How can I hyperlink to PowerPoint so that the PP plays instead of opening in Design mode

Question

As per the title I have a number of PowerPoints that I need to publish on an Intranet site. The problem that I am having is that I do not know how to publish as a PowerPoint Show. I want the users to click on a hyperlink on my asp.net page which will then open and play the PowerPoint. I have tried saving the pptx as pps and ppsx - when I opebn the files directly from the foler then they auto play and I do not have access to the design of the PowerPoint. When I hyperlink to the very same files and click on the link they open in design mode and do not autoplay. Alternatives that I have tried include: ppt to flash converters but the results are very poor (incorrect) and most of them are not free. converting to pdf which works well but many of the ppts include animations which obviously do not transfer to the pdf converting the ppt to video but this results in large file sizes (50MB+ in some cases) Thanks Gary

Gary King · Answer

The pps / ppsx still open in design mode after setting the custom MIME type. I have just discovered a workaround that in fact works!!!!! What I have done is create a shortcut to the pps on the server. So let's say I have myPowerPoint.pps I then create a shortcut myPowerPoint.pps.lnk Then on the web page I hyperlink to the .lnk file. When the user clicks on the hyperlink the powerpoint will open in slideshow mode. OK so this works but I am very frsutrated that it has taken so long to do something that should be easy. Whilst I accept that there are security issues with opening a pps(x) the fact that this is for a company intranet and not the WWW there should be some oeasy way to force the pps(x) to play without having the resort to .lnk or registry edits on all users machines.

Javeed M Shaikh · Answer

please try this: In IIS Administrative Console snap-in right-click the specific Web server where the .pps file is located and then click Properties. Click the HTTP Headers tab. Click the File Types button. Click New Type. In the Extension box type .pps and then in the Content type (MIME) box type application/vnd.ms-pps. Click OK and then restart IIS. Now try opening your PPS file from the link and let us know if it still opens in edit mode. Please do not forget to mark Accepted Answer.

Suthish Nair · Answer

I afraid this will not work and will cause serious security problems. I suggest go for Interop. You can create slide shows programatically..

Javeed M Shaikh · Answer

Ok I will download this and try meanwhile I have one more thought. 1. Save the file as Slide Show (extension ppsx as you did before) and copy that in your web application folder. 2. Open this file in your application using the following command: System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(@C:\WebApplication1\DSE desk_worksurface_work env_routine 2010.ppsx); Please do not forget to mark Accepted Answer.

Gary King · Answer

I have uploaded a couple of pages from 1 of the pptx's that I am trying to publish to our intranet site. When you open the pptx on the first slide you will see text inside a dark blue box. When saved as html the text does not fit in the blue box. This is just 1 example of many pptx's that I want to publish. I did not create the original pptx's and I am thinking that maybe they were created incorrectly? If this is the case then I don't think that the author will want to re-do all of the pptx's.

Javeed M Shaikh · Answer

can you share the PPT and I will try to do some task at my end to come up with a possible solution.

Suthish Nair · Answer

I think its not possible.. you need to use Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.

Gary King · Answer

Thanks for your suggestion Javeed.... I have tried that method before and have even tried again but when viewed in a browser (IE8) it looks absolutely terrible. Graphical elements are all over the place text looks terrible boxes are misaligned. So I'm afraid that I cannot mark your answer as accepted. What I need is to be able to make a number of complex pptx's available on an intranet site. When a user clicks on the hyperlink to the presentation they should see the slideshow exactly as I see it when running a ppsx from my laptop. The problem with the suggested solution is that the result looks nothing like the ppsx.

Javeed M Shaikh · Answer

In your saveas option try the following: 1. Save as type: Select Web Page (*.htm *.html) 2. Click the Publish button. The Publish as Web Page dialog comes up select Complete presentation radio option. 3. Click Web Options. The Web Options dialog comes up on top of the Publish as Web Page dialog. Here you can select how you want your presentation to look. 4. Click Browsers Tab and check that browser Support should be Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. 5. Click OK to get back to the Publish as Web Page dialog. 6. Under Publish a copy as: Click the Change button. The Set Page Title dialog comes upChoose a title that you would like to appear on the very top title bar of the web page.click OK when done. 7. You'll be back at the Publish as Web Page dialog. look a the path listed under file name. It will probably be something like: C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\Presentation1.htm Change the name of the file to index.htm and then publish. Now you can give your users the URL. Please do not forget to mark Accepted Answer.