Back slash vs. Forward slash

Hi Juergen,

This is a known issue with PowerPoint 2007 and later versions. One workaround is to save your file as a PowerPoint 2003 file (.ppt rather than .pptx).

Thanks Steve,

So, what you are telling me is that I should go backwards, not forward? Such as instead of using Excel use SuperCalc? Why does Articulator ignore the backslash in a link? In my humble opinion this would be a very simple fix.

The issue of a forward slash being changed to a backslash is a Microsoft PowerPoint issue, not an Articulate issue. There's a knowledgebase article on Microsoft's site about this. I think Articulate has a tech note posted about it too.

Hi Juergen, 

Here ya go:

When you create a file hyperlink in PowerPoint, you may find that the forward slashes in the file path get converted to backslashes, preventing the hyperlink from working in your Presenter '09 published output.

This is a known PowerPoint issue. Use either of the following options to avoid this behavior:

• Place the file on a web server or LMS, and use the HTTP URL to create the hyperlink in PowerPoint.
• Save your presentation in the backwards-compatible format PowerPoint 97-2003 Presentation.

I hear what you are saying. However, BEFORE I start to publish, a slash is there. When I am finished publishing, the published Articulate presentation has NO slash when I start with a Back slash. Yet, the slash is still in the PowerPoint presentation. This would clearly indicate that Articulate simply drops the Back slash in a link that is NOT a web address. I have created a test scenario. Please check it out and let me know:

http://course.dmv-driversed.com/This is a test/player.html

Thanks.

Juergen

You can write a macro to fix this issue.  It is a powerpoint error that has a never been fixed.

It is not good practice to use spaces in web addresses much better to use underscores. that is why your link is broken.

http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00773_Batch_Search_and_Replace_for_Hyperlinks-_OLE_links-_movie_links_and_sound_links.htm

will give you the code you need for your macro just run it before you publish

Thanks. Regarding the broken link. This is ONLY in the test scenario. Otherwise, I never use spaces.

Hi Jürgen,

what we did (a bit messy) was to copy the files where the player.html resides and not use any relative paths at all...

You just need to remember that when you've finished compiling your course you need to copy the files

Cheers

Geert