Office 2007 - editing charts in powerpoint

J

jimbo345

I have been advised to move this question into this area from the Powerpoint
area. Steve has been trying to help me (many thanks), but I still cannot get
this to work properly.

I have also tried a complete unistall and reinstall of Office to no avail,
so any help would be gratefully appreciated.

This is a summary so far:

We have recently upgraded to Office 2007 and a number of users are getting
error messages when trying to edit charts that were created with previous
versions of Powerpoint. There are four errors. they basically say:

1. To edit this chart using the new features available in the 2007
Microsoft office System, you must firat convert it to the 2007 office system
format. Do you want to convert to the new format. It does not matter which
option is chosen as none of them work.

2. Microsoft office powerpoint can't start the application required to open
this object. An error occurred and this feature is no longer functioning.
Would you like to repair now. If you chose yes, then it runs through the
repair process, asks for a reboot and does not fix anything.

3. The server application, source file, or item can't be found, or returned
an unknown error. You may need to reinstall the server application. Click
ok and the following message comes up.

4. Microsoft Office Powerpoint can't start the application required to open
this object. An error occurred and this feature is no longer functioning
properly. Would you like to repair this feature now. You choose yes and
runs through the repair and restarts and still doesn't work.

I have read a lot of the support and have checked there is less than 300
fonts, I have reregistered the graph.exe and got a message saying it needs to
be run from another program.

Any ideas?
--

All of these messages (and thanks for quoting them in detail) make it
sound as
though Excel isn't installed, or the installation is damaged.

Have you run Office Diagnostics on the affected computers and let them upate
themselves?

Does Excel seem to behave normally when run by itself?

--
I have run the diagnostics and they did not find any problems. All updates
have been done. Excel is working correctly. This seems to be affecting all
users, even when they create new presentations with just putting the data
straight into the slide instead of using excel.

In 2007, the default behavior when adding new charts is to do it with
Excel now,
so normally you can't create charts without using Excel.

There's a registry setting that tells PPT to use the old MS Graph app
instead of
Excel. Do you have that set? More info about it here:

Using MSGraph with PowerPoint 2007
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00872.htm

So what I'm wondering is this: if that registry setting is in effect but
MSGraph isn't installed, you might get behavior like what you're seeing. As I
recall, MSGraph is an optional install feature with 2007, and not one that's
enabled by default.

You might try running setup again and checking to see whether MSGraph is
installed. Or, simpler, start PPT, choose Insert, Object and see if MSGraph
Chart is on the list of available objects.

---
The registry entry was not there, so I created it. I have to create the
whole key, but still didn't help. I also tried to add the graph object but
got the following message:

Cannot open this object because the organizational Chart add-in for
Microsoft Office programs is not installed. To open ....

I have checked this, but all options are set up to "run from my computer".
I have run the office repair and also re-ran the add or remaove options to
ensure that all options were installed.

This is an OEM installation of office from Dell, could this have any
implications?

--
In 2007, the default behavior when adding new charts is to do it with Excel
now,
so normally you can't create charts without using Excel.

---
The only other thing that I can think that might be causing this is that all
users have been set up to save all office documents as previous versions -
Office 97-03.

--
I wasn't really suggesting that you create it if it wasn't there ... just to
see if it WAS there so we could determine whether that's the problem.

You get a message about OrganizationCharts when trying to add a graph?
Weirder and weirder ...

Including MSGraph and (I think it's also an option) MS OrgChart?

I don't know offhand, but this seems to be turning into more of a general
Office problem than just PowerPoint. I would post a summary of what we've
discussed so far in the Public.Office.Misc group as well.
 
B

Bob Buckland ?:-\)

Hi Jimbo,

Are you working in the compatibility/legacy formats (.ppt vs .pptx) or are you okay with working in the new file formats with the
Office 2007 chart engine rather than the legacy MSGraph?

What version of Windows are you using and what is the default printer driver choice that you have.

Do you have any older/other version Microsoft Office family products listed in the Program list via the Windows Control Panel?

Does this happen only in existing documents/presentations or do you get the problems in a new presentation as well?

If you start a new file and use Insert=>Chart then just accept the defaults and return to Powerpoint do you get the chart (and is it
using the Excel 2007 data table or the MS Graph (legacy) table?

If you are not getting the new Chart Engine then use
Office Button=>Convert

Next add 2 new slides. In the first of the new slides use

Insert=>Object=>Microsoft Graph Chart
and accept the default sample by clicking outside of the graph area back onto the Powerpoint slide.

On the next slide repeat the new chart activity but you
Insert=>Object=>Microsoft Excel Chart.

If you have problems with any of those three, close Powerpoint and repeat the steps in Word 2007 and Excel 2007, to see if it is
isolated to one app (possibly an add-in)

=============
I have been advised to move this question into this area from the Powerpoint
area. Steve has been trying to help me (many thanks), but I still cannot get
this to work properly.

I have also tried a complete unistall and reinstall of Office to no avail,
so any help would be gratefully appreciated.

This is a summary so far:

We have recently upgraded to Office 2007 and a number of users are getting
error messages when trying to edit charts that were created with previous
versions of Powerpoint. There are four errors. they basically say:

1. To edit this chart using the new features available in the 2007
Microsoft office System, you must firat convert it to the 2007 office system
format. Do you want to convert to the new format. It does not matter which
option is chosen as none of them work.

2. Microsoft office powerpoint can't start the application required to open
this object. An error occurred and this feature is no longer functioning.
Would you like to repair now. If you chose yes, then it runs through the
repair process, asks for a reboot and does not fix anything.

3. The server application, source file, or item can't be found, or returned
an unknown error. You may need to reinstall the server application. Click
ok and the following message comes up.

4. Microsoft Office Powerpoint can't start the application required to open
this object. An error occurred and this feature is no longer functioning
properly. Would you like to repair this feature now. You choose yes and
runs through the repair and restarts and still doesn't work.

I have read a lot of the support and have checked there is less than 300
fonts, I have reregistered the graph.exe and got a message saying it needs to
be run from another program.

Any ideas?
--

All of these messages (and thanks for quoting them in detail) make it
sound as
though Excel isn't installed, or the installation is damaged.

Have you run Office Diagnostics on the affected computers and let them upate
themselves?

Does Excel seem to behave normally when run by itself?

--
I have run the diagnostics and they did not find any problems. All updates
have been done. Excel is working correctly. This seems to be affecting all
users, even when they create new presentations with just putting the data
straight into the slide instead of using excel.

In 2007, the default behavior when adding new charts is to do it with
Excel now,
so normally you can't create charts without using Excel.

There's a registry setting that tells PPT to use the old MS Graph app
instead of
Excel. Do you have that set? More info about it here:

Using MSGraph with PowerPoint 2007
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00872.htm

So what I'm wondering is this: if that registry setting is in effect but
MSGraph isn't installed, you might get behavior like what you're seeing. As I
recall, MSGraph is an optional install feature with 2007, and not one that's
enabled by default.

You might try running setup again and checking to see whether MSGraph is
installed. Or, simpler, start PPT, choose Insert, Object and see if MSGraph
Chart is on the list of available objects.

---
The registry entry was not there, so I created it. I have to create the
whole key, but still didn't help. I also tried to add the graph object but
got the following message:

Cannot open this object because the organizational Chart add-in for
Microsoft Office programs is not installed. To open ....

I have checked this, but all options are set up to "run from my computer".
I have run the office repair and also re-ran the add or remaove options to
ensure that all options were installed.

This is an OEM installation of office from Dell, could this have any
implications?

--
In 2007, the default behavior when adding new charts is to do it with Excel
now,
so normally you can't create charts without using Excel.

---
The only other thing that I can think that might be causing this is that all
users have been set up to save all office documents as previous versions -
Office 97-03.

--
I wasn't really suggesting that you create it if it wasn't there ... just to
see if it WAS there so we could determine whether that's the problem.

You get a message about OrganizationCharts when trying to add a graph?
Weirder and weirder ...

Including MSGraph and (I think it's also an option) MS OrgChart?

I don't know offhand, but this seems to be turning into more of a general
Office problem than just PowerPoint. I would post a summary of what we've
discussed so far in the Public.Office.Misc group as well.

jimbo345>>
--

Bob Buckland ?:)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
 
J

jimbo345

Hi Bob,

Here are the answers to your questions:

Yes, same probs in new presentation.

I can insert the chart: it’s in compatibility mode, so it’s the MS Graph
table (not xl).
When I click out of it, I can edit the graph fine (by double-clicking or
right click then edit. But once I go right click open and then close it, I
get the same error messages as before when I next try to open it.

I can’t see this I’m afraid – I don’t know if I have to have the chart open
to do this?

Ok, same thing happened as above – can edit it (so that the data sheet comes
up), but as soon as I open it (so that MS Graph opens, but still old
version), it stops working.

Right, this doesn’t work at all: gets the original error message.

Ok – Word – seems to work ok when I do insert chart.
Also works when I do insert object MS Graph chart and for MS XL chart.

XL – works fine when I insert chart.
Works when I do insert object MS Graph chart.
Do not have MS XL chart.

Hope this is enough info

thanks.
 

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