[Solved] Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

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CSOCSO
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[Solved] Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by CSOCSO »

Hey Everyone. We are trying to home school our kid thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
teaches sent out power point presentation (*.pptx) that has audio and youtube videos linked.
I tried to open it on two computers that both had 4.1.6 version of open office. We click on slide show and it starts in full screen but the pages that have audio do not work. It looks like there is a little speaker clipart is inserted in the page when there is audio should be playing.
I deleted the software. Downloaded the newest version 4.1.7 and it's the same issue.
The teacher inserted her own video on the 2nd page but there is only a black screen where the video supposed to be playing. Next page she put a youtube video but i can only see the thumbnail. Video won't start. No start button. No way to start it.

I tried LibreOffice Impress but the same issue. This time the clipart of the little speaker doesn't even show up. Its just a default icon like the hyperlink is missing or something. The same goes for the inserted video. White screen and blue film icon in the middle. Youtube link also the same. Just thumbnail.

Help? I was told we were the only ones that had an issue from the whole class.
Last edited by Hagar Delest on Wed Apr 08, 2020 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: tagged solved
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Zizi64
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work. Help

Post by Zizi64 »

Try the LibreOffice. it has a little bit higher compatibility with the foreign file formats.

And install the required video codecs for the third party video playing. The Impress is not a video player. Install the free VLC.
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Please, edit the initial post in the topic: add the word [Solved] at the beginning of the subject line - if your problem has been solved.
CSOCSO
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work. Help

Post by CSOCSO »

Szeva Zizi,
if you look at one of the last sentences I already mentioned it that I tried libreoffice.

Update: i got new text messages from other parents. Everyone if freaking out because a lot of people have the same issue and no one want's to spend money right now on microsoft products.
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Villeroy
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work. Help

Post by Villeroy »

CSOCSO wrote:Szeva Zizi,
if you look at one of the last sentences I already mentioned it that I tried libreoffice.

Update: i got new text messages from other parents. Everyone if freaking out because a lot of people have the same issue and no one want's to spend money right now on microsoft products.
So why in hell are you using a Microsoft document format then? The one and only purpose of Open/LibreOffice is to overcome the pestilent file formats doc(x), xls(x), ppt(x). If you continue using these file formats you better use MS Office.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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CSOCSO
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work. Help

Post by CSOCSO »

Im not making the presentation. We are parents. Trying to home school our children since schools are closed for a month now. Teachers send these out. It's out of my control what program they use. you aren't really helping.
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CSOCSO
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work. Help

Post by CSOCSO »

Zizi64 wrote:Try the LibreOffice. it has a little bit higher compatibility with the foreign file formats.

And install the required video codecs for the third party video playing. The Impress is not a video player. Install the free VLC.
What video codecs? I googled it and i found that libreoffice supposed to play everything that directshow does. I downloaded the codecs. installed it. no change. Still doesn't play any audio or video.
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Villeroy
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work. Help

Post by Villeroy »

If they send out MS file formats, you need to use MS Office. Simple as that. This is how Bill Gates made his fortune. There is no way out.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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Zizi64
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work. Help

Post by Zizi64 »

that has audio and youtube videos linked.
Try to play the video link directly in your browser.
Or try to install the VLC media player.
https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.hu.html

The Hungarian forum:
https://forum.openoffice.org/hu/forum/index.php
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Please, edit the initial post in the topic: add the word [Solved] at the beginning of the subject line - if your problem has been solved.
Bill
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work. Help

Post by Bill »

There are free viewers that you could try. Google "pptx viewer", "powerpoint viewer", "powerpoint mobile", etc to find them.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by Hagar Delest »

Do you have a kind of representative bodies for parents? You should ask the teachers not to use proprietary formats that require the purchase of an expensive office suite.
Teachers could send the PDF of the presentation with links to the videos and sound files attached if needed.
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erbsenzahl
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by erbsenzahl »

In my school teachers are advised to use pdf format. Some of them deliver docx documents and our administrator converts them into pdf files before uploading on the school's website. The pupils are offered pdf files and (partly) additionally docx files; rarely odt files, too ;-) . Also some mp3 files for language teaching. Links to external youtube videos work out of pdf files.

Why do teachers love the Powerpoint format? It is easy to handle and media files can easily be connected/stored and be played within the presentation. On the other hand: Impress often seems to be messy/glitchy and you simply have to have more knowledge and experience in relation to Powerpoint. If your computer system is identical to the teachers', so you won't have any problem. But reality tells us that computer configurations differ and so queries like CSOCSO's are the consequence of "easy to handle" without using brain.exe.
What video codecs? I googled it and i found that libreoffice supposed to play everything that directshow does. I downloaded the codecs. installed it. no change. Still doesn't play any audio or video.
Experience teaches that installed VLC player is highly recommendable for playing different video or sound files because it has installed loads of different codecs. And it is for free. (according to Zizi64)
I'm not making the presentation. We are parents. Trying to home school our children since schools are closed for a month now. Teachers send these out. It's out of my control what program they use. you aren't really helping.
Tell your teachers what you have investigated in this international forum. They have to use other file formats. In my school a lot of students and their parents don't have any computer but only their beloved smartphones. PDF format is the wand how to reach everybody. And some messenger apps like school cloud or WhatsApp, which can be helpful at the moment.

Godspeed
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Villeroy
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by Villeroy »

How to pull media out of the pptx cage: https://support.office.com/en-us/articl ... b8a5bbc517
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by Hagar Delest »

Of course, why haven't we thought about that sooner?
Even if hardly human readable, it is still a mere archive.
:roll:
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CSOCSO
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by CSOCSO »

I have been using VLC for a long time now. Probably started using it after Real Media Player was obsolete. Sooo for a long time. Google slides also won't play no audio or video embedded in the power point file. The only workaround i found that was for free is to use microsofts online power point viewer. At least that one plays everything perfectly. No need to purchase anything. But not sure how many parents have microsoft accounts. So I was trying to help everyone out with a simple and free solution. It is hard to communicate with the teacher. I asked her what software she is using to make the file. She said "windows".... i left it at that.
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keme
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by keme »

CSOCSO wrote:... I asked her what software she is using to make the file. She said "windows".... i left it at that.
I am not surprised. We have teachers with that level of digital skills in our school too. I am in the support section, and a lot of work these days is around educating the educators. Luckily, they are mostly willing and eager to learn.

We do not face the issue of unsupported formats. Teachers and students alike are expected to use Microsoft Office, and the municipality bought licenses for all the students. I still feel your pain. I always try to encourage the use of "accessible formats", and Powerpoint does have fairly easy ways to export to both PDF and video. Someone at your school must be able to teach the teachers. The school's primary product is teaching, and when the situation is as you describe, they don't really deliver. School management will understand this if they are made aware of it, and they will take steps to rectify. You, the parents, need to make them aware of it. Not by individually contacting the teachers, who have enough to struggle with as it is, but the body/organization representing parents should contact people in charge.
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by John_Ha »

If you regularly receive .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt or .pptx files see Supported versions of the Office viewers which says
To continue viewing [Microsoft] Office files for free [ie .doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .xls, .xlsx files] we recommend ... storing documents in OneDrive or Dropbox, where Word Online, Excel Online or PowerPoint Online opens them in your browser. For the mobile apps, visit the store for your device.
You can therefore view, but not edit, any Microsoft Office file without needing to purchase MS Office.
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See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by John_Ha »

keme wrote:You, the parents, need to make them aware of it. Not by individually contacting the teachers, who have enough to struggle with as it is, but the body/organization representing parents should contact people in charge.
You may care to point out to the school that if Open Document Format (ODF) is mandated by the UK Government then it must surely be good enough for the school.

See the UK Government web site Guidance - Using Open Document Formats (ODF) in your organisation which lists LibreOffice as one of the recommended solutions using ODF. The UK Government chose ODF 1.2 because it:
  • is an open standard that allows suppliers to create interoperable office productivity solutions
  • allows stricter security checks to help prevent common cyber-attack scenarios
  • can lower IT costs as ODF is either low cost or free to use
  • allows the government and citizens, businesses and other organisations to share documents
  • allows government staff to share and edit documents
  • is compatible with a wide range of software including assistive technology
  • can add digital signatures to a document
  • has a powerful generic metadata system
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See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
CSOCSO
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by CSOCSO »

John_Ha wrote:If you regularly receive .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt or .pptx files see Supported versions of the Office viewers which says
To continue viewing [Microsoft] Office files for free [ie .doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .xls, .xlsx files] we recommend ... storing documents in OneDrive or Dropbox, where Word Online, Excel Online or PowerPoint Online opens them in your browser. For the mobile apps, visit the store for your device.
You can therefore view, but not edit, any Microsoft Office file without needing to purchase MS Office.

I just tried dropbox and onedrive method. It does not work. These files need to be started as a slide show. There is not even an option to start them as such. I can only view individual pages. Pages have clickable links, audio and video that start automatically depending on what my son clicks on. There is no way that it would be useful to ask videos separately.

As of now the only way to watch these for free is on microsoft's website and i need to have a microsoft account to log in. I was just looking for an easy work around that works for parents.
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CSOCSO
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by CSOCSO »

NEWS: finally the school made the office available to parents for free. The gave us username and passwords. Yay.
Well. At least we know that if the slide show doesn't work and don't matter what would work and what isn't.
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Re: Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't work.

Post by John_Ha »

CSOCSO wrote:I just tried dropbox and onedrive method. It does not work.
In what yet again proved to be a triumph of hope over experience I idiotically believed what Microsoft posted on its website. More fool me!

I copied a .ppt file to my desktop Dropbox and then signed into my web Dropbox. When I double clicked the .ppt file it opened and I could display each slide so I gave full marks to Microsoft for getting that trivial bit correct.

When it came to the slide with a .mp4 audio file, which plays on the desktop, all I got was ... nothing. ZIP. diddly squat. I didn't have links in my test file but I can imagine they fail too.

Thanks a bunch Microsoft!

And you should get the school to start using LibreOffice.
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See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
djllor
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Re: [Solved] Home schooling nightmare. Slide Show doesn't wo

Post by djllor »

This solution was performed for LibreOffice on Windows 10, but should also work with OpenOffice.

The issue of why there is no sound is due to LibreOffice's reliance on the Operating System to play multimedia files. This is due to LibreOffice being multi-platform and there is currently no decent cross-platform multimedia framework that works with all codec's (coder - decoder) 'out of the box'.

The PowerPoint .pptx file has an embedded .m4a (MPEG-4) audio file (that's what I found with the particular .pptx file I was trying to view/hear). Thus, Windows must have the codecs installed to play the .m4a file. Windows 'out of the box' has limited ability to play media files and thus, they must be added.

The solution: install K-Lite Codec Pack - - go to: codecguide.com and download and install either the 'Basic' or 'Standard' package. This will add a number of codecs that will allow your Window's box to play almost any multi-media file you encounter. You will be downloading a single .exe file, then execute (run) the .exe accepting all the defaults. Once installed, I still did not have sound until I rebooted Windows.

Note: K-Lite is freeware. There is no cost to use it. However, it's not open source.
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