Here's an excerpt from my PowerPoint and Video article.

Whenever you insert a movie (or a movie as an object) within PowerPoint, it is invariably linked to the presentation. In fact PowerPoint cannot embed any movies within the presentation - that's probably sound reasoning in the first place because embedded movies would balloon up PowerPoint file sizes like nothing else!

Now for the bad part - PowerPoint is not too good at remembering link locations. As far as the presentation and the video files are on the same system, you will not face any problems. However, if you decide to move or copy the presentation to another system you'll discover that PowerPoint cannot locate the video files - it won't even offer to find the links for you. The solution is quite simple - assemble all your video files in the same folder as your presentation even before you insert them into PowerPoint. And yes, only insert the videos into a presentation that has been saved at least once.

For existing presentations with links already made, you can change them with
RnR FixLinks Pro.

PowerPoint 2003 includes a Package to CD feature (File | Package to CD). You can also use the Package to Folder option in that feature to copy the presentation and all linked files to a new folder.

For users of older PowerPoint versions (Windows only), Sonia Coleman's PowerLink and PowerLink Plus do a great job.

Related Link: Sounds/Movies don't play, images disappear or links break when I move or email a presentation has more detailed information.

Monday, August 02, 2004