for Viewing (I use 2007 viewer due to trying to avoid old version bugs).
Sliding goes very well until it reaches the last frame of the last
presentation. After it, the black screen with "end of slide show" appears
and
waits for a click to exit.
I have all the files placed in the PowerPoint Viewer folder (1.ppt, 2.ppt,
...., list.txt) and I'm executing it by entering "pptview.exe /L list.txt"
into cmd. In my list.txt file there is only the filename of the presentation
at each row (1.ppt, 2ppt, ...).

Thanks,
Martin

 

[Martin]

Unfortunately, it didn't help. I think, the final black screen isn't the
result of presentations in playlist, but that PowerPoint Viewer adds it.

I tried to solve it by adding "link to itself" into the playlist, because of
this article http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/827766 says, that
"One playlist file can reference another playlist file". It would make an
infinite cycle (I think), but as the PP Viewer reaches the list.txt item in
playlist, it fails with this error message: "Powerpoint Viewer cannot open
the file "list.txt" because the file is not a PowerPoint file". I know, that
txt is not the PowerPoint file, but if there is written, that on list file
can reference another list file, it should work

I will be very grateful for an answer, because I really don't know how to
solve it and I don't want to use the "brute force" method, which menas to
copy list items million times and hope, it will be enough

 

[Michael Koerner]

I honestly don't have an answer. I ran a loop list (4 presentations) for 3
days with no reference to a black screen, but that was using the 2003
viewer. I have not tried it with the 2007 viewer. In your list.txt file does
your reference to the list2.txt file have the full path? i.e
d:\presentations\list2.txt

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


Unfortunately, it didn't help. I think, the final black screen isn't the
result of presentations in playlist, but that PowerPoint Viewer adds it.

I tried to solve it by adding "link to itself" into the playlist, because of
this article http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/827766 says, that
"One playlist file can reference another playlist file". It would make an
infinite cycle (I think), but as the PP Viewer reaches the list.txt item in
playlist, it fails with this error message: "Powerpoint Viewer cannot open
the file "list.txt" because the file is not a PowerPoint file". I know, that
txt is not the PowerPoint file, but if there is written, that on list file
can reference another list file, it should work

I will be very grateful for an answer, because I really don't know how to
solve it and I don't want to use the "brute force" method, which menas to
copy list items million times and hope, it will be enough

 

[Martin]

The path is OK, i checked it, PP Viewer only cannot open it, because it
thinks, that all files in the list should be presentations.
I found this article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830040. They write
there about changes in switches in 2003 version and if you look at the text
near /L switch there's:

/L - No loop continuously switch. Each presentation will either loop or not
loop, depending on how it was saved by the author. This also applies to the
contents of a play list; the contents of a play list are shown only one time.

So, with regard to it, It is impossible to do this using playlist. But then,
I don't understand how could you made it work? Could you send me (upload
somewhere) working example including the bat file with exact executing
command, please? It begins to look like a mystery

Thanks,
Martin

 

[Michael Koerner]

I went back, and tried the files I used a few years back, and I get the same
results as you. I must have been using the 97 viewer (an age thing) I did
find a clumsy workaround. Depending on how many presentations you have in
your list. I tried it with two, and that was to merge the two presentations
maintaining there looks/setup, and then in the slideshow setup is set it to
loop until Esc is pressed and it worked just fine. Sorry I can't offer any
more than that.

--
Michael Koerner
MS MVP - PowerPoint


The path is OK, i checked it, PP Viewer only cannot open it, because it
thinks, that all files in the list should be presentations.
I found this article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830040. They write
there about changes in switches in 2003 version and if you look at the text
near /L switch there's:

/L - No loop continuously switch. Each presentation will either loop or not
loop, depending on how it was saved by the author. This also applies to the
contents of a play list; the contents of a play list are shown only one
time.

So, with regard to it, It is impossible to do this using playlist. But then,
I don't understand how could you made it work? Could you send me (upload
somewhere) working example including the bat file with exact executing
command, please? It begins to look like a mystery

Thanks,
Martin