Crashing issues with AVI movies (Office 2004 for Mac)

[apost99]

I'm trying to develop a PPT presentation (Office 2004 for Mac) for
eventual use on Windows machines. I'm able to insert an AVI movie into
the PPT. As expected, the "compatibility report" warns me about
potential issues with Windows playback of QuickTime movies, and
suggests saving the file as a "PowerPoint Package". When I attempt to
do this, the application crashes. In fact, when I save the file
normally, close it, then reopen it, the application crashes, rendering
my file completely useless. Both crashes produce the message "Microsoft
has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for any
inconvenience."

I thought AVI was the recommended format and so I didn't expect to have
this trouble. Very frustrating. Does it matter that the file icon for
the AVI file is the QuickTime icon.

Any suggestions?

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi,

You're correct that AVI is the file format that offers best compatibility
for Mac and Windows to share.

The crashing problem may need to be addressed on its own.

Have you completed any troubleshooting steps? MVP John McGimpsie has
compiled a web page that offers suggestions on how to go about
troubleshooting problems such as this:
http://mcgimpsey.com/macoffice/index.html

If you have done troubleshooting and it hasn't helped, please post back and
tell us what you have tried. Also include information about your computer,
which operating system you are using, and whether or not you have installed
the updates for Office and for the Operating System.

Thanks.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

I'm trying to develop a PPT presentation (Office 2004 for Mac) for
eventual use on Windows machines. I'm able to insert an AVI movie into
the PPT. As expected, the "compatibility report" warns me about
potential issues with Windows playback of QuickTime movies, and
suggests saving the file as a "PowerPoint Package". When I attempt to
do this, the application crashes. In fact, when I save the file
normally, close it, then reopen it, the application crashes, rendering
my file completely useless. Both crashes produce the message "Microsoft
has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for any
inconvenience."

I thought AVI was the recommended format and so I didn't expect to have
this trouble. Very frustrating. Does it matter that the file icon for
the AVI file is the QuickTime icon.

Any suggestions?

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[apost99]

Thanks, Jim.

I downloaded the latest Office 2004 for Mac updates (11.2.5 and
11.2.6), and my crashing problem has disappeared, both for the
regularly saved file and the "package" file. I notice that my
PowerPoint version is still 11.2.4, and it seems like the updates were
primarily "security" updates, so I'm not sure if the update had
anything to do with the solution, but at least that problem is gone.

I have some remaining issues/questions which I'll post on new threads
to keep them separate and to close out this thread.

Thanks.
apost99