-old.ppta related problems - Tip

Hi everyone,

I was having lots of problems with one particular project that started doing some weird things (e.g. changes to engage interactions were not updating) and also I noticed it was creating -old.ppta files again and again for no identifiable reason. I submitted a case to Articulate suport, and then a week later submitted another case after uninstalling and re-installing Articulate.  I think we may have it resolved now.

I wanted to share this information because I think I was causing part of the problems myself when I was trying to fix what I thought may have been a corrupt file.  I followed the instructions on how to fix a corrupt file and had re-done this process twice during all this time I have been having problems with my project.  http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter09/kb/?p=503

However, what I didn't realize is that when you do this, you may not not want to create a new PPT and put it in a new folder. It actually makes a difference if you are just re-using slides or also are re-using interactions and quizzes. Here is the explaination from Articulate support.

If you create a new Presenter file and save it on a different folder, then you reuse slides, that is fine if there's no quizzes or Engage Interactions. However, if there are quizzes and interactions, it's best that you save the new Presenter file on the same location as the Quizzes and Interactions, before you "reuse" the slides. Otherwise the references to the quiz and interactions will broken and there's a possibility of a "-old.ppta" file be created by Presenter, thinking that a corruption may have happened and as a backup procedure, duplicates the .ppta file.

Once you have created the new Presenter file on the same directory and if you wish to move it on a different directory, try to create an Articulate Package as described on the link below to consolidate all the supporting files.