Improved drag and drop in PowerPoint

 

One of the creators of the magical draganddrop macro, Hans Werner Hofmann left a lovely comment on this blog recently saying how pleased he was that his creation had generated such a positive response and gave the great news that he has updated its functionality offering new possibilities for classroom use.

In addition to making an object follow the movement of the cursor when clicked, the macro can now also zoom in and out, rotate clockwise by 45 degrees at a time, add text and calculate mathematical formulas!

Following Hans' screencast explaining how to embed the macro into any presentation, I have updated  The Magic PowerPoint created by Jo Rhys-Jones acting Primary Languages Advisor for Hampshire to include the new instructions needed and to explain how to run the slideshow in PowerPoint 2007 which differs quite radically from previous versions.

Download TheMagicPowerpointMacroImproved.ppt

To use the draganddrop macro you must first make sure you have changed the security settings so that macros are enabled. Here's what you do:

To enable macros

In PowerPoint 2002, click Tools and Macro. In the menu which appears click Security and select the radio button next to Medium. Click OK and close PowerPoint.

In PowerPoint 2003, click Tools and Options. In the Options window that appears, click the Security Tab and the Macro Security button. Click the Security tab and select the radio button next to Medium. Click OK and close PowerPoint.

Now when you open a presentation which contains the draganddrop macro, click the Enable Macros button if it appears.

In PowerPoint 2007, click the Office Button and then PowerPoint Options

Click Trust Center and Trust Center Settings 

 

Click Macro Settings and select the radio button next to Disable all macros with notification. Click OK twice.

 

Click Options on the Security Warning message that appears

 

In the Security Options window which appears, select the radio button next to Enable this content. Click OK.

 

To apply the draganddrop macro

In PowerPoint 2002/03, right click the object you want to drag and drop, select Action Settings and then Run macro: DragandDrop and click OK.

In PowerPoint 2007, select the object you want to drag and drop, click the Insert menu and the Action icon. In the Action Settings dialogue box that appears, select Run macro: DragandDrop and click OK.

Once you've applied the macro, you can delete the other slides and run the slideshow by pressing F5 or clicking Slide Show and From Beginning. Hover over the object and you will see the cursor changes to a hand as if it were a hyperlink. To now move the text or image, click it and then release the mouse. Move the cursor around the slide and you will see the selected object follow! To stop it moving, click it again and you're done.

In the improved version you can also use the following key combinations to enable these different features:

• Click + Ctrl = Zoom out
• Click + Ctrl + Alt = Zoom in
• Click + Shift = Rotate clockwise by 45 degrees at a time
• Click + Alt = Input Text
• Click + Shift + Alt = Calculate Formulas

N.B. When adding text to an object, Fertig = OK and Abbrechen = Cancel

More magic tips

1. To avoid your presentation from accidentally ending with a mouse click or moving on to the next slide, click on Slide Show/Slide Transition and remove the tick from the box next to Advance On Mouse Click for PowerPoint 2002/3. For PowerPoint 2007, click the Animations menu and remove the tick from the box next to Advance On Mouse Click. Save your presentation.
2. To move to the next slide, add an Action Button. In PowerPoint 2002/3, click Slide Show/Action Buttons and select the Action Button which points right. In PowerPoint 2007, click the Insert menu and Shapes, then scroll down to the Action Buttons and select the Action Button which points right. Then in both cases hold down the left click and drag the Action Button shape as large as need be. Let go of the left click. A dialogue box should come up. In the dropdown menu Hyperlink to, select Next slide. Run the slideshow and click the Action Button to go to the next slide.
3. To ensure objects return to their original position, mark your presentation as read only and save it as a PPS file.
4. Have a look at Mark Purves' video tutorial on using the original version of the drag and drop macro with Jo Rhys-Jones' PowerPoint tricks presentation. Nice work.

Comments

[Jo]

A new toy! You star! Thank you Joe!

[Roy]

Hi,
I set the security into medium.

I deleted all slide except the 1st one.

I add a text box with some text in that 1st slide.

From action setting, I assigned the macro to that text box.

Saved it with a new name.

Executing PPT.

But the text is not moving while I moved the mouse having pressed the left button.

Same for the picture object.

How can it be solved? I am using MS Presentation 2002.

[Joe Dale]

Hi Roy,

Thanks for your comment which has baffled me. What you've done should make the drag and drop macro work. Could you send me the presentation and I'll see if I can make it work?

:)

[Jason]

Hey Joe,

Quick question - Does this only for for Windows based machines. I have tried several times with a Mac - PowerPoint 2004 and it does not seem to work. Any ideas or thoughts? Thanks.

[Joe Dale]

Hi Jason,

Good question. I've only tried it on Windows and as long as you can change the security settings to enable macros, it works. Don't know about Macs. ;(

[Miranda]

I'm trying to apply the drag and drop macro...I followed the steps above but after I clicked OK twice I do not get a security warning box. Nothing happens. I'm using MS Powerpoint 2007. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Joe Dale]

Hi Miranda,

Thanks for your comment.

Are you trying to do this at school? Perhaps there are issues with the way macros are dealt with there.

If you are trying this on a standalone machine, it should work.

Could you send me the presentation and I can have a look at it to see what the issue is?

Joe

[Miranda]

Can you give me an Email address where I can send the ppt?

[Joe Dale]

Sure. [email protected]

[Hans Hofmann]

To Mac Users:
The Drag&Drop Macro is using the Windows API to determine hardware screen size and mouse position. No chance to run on Mac hardware...

Gruß HW

[Joe Dale]

Thanks for clarifying this Hans.

[Nola Marshall]

Have just emailed you Joe, having similar problems to Roy BUT think have solved it - you need to stipulate that in order to move the text or image you click AND RELEASE then the text or image moves (we are used to clicking (holding it) and dragging, you need to click again to stop it moving. Cannot see this in instructions. Excellent tool though!! Many thanks.

[Joe Dale]

Hi Nola,

I've updated the text to clarify how to move objects. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Best wishes

Joe

[Marnay]

Hello I have just been used this great macro for an interactive presentation about fractions. It works fine but has over written my previous macros and the option to add a new macro in VBE is greyed out. Any suggestions? I was hoping to use the presentation during an interview on Thursday, so any feedback would be much appreciated! Marnay

[Mike]

Is there a way to have it so you can only drag and drop pictures in a certain area or it will snap back to it's original position?

[Joe Dale]

No Mike. You'd have to use Flash for that sort of functionality not PowerPoint.

[Grace]

Does this work in PowerPoint 2010? I've been having problems with it stalling.

[Joe Dale]

It works fine in PowerPoint 2010 too. I'm not usre what you mean by stalling?

[Greg]

Hi Joe! Amazing resource! I used it for a job interview and got the job! But now it's nightmare city! It stopped working! I use the original template file but now when I click on the macros-enabled object, it gets reassigned to the very Back of the Grouping Order underneath all other images. Even more curious, using the same template, when I open my ORIGINAL file (the one used for the interview that I made) it works just fine. Any ideas??

[Joe Dale]

Hi Greg

I have no idea why this is happening. I know there can be an issue with the macro enabled object wanting to go behind other objects for some reason. One solution is to add these objects to the Master Slide so that they must stay in the background.

Best wishes

Joe

[Nancy]

Hi,
I am a Health teacher. I used the Magic PowerPoint information to create a drag and drop labeling of a picture. It works great. Is there a way of making each drag and drop label say if it is correct or not?
Thank you,
Nancy

[Joe Dale]

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for your comment. The sort of functionality you're looking for is not possible with the macro as far as I am aware. Remember I didn't write it. I've just been promoting its use.

[Zan]

I have been trying to use this in 2010 and every time i click to drag an object the object moves but i get the new circluar sandtime thing and i can't put the object down - help!!!

[etiq]

I CANNOT move the textbox. using MSpowerpoint 2010. All the step have been followed. Help me

[Ail Ty]

Hi Joe, great tutorial and resource. I watched the screencast you posted above, the one by Hans. The end of the screencast shows a part where you can fix a certain target area for the object to be dragged to. The screencast advises to "click+shit+ctrl+alt" to set the start and end position. I tried it but it doesn't seem to be working. Any ideas how to do this?

Many, many thanks!
Ail

[Melanie]

Hi,
I found out that if the presentation is started without any object being selected, the makro doesn't work - it gives me the hourglas forever. I am using Office 2010. I can work around if I select an object before hitting F5.
The problem is that I would like to export the game I have produced as a self-presenting ressource - without Powerpoint opening at all. But like that I can't select an object before starting and everything freezes.

I was just wandering if you know some kind of workaround for that maybe?
Thanks,
Melanie

[Melanie]

Actually I was wOndering, not wandering ;)

[Martyn_MFL]

Amazing!!!! I am so excited about this! I've plumbed it into my standard lesson template so it's always there should I need it. Hurrah! Thank you!

[Val]

Thanks for making this available and understandable for those of us who are not computer genius'. I'm using this for an interactive demo lesson for a job interview Thursday. It works like a charm; hope it impresses the panel!

[Liz]

hiya,

This doesnt always work. Sometimes I click on the object and can move it. Othertimes the hourglass appears and unclicking it moves it to the next slide. Are we allowed to have the source code? Is it open source ?? It would be great to try and fix it...