Installing PowerPoint Add-Ins

[Peter Cooper]

Does anyone know how to programmatically install PowerPoint Add-Ins (.ppa's)
into the various flavors of Office on the Mac (98,2001,X). On Windows it's a
simple matter of adding some registry keys, but I can't find any docs for
the recommended approach on the Mac. I'm guessing I have to find the
PowerPoint startup folder for each installed version, but if there's an
easier way (like on Windows) that's be great.

Thanks,
Peter Cooper
Design Science

 

[Jim Gordon]

Hi

Here's a code snipped that may help

Sub Macro2()
AddIns.Add FileName:="b:Microsoft Office 2001:Office:Add-ins:Auto Save"
AddIns("AutoSave").Installed = True
End Sub

Notice that the file delimeter is a colon, not a slash. Add-ins will work in
any file location, but there is an add-ins folder in the Microsoft Office
directory of each version of Office on the Mac. You can use a commercial
installer to put the add-in into your desired location, simply tell the user
where to put the add-in and how to use the Tools menu, or build an installer
yourself - AppleScript may be useful here http://www.apples.com/applescript/

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

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Thanks.

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[Mickey Stevens]

The URL you want is:
<http://www.apple.com/applescript/>

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I'm already finding Word's startup folder, so I can extend this approach
for

PowerPoint, but I was hoping for a simpler approach as described above.

Not sure how it works in Mac versions, but on the PC, PowerPoint has no
startup folder equivalent to Word/Excel's.

PowerPoint's preference files seem to contain the necessary add-in info, but
they're binary files and I haven't found any info on how to modify them
directly. The VBA code is fine, but I don't really want to launch every
installed version of PowerPoint during my install.

Can you determine what files change when an addin loads?

It may be a bit simpler if it's an addin that creates no toolbars or makes
any other changes to the UI (reasoning: under Windows, UI changes are
maintained in a particular file; addins are loaded via the registry as you
know. Don't want to confuse the two, in case the binary files you're
referring to on Mac are the local equiv. of PPT Windows PCB files)

Since SaveSetting saves to registry entries on PC but to the app's
initialization file (prefs file?) on Mac I'd guess that you've got it worked
out correctly.

It might be worth looking at VBA's GetAllSettings function run against the
PowerPoint app itself.
Particularly, note any settings that change or get added as a result of
loading your addin manually.

Worst case, since you *can* get Word/Excel macros to autorun, you might be
able to automate PPT from an autorun word/excel macro. Addin
loading/registration can be automated.

 

[Jim Gordon]

Hi

I'm not entirely clear exactly when you want PowerPoint to fire up. The
process you use will depend upon which platform you are working on.

I'll try to keep things as simple as possible, but there are other ways to
accomplish this, too.

First, use an Autpen macro in your add-in. If the add-in has been
selected in PowerPoint's add-ins dialog box then the add-in will run
automatically whenever PowerPoint is opened. This is the same on all
platforms. There is an example in the help that shows how to add the add-in
using VBA.

On the Macintosh OS version 9 platform you can make an alias of the
PowerPoint application and put that alias into the system's Startup Items
folder. If you do that, whenever the computer starts up PowerPoint will run,
and your Autpen macro will fire.

On the Macintosh OS X platform you can put an empty presentation into the
login items in the login system preferences pane. That has the same effect
as above - PowerPoint starts up and then your Autpen macro runs.

If your installer can't handle these tasks, AppleScript probably can do it
for you http://www.apple.com/applescript.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

All responses should be made to this newsgroup within the same thread.
Thanks.

About Microsoft MVPs:
http://www.mvps.org/

Search for help with the free Google search Excel add-in:
<http://www.rondebruin.nl/Google.htm>

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

In a nutshell, the problem is this, I think:

Under Windows, you can set a couple of registry entries that point to your
addin's location on disk; when PowerPoint starts up, it'll automatically
load the addin and run any code in Autpen.

OP's looking for a way to accomplish something similar on Mac.

IOW, the user should run an installer and have the addin installation
automatically taken care of. They shouldn't have to be instructed how to
(nor, with some users, trusted to) do the Tools, Addins, Add trick to get
the addin loaded.

The problem isn't getting code to run when the addin loads; it's getting the
addin to load in the first place w/o user intervention.

--

Steve Rindsberg PPT MVP
PPTLive ( http://www.pptlive.com ) Featured Speaker
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PPT FAQ: http://www.pptfaq.com