PowerPoint 2007 Very Slow

[J Square]

I have Ofc 7 on my Dell at home. The PC has 2GB of RAM and is a core duo, but
I don't know the speed. It's relatively fast. The PC is running Vista.
PowerPoint is very slow with a file that I have used to track our performance
for years by month. It worked very well in prior versions of PPT, but is very
slow with PPT 07.

When I open the ppt file to add another data point, it requires me to
confirm that I don't want to convert it to pptx. Otherwise, it works okay.
Just this extra step.

When I convert the file to pptx and follow the same process, it is
unbelievably slow. I click twice on the slide, then can open the Excel
datasheet. This is where it seems to bog down. On the first of six slides in
the file, it opens the datasheet okay, placing the graph to the left and the
datasheet to the right. I enter the new data and close the datasheet. When I
open the second or third slide and try to get to the datasheet, my PC just
sits there for minutes. It opens the datasheet in full screen, and I have to
wait and wait for it to split the screen with the graph to the left and the
datasheet to the right. I've tried just going ahead and entering the new data
point at this juncture, but I can't. It just sits. Folks, I have nothing else
open. Why is PPT 07 so slow?

Okay, you're all going to say it's my PC or something, so what if I told you
I have identical issues with PPT 07 on my high-RAM XP machine at my office,
and again with no other applications running?

At this point, I am very disappointed with Ofc 07 and wonder if anyone has a
fix for this or if it's a Microsoft built-in problem we have to live with.

Thanks for listening.

 

[TAJ Simmons]

J Square

I'm guessing it's something in your file that powerpoint / excel does not
like.

Unfortunately, then only thing I can suggest is

Trying to re-create a similar dummy file one step at a time, until you hit
on the 'thing' that's causing the problem.

e.g.
create a blank powerpoint file,

try and copy and paste the excel file into it.

still have problems ? then that narrows it down to something in the excel
file....

I'm guessing there's something in the file that's "linked" to a network
drive or interner file or similar


one other thing - do you have all the "updates / service packs applied to
your office" ?


cheers
TAJ Simmons
Microsoft Powerpoint MVP

http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com
awesome - powerpoint templates,
powerpoint backgrounds, free samples, ppt tutorials...

 

[J Square]

Thanks. I will try recreating it from scratch. The file is dates and numbers
with nothing embedded. It began as an XP file, later converted to 2003. Now,
it just bogs down if I convert it to pptx.

 

[J Square]

I forgot . . . Yes, I run Microsoft updates every morning without fail along
with virus updates, etc.

 

[J Square]

Thank you. All expert advice is appreciated. Yes, I have already tried just
letting ppt do it's thing and convert the ppt file to pptx. It is that file
that is the problem. It is only numbers and dates, as in volume by date, but
it has 6 slides and lots of data points. Relative to converting an Excel
file, there was no Excel file: All the data was in PowerPoint itself. I'll
try your suggestions.

 

[Echo S]

How many data points?

What type of chart is it? Scatter plot, column chart, line graph, something
different?

ISTR that Excel 2007 has issues with charts with lots and lots of data
points. (No, I can't define "lots and lots," but I can ask around if I have
an idea of how many points you're talking about.)

What if you dump the data into a native PPT 2007 chart? That is, Insert |
Chart (which will open a new embedded Excel worksheet) and copy/paste in the
data....

 

[J Square]

There are 6 simple line charts each with 3300 data points. I'll try copying
to a new PPT file as you suggested.

How many data points?

What type of chart is it? Scatter plot, column chart, line graph, something
different?

ISTR that Excel 2007 has issues with charts with lots and lots of data
points. (No, I can't define "lots and lots," but I can ask around if I have
an idea of how many points you're talking about.)

What if you dump the data into a native PPT 2007 chart? That is, Insert |
Chart (which will open a new embedded Excel worksheet) and copy/paste in the
data....

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

Thank you. All expert advice is appreciated. Yes, I have already tried
just
letting ppt do it's thing and convert the ppt file to pptx. It is that
file
that is the problem. It is only numbers and dates, as in volume by date,
but
it has 6 slides and lots of data points. Relative to converting an Excel
file, there was no Excel file: All the data was in PowerPoint itself. I'll
try your suggestions.

 

[J Square]

There are 6 simple line charts each with 3300 data points. I'll try copying
to a new PPT file as you suggested.

How many data points?

What type of chart is it? Scatter plot, column chart, line graph, something
different?

ISTR that Excel 2007 has issues with charts with lots and lots of data
points. (No, I can't define "lots and lots," but I can ask around if I have
an idea of how many points you're talking about.)

What if you dump the data into a native PPT 2007 chart? That is, Insert |
Chart (which will open a new embedded Excel worksheet) and copy/paste in the
data....

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

Thank you. All expert advice is appreciated. Yes, I have already tried
just
letting ppt do it's thing and convert the ppt file to pptx. It is that
file
that is the problem. It is only numbers and dates, as in volume by date,
but
it has 6 slides and lots of data points. Relative to converting an Excel
file, there was no Excel file: All the data was in PowerPoint itself. I'll
try your suggestions.

 

[J Square]

No, they are PowerPoint 2007, which now includes an Excel datasheet.

 

[J Square]

I tried recreating the file. I tried converting the existing file. I tried
copying one slide at a time to a new blank pptx file. Nothing helps. I think
it has to do with the way PPT 07 manages the underlying data in memory. Just
must be too much data. Still, prior versions of Office and PowerPoint managed
this same file with no problems and no slowdown. One symptom, if I close
using the red x in the upper right hand corner, it doesn't save my new data
input for the pptx file, but does for the identical ppt file. Perhaps it's
loading all data for all sheets for pptx files, but only for the current
slide in ppt? I think this because PPT 07 shows blanks for slides 3 through 6
in pptx, but displays all 6 in Slide Sorter view for ppt files. Gotta be a
memory issue. If so, Microsoft has taken a step backwards with PPT 07. As a
result, I will have to continue to save this file as ppt and not pptx.

 

[J Square]

I tried recreating the file. I tried converting the existing file. I tried
copying one slide at a time to a new blank pptx file. Nothing helps. I think
it has to do with the way PPT 07 manages the underlying data in memory. Just
must be too much data. Still, prior versions of Office and PowerPoint managed
this same file with no problems and no slowdown. One symptom, if I close
using the red x in the upper right hand corner, it doesn't save my new data
input for the pptx file, but does for the identical ppt file. Perhaps it's
loading all data for all sheets for pptx files, but only for the current
slide in ppt? I think this because PPT 07 shows blanks for slides 3 through 6
in pptx, but displays all 6 in Slide Sorter view for ppt files. Gotta be a
memory issue. If so, Microsoft has taken a step backwards with PPT 07. As a
result, I will have to continue to save this file as ppt and not pptx.

 

[Echo S]

Actually, I was thinking you should copy the data into a chart in a new PPTX
file. (Maybe that's what you meant.)

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

There are 6 simple line charts each with 3300 data points. I'll try
copying
to a new PPT file as you suggested.

How many data points?

What type of chart is it? Scatter plot, column chart, line graph,
something
different?

ISTR that Excel 2007 has issues with charts with lots and lots of data
points. (No, I can't define "lots and lots," but I can ask around if I
have
an idea of how many points you're talking about.)

What if you dump the data into a native PPT 2007 chart? That is, Insert |
Chart (which will open a new embedded Excel worksheet) and copy/paste in
the
data....

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

Thank you. All expert advice is appreciated. Yes, I have already tried
just
letting ppt do it's thing and convert the ppt file to pptx. It is that
file
that is the problem. It is only numbers and dates, as in volume by
date,
but
it has 6 slides and lots of data points. Relative to converting an
Excel
file, there was no Excel file: All the data was in PowerPoint itself.
I'll
try your suggestions.

:

Square
wrote:
I have Ofc 7 on my Dell at home. The PC has 2GB of RAM and is a core
duo, but
I don't know the speed. It's relatively fast. The PC is running
Vista.
PowerPoint is very slow with a file that I have used to track our
performance
for years by month. It worked very well in prior versions of PPT,
but
is very
slow with PPT 07.

When I open the ppt file to add another data point, it requires me
to
confirm that I don't want to convert it to pptx. Otherwise, it works
okay.
Just this extra step.

What happens if you make a copy of this same file, open it and LET PPT
have its
way with it. Let it convert to the new format and save in that
format.
Likewise, if it offers to convert the Excel sheet, let it. Otherwise,
consider
opening the workbook in Excel, convert to the new format then
re-establish the
links to the new formatted file.

With large files, it can be very slow to convert between old and new
formats; I
suspect what may be happening is that every time you activate a link,
you:

- Launch Excel anew (no change here; same as before)
- Open the (presumably older format) XLS file, which Excel 2007 has to
convert
internally to the new format
- Edit (same as before)
- Save to the old format, which forces another conversion

Point of curiosity: are all the linked or embedded datasheets from the
same
workbook (ie, Excel file) or from different workbooks? If from
different
books,
then the size of the various books might have some bearing on the
different
speeds you're seeing for different bits of data.


When I convert the file to pptx and follow the same process, it is
unbelievably slow. I click twice on the slide, then can open the
Excel
datasheet. This is where it seems to bog down. On the first of six
slides in
the file, it opens the datasheet okay, placing the graph to the left
and the
datasheet to the right. I enter the new data and close the
datasheet.
When I
open the second or third slide and try to get to the datasheet, my
PC
just
sits there for minutes. It opens the datasheet in full screen, and I
have to
wait and wait for it to split the screen with the graph to the left
and
the
datasheet to the right. I've tried just going ahead and entering the
new data
point at this juncture, but I can't. It just sits. Folks, I have
nothing else
open. Why is PPT 07 so slow?

Okay, you're all going to say it's my PC or something, so what if I
told you
I have identical issues with PPT 07 on my high-RAM XP machine at my
office,
and again with no other applications running?

Naw, man. We're geeks here. We might talk about a man's wife or even
his dawg,
but never his PC.

-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
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