Problems with Office 2004 and Powerpoint

[None]

I'm running Office 2004 (version 11.1.1) on A Mac Powerbook w/ OS-X
10.3.9 installed. I have experienced a number of problems with cross
platform support between the Mac and Windows, and have also seen some
weird problems on the Mac itself. I wonder if anyone else has
experienced these and has a fix for it.

Cross Platform Issues

Files created on my Mac can often not be read on Windows platforms,
even those that are up to date. Symptoms are that the file starts to
open and then just shuts down. I have also had reports of Powerpoint
hanging and even of the OS hanging, requiring a reboot. And yes,
making a PDF does help, but there go the few animations I use that the
possibility of re-using any of the materials

Mac PPT file save / restore issues

In a number of instances I have had strange things happen to PPT files
that were created on the Mac, saved, and then re-opened. The most
striking is when some text boxes (both header and slide body) that show
up in the original as text with no box outlines and transparent fill,
but return as text with box outlines and opaque white fill. I can
re-edit this to make it go away, but sometimes have had it return.

Opening old Mac PPT files

Having used a Mac in my work for the last 10 years I have a substantial
backlog of old documents and presentations. Sometimes i need to
recover this info from the archives of old projects. Since Office v.X
I have experienced that most of these old files cannot be opened. They
start to open but then I get a message like "Powerpoint cannot open the
file ... The file may be corrupt, in use, or of a type that cannot be
recognized by Powerpoint." In some cases PPT 2001 can open these old
files, in others it cannot.

Anyone got any similar problems or help with this?

Regards, Peter Shames

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi,

The problems associated with trying to open Macintosh PowerPoint files
in Windows versions of PowerPoint have vanished for those who have
updated their copies of PowerPoint for Windows. If you have an example
file that you can put somewhere on the web there are many of us here who
can try it out and see if it's the file. Since this problem has been
corrected by others simply by updating the Windows version of Powerpoint
it is most likely there is a problem with the software on the Windows
box. What version of PowerPoint for Windows is giving the trouble? To
obtain the version use the PowerPoint Help menu and choose About PowerPoint.

The problem about the text boxes not re-drawing properly is a new one to
me. I've got a 500mhz PowerBook also on 10.3.9 and don't have that
problem. All I can suggest to try are ordinary troubleshooting steps,
although I don't know of anything in these steps that would specifically
fix the re-drawing issue.
http://www.mcgimpsey.com/macoffice/office/troubleshooting.html

PowerPoint 2004 can open and work with PowerPoint 97 and later files.
The file format is the same for 97 and later. However, presentations
saved in earlier version formats can not be opened in PowerPoint 2004.
The only solution in this case is to open those old files in a version
that can act as bridge between old and new format, such as PowerPoint
98, by opening the old format then saving in the new format.

-Jim

 

[None]

Jim,

Thanks for the reply. An example file that demonstrates the Mac ->
Windows problem can be found on-line here:

http://www.ccsds.org/docu/dscgi/ds.py/View/Collection-458

Look for file name "SpaceOps 2004 RASDS Presentation ". I have had
comments from a few MS Windows users (Pro 2000 and XP, Office 2003)
that they had problems opening this file (and others like it).

I'll see if I can find a gimpy version of Office 98 to fix my "old
file" problem.

Thanks, Peter

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

I had no problem opening the file with PowerPoint 2003 SP1 on a Windows
XP machine. Are you sure the PowerPoint 2003 users have updated to SP1,
which fixes the file opening problems?
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

 

[None]

David,

It could be that they have not done the update or are running the
earlier versions of the OS on their laptops. I have heard this
complaint so often that I assumed that it was endemic and often just
send PDF files. It seems that XP with the SP1 fixes does not have the
problem, and this is good news.

Thanks, Peter

 

[Benjamin Amsaleg]

Peter,

If you can not find Office98 on eBay, you can try to use NeoOffice/J "ppt
like" module to open your old presentations.

BAM