powerpoint slow and hangs my dual g5

[googmeister]

I've been having alot of problems with PowerPoint 2004 on Tiger
(most recent updates of both). Its incredibly slow, to the point
where I can barely edit the slides (several second delay between
keystroke and action). It seems to get worse the longer the
program is open (first 10 minutes ok, next 10 get much worse).
Occasionally it just hangs when trying to save a file (sometimes
halfway through which means it trashes the file completely).

I suspect I haven't given enough info to get useful help, but I
really have no idea how to diagnose the problem. Any ideas on
what I should look for? I've uninstalled powerpoint and
reinstalled, but this didn't have any effect. I'm so incredibly
frustrated at this point, so thanks for any tips!

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi,

Extreme slowness has been reported when there are multiple copies of the
same version of Office installed on a computer.

Try using the uninstaller to remove all copies of Office including the
Test Drive, then reinstall Office. Look in the Additional Tools folder
to locate the Remove Office folder.

-Jim

 

[googmeister]

Hi,

Extreme slowness has been reported when there are multiple copies of the
same version of Office installed on a computer.

Try using the uninstaller to remove all copies of Office including the
Test Drive, then reinstall Office. Look in the Additional Tools folder
to locate the Remove Office folder.

Thanks Jim. So far so good!

Slide sorter and saving (I have fast save off as recommended) are still
ridiculously slow (for a dual G5 with 1.5GB RAM), but my understanding
is that this is normal for Powerpoint 2004. I'm just glad to be able to
edit at normal speed again.

 

[Andrew Chiang [MSFT]]

Hello googmeister,

Would you be willing to post or email me a copy of the presentation that is
slow w/slide sorter and while saving?

How many seconds is saving or viewing w/slide sorter taking for you? For
slide sorter, I'm guessing that you're timing from when you go to
View->Slide Sorter to when all the slides are rendered. If so, how many
slides are visible and what zoom level are you at?

If you'd rather email the PPT file, remove the online. part after the @
sign.

Andrew

 

[googmeister]

Hello googmeister,

Would you be willing to post or email me a copy of the presentation that is
slow w/slide sorter and while saving?

I'll email it to you.

How many seconds is saving

About 40 seconds (on my admittedly slow PowerBook 400MhZ).
I don't have access to my dual G5 right now, but I'd estimate at least
10-15 seconds. This is for a 30 slide presentation. In contrast,
InDesign
saves a hundred pages of text + figures in under a second.

or viewing w/slide sorter taking for you? For
slide sorter, I'm guessing that you're timing from when you go to
View->Slide Sorter to when all the slides are rendered.
If so, how many slides are visible and what zoom level are you at?

25 slides visible (of 30), 66% resolution. It takes about 10 seconds
on my Powerbook.

Yes, it's in the rendering (which inexplicably does not seem to
be cached). Since I've grown accustomed to using slide sorted for
cut-and-pasting slides or rearranging them, this isn't ideal.

If you'd rather email the PPT file, remove the online. part after the @
sign.

Andrew

Thanks for your help. I've been really impressed by the quick
response time and useful info on this newsgroup!