Refresh links in powepoint presentation

What links are you referring to? Pictures, Excel data etc.?

chart links to excel, however the general case is all links. I found the below, but I do not know how to put it all together to make a script. thanks,

Example
This example updates all OLE links in the active presentation.
VB
ActivePresentation.UpdateLinks

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/powerpoint.presentation.updatelinks

Any particular reason you want to do this in MS Access?
Or can it also be done via Word, Excel, or PowerPoint VBA code?

to: Sam JacobsDirector of Technology Development, IPM

The bulk of my application is in access. Excel, and powerpoint are data staging and presentation.

thanks,

WillieCg

If you don't want to hard-code the file name, replace line 14 above with:

Dim PPTtoOpen As String
PPTtoOpen = selectFile("PowerPoint", "PPT Files (*.pptx*)", "*.ppt*")

If PPTtoOpen = "" Then Exit Sub

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... and then add the following routine:

Function selectFile(strFileType As String, strExtDesc As String, strFileExt As String) As String
    Dim dlg As Office.FileDialog

    Set dlg = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFilePicker)

    With dlg
      .Title = "Please select the " & strFileType & " to open:"
      .Filters.Clear
      .Filters.Add strExtDesc, strFileExt
      If .Show = True Then
        selectFile = .SelectedItems(1)
      Else
        selectFile = ""
      End If
   End With
End Function

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In line 29, you'll also need to replace FILE_PATH_AND_NAME with PPTtoOpen.

to: Jamie GarrochPowerPoint Consultant & Developer

Your solution seemed to work, it processed in powerpoint about 45 seconds, which is what it takes when I manually update links.

However, the presentation was NOT updated.

I am going to put a simple spreadsheet and simple powerpoint together to see if that will work if I can make that work, I know the problem is with my excel or powerpoint files.

I will update you later.

thanks

Did you copy the macro before it had the oPres.Save line which I forgot originally and then added about 5 mins later?

Here's a heavily modified update with debugging, window mode and pause before close.

You can set the DEBUG_MODE to True to use this special mode. You then run either the MainMacro (fixed text file) or TestMacro (file dialog) macro depending on how you want to test.

When in debug mode the PowerPoint file will open in a window, the links will be updated and then execution will stop (pause) until you press F5 to continue. When paused, you can check the content in the PowerPoint file to make sure it's been updated as expected. Note that if a link is broken, or a linked file is not where it's expected then this won't be detected.

Option Explicit

' Set to true to see debug messages, open file with a window and pause before closing it
' Set to false for production
Private Const DEBUG_MODE = False

' Macro to call the main procedure via a file dialog selection
Public Sub MainMacro()
  Call UpdatePowerPointLinks
End Sub

' Macro to call the main procedure with a fixed test file (no file dialog)
Public Sub TestMacro()
  Call UpdatePowerPointLinks("f:\test.pptx")
End Sub

' ==================================================================
' VBA procedure to update links of a specified PowerPoint files
' Will run in any VBE e.g Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Word etc. since
' it uses late binding for the objects.
' Author : Jamie Garroch of YOUpresent, http://youpresent.co.uk/
' Date : 28OCT2018
' ==================================================================
Private Sub UpdatePowerPointLinks(Optional tFilePathAndName As String = "")
  Dim oPP As Object ' Late bound PowerPoint Application object
  Dim oPres As Object  ' Late bound Presentation object
  
  If tFilePathAndName = "" Then tFilePathAndName = SelectFile("PowerPoint", "All PowerPoint Files", "*.ppt*;*.pot*;*.pps*")
  
  On Error Resume Next
  
  ' Try to get an existing instance of PowerPoint
  Set oPP = GetObject(, "PowerPoint.Application")
  
  ' If none exists, create a new one
  If Err Then Err.Clear: Set oPP = CreateObject("PowerPoint.Application")
  
  If Err Then
    MsgBox "Couldn't find/start PowerPoint.", vbCritical + vbOKOnly, "PowerPoint Unavailable"
    Exit Sub
  End If
  
  If DEBUG_MODE Then
    Debug.Print "opening " & tFilePathAndName & "..."
    Set oPres = oPP.Presentations.Open(Filename:=tFilePathAndName, ReadOnly:=False, Untitled:=False, WithWindow:=True)
  Else
    Set oPres = oPP.Presentations.Open(Filename:=tFilePathAndName, ReadOnly:=False, Untitled:=False, WithWindow:=False)
  End If
  
  DoEvents
  
  ' Update all OLE links in the presentation
  If DEBUG_MODE Then Debug.Print "updating OLE links..."
  
  Debug.Print oPres.UpdateLinks
  If DEBUG_MODE Then Debug.Print "saving file..."
  
  oPres.Save ' Could also use SaveAs or SaveCopyAs if overwrite is not what's needed
  If DEBUG_MODE Then Debug.Print "closing file..."
  
  If DEBUG_MODE Then Stop ' When stopped, press F5 to continue after checking the PowerPoint file
  oPres.Close
  
  ' Clean up
  Set oPres = Nothing: Set oPP = Nothing
  
  Debug.Print "UpdatePowerPointLinks finished."
End Sub

' Get the user to select a PowerPoint file using the File Dailog window
Private Function SelectFile(tFileType As String, tExtDesc As String, tFileExt As String) As String
    Dim oFileDlg As Office.FileDialog

    Set oFileDlg = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFilePicker)

    With oFileDlg
      .Title = "Please select the " & tFileType & " file to open:"
      .Filters.Clear
      .Filters.Add tExtDesc, tFileExt
      If .Show = True Then
        SelectFile = .SelectedItems(1)
      Else
        SelectFile = ""
      End If
   End With
End Function

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to: Jamie Garroch

yes, the save command made it work properly.

thanks so much this is exactly what I needed.

WillieCg