Arrows and lines moving
Apr 15, 2011
Hi there,
I am creating training material with lots of diagrams that require lines, arrows and circles (vector diagrams). I spend ages to perfectly line them up but when they are published they have all moved - just a few mm, but enough to make me look careless and lazy.
Here is an arrow in PowerPoint:
Here it is in the published output:
(FWIW In many cases (but not all) I am using animations to move an arrow from one place to another, or fading them into view, etc. In this case there is no animation.)
Is there a way to stop that from happening?
I am using XP, PowerPoint 2007 and Presenter 6.3.1009.1313 Pro. I have been using Presenter for years.
(Sorry, could not find a post on this - I can't believe I am the only one to have this problem.)
Jason
13 Replies
I can't tell if you have a shadow or not applied, but see if this is the issue:
http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter09/kb/?p=2752
Hi Justin,
I have been using one of the PowerPoint style options so all of my arrows seem to have a slight shadow. It looks good.
Is there a plan to fix this bug soon?
Jason
Hey Jason,
This issue has been reported but I can't offer a time frame for a fix.
When I put a border or frame on a photo in PowerPoint it shifts and looks more like a hard drop shadow when published. Is this the same issue Jason is referring to, or is there a solution for this?
You can also, as a workaround, group your images, export as a picture (PNG is usually best) and then re-import to replace. I do this with ungrouped Smartart all the time, especially when I want a beveled surface and bolded text.
I appreciate the suggestions, but I have over 2500 slides to edit... Having to group, capture as an image, import, etc. is not only time consuming but it is then very difficult to edit. Plus I use some screen animations (moving lines, etc.); they'll have to go - or I will have to drop the shadow on all the lines, etc.
Jason
I did just test this with no-shadow on the line and shadowed line. The non-shadowed line did not move. So, as Justin says, remove the shadow, and it should work fine. it does look good, i admit, but for vector, pinpoint graphics, do you really want a shadow on them? it might be confusing to some, not all, but some.
2 cents, no charge.
This has been an issue for me as well. I understand copy and importing as a png, but then you have to have a file somewhere with the native formats so you can edit if necessary.
I am kind of surprised - I thought it would be a problem for a lot of people. Of all the fancy things that Presenter has to do, keeping an arrow in the right place (with shadow or not) should be a simple functional requirement... The world won't end if I have to remove the shadows (even if I think it looks better and would keep it consistent with everything else in my training), but it should work.
Hey Jason, I have the same problem. I do not have any shadows on my arrows or boxes and they shift a couple of pixels all the time. Drive's me nuts! I'm using PPT 2007 and I would hate to have to convert everything to png to make it look clean.
I find this issue also, any vector shape really, sometimes text position change is also noticeable. And the amount of shift is unpredictable. I'm sure Articulate is well aware of it and working hard to fix (please)
I believe it's the way the PPT content gets rendered to SWF when publishing (as the output isn't PPT after all), I've seen it mentioned before on the forums. The best solution I have found is pretty clumsy - when you find a problem, turn off snapping in PowerPoint, then nudge the item with the arrow keys, preview the slide in Articulate, repeat until perfect. It will look out of place in the PPT but in the right place when published...
I encounter this issue on a fairly regular basis as well. I am wondering if any progress has been made to resolve it.
Thanks!
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