Why always a new presentation when I open app?

[RHead]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

As I click around my desktop, I use the dock icon to get back to Powerpoint (and other Microsoft apps), and for some reason, Powerpoint INSISTS on creating a new blank presentation every time I do this, unless a presentation is already open.

Is there a way in the preferences to prevent this trivial annoyance?

After all, every return must then be followed by another to close the extraneous new presentation.

I'm perfectly capable of telling Powerpoint when I want to start a new presentation, without the program constantly assuming that's what I want to do!

 

[CyberTaz]

Send your complaint to Apple PowerPoint isn't assuming anything. The
behavior is specified in the OS X Human Interface Guidelines - you can
search the newsgroups for documentation if you'd like. It's a subject that
has been widely discussed since Leopard was introduced. There is no setting
in the apps to modify it but it can be easily avoided.

The simplest method is to *not* click the Dock icon if the app is already
running. The Dock is provided for the purpose of launching apps. Instead,
use the Command+Tab technique to toggle through open apps. Other options are
described in the Help for OS X as well as the Help of most programs. If you
do accidentally generate a new document you can readily close it with
Command+W.

 

[RHead]

Thanks! More brilliance from Cupertino, I guess ;-)

 

[Raygraph]

RHead,

I came to this forum just a day after you did with the exact same question. It is in fact very annoying to get those blank pages all the time. This should be an item in the Preferences... as a matter of fact, one of the first in the list. We should be able to select "None". Pretty stupid...

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

RHead,

I came to this forum just a day after you did with the exact same question. It is in fact very annoying to get those blank pages all the time. This should be an item in the Preferences... as a matter of fact, one of the first in the list. We should be able to select "None". Pretty stupid...

Hi,

This is a very easy problem to solve with VBA (Visual Basic for
Applications). Unfortunately, PowerPoint 2008 is the ONLY version of
PowerPoint in the last decade that does not support VBA.

Be patient. When the next version of Office comes out it WILL have VBA.
Post back here and we can show you a simple VBA macro to use that can
take care of this for you.

-Jim