Hello Marc,
PowerPoint will look in the same directory as the presentation for linked
content if it cannot find the external file where it expects to find it. If
you move a presentation (from the Windows Explorer) to a new volume/drive
(such as from Hard Drive to CD Drive) PowerPoint will continue to look to
the original location for any linked content and, if it cannot be found,
PowerPoint will look in the same directory of the presentation and, if
still not found, the link will not work.
It's very easy to break links between presentations and their supporting
files (such as media and other presentations) when moving files around in
the Windows Explorer because Windows doesn't know that there are
dependencies in the presentation files or that the supporting files are
linked to by other documents.
Because of this, in the future, the best way to move or copy presentations
from one location to another (while the links are NOT yet broken) is to use
the built-in capabilities of PowerPoint to copy a presentation and all of
it's supporting files from one location to another (instead of
moving/copying from Windows Explorer).
Depending on the version of PowerPoint, the feature is either called Pack
and Go, or Package for CD. Each of them work differently but the important
thing to know is that in either case they can be used to copy the
presentation and all dependent files from one location to another
(different folder, different volume, different computer, etc.). And,
although each feature is primarily designed to work with removable media
(Floppy disks for Pack and Go, Recordable CD for Package for CD) they can
actually be used to move a presentation directly to another folder on same
hard-drive, different volume, network location, etc. without having to use
any removable media at all.
Of course these features won't fix links that have already been broken
(because you moved a presentation or supporting files from Windows
Explorer) but, when used properly they can either mitigate the need to move
presentations from the Windows Explorer, or prepare/package presentations
and supporting files to a single location so that you can use the Windows
Explorer to move an entire folder (instead of presentation file) to a new
location without breaking any links to supporting files.
If you (or anyone else reading this message) think that PowerPoint should
provide tools for managing presentations and their supporting content
and/or to find/manage/repair/etc. links (broken or otherwise) to supporting
content, don't forget to send your feedback to Microsoft at:
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp
As with all product suggestions, it's important that you not just state
your wish but also why it is important to you that your product suggestion
be implemented by Microsoft. Microsoft receives thousands of product
suggestions every day and we read each one but, in any given product
development cycle, there are only sufficient resources to address the ones
that are most important to our customers so take the extra time to state
your case as clearly and completely as possible.
IMPORTANT: Each submission should be a single suggestion (not a list of
suggestions)
John Langhans
Supportability Program Manager
Microsoft Office PowerPoint for Windows
Microsoft Office Picture Manager for Windows
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