THE POWERPOINT FAQ - POWERPOINT HELP POWERPOINT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

RDP Home

COME JOIN YOUR TRIBE! If you create presentations and want to 1) get the respect that you've earned as a presentation professional, 2) improve your skills, 3) hang out with other presentation pros, 4) get gigs, 5) and MUCH more, visit The Presentation Guild . Better yet, Become a member! If your question isn't answered here, post it on Microsoft Answers: The PowerPoint Support Forum The PowerPoint FAQ is presented by PPTools - PowerTools for

PowerPoint.

Search the PowerPoint FAQ: The PowerPoint FAQ is divided into several main areas. Click the one you're interested in or scroll to see the whole list

READ ME FIRST

New Stuff

Find More PowerPoint Help Tips, Techniques, Tutorials

General Info

Programming PowerPoint

MacFAQs

Stupid PPT-TRIX

Troubleshooting

Proud member of

Table of Contents

READ ME FIRST

Before you use PowerPoint Having PowerPoint problems? POWERPOINT for iPad / iPod / iPhone

OFFICE 2019

OFFICE 2016 / OFFICE 365 - Can ANYBODY explain this stuff? POWERPOINT 2013 / POWERPOINT 15 / OFFICE 365

POWERPOINT 2010

POWERPOINT 2007

NEW STUFF / USEFUL STUFF

PowerPoint News

New Add-ins / Products / Sites Tricks, Tips, Problems, Fixes and Upgrades FIND MORE POWERPOINT HELP PowerPoint Help Online PowerPoint Help from Microsoft PowerPoint-Related Subjects - Help and Info TIPS, TECHNIQUES, TUTORIALS

Tutorials

Customizing PowerPoint Creating Presentations Drawing & Working with Shapes

Working with Text

Working with Charts and Graphs Working with Sound and Movies Distributing & Delivering Presentations Distributing in Other Formats Video Projectors and Dual Monitors

Screen Shows

Animation

Making Acrobat PDFs from PowerPoint Importing and Converting

Exporting

Printing, Overheads, 35mm Slides, Pre-press WEBifying your PowerPoint Cross-platform Compatibility Cross-Version Compatibility Accessibility and Internationalization

GENERAL INFO

Misc. HowTos

Scans, Resolution, DPI

Fonts

Companion Software

Versions & Compatibility

What Is ...?

Where Can I Find ...? General Presentation Advice LEGALITIES, RESTRICTIONS etc. PROGRAMMING POWERPOINT

For VBeginners

Creating and Installing Add-ins, Toolbars, Buttons PowerPoint events; event-handling in VBA

Useful Projects

Useful general purpose code

Show Me

Exporting shapes, slides and presentations Adding shapes, slides and presentations Deleting shapes, slides and presentations Changing shapes, slides and presentations

Printing

Batch Tricks

Animations and Transitions

Working with Excel

Automating one app from another Working with MSGraph charts Working with external data Working with Media (Audio/video)

Working with Guides

Other

VBA bugs

MAC FAQS

Troubleshoot Problems, Interpret Error Messages Downloads, Contact Microsoft

How-Tos

Other Mac PowerPoint Resources

STUPID PPT-TRIX

Solutions in Search of a Problem

TROUBLESHOOTING

Troubleshooting Tips and Procedures PowerPoint Crashes Without Error Message Specific Error Messages

Graphics Problems

Display, Screen Show & Multimedia Problems Corrupted or unopenable PPT files

Printing Problems

File Saving Problems Link & Copy/Paste Problems File Import / Export Problems Problems with PowerPoint on the Web Text or Font Problems Cross-Version / Cross-Platform Problems

Missing Features

Add-in and VBA problems

Misc. Nuisances

Stupid Windows Tricks OTF font problems after Windows update KB2753842 is installed MS warns of TrueType attack vulnerability A tribute to Brian Reilly A tribute to Sonia Coleman

READ ME FIRST

Do you have suggestions for the PowerPoint team? BEFORE YOU USE POWERPOINT Do this before using PowerPoint seriously Don't do this with PowerPoint. Seriously. What about PowerPoint's AutoSave? And if you drive PowerPoint on a Mac, see this Before you use PowerPoint ... SHOULD you use PowerPoint? Virus Alert - Bogus messages that seem to be from Microsoft Thinking about buying PowerPoint or Office pre-installed on a new

computer?

What if you gave a presentation but nobody watched? HAVING POWERPOINT PROBLEMS? Message when starting: PowerPoint has run into an error RUN PROGRAM action settings don't work any longer Error message: The image part with relationship ID rld2 (or rld3) was not found in the file" I can no longer insert EPS graphics into PowerPoint Problems with Intelligent Services in Office 365 Problems with PowerPoint after updating to Windows 10 PowerPoint's not acting the way the instructions say it should Slide.Export produces low-rez images, video export fails, images lost on save and other problems Cannot access online pictures in PowerPoint Keeping up with the latest PPT FAQ news Most Common PowerPoint Questions Microsoft Answers: The PowerPoint Support Forum (and the former PowerPoint newsgroup, etc.) Contact Microsoft: suggestions, wishes, lost product keys, lost or

broken CDs and DVDs

Sending files to other users, especially large files Free PowerPoint Viewers, Viewer Capabilities Connect to external video General PowerPoint troubleshooting procedures

Problem Report Form

Disappearing or blank thumbnails in task panes How to uninstall PowerPoint (and other Office apps) How do I send PowerPoint feedback to Microsoft?

Product Key issues

What version of PowerPoint do I have? POWERPOINT FOR IPAD / IPOD / IPHONE Move files from iPod / iPad / iPhone to PC and back

OFFICE 2019

What's new in Office 2019? OFFICE 2016 / OFFICE 365 - CAN ANYBODY EXPLAIN THIS STUFF? Office 365, Office 2016 - an attempt at clearing the fog Designer isn't working POWERPOINT 2013 / POWERPOINT 15 / OFFICE 365 PowerPoint won't start on Surface RT tablets PowerPoint 2013 doesn't return video to mirrored after using Presenter

View

Missing templates in PowerPoint 2013 Navigation stops working during a slide show VBA: PasteSpecial method fails during slide show "We're sorry, something went wrong" message when saving from

PowerPoint 2013

Date and Time fields do not update (PowerPoint 2013) Picture Corrections do not work on background pictures (PowerPoint

2013)

PowerPoint 2013 crashes when add-ins are in use PowerPoint 2013 crashes when setting transparency on images What's new/changed in Office 2013 aka Office 15? Click to run, CTR, Office 365, Office on Demand. What does it all

MEAN?

Can I get a backup disk for Office 365? What about Office 365 RT on Surface RT tablets? Insert Word Art into PPT 2013

POWERPOINT 2010

Microsoft releases Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Office 2010 Should I get 32- or 64-bit Office 2010? How much will Office 2010 cost? What about upgrades? Technology

Guarantee program?

Office 2010 Click-to-Run New features in PowerPoint 2010 Microsoft Upload Center - what is it, why do I want it and what if I

don't?

POWERPOINT 2007

PowerPoint 2007 crashes or hangs when moving, resizing or using arrow

key in charts

Create a sample presentation from a theme Office 2007 Service Packs How do I send PowerPoint 2007 / Office 2007 feedback or report bugs to

Microsoft?

Slides, Masters, Designs, Layouts ... how do they all fit together? Staying compatible with earlier versions of PowerPoint Effects of compatibility mode Migrating to Office 2007 - Guides for IT Professionals Why isn't the Insert Slide command on the Insert tab? PowerPoint 2007 equivalents of older version commands (and Commando) What's new in PowerPoint 2007? How can I open PowerPoint 2007 files in earlier PowerPoint versions Create your own PowerPoint 2007 Themes PowerPoint 2007 quits when I close my presentation PowerPoint 2007 text editing slow, text cut off, text display or formatting problems, print, crash problems PowerPoint appears in grayscale or black & white, b/w PowerPoint 2007 and PowerPoint 2010: Slide image in notes pages is

low-rez / jaggy

How can I ungroup graphs/charts in PowerPoint 2007? PPT 2007: Text jumbled up, bullet and text effects galleries blank or

corrupted

PowerPoint 2007 bugs / problems PowerPoint 2007 Hotfixes and Service Packs PowerPoint 2007 VBA bugs/problems Working with text in PowerPoint 2007 (VBA) EPS graphics print poorly from PowerPoint 2007 No more Pattern Fills in PowerPoint 2007 PowerPoint 2007 Quick Tips Using Equation Editor with PowerPoint 2007 Using MSGraph with PowerPoint 2007 (MS Graph, Charts) Installing Office 2007 with other Office versions PowerPoint makes pictures blurry or unsharp, loses GIF animation Clear The Recent Document list in PowerPoint 2007 and 2003 Office files don't download correctly from a Web Server; saved as zip

files instead

Red X replaces images on slides inserted into PowerPoint 2007

presentations

Links added to SmartArt don't work PowerPoint 2007: printed text in graphics is jagged, graphics print in

grayscale

PowerPoint 2007 won't update links to files on network drives NEW STUFF / USEFUL STUFF

POWERPOINT NEWS

Ric Bretschneider (PowerPoint Program Manager at Microsoft) blogs and

podcasts

Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Office 2003 released Creating animated cartoons and movies in PowerPoint PowerPoint, PundiTuftes and the Press How can I get Office 2003 updates and service packs as files, not over-the-web installations? NEW ADD-INS / PRODUCTS / SITES PowerPoint Blogs, Podcasts, Columns and Newsfeeds Tools, Gadgets, Accessories Corporate branding and graphics standards Make sure your media Plays For Certain PowerPoint Add-in to delete selected content: TagErase Slide Into Word: A kinder, gentler Send To Word from PowerPoint MVP

Bill Dilworth

Prep4PDF: A PowerPoint to PDF Conversion Assistant Creating games in PowerPoint A PowerPoint Yellow Pages - PowerPoint-related products and services Free Sequential Save Add-in by Shyam Pillai Export shapes as graphics from PowerPoint 97 TRICKS, TIPS, PROBLEMS, FIXES AND UPGRADES Video export your way PowerPoint 2010 presentation broadcasting fails Make sure that text fits slides, adding new slides as needed for

"overflow"

PowerPoint unexpectedly puts content into placeholders Links between slides don't work in PowerPoint HTML PowerPoint connects to the internet unexpectedly Copyright: can I use music, pictures, etc. in my presentations? Find the color of a pixel in an image Command Line Switches - PowerPoint and PowerPoint Viewers PowerPoint won't open my older PowerPoint presentations FIND MORE POWERPOINT HELP POWERPOINT HELP ONLINE Guidelines for the PowerPoint Support Forums

Please don't spam

Search the web for PowerPoint help PowerPoint-Seiten auf Deutsch (PowerPoint Sites in German) Other PowerPoint-related sites PowerPoint for educators What are these Qxxxxx articles people keep mentioning? What and Who are MVPs? Where can I download a copy of PowerPoint? POWERPOINT HELP FROM MICROSOFT Contact Microsoft - Support, Sales, Replacement CDs etc. Make suggestions, report problems to Microsoft Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 (XP) Information PowerPoint Resources on microsoft.com Using the MS KnowledgeBase (MSKB) Office and PowerPoint Service Packs POWERPOINT-RELATED SUBJECTS - HELP AND INFO I want to create a book in PowerPoint Can I use clip-art commercially?

Help with Producer

PostScript, EPS, PDF and related subjects The Art of the Presentation Presentations for international audiences Web Resources: HTML, Javascript, CSS, etc. Color Theory, File Formats, etc. Windows troubleshooting, networking and setup resources TIPS, TECHNIQUES, TUTORIALS

Misc Tips 1

Misc Tips 2

Misc. Tips 3

TUTORIALS

Example PowerPoint Presentations

Basic PowerPoint

Drawing with PowerPoint Linking in PowerPoint Create or Customize Templates Text handling and tricks

3D Graphics

Multimedia

From PowerPoint to the Web Upload to the net with FTP Other sites with links to tutorials Suggested PowerPoint curriculum from MS Using the Windows Scheduler with PowerPoint Using Virtual PC / VMWare virtual computers Using Japanese, Chinese, Korean (CJK) languages in PowerPoint Pixel-accurate drawing in PowerPoint; measuring in pixels Pixel-Accurate display of images in PowerPoint screenshows CUSTOMIZING POWERPOINT Customizing PowerPoint's right-click popup menus CREATING PRESENTATIONS Add an outline showing the edges of slides Create a fake screentip (text that appears when you mouse over a

shape)

Eliminate the screentip that appears over hyperlinks Check or change the Document Properties for your presentation Working with two monitors; editing PowerPoint on dual monitors Creating "Pseudo-Subtitles" Creating accessible PowerPoint presentations / PowerPoint

accessibility

Slide numbering - Slide XX of YY Flexible Slide Numbering Set default text and drawing shape styles Create a default "blank" presentation with your own defaults Create your own default presentation How can I remove the template / revert to the original blank template? Create a table of contents (TOC) slide with links

CMYK and PowerPoint

How can I use Pantone, TruMatch, CMYK or other colors in PowerPoint? Create your own template folder in PowerPoint 2000 and later Create your own templates Control the formatting of hyperlinked text How big should text be? What's the ideal font size? Use more than one master in a presentation Mix Portrait and Landscape slides in a presentation Create a slide library (slide repository, slide library, slide

management)

Create a new presentation using parts of an existing one PowerPoint File Size Limitations: how big can my PowerPoint files be? DRAWING & WORKING WITH SHAPES How to create a spiral in PowerPoint Hiding shapes on a gradient, textured or patterned background Selecting shapes that are covered by other shapes Adding editable points to a shape, editing points when PowerPoint says

No

How to add arrowheads to a Cycle diagram in PowerPoint 2002

WORKING WITH TEXT

Create vertically stacked text Create a PowerPoint presentation from a plain text file Creating Equations in PowerPoint Add special characters to text Removing a misspelled word once it's been added to the spell check

dictionary

Working with tab stops and indents WORKING WITH CHARTS AND GRAPHS Working with colors in MS Graph Create user-defined Custom Charts / Graphs or Chart Templates Charts with Picture Markers GANTT and other project planning chart types Reset manually edited chart labels to show automatic text Linking or copying information/content/charts/worksheets from Excel to

PowerPoint

Extracting Excel content from PowerPoint WORKING WITH SOUND AND MOVIES About recording narration in PowerPoint 2007 and onward Edit the narration for a slide after it has been recorded Adding show-length narration to a PowerPoint presentation Playing movies in slow or fast motion Fading sounds, changing volume of sounds in PowerPoint DISTRIBUTING & DELIVERING PRESENTATIONS Distributing PPTs - Pitfalls, Panics & Pleasures Does a PPS (PowerPoint Show) need PowerPoint or a Viewer to play? Can

I edit a PPS?

Password protect a presentation Send a presentation that opens automatically in email

Make an AutoRun CD

Test an AutoRun CD

Make a standalone EXE that runs a PowerPoint presentation

CD Specs

Make sure my chosen fonts are available Make screenshow fill a wide screen display Make the pointer or cursor go away (screenshow) Keep the session alive (prevent screensaver, logout problems, mouse

jiggler)

Creating Teacher / Student editions of presentations DISTRIBUTING IN OTHER FORMATS Distribute presentations as Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document

Format)

Distribute presentations as video on VHS or DVD Distribute presentations using Microsoft Producer Online PowerPoint Presentation Systems - web conferencing,

broadcasting etc.

Distribute presentations using handhelds (PocketPC, Palm) Make a screensaver from PowerPoint VIDEO PROJECTORS AND DUAL MONITORS What type of video connection is this? Dual monitors and PowerPoint (by Paul Iordanides) (and others) A Multiple Monitor Tutorial by PowerPoint MVP Chirag Dalal How do I use Presenter view without a projector or second monitor? (by

Chirag Dalal)

How do I hook up this video projector? Video Connectors: JohnO's Techie Workshop Video Projector Reviews/Info/Utilities

SCREEN SHOWS

Disable mouse and keyboard control during a presentation Create hotkeys ( keyboard shortcuts ) to macros and menu items Adding or entering text during a show Make Slide Titles disappear Change the volume of sounds Make PowerPoint go to previous slide on right mouse-click Play DVDs in a presentation Create menu slides with links to other presentations or links between slides in a presentation Play sounds across multiple slides (A WAV runs through it) Play movies across multiple slides Launch a program w/o user seeing confirmation dialog Reset all SLIDE TIMINGS in a presentation Keyboard shortcut to start slide show from current slide Auto-update linked spreadsheets or other information Designing presentations for touch-screen - by Chirag Dalal

ANIMATION

Animations don't play when I go back to a slide Change animation effect for just a few slides out of a presentation

(2002/2003)

Make animated text appear line by line (build slides) Push the animation envelope Create MOVIE CREDITS-style crawling text MAKING ACROBAT PDFS FROM POWERPOINT How can I make Acrobat PDFs from PowerPoint?

What's PDFMaker?

Problems making PDFs from PowerPoint My PowerPoint PDFs are cropped; footers, page numbers, dates are

missing

My PDFs from PowerPoint are rotated PDFs from Mac PowerPoint PDFs from PowerPoint are huge Bad hyperlinks in PDFs How can I make B/W PDFs? IMPORTING AND CONVERTING Importing CDs, iTunes and other downloaded sounds into PowerPoint Import Web Pages into PowerPoint Converting from Freelance to PowerPoint Converting XXX presentations to PowerPoint Converters - Sound, Movie, Graphics, etc. Adam's Transparency Tutorial (Alpha channels and more) Alpha Transparency from CorelDraw Include a YouTube Flash video in your presentation Embed FLASH effects into PowerPoint Import PDF content into PowerPoint BATCH IMPORT images into PowerPoint Resize pictures to fill the slide (fit to slide) Use GRAPHICS as BULLETS

Open a PPZ file

Convert SGI graphics for use in PowerPoint

EXPORTING

Improve PowerPoint's GIF, BMP, PNG, JPG export resolution Extract images and sounds from PowerPoint Extract images from PowerPoint Export linked narration sound files in logically named/numbered order Export EPS from PowerPoint Convert PowerPoint to Pocket PowerPoint Convert presentations into Movie files Convert presentations to DVD video PRINTING, OVERHEADS, 35MM SLIDES, PRE-PRESS Print larger handouts Printing PowerPoint: Slide size v. Printer Page size Control how your presentation prints in B/W Print posters or other large format output Print large-format slides to normal size paper (tile,tiling) Print without opening PowerPoint PhotoEdit won't print - Not Enough Memory messages Color Calibration on the Cheap WEBIFYING YOUR POWERPOINT Put your PowerPoint on the Web Put your PowerPoint-generated HTML on the web How can I convert PowerPoint 2010 to HTML (where's the Save As Web

Page command)?

Browser compatibility Optimize PowerPoint's HTML for Netscape Navigator Make PowerPoint 2000 HTML open full screen Make PowerPoint 2002, PowerPoint 2003 and PowerPoint 2007 HTML open

full screen

How to make links open in a new window from PowerPoint's HTML Get rid of the outline pane and navigation controls in HTML from PowerPoint 2000 and up Sounds won't play across multiple slides on the web How to create HTML without frames Control how the browser opens PowerPoint files Everything there is to know about PowerPoint's HTML Convert PowerPoint to Flash Using the Web Publishing Wizard to upload your files to the web CROSS-PLATFORM COMPATIBILITY

PC to Mac and Back

Colors appear different on Mac vs PC PowerPoint

Quicktime Links

Preparing Mac Files for the PC (or Doin' The Illustrator Two-Step) CROSS-VERSION COMPATIBILITY Set the character PowerPoint 97 and the Viewer use in place of picture

bullets

Can I move my custom settings from one computer to another? ACCESSIBILITY AND INTERNATIONALIZATION The PPT Dictionary - PowerPoint menu commands in many languages

GENERAL INFO

MISC. HOWTOS

How to UNBLOCK a file Share files and folders from Dropbox Where's my TEMP folder? How to install Office, PowerPoint (and other software) on a netbook Make Windows show file extensions and hidden files How to back up and restore the Windows registry How to turn off CD AutoPlay (AutoRun) How to turn off Windows Messenger service How to turn off UAC (user account control) in Windows Vista Batch-convert high resolution images for PowerPoint or web use (batch

downsampling)

Screen shots / Screen captures Changing a File Association, Repairing broken File Associations Improving the view in Windows Explorer Add Asian Language support to PowerPoint, Office, Windows What version of Windows / PowerPoint is it? How to find the share name and path to a network printer How to map a network drive SCANS, RESOLUTION, DPI What's all this about DPI and INCHES and RESOLUTION? What's the best resolution for images in PowerPoint screen shows? Scanning - Bitmap Resolution - DPI Preparing bitmap images for 35mm slides Ideal Scan Sizes for 35mm Slides What formats does Windows Media Player play?

FONTS

PowerPoint opens presentations as Read-Only, won't allow editing when

fonts embedded

Embedding fonts

Are my fonts embedded or not? Microsoft's Typography site

COMPANION SOFTWARE

Sound Editors

Image Editing Software VERSIONS & COMPATIBILITY Do I have 32-bit or 64-bit PowerPoint? Open PowerPoint 2007, 2010, 2013 files in PowerPoint 2003, 2002, 2000 Where can I get information about older Office or PowerPoint versions? End User License Agreements (EULA) Using Microsoft copyrighted content (clip art, sounds, fonts, etc.)

Where's PowerPoint?

Can I install standalone PowerPoint along with Small Business Edition? About Office and Windows XP Product Activation and Licensing

PowerPoint VERSIONS

Can I install multiple versions of PowerPoint / Office? PowerPoint 2000 Migration Guide PowerPoint 2000 FEATURES not supported in PowerPoint 97 PowerPoint 97 vs 2000 incompatibilities PowerPoint 2002 (XP) vs 2000 vs 97 Saving backwards to PowerPoint 95 Which version of Office 2003 is right for me? How long will support be available?

WHAT IS ...?

What is a PPZ file?

What's the meaning of this? WHERE CAN I FIND ...?

PowerPoint Add-ins

Multimedia Converters Office Patches (Service Releases, Service Packs, SR-x, SP-x) More PowerPoint TEMPLATES Clocks and timers for PowerPoint

Photos

Music clips and sounds Clip art and graphics Movies and movie clips

Fonts

Company and product logo graphics Maps, Flags and other national clip art The mother of all PPT LINKS pages

Drivers and such?

More tips. I want MORE TIPS!! GENERAL PRESENTATION ADVICE Check your slides in B/W view LEGALITIES, RESTRICTIONS ETC. How can I use Office Clip Art?

Academic Editions

PROGRAMMING POWERPOINT These code samples come from various authors and are here for purposes of illustration. We can't (and don't) guarantee that they'll work on all systems, or that they are free of harmful side effects. It's your responsibility to verify the appropriateness and safety of any code

you find here.

We don't offer tech support for the code here. If you have any problems or questions, please post a detailed description on the PowerPoint newsgroup. Whether the author chooses to respond is entirely up to them. VBA code only works in PowerPoint 97 or later. It doesn't work at all in the free PowerPoint Viewer.

FOR VBEGINNERS

How do I use VBA code in PowerPoint How to set Macro Security in PowerPoint Is VBA the answer? Is it the RIGHT answer? Will it solve my presentation problem? Where can I learn more about VBA programming in PowerPoint? VBA in PowerPoint / Mac vs. Windows Self-certification to avoid macro security dialogs CREATING AND INSTALLING ADD-INS, TOOLBARS, BUTTONS Create an ADD-IN with Ribbon buttons that run macros when clicked Create an ADD-IN with TOOLBARS that run macros Put icons on toolbar buttons Working with toolbar buttons

Add a popup toolbar

Add / install an addin via the registry

Is VBA available?

Problems adding add-ins Programming for 64-bit vs 32-bit Office 2010 POWERPOINT EVENTS; EVENT-HANDLING IN VBA How can I get my code to run automatically when a presentation opens? Make your VBA code in PowerPoint respond to events OnSlideShowPageChange event does not fire AutoWideScreen: an example add-in with event handling PowerPoint event-handling best practices, oddities and workarounds

USEFUL PROJECTS

Certificate maker

USEFUL GENERAL PURPOSE CODE Read a text file into an array

SHOW ME

Show me the location and size of a shape Show Me the Document Properties Show me the Notes Text Show me the ID of PowerPoint's command bar controls (and launch them) Show me the next unhidden slide Show me a list of designs and which slides use them Show me the designs in a presentation; apply designs ONLY to selected

slides

Show me the text in an ActiveX / OLE text control on a slide Show me the built in properties and their values Show me the fonts my presentation needs Get a reference to a placeholder on a slide Show Me: The hyperlinks in my presentation What add-ins are loaded/installed? Show me the .Type of each object on a slide Show the .Type of each shape (including shapes in groups) Show me the transition time of each slide and total running time of

the show

Show me the transition, speed etc. of each slide Determine which shape was clicked The names of all main menu commands The SlideIndex of the current slide How many lines in the text box? Make links and action settings visible How to reproduce old-style preset gradients EXPORTING SHAPES, SLIDES AND PRESENTATIONS Break a presentation up into several smaller presentations Export comments to a text file (PowerPoint 2002 and later) Export comments to a text file (PowerPoint 2000 and previous, Mac

PowerPoint)

General-purpose routine for writing a string to a text file Export Slide Number and Title Text to a text file Export Text to a text file, extract text from PowerPoint (Mac or PC) Export the text of a presentation to a CSV/Excel file Export the notes text of a presentation Export the PowerPoint presentation outline to a tabbed text file Export the names and coordinates and type of all shapes Export slides as graphics Export Shapes as graphics Put an image on the clipboard to use as a custom toolbar icon ADDING SHAPES, SLIDES AND PRESENTATIONS Working with Guides in PPT 2013 and later Add presentation file name to each slide master Add "leader" lines to tabbed text Create a grid of rectangles Flag the existence of hidden slides Importing notes text from a text file Add an On-Screen Keyboard to your presentation Create a custom show from current slide selection using VBA Copy a picture or other shape to every slide in a presentation Double-Underline text Insert all slides from a group of presentations into the current

presentation

Add a random phrase from a text file to a text box on each slide Add new slides with titles and text from a text file Add a "thermometer" progress bar to each slide Insert a picture at the correct size Batch Insert a folder full of pictures, one per slide Add the current path and file to every slide Read in text from an ascii file? Add a text box with scrollbars; populate it with text Insert a symbol or other character at the insert cursor position Add shape with text to "flag" hidden vs unhidden slides How many slides can a presentation hold? Frame a slide with a rectangle Toggle a design grid on and off DELETING SHAPES, SLIDES AND PRESENTATIONS Delete all hyperlinks in a slide presentation Delete all slides but those in a custom show Delete embedded sounds Delete shapes with no fill and no line Delete notes page text (or text and shapes) How do I GET RID OF MACROS I've added? Warning message about "this presentation contains macros" Ungroup all the OLE objects in a presentation Remove all text shadows Create a subset of an existing presentation CHANGING SHAPES, SLIDES AND PRESENTATIONS

Tricks for Teachers

Adding ALT text to audio shapes Change one text color to another Custom numbering a presentation Remove underlines from descenders Change distance from text to underlines Identify each slide so its source can be tracked Edit text during a slide show Create vertical text Uniquely rename all shapes in a presentation, eliminate duplicate

shape names

Converting Scheme/Theme colors to non-Scheme colors Indents: zeroing them out, resetting them etc. Modifying AutoShape adjustments Stacking a selection of shapes Hide and Show Graphics Changing the style of added PowerPoint 2007 tables Rotate an image on every other slide Hide / Unhide shapes at will Change the formatting of Photo Album captions Change a picture to a rounded rectangle, set the rounding radius

(PowerPoint 2007)

Correct the order of shapes on Notes Pages. Fix disappearing notes in

presenter view.

Sort a presentation based on slide titles Invert the current selection: select all unselected shapes Reformat all instances of a particular phrase Reapply slide layout to every slide in the presentation Assign an Action Setting, Run Macro action to multiple shapes at once Highlight shapes in PowerPoint Highlight text in PowerPoint Working with Tab settings in text Working with PowerPoint tables Merge text from several text boxes into one text box Changing PowerPoint's Options and AutoCorrect settings Show me the link and let me edit it Break all of the links in a presentation Batch Search and Replace for Hyperlinks, OLE links, movie links and

sound links

Search & Replace to change OLE link paths Convert all OLE objects to grouped MSDraw objects Reapply the Notes Master to each Notes Page in a presentation Convert PowerPoint tables to HTML Changing shapes within groups (without ungrouping) Create "proper" fractions Edit the name of a shape Working with Tags (and a bit about Functions) Change the font color of text Change the font of all text in your presentation Working with pictures on slides Create agenda slides with a "moving highlight" Convert PowerPoint 2002/2003 comments into PowerPoint 2000 comments Change the author, date, etc. of Comments Make subscripts and superscripts larger Bringing certain shapes on top of others in your slides PowerPoint underlines spaces and tabs - workaround Changing the text in a shape during a slide show An "LCD" counter that you can change

PRINTING

Print from Slide Show View Print alternate Slides and Notes Pages

BATCH TRICKS

Do something to every shape slide or file Batch: Do something to every file in a folder Batch re-save presentations; update older presentations to newer

PowerPoint version

Apply a shape's formatting to all similar shapes in presentation ANIMATIONS AND TRANSITIONS VBA Linking (solve broken links problems) Peekaboo Text: Use VBA to make text appear and disappear Use VBA to create popup text Apply a random transition to every slide in a presentation Where can I find information about animation in PowerPoint 2002 (XP)

and 2003?

WORKING WITH EXCEL

Exel-lent Excel Sites Excel code to modify Excel chart palette colors Excel Charts to PowerPoint and other goodies Convert linked Excel charts to embedded Excel charts AUTOMATING ONE APP FROM ANOTHER General info on Office Automation Controlling Office Applications from PowerPoint (by Naresh Nichani and

Brian Reilly)

Automate Excel from PowerPoint. Automate PowerPoint from Excel. And so

on.

Automating the Viewer How to automate PowerPoint using VB Invoke PPT and run a macro from VB Server Office Automation Issues ShellExecute Example WORKING WITH MSGRAPH CHARTS

Automate MSGraph

MSGraph Colors -- The Periodic Table of the Graph Programmatically add an MSGraph chart as a user-defined custom graph

type

Extract data from MS Graph Chart Ungroup every MSGraph chart in a presentation WORKING WITH EXTERNAL DATA What this section is about Where it starts: the DisplayData project by Naresh Nichani and Brian

Reilly

Using Excel and Access data in PowerPoint Tables (by Brian Reilly and

Naresh Nichani)

Excel worksheet data to a PowerPoint array (part of a tutorial by Brian Reilly and Naresh Nichani) WORKING WITH MEDIA (AUDIO/VIDEO) Convert embedded movies to linked movies

WORKING WITH GUIDES

Adding, Deleting and Moving Guides

OTHER

Update charts and worksheets in a running presentation from Access data (by Naresh Nichani and Brian Reilly) Update embedded charts and worksheets in a running presentation from Access data (Naresh Nichani and Brian Reilly) Paragraph endings and line breaks Links from converted Open Office files behave oddly A Next Slide button that runs code also Use VBA to read text from a file Resetting positions of shapes

Using Tags

Interleave slides from several presentations Ungroup and ReGroup all pictures and OLE objects Reset the size of the slide images on notes pages to a single standard

size

Convert commas in slide titles to a "safe" character to avoid

hyperlink problems

Convert slide titles to shapes to solve hyperlink limit problems Hide and Unhide Slide Titles How do I distinguish the special page number characters on masters? Keep Score with Static Variables Recolor or hide "key" text in a presentation Convert key text into underscore characters (ie, make them into Fill

In The Blanks)

Use ShellExecute to sidestep certain linking problems Put your macro to Sleep Use DIR to get a list of files Manipulating Listbox and Combobox controls on slides and forms Fill a listbox with slide titles, make it go to chosen slide when

clicked

Randomize the order of a PowerPoint presentation

Go there, Come back

Call a macro in another presentation and pass it parameters Substitute one string for another in text Fill the MRU (Most Recently Used) list with bogus file names Single macro that can manipulate any shape that's clicked in slide

show view

Slide number, SlideID, SlideIndex and all that jazz Hide PowerPoint while I automate it Macros that work in Normal/Slide view don't work in Slide Show view Get DOCUMENT PROPERTIES without opening each file Get the Document Properties of a PPT file Determine the first CD ROM drive letter Where can I learn about the PowerPoint FILE FORMAT Hyperlink .SubAddress - How to interpret it Where are the hyperlinks? PowerPoint and Viewer Object Models Create an index or table of contents (TOC) with links to a folder full

of PPT files

Convert PowerPoint's color values into grayscale

SmartTags

VBA BUGS

The Name property of PowerPoint shapes is not reliable Connector attachment points change when you move the connected shape HasChildShapeRange returns incorrect values Checking for autoshape text produces text Message: "PowerPoint found an error it can't correct" when starting PowerPoint97 under Win2000 Querying Picture Properties crashes PPT XP

MAC FAQS

TROUBLESHOOT PROBLEMS, INTERPRET ERROR MESSAGES Mac: General troubleshooting suggestions for Office Mac: QuickTime Movies don't play well in PowerPoint 2004 PowerPoint crashes / complains about missing fonts Mac: Certain presentations crash PowerPoint 98 and 2001 Avoiding "Converting Metafile" dialogs in PowerPoint Mac Error: "Memory was too full to draw everything..." or Red X in PowerPoint 98/2001 Mac Mac: How do I recover corrupt or unreadable PowerPoint presentations? Animations don't work in PowerPoint X after updating to Jaguar Presentations lose animations in Mac PowerPoint X / Windows PowerPoint

2000 and previous

Mac: I can't import Windows Media Files into my presentation PowerPoint X / 2004 crashes on startup PowerPoint Viewer for Mac keeps insisting on being reinstalled Mac PowerPoint prints in B/W to my color printer Mac: Notes no longer match slides Mac: Temp files eating my hard drive! Mac: Can't import CIL files into Clip Gallery Mac: MPEG movies unreliable - don't always play PowerPoint 98 or 2001 crashes with a 'Type 2' error when I open it Mac: Error 2/Crash when printing to Epson 740 Mac: Type 2 or 3 errors after customizing toolbars in PowerPoint 2001 Mac: When I select a font, PowerPoint uses a different font Mac: Can't edit data in Microsoft Graph DOWNLOADS, CONTACT MICROSOFT How do I send feedback and suggestions on PowerPoint for Mac? Mac Office/PowerPoint Downloads, Tutorials and FAQs from Microsoft Mac: PowerPoint Updates Free PowerPoint Viewers for Mac What happened to the Mac PowerPoint newsgroup?

HOW-TOS

How do I use a database in Mac Office? How to insert a .WMV movie into Mac PowerPoint How do I enable Quartz Text Smoothing/anti-aliasing in PowerPoint X? How do I optimize Mac presentations for Windows PowerPoint? Mac: Use Make Movie to create a QuickTime presentation for use on

Windows

Mac: Insert a picture from file/camera/scanner and size it to fit the

slide in one step

How to create PDFs from Mac PowerPoint Mac: How to create a presentation for distribution on CD Mac: How do I customize the Office Manager? How does PPT Mac store graphics internally? OTHER MAC POWERPOINT RESOURCES Other Mac PowerPoint / Mac Office Sites

STUPID PPT-TRIX

OK. I'll bite. What's THIS all about?

Easter Egg

Just for fun

Awww. Do you miss your pal Clippy? SOLUTIONS IN SEARCH OF A PROBLEM Object-ively Foolish or total Videocy? You decide. Running more than one slide show at once

TROUBLESHOOTING

TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS AND PROCEDURES General PROBLEMS and solutions General PC Troubleshooting How to select a default printer How to install a TEST printer driver How to install a local printer driver How to set graphics hardware acceleration back How to start Office in Safe Mode How to start Windows in Safe Mode How to UNBLOCK a file Problems with unreadable CDs/DVDs Using the Office Setup program Completely uninstall Office - Office Erasers / Registry Cleaners Using System Information to gather troubleshooting info Do I have antivirus software installed? How to find out. Norton Anti-Virus and Office Find and Delete PowerPoint's PCB file Are you on a network? About User Permissions General information about Windows Printing What add-ins are loaded? How to disable add-ins Make a JING or SCREENR recording POWERPOINT CRASHES WITHOUT ERROR MESSAGE PowerPoint crashes when I type text PowerPoint 2002 / XP crashes while running add-in PowerPoint 2002 / XP crashes when renumbering slides PowerPoint crashes while opening certain presentations PowerPoint crashes or becomes non-responsive when searching for More

Auto-Shapes

PowerPoint won't start PowerPoint won't start or PowerPoint starts then immediately quits or

crashes

SPECIFIC ERROR MESSAGES PowerPoint crashes when switching to Slide Master view Corrupted file message when opening files in PowerPoint 2003 Message: "PowerPoint couldn't load the add-in" followed by the full path to a file that doesn't exist Message: General failure with email system, action could not be

completed

Message: "Failed to import ..." or "An error occurred while importing ..." while importing CGM or other graphics Message: "The server application, source file or item can't be found ..." when you double-click an embedded PDF Message: Some controls on this presentation can't be activated. They might not be registered on this computer. Message: "You must accept the Office End User License Agreement" when starting an Office program Message: This file has an older format that isn't supported. Error message: There was an error accessing the file File cannot be found error message when opening a file Message: "PowerPoint has stopped working" when editing a presentation Message: "PowerPoint has stopped working" at startup. PowerPoint won't

start.

Message: "PowerPoint couldn't load the add-in " when starting Powerpoint 2007 "You must accept the Office End User License Agreement" message when starting Office programs. "Hyperlinks can be harmful to your computer and data" PPT2003 - Can't access because the filename is invalid "You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting" (or "attempting to save a file") "The files cannot be copied to the temporary folder" message while using Package for CD "invalid product key" error message when starting Office 2003 program Error message: Microsoft Office PowerPoint can't display clip art. "Could not load an object" or "some controls on this presentation cant be activated" messages "\\Server\Share does not have enough free space" error when using Pack

and Go

Message re "installing Microsoft Graph" when you doubleclick a graph

to edit it

Error message: The address of this site is not valid. Check the address and try again. AUTOEXEC.NT, CONFIG.NT - The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications Security warning message when clicking a hyperlink: "files might harm

your computer"

"Hidden Console of WOW VDM" error messages when installing under NT4 "Can't Display the Template Used in This Document. Windows Installer

Error 1605."

Internet Explorer Cannot Download error message "Unable to read PRES0.PPZ" QuickTime and a TIFF (or JPEG) decompressor are needed to see this

picture

Error message: NTSC decompressor needed to see this picture PowerPoint Has Encountered an Error and Must Close "PowerPoint can't create a hyperlink to" or message about hlink.dll What DLL came with which software? CLSCentralAddInn - run-time error '5' Invalid procedure call or

argument

"Some files can contain viruses ..." message when clicking a hyperlink Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library error messages Files open as Read-Only after installing Windows XP SP1, Other file/path related problems This command is not available because the document is locked for edit "Server Not Found" messages after installing Office XP SP2 or Office

2000 SP3

Warning messages about PDFMaker after installing SP2 for Office XP Registration wizard appears every time you start PowerPoint "R6025 - pure virtual function call" message when starting PowerPoint FretrySdmError SDM Alert error message MSO9.DLL error messages Can't edit Org Chart, Graph, Excel (error msg: "server application, source file, or item can't be found") "PowerPoint can't open the type of file represented by " or "No text converter is installed for this file type" PowerPoint found an error that it can't correct "PowerPoint couldn't translate this file" when opening presentation in

PPT97

The file "xxx" is stored on a disc named . Please

insert this disc.

Unable to launch software component to play Unable to Insert a Movie from the Selected File Create MPEG 32 task_cmd is not successful Insufficient Memory message when adding an Organization Chart Org Chart and error messages referring to GDI Macro security warning when no macros are present "Insufficient memory to perform this operation" message when printing

from Photo Editor

"IE 3.0 or higher is required" message when accessing help via the

Office Assistant

MSO97.DLL ERRORS

Run-time error '429': ActiveX component can't create object This application must be installed to run. Please run Setup ... Path to the Proplus.msi file (you receive a prompt for this) The system cannot open the device or file specified The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This patch package could not be opened. Verify that ... This presentation might contain Far East (or Asian) text and formats that PowerPoint can't display "An unexpected error occurred" then "I/O Error 6" or "I/O Error 0"

GRAPHICS PROBLEMS

Inserted images have an unwanted border or lines on one or more sides Pictures with certain shadow settings may display incorrectly Fuzzy or low quality preview pictures / thumbnails Flipped images, upside-down images Can't crop pictures (or make them transparent)

Graphics turn black

Transparent areas of graphics turn black PNG images appear too dark or too light Can't make white colors become transparent in PowerPoint 2002/XP Clip Art/Clip Gallery/Design Gallery problems Problems with EMF (Enhanced Metafile) graphics EPS graphics don't print or don't print correctly Microsoft Office Picture Manager Opens Slowly TIFFs exported from PowerPoint won't open in other applications DISPLAY, SCREEN SHOW & MULTIMEDIA PROBLEMS Create a Video grayed out My 2007 presentation doesn't work as expected in the 2007 viewer Slides don't show in Slide Show View Slide sorter displays slides from right to left Double-clicking doesn't work Ink annotation doesn't work Text over video doesn't work What MPG formats can PowerPoint play? Can't open modify password protected presentation in Viewer Text bunches up at left of slide Mysterious text appears, slides advance unexpectedly (Ghosties Ex

Machina)

Grid appears in pasted/linked Excel worksheets Pen doesn't work during slide show in PowerPoint 2003 Video/Movie plays full screen when projected PowerPoint displays a presentation in B/W, won't show it in color Sounds/Movies don't play, images disappear or links break when I move or email a presentation Videos play correctly on computer but not on projector (black box) Flashes, blue screen or blank screen when viewing slides with video clips on external monitor or projector Animated text goes jagged in Screen Show Can't run slideshow / screen show won't start; Icon appears on task

bar

Solving MultiMedia problems PowerPoint gets the SLOWS PowerPoint locks up when running a presentation non-stop Can I play DVDs in PowerPoint? Problems with movies in PPT presentations Animations, Sounds, Movies play only once Animated GIFs don't animate AVIs don't play or don't play all the way through MUSHY/BLURRY GRAPHICS in PowerPoint Slide View is gone. I want it back! I don't like PPT2000's 3-pane view. I want my old view back. Problems with Organization Chart (OrgChart)

Missing menu items

Expand Slide missing Lines in PowerPoint 2000 tables have arrowheads White line appears at bottom of screen during slide show CORRUPTED OR UNOPENABLE PPT FILES Text disappears in the Viewer I accidentally deleted my file Remove password from a password-protected PowerPoint file Recovering a corrupt presentation RED X instead of graphics NOTES text disappears Images that appear corrupted, image files that won't import HTML "Round-tripping" to repair corruption

PRINTING PROBLEMS

PowerPoint 2010 autorecover puts users over profile limit PowerPoint won't print multiple copies PowerPoint 2010 won't print Black & White; prints grayscale instead PowerPoint 2007/2010 won't print equations Part of my printouts are cut off Gradient transparency doesn't print properly Can't print password protected PowerPoint files from PowerPoint 2002

(XP)

B/W printouts don't look right Margins are wrong, printout is off-center, can't print to edge,

printing is cut off

PowerPoint prints landscape slides in portrait mode (or vice versa) Slides don't print on notes pages Can't print or save from PowerPoint 2002 (XP) or 2003 Printed presentations don't match what I see on screen Pictures print blue on Canon Laser Copier A particular slide won't print 20 Mem Overflow and 21 Print Overrun errors when printing to PCL

printers

Pictures/Images print twice FILE SAVING PROBLEMS Why are my PowerPoint files so big? What can I do about it? Handouts sent to Word make huge files PowerPoint suddenly can't open or save files PowerPoint files open as read-only, can't save PowerPoint hangs when I save a file LINK & COPY/PASTE PROBLEMS Package for CD breaks links, loses animations in my 2007 presentation

file

PowerPoint drops hash characters in hyperlinks when saving Troubleshoot Link and Hyperlink Problems: links break, hyperlinks break, go to wrong slide, sounds or movies don't play Links to Excel break JAGGIES in pie charts Excel info cut off or cropped when pasted into PowerPoint Excel content turns black and white (B&W), loses color when copy/pasted into PowerPoint Making WORD TABLES look good in PowerPoint Problems with LINKED EXCEL CHARTS in PowerPoint Resizing info pasted from Excel makes text sizes go crazy Problems with fonts in embedded charts/spreadsheets, etc. Graphs don't update automatically Lost hyperlinks, hyperlinks link to wrong place, hyperlinks stop

working

Hyperlinks don't work after copy/paste FILE IMPORT / EXPORT PROBLEMS Don't make me store my pictures in My Pictures Problems with Clip Gallery PROBLEMS WITH POWERPOINT ON THE WEB I can't save as HTML from PowerPoint 97 Animations don't animate Graphics are missing, replaced with white box TEXT OR FONT PROBLEMS Can't type notes into the Notes Text pane in Normal view, scrollbar jumps to top in slide thumbnail pane Text size or other formatting is lost when you save, close, and reopen

a presentation

Text box won't AutoFit to Text Text is right to left, bullets appear on right of text Troubleshoot font problems Text changes size after saving and reopening a file Text disappears when I edit it Backspace key produces empty square box character PowerPoint adds space before apostrophe Text disappears when ungrouping WMFs or pasted drawings CROSS-VERSION / CROSS-PLATFORM PROBLEMS Page Size changes between PowerPoint 2002 and older versions Prevent PowerPoint XP from converting OrgCharts to XP format

MISSING FEATURES

Where is the Carnegie Coach in the AutoContent Wizard? Animation, Password, Multiple Master features unavailable in PowerPoint 2002/2003 Macro recorder toolbar disappears ADD-IN AND VBA PROBLEMS An add-in suddenly stops working Buttons that launch macros stop working

MISC. NUISANCES

Inserted pictures behave unpredictably PowerPoint adds odd linebreaks, breaks lines in odd places or in the

middle of words

Height and Width are blank in AutoFormat dialog box Problems with USB drives Office shapes move or duplicate themselves when I click them

(VISTA/Windows 7)

Slide show suddenly quits PowerPoint displays a "Set Profiles first, please" message at startup. Notes pages are odd-sized

Table cells are 3D

PowerPoint icon disappears from Programs and Start lists Function keys stop working Can't open attached presentations from within Outlook Express after applying Windows XP SP2 MS PhotoEditor disappears Programs slow down after applying Windows XP SP1 PowerPoint ruler shows inches instead of centimeters (cm). Or vice

versa.

Centimeters are wrong There's no title master in my presentation Can't use my custom Blank Presentation after applying the SR-2 patch STUPID WINDOWS TRICKS Can't delete a file or folder Additional FAQ search options Content authoring & site maintenance by Friday - The Automatic FAQ Maker