Powerpoint 2004 - Crashing on 'make movie' & Flash

[Michael Grant]

I've noticed that the new Powerpoint 2004 crashes repeatedly upon
trying to 'make movie' with a Windows Powerpoint 2003 file. I'm trying
to convince myself to switch to a Powerbook from a XP laptop but
Powerpoint is one of my key apps. The Windows file has transitions and
motion path animations, but this is something that microsoft said they
supported in 2004 and was the primary reason I upgraded on my desktop
mac. Anyone know how to solve this problem? Other things...

- No way to create motion paths on the mac!!! Incredible. Why?
- How can I convert a Mac powerpoint file to Flash with all the
transitions and animation preserved?

thanks,
-Michael

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

- How can I convert a Mac powerpoint file to Flash with all the

transitions and animation preserved?

Not sure about Mac, but if you've got a PC laptop as well, you might check
here:

Convert PowerPoint to Flash
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00147.htm

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Michael,

PowerPoint 2004 does support both transitions and motion path animations.
Everything was completed in time for 2004 product release except for the GUI
part of the motion path animations.

That means you can play any presentation that has motion paths and all the
new transitions. You can also use visual basic for applications on the Mac
to control the path animations and all of the properties for both
transitions and animations.

PowerPoint should not be crashing. Do you get an error message when PPT
crashes? Do you get a prompt to report the crash to Microsoft? If you do
get the prompt, please be sure to click SEND so that Microsoft receives the
information relating to your crash.

I've found that sometimes PPT preference files become wrecked and that's
when I've had PPT crash on me. When this happens I use Apple+F in Finder and
search for the word PowerPoint. Then I delete the plist and preferences
files (with PowerPoint turned off). Empty the trash and then start up
PowerPoint (preferences will run from the trash so you either have to empty
the trash or rename them before opening up PowerPoint).

That usually fixes the crashing problems for me. Also, use Disk Utility
First Aid to repair permissions if you haven't done so recently.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Michael Grant]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply Jim. I will try deleting preferences and see
what happens. BTW, the make movie feature works for files created on the
Mac but it crashes on make movie from the Powerpoint 2003 file. The crash
is repeatable over and over. I will report. But its a big bummer.

I also notice that placement of graphics on screen is MUCH harder in the
Mac version of PP. I drag the file around to where it needs to be and use the
ghosted image as the reference. When I release, the file jumps to another
spot. This might be related to 'snap to grid', but I notice that the Mac
version doesn't let me turn off the grid the way the PC version does. Its
these little things that get in the way of productivity. Any suggestions?

thanks,
Michael

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Michael,

I'm pretty sure that Microsoft knows about the grid lines and the shadow
problems. They were discovered too late to fix before release, but I'd be
willing to bet in a service release that they will be fixed.

The troubles with the 2003 file are puzzling. It sounds like there could be
an ornery object in the presentation that PPT 2004 doesn't like. Is there
anything unusual in the presentation from 2003? Maybe if you try removing
half the slides and save as a movie maybe one of the halves will work. Keep
cutting down till you isolate the problem slide.

-Jim

Thanks for the thoughtful reply Jim. I will try deleting preferences and see
what happens. BTW, the make movie feature works for files created on the
Mac but it crashes on make movie from the Powerpoint 2003 file. The crash
is repeatable over and over. I will report. But its a big bummer.

I also notice that placement of graphics on screen is MUCH harder in the
Mac version of PP. I drag the file around to where it needs to be and use the
ghosted image as the reference. When I release, the file jumps to another
spot. This might be related to 'snap to grid', but I notice that the Mac
version doesn't let me turn off the grid the way the PC version does. Its
these little things that get in the way of productivity. Any suggestions?

thanks,
Michael

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info