PPT97: All OLE Objects Activate in PowerPoint 4.0 Slide Show (157824)

SYMPTOMS

If you open a PowerPoint 4.0 presentation in PowerPoint 97 and run it as a Slide Show, you can activate each OLE object in the presentation by clicking on it. This includes OLE objects that you would not normally wish to edit during a Slide Show (such as Clip Art Gallery images or Microsoft Word Tables.)

This problem does not occur if you open the same presentation in PowerPoint for Windows 95, version 7.0. The problem also doesn't occur if you open PowerPoint 7.0 presentations in PowerPoint 97.

CAUSE

The only kind of OLE objects that can activate during a Slide Show in PowerPoint 4.0 are Sound Recorder and Media Player objects. Later versions of PowerPoint can activate all types of OLE objects. When PowerPoint 97 opens one of these presentations, it automatically gives each OLE file an Action Setting of Edit on Mouse Click.

PowerPoint 7.0's Play Settings are close enough to PowerPoint 97's Action Settings that they are translated correctly.

RESOLUTION

Method 1: Convert the presentation

Convert the PowerPoint 4.0 presentation to PowerPoint 7.0 format before you open it in PowerPoint 97. This method requires that you have a computer running PowerPoint 7.0. You can automate this method if you have the PowerPoint 95 Batch Converter.

For information about the Batch Converter, please see the following article here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

113143 WT1230: Batch File Converter for PowerPoint for Windows 95

Method 2: Change the action settings

Change the Action Settings for each OLE object in the presentation.

Select any of the OLE objects.
On the Slide Show menu, click Action Settings.
Click the Mouse Click tab.
Click the None button.
Click OK.
Repeat this procedure for any other OLE objects in the presentation that aren't Sound or Media Clip objects.