Powerpoint 10.1.6 corrupting files on a client's Mac... 10.1.6 then won't open the file but 10.1.5 w

[chris thacker]

I have a client whom I support who is running the latest Microsoft
Office X 10.1.6. Recently, in the past couple of weeks, it seems
that Powerpoint is corrupting his files. Powerpoint will start to
open the file but will fail when it gets to about 90%. He sent me
the file and my version of Powerpoint, 10.1.6, wouldn't open it
either. Same result. I then tried to use 10.1.5 and it worked.
Has anyone else experienced this?
thanks

 

[Mike Benns]

Hi Chris,
Yes... you are not alone. This has happened with us. I had an email
conversation with Microsoft support about this and they told me our
files were corrupt!! I suspect it is their 10.1.6 update that is
corrupt, however. Luckily, I had not upgraded all out macs with the
update otherwise we would be in trouble.
Believe it or not the only way I have managed to solve this is as
follows:
Open the presentation in Powerpoint 2001 in MacOS 9 (if you still have
it!! - Thank God we have!)
Do a 'Save As' into Powerpoint 4.0 giving the file a new name
Close all windows - even quit out of Powerpoint to be on the safe side
Open the new Powerpoint 4.0 file again in Powerpoint 2001 and resave
it.
This file should now be OK to open in Powerpoint X 10.1.6 and 10.1.5.

You will also notice that the size of the file will come down...
sometimes quite dramatically.

Cheers