Replies

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… things I want to… do are… things that I am not able to do!

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[/indent]Getting past those challenges (in any program) is what separates common users from effectual users. Set your strategy, determine your needs, then reach your objectives with the native tools or workarounds from the more experienced. But don’t give up.

Keep in mind the next upgrade you get will have the multiple masters feature, where you can make and store many masters. They can then be applied to control groups of slides. But even in the newest version, you cannot generate new placeholders or new AutoLayouts.

The technique you describe, using copies of template slides in the file, is a frequently used workaround. I used it back in version 4 and all through the versions to today’s version 11 (beta). So, get comfortable with that method, knowing it is time-tested and proven.

No, you cannot limit the size of a placeholder in any practical fashion.[indent]

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… placeholder to… certain size… insert an image, the image takes size and proportions of placeholder. But… undo… placeholder reverts to original size…

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[/indent]You’re describing a feature of version 2002. Are you sure about the version you are using? (Help|About) Furthermore, what exactly is changing and reverting size, the image or the placeholder? Directly after graphic insertion, in version 2000, undo eliminates the inserted graphic only. How are you inserting graphics? List out the steps so I can replicate your issue and then comment.

LennyJo

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…lots of different placeholder arrangements… in 2002…

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[/indent]All 5 current versions offer these, which are called AutoLayouts. They are pre-set arrangement and content schemes of placeholders within a slide.
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…Can… master be changed to… other layouts…

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[/indent]No. But you can dictate the default AutoLayout that will appear when you insert a new slide.
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…Can new layouts be added to the Slide Layout list?

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[/indent]No. Again, that list is referred to as the AutoLayouts. New AutoLayouts cannot be created… as much as we begged for that feature (and still do).

LennyJo

I realize what you meant and that you knew the proper way, but posted that add-on in case a newbie read it and got confused.

-LennyJo

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…put all your detail you want onto a slide…

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Make that “put the detail in the master slide” and it will work. Otherwise, you will not get a functioning template; slides will not take on that look.

LennyJo

No, you cannot literally create your own AutoLayouts. No version of PowerPoint permits that.

But if all you are trying to do is create a constant look for your slides, use the slide master. In the View menu, choose Master, Slide Master. Adjust the Slide Master how you want (background, placeholder position/size, objects, etc.). Close the master when done and you’ll see all your slides will take on the look of what you created.

Be aware you cannot add extra placeholders (text boxes) to the master slide.

If you have several “looks” or layouts for one presentation, you will have to create them as separate slides and then copy them when needed. Your version of PPT allows only one set of masters (slide master and title master). Version 2002 permits many masters to be used.

LennyJo

If you try Pack and Go, be aware you cannot pack to the CD. You have to pack to your hard drive and then burn the packed files to the CD separately using standard CD burning software. Also be aware you have to burn two files. One is the prz file and the other the pngsetup.exe file. Also be aware that the show on the CD cannot be played directly. Your buddies will have to first “unpack” the prz file by launching the pngsetup.exe file on the CD. It will then want a new empty folder on the hard drive to unpack in (a thing your buddies may not want to do). After dumping the files to their hard drive (unpacking) then and only then can it be played (from their hard drive, not the CD).

In other words, Pack and Go is merely a transportation device, not meant to be a simple method to allow another to launch your presentation directly from a disk.

You can look into creating an “autorun” disk, which will play the show upon them inserting the disk into the computer (provided certain conditions are right).

My most used method is to copy all linked files into the folder in which my presentation is being built. Insert or link the files from that folder. Then simply burn the entire folder to CD. Having saved the presentation as a pps and named it “Double Click This” the user simply does that and the show launches. No mess. No files dumped onto thier hard drive.

-LennyJo

Read this for an explanation and tips.

http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00155.htm%5B/url%5D

-LennyJo

Then check the master to be sure the page number placeholder has not been deleted. Get into the master from the View menu. Once there, choose Master Layout from the Format menu. A list of the 5 possible placeholders will then display. Slide Number is one of them. If you can check it, do so and then click OK. That will put the placeholder back into the design.

If it was already there, then you might have an object within your design covering the placeholder or the color of its font cannot be seen against the color of the background.

-LennyJo

In the View menu, click Header and Footer. Check Slide Number.

That’s it.

-LennyJo

I’m glad it worked out and hope it holds. I think it was a bit of corruption rather than content. The method I gave you of copying to a new file is one known for years to correct most corrupt files. I’ve had to use that clean-out method many times myself and have had great luck with it. A corrupt file isn’t always obvious. It might be just corrupt enough to trigger errors like you got. In fact, there used to be a downloadable program called Cloneme that would un-corrupt a PPT file. But it basically does what I had you do.

What threw me about your error is the Kernel reference. We just don’t really see that anymore in WinXP. That’s odd. Keep an eye on that. If you get it again, take a screen capture to investigate it further.

Good luck.

-LennyJo

I have no idea what Endnote is, but if it is intervening with the AutoRecovery or temp files, I would investigate that. The size of your file is not huge at all. It would be among my smallest ppt files.

The error you mention is almost unheard of to me with XP running on XP. Generally, it is an invalid page fault, which can be from many causes. Most of them have to do with your computer’s system, however, not PowerPoint. It could be a damaged DLL file from a virus or an error in the registry. It could be the machine needs defrag’ed or the temp files need dumping. It could be the temp files are not updating properly during and after use (Endnote… hint, hint). It could be a memory chip is not seated properly or other hardware incompatability. And many other causes.

I would start first with the file to see if it is corrupt. (I doubt it though due to the error you quoted.) Copy all the slides (slide sorter view) and then start a new blank file and paste the slides (slide sorter view). Click the Paste Option button to choose Keep Source Formatting. Save and begin using that file and see if it works better.

But do check all the temp files (.tmp) and clean them out first. That can cause all sorts of problems.

If this does not work, you may have to uninstall Office and then reinstall it. If you see more Kernel errors, you might even have to reinistall Windows, so keep your fingers crossed.

-LennyJo

Understand how design templates work. Merely saving any ole presentation as a template may not create an actual design template that can be applied to other presentations. At least not without unexpected/undesirable results. When a template file (.pot) is applied to another file, the elements, formatting, background, alignments, and many other attributes are copied from the source to the destination. But the only properties and objects that are transferred are those that are part of the source’s MASTER slides.

When considering if you want the design of another presentation applied, look at the source’s master, not the slides themselves. Who knows what’s in the slides and how it all got there. Only the master will transfer. We don’t even know if the presentation you saved as a “template” had a master properly created to transfer its design. So, who knows what you transferred into your destination file. We don’t know what was in the masters.

So, when wondering what a source file did to your destination file when you applied its design, you must consider the source’s master. Inspect it and see how it is created. What elements are in it? What placeholder properties are programmed? Etc. Etc…

From your description, it sounds like the source’s master had no background. That’s why it turned your slides white. As far as it “leaving only your text and animations” goes, I can’t comment. Because I don’t know what that means. Is that all that was there to begin with? Were there more than those elements? (??)

We also don’t know how the destination file was built. Applying a design template can have varying results depending on how the destination file’s graphics, colors, and objects were inserted. Did you use placeholders or manually created textboxes? Did you use background colors in the slides or in the masters? Where graphics inserted in the master or in the slides? Was formatting done through the master or on individual slides?

If the destination show was built in the normal convential manner and so was the source, it would have transferred fairly well. But it didn’t. So look at the masters of both.

LennyJo

PowerPoint is different than Word in that respect. Read more here.

LennyJo

Outside of HTML, it’s normally path/file.ppt#1, where 1 is the slide number. It depends on the version, however. It used to be a dash, now it’s a pound. I noticed, too, XP adds the slide name to look like this: path/file.ppt#1. Slide Title.

Saving it to HTML and view the code, it looks like this:
href=”relativepath/file.ppt#-1,2,Slide 2″ where 2 is the slide to start with and Slide 2 is the slide’s title (no title used, so it reverts to Slide Number.)

I’m sure there’s more to it, but that’s all I got.

-LennyJo

It very possibly can be corrupt or otherwise broken. A good page to read about it here.

LennyJo