Disappearing links

[Kathy Thielmann]

We had an experience last week in which someone created a PowerPoint file in
OSX with multiple links to slides (and back) that worked fine for several
days. The file was copied to our server and the next person to work on the
file discovered that all the links had disappeared. She spent considerable
time recreating all the links, saved the file and ensured they worked. After
closing out of PowerPoint and reopening the file, the links had again
disappeared.

During several work sessions, people were able to save and reopen the file
and the links worked correctly. The links only disappeared after closing out
of PowerPoint itself.

After trying multiple options, including copying all slides to a new file,
etc., without success, the entire presentation had to be recreated from
scratch. Is there a way to avoid this in the future? Was there a simple
solution we were unaware of?

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi

Moving the files to a new location created new file path names to follow.

PowerPoint knew the file path that existed when the links were made, but not
the new file paths. That's why PowerPoint could not follow the links.

It is possible to reduce or avoid this problem. When you create the links,
be sure the linked files are in the exact same folder at the same level as
the presentation being linked to. Then move the folder to the server.

This is the same concept as having problems with making linked presentation
on CDs and DVDs. There are lots of other postings in the newsgroup
explaining this in great detail and there are links to frequently asked
questions, too. Just scan through the subjects in this newsgroup and you'll
find lots of helpful stuff already posted.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

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