Equation Editor symbols disappear in PDFs

[mattiem52]

I'm running Windows 2000 and MS Office 2003.

I started with a Ppt 2000 file consisting of a couple hundred visuals
packed with equations (for a 2-day statistics course).

I recently opened/saved the file in Ppt 2003, and ran into some
problems with the equations, which were created with Equation Editor
that came with Ppt 2000.

Initially, everything looked fine in the Ppt 2003 file, but when I
generated a PDF of the notes pages (which we use to print student
binders), many of the mathematical symbols didn't appear in the PDF
- there was just a blank space where they should have been. Symbols
dropped out sporadically from equations appearing in the notes page
text as well as equations appearing in slides.

I went back to the PPt 2003 file and tried copying the existing
equation (without opening it in Equation Editor) and using Paste
Special to place a Windows Metafile picture of the equations on the
slides. When I generated a new PDF file, the same problem occurred.

Next, I tried opening the equations in Equation Editor (Microsoft
Equation 3.0), and without changing anything, I clicked Update and then
Exit and Return to Presentation. Sometimes the equations survived
intact, but some equations switched from bold to regular font, the line
spacing tightened up or some other change occurred spontaneously. I had
to go back into Equation Editor to fix the equation before doing the
Paste Special step. PDFs created after this process came out fine -
all the mathematical symbols were intact.

I'm not looking forward to having to jump through all these hoops for
hundreds of equations every time there's a version upgrade. Would
MathType offer more output reliability between the PowerPoint file and
the PDF? Is Acrobat part of the problem?

I'd appreciate any insight/suggestions.

 

[Bob Mathews]

...Initially, everything looked fine in the Ppt 2003 file, but when
I
generated a PDF of the notes pages (which we use to print
student binders), many of the mathematical symbols didn't appear
in the PDF - there was just a blank space where they should have
been. Symbols dropped out sporadically from equations appearing
in the notes page text as well as equations appearing in slides.

Mattie, you need to embed the Equation Editor fonts in the PDF. (Well,
essentially it's "font" -- MTExtra.) We have an article about this on
our web site:

http://www.dessci.com/en/support/support/tsn/TSN69.htm

Feel free to write me privately if you have any questions about the
process. Incidentally, once you get a handle on this, you'll probably
not have any more problems printing out Notes pages, but if you print
Handouts pages, you're better off not going higher than 2 slides per
page.

I'm not looking forward to having to jump through all these hoops
for hundreds of equations every time there's a version upgrade.
Would MathType offer more output reliability between the
PowerPoint file and the PDF? Is Acrobat part of the problem?

Not necessarily more "output reliability between the PowerPoint file
and the PDF". It would, however, offer more formatting consistency,
since MathType allows you to save preference files (fonts, sizes, and
spacing adjustments). For example, you could set up an "Arial 32"
preference file to create equations in Arial, 32-pt font for PPT.
MathType comes loaded with a preference file appropriate for Word's
default settings, but of course you could create your own if you use
something other than Times New Roman, 12-pt. MathType also saves
formatting data with each equation, which Equation Editor does not do.
MathType includes an icon on the PPT toolbar for easy access, and
allows you to color your equations. For a full-featured 30-day
evaluation of MathType, follow the link in my signature.

--
Bob Mathews bobm at dessci.com
Director of Training
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
Design Science, Inc. -- "How Science Communicates"
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide

 

[mattiem52]

Thanks for your reply, Bob.

I gave the font embedding a try, but it looks like I'll still have to
open, update and replace every Equation Editor item in PowerPoint to
get the symbols to appear in the PDF.

The fact that spacing/bolding changes occur without warning in
Powerpoint/Equation Editor is a big stumbling block -- I'll have to
inspect every item after updating and go back in & adjust them if
changes occurred. Since you mentioned that MathType "saves formatting
data with each equation, which Equation Editor does not do," I'm
wondering if MathType might prevent these formatting changes from
happening every time I open equations in PowerPoint or when I upgrade
to the next version of PowerPoint. What do you think?

 

[Bob Mathews]

The fact that spacing/bolding changes occur without warning
in Powerpoint/Equation Editor is a big stumbling block -- I'll
have to inspect every item after updating and go back in &
adjust them if changes occurred. Since you mentioned that
MathType "saves formatting data with each equation, which
Equation Editor does not do," I'm wondering if MathType
might prevent these formatting changes from happening
every time I open equations in PowerPoint or when I
upgrade to the next version of PowerPoint. What do you
think?

Yes, I think MathType would prevent this from happening in the future.
It won't have any effect on the existing presentations with Equation
Editor equations in them. I use PowerPoint on an almost daily basis,
and I use MathType with PowerPoint routinely. I have never seen this
problem with MathType equations in PowerPoint.

--
Bob Mathews bobm at dessci.com
Director of Training
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
Design Science, Inc. -- "How Science Communicates"
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide

 

[Bob Mathews]

Yes, I think MathType would prevent this from happening in the
future. It won't have any effect on the existing presentations with
Equation Editor equations in them.

Just want to clarify -- of course MathType will have an effect on the
old equations once they're opened, because when MathType updates them,
they'll become MathType equations, and won't have this problem any
more. What I meant was that simply having MathType installed wouldn't
affect legacy documents with Equation Editor equations in them.

--
Bob Mathews bobm at dessci.com
Director of Training
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
Design Science, Inc. -- "How Science Communicates"
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide