Hyperlink to PDF document within presenter slide?

Nov 06, 2011

Hi there - I have a project where I would like to provide a direct link to a downloadable pdf job aid straight from an object on a slide in presenter - is this possible?  I have already added the pdf to an attachments player tab, and it opens fine from there, but I can't seem to get a hyperlink to the same pdf work from my slide - it says it can't locate the file.

I have right-clicked the object - which is a small picture icon - selected hyperlink to document or file, and have then used the relative link: data/downloads/<   file name >,

The file name I used was just the same name as the pdf file name - any ideas where I am going wrong- or is this functionality not supported by presenter?

7 Replies
Dave Neuweiler

Hello Laura.

Yes, you can hyperlink form a PPT/Presenter screen to a PDF that you've included as an attachment.

The hyperlink should be: data/downloads/filename.pdf

That's the location where the file will reside AFTER you publish.

One other thing to keep in mind... if you're using PowerPoint 2003, life is good... but in PowerPoint 2007 and 2010, PowerPoint changes the front slashes to back slashes, and the hyperlink won't work.

To overcome this while working in PPT 2007 or 2010, you'll have to save the presentation as a PowerPoint97-2003 Presentation. This may interfere with some of the advanced features in 2007 and 2010, but when you do the "save as," the program will tell you what's affected.

I hope that helps!

Best Regards,

Dave

Ron Price

Dave's answer is spot on.  But it also sounds like you may have already been trying that.  

So, the only other thing I would add is that you may want to make sure your document name does not have any spaces.  Spaces are converted to "20%" which can mess up the process.

Also, in preview, Internet Explorer is probably going to make you allow the PDF to be downloaded.

Good luck,

Nathan Ritzau

I know this is a tad old, but looking to do the same thing with ppt 2010. It works in Preview, but when I publish, in 2010, not '03, it cannot find the file. And the hyperlink isn't even what I pointed it to in the original ppt.

In the ppt, I linked it as suggested above- data/downloads/testpdf.pdf, with no spaces in file name, but when published it changes the trail to this: datadownloadsest pdf.pdf.

Anything I'm doing wrong from the ppt side of things?  In the hyperlink window, the Existing File or Web Page is selected on the left, and then the Current Folder is selected.

Thanks for any help anyone can give,

Nathan

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Nathan,

If the link is working in preview, but not after publishing, are you viewing the published output locally? If so, have you tried uploading the presentation to a web server or LMS, or even CD (if you need to view locally) to test the hyperlink functionality? 

If you view a published Presenter '09 presentation on your local hard drive or send it to someone else to view on their local hard drive, you'll encounter security restrictions from the computer, web browser, Flash Player, and network that'll cause various features of your content to fail.
To properly test your published content and share it with others, upload it to the environment for which it was published. Please review the following article for details:

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