Powerpoint 2000 - Linked to adobe Acrobat

  • Thread starter Thread starter Johnny Trubshaw
  • Start date Start date
J

Johnny Trubshaw

Hello, Is it possible to have on a slide a drop down box or pre generated
list either of which contains a range of adobe files.

When the user chooses an item from the list, it will open up Acrobat with
the file displayed.

I am not a novice at powerpoint, nor am I an expert, so if it can be done,
your help would be appreciated.

Many thanks


Johnny
 
It can be done using a ListBox with VBA code, but that would be a lot harder
than just using a series of textboxes with hyperlinks assigned to them. I
think you would be much better served trying to do this without VBA if
possible. Below is a general outline of how to do this:

1. First thing (most important) - put your PDF files in the same folder as
your PowerPoint presentation.
2. Using the TextBox tool on the drawing Toolbar, insert a text box and type
in the text associated with that PDF file.
3. Right-click on the outside border of the text box and click on "Action
Settings".
4. Click the "Hyperlink to" dropdown and select "Other file". Browse to,
and select the first PDf file.
5. Click the checkbox for "Highlight click" at the bottom left of the Action
Settings dialog box.
6. Click "OK" to accept this.
7. Repeat for the other text boxes that point to other PDF files.
8. When done, format your text boxes as you wish (backgrounds, font sizes,
etc.). You can also select all of them and click the "Draw" icon on the
Drawing Toolbar, highlight "Align and Distribute" and align your boxes.

Save your work of art and try it out by clicking on the Slide Show button.
When you hover over a text box your cursor changes to a pointing hand.
Clicking on one will open the associated PDF file. When done, click the "X"
at the top right and you will be returned to your PowerPoint presentation.
Keep in mind that you will get the "Opening files might contain
viruses....." message. Just click "OK" to open your PDF file.

Keep in mind that you can also accomplish this using the "Autoshapes" icon
on the Drawing toolbar, selecting "Action Buttons", choosing the top left
one (Custom), setting the Action Setting, then right-clicking the button and
selecting "Add Text". Now you will have raised web-type-looking buttons to
click on to open your files.

Holler back if this doesn't make sense.

Bill Foley
www.pttinc.com
 
Many thanks for your prompt reply.

Yes it makes sense and it works. I would have prefered a drop down box
purely because there is approx 12 PDF files and possibly more to follow in
the future. I feel that a drop down box would best suit this amount of
files.
I know a little bit of VB6, however I have never inserted a drop down box in
to powerpoint or worked with VB in powerpoint. I am prepared to have a go at
it, but if it is a bit of a nightmare then dont panic, I will just use the
text box idea instead.

Many thanks

Johnny
 
I know a little bit of VB6, however I have never inserted a drop down box in
to powerpoint or worked with VB in powerpoint. I am prepared to have a go at
it, but if it is a bit of a nightmare then dont panic, I will just use the
text box idea instead.
Click to expand...

A list box wouldn't be that big a nightmare but would be more work than
maintaining just the boxes with links. Also, the list box wouldn't work in the
free Viewer and possibly not on PPT Mac, nor in most HTML/PDF conversions from
your PPT, if that becomes necessary. Boxes with action settings will generally
survive.
 
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