Powerpoint version control issue

Question

Hello,

At my company, we use Powerpoint 2010 and the Subversion version control system. When we open a Powerpoint 2010 file but don't save the changes, Subversion marks the file as changed. Can anyone tell me why this is, and whether it is possible to stop it?

Kind regards,

Aidan

Answer 1

It's a known problem Aidan.

Apparently PPT does make some sort of change to the file (document properties, I'm fairly sure), so the file date changes whether or not you make explicit changes or not.

There's no way to prevent PPT from doing this.  It might be worth making Subversion aware of the problem. They might be able to do something to record the file's date/time when it's checked out and restoring the date if it's not checked back in as changed (assuming the user has that sort of options)

Answer 2

You will have to talk to the people at subversion to find out what they are keying on to idenfity changes.

One possibilty is that you have a date field, or any other field,  that is automatically updated when you open the file. That would qualify as a change.