A presentation that is saved on a floppy disk, a CD-R, or a ZIP disk may not display pictures in PowerPoint

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This article was previously published under Q278559

SYMPTOMS

When you save a Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 or a Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 presentation to a removable disk, such as a floppy disk, a ZIP disk, or a CD-R, some pictures may not appear when you view the presentation on another computer.

This behavior may occur even when you move all of the images with the presentation and make sure that the relative paths to the images remain unchanged.

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CAUSE

This behavior can occur if you use the Link to file option when you insert pictures into a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint always uses an absolute file path when linking to a picture file. The relative link to a picture stays the same. But the presentation may be unable to find the pictures if the disk drive letter is changed.

For example, if you put images into a folder named Picture on a removable disk that has the drive letter E (so that the path of the pictures is E:\picture), and another computer examines the same presentation but assigns the letter F to the disk (so that the path of the pictures is F:\picture), a PowerPoint presentation will be unable to find the linked pictures.

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WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, do not insert pictures using the Link to file option if you plan to put the presentation on removable media and distribute it to other users. Instead, use the Insert option and embed the pictures into the presentation. In PowerPoint 2007, use the Insert and Link option.

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MORE INFORMATION

Steps to reproduce the problem

PowerPoint 2007

Create the following folder:
C:\Test
Copy any picture into the C:\Test folder.
Start PowerPoint 2007.

Note A new blank presentation appears.
On the Insert menu, click Picture under the Illustrations group, and then click New Photo Album.
In the Insert Picture dialog box, locate and then click the picture that you copied in step 2.
Click the arrow on the Insert button, and then click Link to File.
Note The picture appears in the slide.
Click the Microsoft Office Button, click Save As, and then click PowerPoint Presentation.
In the Save As dialog box, type C:\Test\PPTTEST.ppt in the File name text box, and then click Save.
Copy the C:\Test folder to the removable disk. For example, copy the C:\Test folder to the floppy disk drive.
Remove the disk and insert it into a different computer that has PowerPoint 2007 installed.
Start PowerPoint 2007 on a new computer, and then open the file from the removable disk. For example, open A:\Test\PPTTEST.ppt.
Note The presentation opens, and a frame is positioned where the picture should be. However, the picture does not appear.

PowerPoint 2002

Create the following folder:
C:\Test
Copy any picture into C:\Test.
Start PowerPoint, and then create a one-slide presentation.
On the Insert menu, point to Picture, and then click From File.
Browse to find the picture that you copied in step 2.
Click the arrow next to the Insert button.
Click Link to File.

The picture appears in the presentation slide.
Save the presentation as C:\test\PPTTEST.ppt.
Copy C:\test to A:\test.
Remove the floppy and insert it into the floppy-disk drive of a different computer that has PowerPoint installed.
Start PowerPoint on the new computer, and then open A:\test\PPTTEST.ppt.

Note that the presentation opens and a frame is positioned where the picture should be, but that the picture does not appear.