Yes, I've tried this option. On PPT 2002, this is
unavailable, either by attempting to link an existing
Excel spreadsheet, or by attempting to insert a new blank
Excel file.

-Jeremy

-----Original Message-----
When you are pasting the excel file into a powerpoint
slide, are you
selecting "Paste Special" from the Edit Menu. After you
select "Paste
Special", you need to select "Microsoft Excel Worksheet
Object". You will
then be able to access the excel object.

"Jeremy" wrote:

Yes, all files are available. I can open the file path
that appears in the "Edit" -- "Links" area using Excel
as
a standalone application.

It appears to me that this is is a bug in Office XP SP3
that requires another patch. All OLE linking appears
to
have been disabled with the latest patches. Office 97
and
Office 2000 work fine.

I don't have confirmation from Microsoft regarding this
assessment, however.

My workaround for my particular situation:
1.) Re-construct the original file using Office 2000
(relative paths work only intermittently on our Novell
network when using Office 97).
2.) Update links and perform any other modifications as
desired using Office Automation.
3.) Save a copy of the original file and display the
copy
to the client.
4.) NEVER overwrite the original file by saving it
using
Office XP SP3. Doing so will corrupt all existing
links
in the PPT file.

So, how do I report this as a bug?

-Jeremy


-----Original Message-----
Jeremy, since your spreadsheets are linked, the first
question is, are the
linked spreadsheets available, and do the links point
to
the same path as
they did when the worksheets were first linked?

However, you're definitely having OLE issues of some
type
since you cannot
create a new graph/spreadsheet, either -- well, it
seems
that you can do
this on the PPT 97 machines, but not on the PPT 2002
(aka
PPT XP) machines.

So the problem with existing linked sheets *may* be a
missing XLS file (or
it may not, of course!). But the problem with not
being
able to use
Insert/Object/Browse seems to be isolated to PPT 2002.

Have you tried running Detect and Repair from PPT 2002?

Also, even though you're not using Norton, it may
still
be related to
anti-virus software. You might want to check for
something like the Norton
Office Plug-in on your AV software. Maybe disable
scanning PPT and XLS files
and see if that helps. If not, try disabling the AV
altogether (temporarily)
as a test.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com


"Jeremy" wrote
in
message
...
Hello All,

I'm having difficulty accessing an embedded Excel
spreadsheet from a PowerPoint document, and I can't
insert
an embedded Excel spreadsheet into a new PowerPoint
presentation. I can't seem to find an answer to this
problem anywhere. I'm using Office XP SP3 on a
Windows
2000 SP4 system with all the latest patches
installed
(for
both Win2K and Office XP), and no, I don't have
Norton
AntiVirus or SystemWorks installed.

From an existing PPT document with an embedded Excel
spreadsheet:
If I right-click on the spreadsheet --
select "Linked
Worksheet Object" -- and attempt to click
either "Open"
or "Edit", I receive the following error-
"Microsoft PowerPoint can't start the application
required
to open this object.
An error occurred and this feature is no longer
functioning properly. Would you like to repair this
feature now?" "Yes" or "No" are my options to
continue.

If I select "Yes", another dialog box opens that
says: "Installing: Application Server" with a
progress
bar
and a cancel button. Eventually, this process fails
with
the error-
"The server application, source file, or item can't
be
found, or returned with an unkown error. You may
need
to
reinstall the server application." This error also
occurrs if I select the "No" button.

If I select "Update Link" from the right-click
context
menu, I receive the error-
"The linked file was unavailable and can't be
updated."
with an "OK" button to continue.

From either an existing PPT document with embedded
Excel
spreadsheets, or from a new blank PPT document, if I
select the "Insert" menu -- then "Object" --
"Create
from file" -- "Browse" -- (select any XL file
here) --

check the "Link" box -- and click the "OK" button, I
receive the same error as above-
"The server application, source file, or item can't
be
found, or returned with an unkown error. You may
need
to
reinstall the server application."

I don't have any Norton products installed.
I've tried saving the file in an older format (97-
2002,
95) and then modifying the file.
I've tried both repairing and reinstalling Office.
I've tried re-registering MS Graph, as well as MS
Excel
and MS PowerPoint (the last two were just for kicks)
using
the Office path\program name /regserver syntax.
I've tried using a path with less than 64 total
characters.
I don't have a folder in either the root or Program
Files
folders named either "Microsoft" or "Program" (and
as I
mentioned before, I'm not running Win NT 4.0).
I'm not linking to an Org chart, just trying to link
to
an
Excel spreadsheet.

At this point, I'm thinking the problem lies in the
fact
that the PPT file with the original problem was
created
in
either Office 97 or Office 95. I can replicate the
same
problem using the same file across 4 machines.

Machine 1 (original, mentioned above):
Win2K Pro SP4, Office XP SP3 (upgraded from Office
97)
with all patches from windowsupdate and officeupdate
installed. This problem is replicated using either
the
original problem PPT file, or attempting to insert an
Excel spreadsheet into a blank PPT file. I had also
attempted installing the PowerPoint Viewer, to see
if by
chance this would re-register some missing
components.
Didn't work.

Machine 2
Win2K Server SP4, Office XP SP3 (clean install) with
all
patches from windowsupdate and officeupdate
installed.
This problem is replicated using either the original
problem PPT file, or attempting to insert an Excel
spreadsheet into a blank PPT file.

Machine 3
Win2K Pro SP4, Office 97 SR2, appears to be missing
most
OS updates after SP4. This problem is replicated
using
either the original problem PPT file, but I can
insert
an
Excel 97 spreadsheet into a blank PPT 97 file. I
had
also
attempted installing the PowerPoint Viewer, to see
if by
chance this would re-register some missing
components to
re-enable the original problem file. Didn't work.

Machine 4
A near-duplicate of Machine 3, except I didn't
attempt
installing the PowerPoint Viewer on this system.
Same
results as Machine 3.

I've thoroughly searched Google for help with
this...
but
to no avail. Hope someone can help...

Thanks in advance,
-Jeremy


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