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How do I embed video in PowerPoint with relative paths?

How do I embed video in PowerPoint with relative paths?

I'm using PowerPoint 2003. Does anyone know how to embed a video in a PowerPoint presentation in such a way that it can be moved to another computer?

Asked by: Guest | Views: 322
Total answers/comments: 4
bert [Entry]

"If your video is in the same folder as your presentation, the link should continue to work even when moved.

P.S. You have to move the video file too."
bert [Entry]

"Use the Control Toolbox to insert the movie; this way you have total control over path, size etc.

Activate the Control Toolbox toolbar (in View menu), click on ""More Controls"" at the bottom right.
Scroll down and select ""Windows Media Player"" and draw a rectangle on the slide where you want the movie to appear.
Right-click the movie window and select ""Properties"".
In the properties window you can change the path, screen size and if you want the media player to appear with or without controls, etc."
"Use the Control Toolbox to insert the movie; this way you have total control over path, size etc.

Activate the Control Toolbox toolbar (in View menu), click on ""More Controls"" at the bottom right.
Scroll down and select ""Windows Media Player"" and draw a rectangle on the slide where you want the movie to appear.
Right-click the movie window and select ""Properties"".
In the properties window you can change the path, screen size and if you want the media player to appear with or without controls, etc."
bert [Entry]

"I found this thread via google, here is my advice, which works for Powerpoint 2010.
Let's use the example of Trespasser:

Your Powerpoint presentation is in the ""MyFiles"" folder.
The ""MyMovie.avi"" is in the ""Media"" folder inside MyFiles.

So insert MyMovie.avi via the Powerpointmenu, but dont choose insert, choose, ""relate with file"" (i dont know the exactly english translation). This option is available in the file dialog, look here:

Now Powerpoint does the following:

If you move your presentation to another folder/computer, powerpoint first tries to open the video with the absolut path. On your computer this will work, if you dont delete/move the video. If powerpoint cant find the video, because you moved it or the presentation is on another computer, powerpoint will try to open it as a relative link.

So with Powerpoint 2010 just copy your presentation and your media folder to a new destination and it will work from scratch."
bert [Entry]

"I wrote a small VB script that will strip the absolute paths from the media files and leave them as relative paths.

Global fso As New FileSystemObject

Public Sub ConvertMediaToRelativePaths()
Dim i As Integer
Dim sld As Slide, shp As Shape
For Each sld In ActivePresentation.Slides
For Each shp In sld.Shapes
If shp.Type = msoMedia Then
Dim path As String, fname As String
path = shp.LinkFormat.SourceFullName
fname = fso.GetFileName(path)
shp.LinkFormat.SourceFullName = fname
i = i + 1
End If
Next
Next
If i > 0 Then
MsgBox ""Converted "" & CStr(i) & "" Video Source Paths."", vbOK
Else
MsgBox ""No Videos Found."", vbOK
End If
End Sub

This should work for both 2003 and later PowerPoint. Much easier that the solution Trespasser outlines.

NOTE that VBA needs a reference to ""Microsoft Scripting Runtime (scrun.dll)"" in order to use the FileSystemObject class."