Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I am preparing a large presentation with many sides. I would like to divide the presentation into separate Impress files, but I would need to start the slide numbering for second and third files to something other than 1. I have not found a way to do this, or to combine the individual slide files into a "master presentation" type structure, where the numbering would be automatic. Any suggestions???

I have LibreOffice Version 4.2.6.3 on Linux Ubuntu 14.04.

Thank you.

I don't know if it will help you, but you can select some files from a larger group by using /Slide Show /Custom Slide Show.

Thank you for your suggestion, but selecting slides for a slide show is not my problem. I need to distribute the entire presentation, and to have it in one file would create a file of MANY megabytes. I need to divide it into multiple files, but with the slide numbering to be consecutive from file to file.

I suggest leaving the numbering in each file alone, instead numbering the files. Logically File2 will follow File1. References to slides could be in form Filen.slidem.

Thank you for the responses. But the fact that the responses suggest work-arounds forces me to conclude that there is no way to actually set the starting slide number to something other than 1 - I was hoping that perhaps there might be some parameter buried in a config file that would do this.

I haven't tried to renumber as you wish - serious family crisis. I merely offered an obvious workaround.

Edit: As far as I can ascertain, the numbering of slides represents their position in the display sequence. If you wish permanent numbering, you will have to put a number as part of the content on each slide.

Thank you for your suggestions. Hope your family crisis is over.

I had thought of numbering each slide individually, as part of the slide contents, as you suggested. But the obvious problem is that if I add or delete a slide I have to manually change each subsequent slide number. Doable - but painful. I was hoping there would be a cleaner solution to numbering, but I guess not. Bummer.

In another context I am faced with a similar problem; I'm considering numbering the object in intervals of 10 (or 100) so that I can insert up to 9 or 99 new intervening objects and then writing a renumbering macro which will clean up the numbering.

A renumbering macro might be very helpful for my objective, provided it permitted an option to select the starting number. Please keep me posted on your progress. Thank you.

I'm only considering a renumbering macro. There may be other ways to tackle my problem.

Several years ago I posted this question about starting a slide package with a slide number other that 1. I did not get a response at that time, but the problem still exists. Has there been any progress on this front?

I have LibreOffice Version 6.0.7.3 on Linux Ubuntu 18.04.

gerryl1 wrote:I am preparing a large presentation with many sides. I would like to divide the presentation into separate Impress files, but I would need to start the slide numbering for second and third files to something other than 1. I have not found a way to do this, or to combine the individual slide files into a "master presentation" type structure, where the numbering would be automatic. Any suggestions???
Thank you.

Impress uses an index system to determine the order that slides will be displayed. In LO and AOO indexes are integers starting with 0. Each Impress slide is assigned an index.
On the Slide Pane, the number to the left of small slide preview reflects that index. The 1 displayed doesn't represent Slide 1, it represents the first slide in the presentation. Insert a slide before the current slide, the index for that slide is incremented by 1 along with any other slides with indexes greater than the current slide. Now the newly inserted slide is the first slide and it displays 1.
Those numbers are inherent to the design of Impress and for that matter all the modules in LO and AOO.

If you hover the mouse pointer over the small preview, a slide name will be displayed. By default they are automatically given names Slide 1, Slide 2 etc. The name is somewhat arbitrary and can be assigned a value independent of the index.
If you select the menu Slide>Properties (or right click on a slide preview and select Properties) you will see the Page Setup dialog. Layout Settings displays some options for automatically naming the slides, but in my tests not all of them work.
If you select the menu Slide>Rename Slide (or right click on a slide preview and select Rename Slide) you can type in a new name for that slide, overriding the automatic name.
So it should be possible to rename the slides with a macro.

Code: Select all   Expand viewCollapse view

REM  *****  BASIC  *****

Sub SlideRenumber

  Dim oDrawPages As Variant
  Dim oObj1 As Variant
  Dim nCount as Integer
  Dim i as Integer

  StartNum = 201
  oDrawPages = ThisComponent.getDrawPages()
  nCount = oDrawPages.getCount()
 
  for i = 0 to nCount-1
' must put space in front of Slide to override default numbering
    oDrawPages.getByIndex(i).setName(" Slide "+ (i+StartNum))
  next i
 

End Sub

It should be stored with the Impress document not the global macro library. That way each document can have it's own StartNum value.

I did find some interesting behavior. If I used setName("Slide "+ (i+StartNum)) LO changed the names to the default numbering scheme, but when I inserted a space in front of Slide the macro renamed the slides.
To use the macro, each time StartNum is changed, the macro must be Complied before it is Run.
Whenever a new slide is added, an existing slide moved or deleted the macro must be Run so the names reflect the changes.

Thanks for the tip, but it sounds like more trouble than its worth. I will just bit the bullet, put the slide number on the slide (not in the master), and manually update it for each new or changed slide. Bummer.

If the problem is to identify the slides uniquely across the differing files, why not label the slides in each file with a unique prefix A, B etc. Then a slide will have a unique identifier - the prefix and its number. The prefix can be placed on the slide footer line so that it is in front of the slide number. It would be helpful to have the prefix included in the filename, such as ProjectFile_A etc.

Thanks again for the tip. Let my clarify - my objective is to make an "album" of about 50 slides, containing many digital photographs. Once I get past about 25 slides the file size gets too big and unwieldy - like close to 100 MBytes. By dividing the album into two files I can keep the size of each file to a more manageable level. But to be contiguous the second file would have to start with slide 26 - which is the problem. Using a master slide, Impress insists on starting each file with slide number 1. I have come to the conclusion that the easiest way to accomplish having the second file start with slide 26 is to place the number directly on the slide - not have the master do it. A nuisance - but probably the easiest approach.

I can't do it

Thanks for trying. Seems like it should be easy (it is easy if you are using Microsoft Powerpoint )

If there is a program that works "out of the box" as you wish, then that is probably the program you should use, rather than try to force another program to imitate it.

gerryl1 wrote:Once I get past about 25 slides the file size gets too big and unwieldy - like close to 100 MBytes.

Tools > Minimise presentation ..., will drastically reduce the image pixel counts without losing image quality and hence drastically reduce the presentation file size.

See [Tutorial] Some useful hints on using images for a discussion on how best to handle images in AOO.

Be careful: you may lose images, especially with AOO. See the Tutorial - LO 6.1 seems to have done some work which makes image loss less likely. See 150 slides with photos--possible?

You may want to create a PDF, either from a Writer file or from the Impress presentation, and present from the PDF. When creating the PDF you can reduce image pixel count with File > Export as PDF > General ... PDF Split and Merge allows you to add, remove, extract and re-order pages in a PDF.

IrfanView has a slide show mode which steps through images in the order you specify or the order in the folder.

DO AT YOUR OWN RISK. A quick test shows that I can edit content.xml and change draw:name="page1", draw:name="page2" and draw:name="page3" to draw:name="page100", draw:name="page102" and draw:name="page103". The slides now appear with names page 100, page 102 and page 103 as shown below. It survives saving the file.

I have just done what John_Ha suggested above (independently - great minds!); the slide naming is independent of the slide numbering. Repositioning a slide makes it take the correct sequential number, but the Slide Name remains the same.

Success!

You can do it in AOO. Right-click a slide > Slide > Rename slide. Now rename it to what you want. The slide still retains its slide number (41 - this is actually the location and any slide in location 41 gets the number 41) but it has the name you give it (Qwert).

You can make slide numbers (41) visible on the slide by
- View > Headers and footers > tick Slide Number > Apply All.
- View > Master > Master elements. Tick Slide number.
I am not sure if you need to do both.


Showing that a problem has been solved helps others searching so, if your problem is now solved, please view your first post in this thread and click the Edit button (top right in the post) and add [Solved] in front of the subject.

Just for the record, a potentially useful series of Impress macros is at

http://openoffice3.web.fc2.com/OOoBasic_Impress.html

The comments are brief, in Japanese, but the code is in English.

In my younger, working days, my employer required that I use Microsoft Windows and Powerpoint. In Powerpoint, on the slide setup form there is an entry field for specifying the starting slide number. The default is 1, but it can be changed just by entering the desired number.
Now, in my older and wiser retired days, I avoid all things Microsoft and stick to Linux and Open Office. But not being able to specify a starting slide number in Impress is an inexcusable deficiency. I should not have to jump through hoops (most of which do not work) or use Japanese macros to do what I could do in Powerpoint with one keystroke. Impress developers - are you listening???

I've been looking at this (for another reason); the slide number is an index of the slide position in the presentation and is assigned internally in Impress. One can rename the slides, and the name can be anything you like; any name changed from the default will move with the slide, but the slide number now changes to reflect the slide's new position in the presentation.

Developers usually mend a minor deficiency only when it impinges on their own work; the source for OO is available and can be downloaded and compiled. If you feel strongly that this feature needs to be adjusted, feel free to undertake the alterations needed.

Impress developers - are you listening???

The answer is most certainly a resounding NO as developers do not generally visit here. However, if you wish to make a suggestion or report a bug please see [Tutorial] Reporting bugs or suggestions