#1 2010-02-03 12:19:13

**_dsouders_**

Powerpoint hyperlinks in Presenter not working in IE

I have a PowerPoint file (PPT) with http:// hyperlinks to files on a web server (PDF, XLS, DOC, etc.). I'm using this method versus the attachment functions of Presenter so that I can make changes to these files without having to republish the entire presentation. When using IE6/7/8 with Win XP Pro SP3, the hyperlinks don't work. They work great with Firefox 3.5 and Chrome, as well as IE8 running in Win 7 Ultimate. I've even tried placing URL files in the resources folder that points to the file on the web server--doesn't work either. These are links that work perfectly in IE when accessing them from a HTML page, just not from Presenter. I have my browser set to open the File Download dialog, so When clicking on the link, I would expect it to pop-up, but I only get a brief flash of another IE tab trying to open and no file is downloaded. The tab opens for a fraction of a second and then closes. It seems to be canceling it for some reason.

I'm at a loss. Any ideas please! Could it be something in my settings? Maybe something in the PowerPoint itself?

**_Daniel_**

Re: Powerpoint hyperlinks in Presenter not working in IE

Hi dsouders,
Going to let more experienced users chime in on this, but my understanding is that Presenter's server rules will not allow one's browser to point to local file (on a web server). Please correct me if this in innacurate! One possibility is to point your hyperlinks to another Presenter file in which the files are attached, or perhaps you could create a webpage with hyperlinks to the files you need and have your Presenter hyperlinks go that page?
This is all a bit out of my league, but had some experience with hyperlinking and learned what does not work in Presenter.
Hope this helps.
Daniel

**_dsouders_**

Re: Powerpoint hyperlinks in Presenter not working in IE

Thanks for the reply, Daniel. I actually published the file to the content area of our Adobe Connect account and ran it from there, but same problem. Also tried that same file from home on two different machines, one XP sp3, the other Win 7. It worked on Win 7, but still the same issue on the XP machine. For a while I started thinking it's something with XP/IE and file hyperlinks in Flash, but didn't find much. Most of my users are on XP and using IE, making this an even bigger problem.

I recently had the same idea about using the separate web page because PPT hyperlinks to web pages work fine (just not to files). Good idea, but not well received. I didn't mention this in my last post, but I also tried to use the Link type in the Attachments area--same problem.

Thanks again.

**_Jorma_at_RealEyes_**

Re: Powerpoint hyperlinks in Presenter not working in IE

Daniel is correct in the rules for Presenter. It plays by server rules and therefore cannot link to local file paths. All links need to have an http:// or mailto: call. The point of the attachments section of Presenter is to allow you to attach the documents to the presentation so they can be downloaded from directly within the presentation.

**_dsouders_**

Re: Powerpoint hyperlinks in Presenter not working in IE

Thanks for the reply, Jorma, but I might not be stating my problem clearly. I understand the point of the attachments section of Presenter, but I don't want to use it because those attachments need to be updated regularly, forcing me to republish often. I'm not using local file paths at all--i'm using http:// with all of my links. I've done this through PowerPoint by inserting hyperlinks in either text or graphics on a slide. In other slides, I've used http:// to call up websites and it works perfectly. I just happens when calling http links to files (in IE only). I also tried to use the "Link" option in the attachments section to point to a http:// link instead of a file in the Resources folder. Again, it works when calling webpages, but not files on the web server.

I have viewed the tutorial on Presenter hyperlinks by Paresh Kharya. It seems that what i'm doing should work correctly when published, and it does when I use Firefox or Chrome, just not IE (unless i'm running Windows 7). 

Has anyone out there ever tried this and did NOT experience this problem in IE (running in XP)?

I really appreciate the help!!

**_Hareton_**

Re: Powerpoint hyperlinks in Presenter not working in IE

While running a PowerPoint presentation on multiple monitors using presenter view, I couldn't click on the slides. Asked myself many times: how do I use a hyperlink to go to a web page? If I had the page open in IE and just clicked it on the task bar, the projection device continued to show PowerPoint & doesn't switch to the IE window.
Turned out that I just had to move the mouse over onto the second monitor (projector) to click on the slide itself instead of on the slide in the presenter view on the laptop monitor. I knew it would be something simple, but the help info for presenter view doesn't help someone who's never used multiple monitors to look for really basic stuff like that.