After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXMLupdates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

[Cvilledave]

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

I upgraded to the latest version of Mac Office last night, along with the most recent OpenXMLConverter. Unfortunately, now neither version of PowerPoint (2008 or 2004) I have installed on my Mac can open any of the .pptx files previously created. I checked to see if Word could open .docx files and it was fine.

Is anyone having similar problems? Any suggestions on how to resolve this?

Dave

 

[ashleye]

I have exactly the same problem, can't open PPTX files. I get this message:

"Microsoft powerpoint cannot open the file. You may need to download the latest updates for Office for Mac. Do you want to visit the Microsoft Web site for more information?"

When you go the site it provides workarounds for Excel but not Powerpoint and suggests you do the latest update. DUH!!!!! The update is what caused the problem.

Seems Microsoft can't do anything right!!

 

[mlh78750]

I have files I created in 12.1.9 that I can no longer open in 12.2. This is a huge problem with this update. I just hope that they fix this very quickly. I guess I need to get the original media out again and reinstall so that I can regress to 12.1.9. And I was looking forward to the path animations and other improvements in SP2. I can't believe that Microsoft missed this in testing.

 

[MarcosM]

I have files I created in 12.1.9 that I can no longer open in 12.2. This is a huge problem with this update. I just hope that they fix this very quickly. I guess I need to get the original media out again and reinstall so that I can regress to 12.1.9. And I was looking forward to the path animations and other improvements in SP2. I can't believe that Microsoft missed this in testing.

Hi all,

I have not been able to reproduce your issue with a large number of
test files I have at my disposal. Can each of you encountering this
problem PLEASE send a sample file directly to me? You can send it to
(e-mail address removed), along with a brief description of the history
of ths file.

Thanks,

Marcos Montenegro
Macintosh Business Unit
Microsoft Corp.
This posting is provided *AS IS* with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

 

[CyberTaz]

No problem here -- Did you repair disk permissions & restart your Mac after
applying the updates? Try that & see if it makes a difference.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[CyberTaz]

Apparently it isn't the update itself that is at fault -- I along with a
number of other users are not experiencing any such issue working on both
Intel as well as PPC Macs with a mixtures of Tiger & Leopard. I also know
for a fact that the updates are thoroughly tested before being released. I
understand that it isn't what you would prefer to hear, but such problems
are normally attributable to something about the local system where it's
occurring. Please understand that I'm not saying that the *user* is to
blame, but sometimes things happen without us realizing it.

Try repairing disk permissions followed by a restart & see if that clears up
the problem. Also, a member of MacBU has offered an open invitation to
forward him copies of such files in an effort to help identify the cause of
the problem. Quite frankly, that's beyond the call of duty when there's very
little if any reason to suspect the software itself, so please keep the
zingers in the blogs & chat-rooms where they belong. The newsgroups are
provided for the purpose of *assisting* one another, not for soapbox
oratories that denigrate or bash anyone.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Cvilledave]

Yes ... disk permissions were repaired and I restarted my Mac. That had no effect.

 

[Cvilledave]

Apparently it isn't the update itself that is at fault --

Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

It may not be the only thing at fault, but given that's all that has changed in the last few days one might expect the update has something to do with the problem. Since this isn't happening with everyone's pptx files, that suggests there might be something on both ends (the software update and specific files) that wasn't expected or tested.

I've worked in software development and it can be very difficult to test software much less develop error free code. Uncovering issues with a new release isn't totally unexpected.

On the plus side, Marcos and the MAC BU have been very responsive in proactively asking for sample files so they can diagnose the problem. Hopefully they will be able to address workarounds or fixes soon.

 

[Eurythenes]

I used time machine to reset my Office 2008 folder and Microsoft preferences to their condition prior to the update and now all works fine. I switched my office update to manual and I'm concerned that I may never feel it's safe to update Office 2008.

Trust MS to claim nothing is their fault.

They also told me that it's not the fault of MS that I can't optimize pdf files created using PowerPoint even though I can optimize files created with any other program.

Maybe MS never does anything wrong...... but their does seem to be a correlation between MS updates and problems on my computer!

 

[russcus]

I sent a sample file to Marcos Montenegro as requested above.

Created the file with PowerPoint 12.1.9
Edited the file with PowerPoint 12.1.9
Quit all applications
Installed the 12.2.0 update
Launched PowerPoint 12.2.0 (no file open request)
Error message "Microsoft powerpoint cannot open the file. You may need to download the latest updates for Office for Mac. Do you want to visit the Microsoft Web site for more information?"
File>Open sample file
Error message
Repaired permissions
Restarted
Launched PowerPoint 12.2.0 (no file open request)
Error message
File>Open sample file
Error message
Switched to a new admin account
Launched PowerPoint 12.2.0 (no file open request)
No error message
File>Open sample file
Error message
File>Open a four year-old .ppt file
File opens, error message still displays
File>Open a half-dozen other .pptx files
Error message

Mac OS X 10.5.7
Office 2008 Home and Student Addition
Word and Excel 12.2.0 exhibit no abnormal behavior

 

[mlh78750]

I have not been able to reproduce your issue with a large number of

test files I have at my disposal. Can each of you encountering this
problem PLEASE send a sample file directly to me? You can send it to
(e-mail address removed), along with a brief description of the history
of ths file.

Marcos,

Thanks for the offer. I can't forward the any of the three files I ran into problems with since they have sensitive information in them. And I reinstalled yesterday to get back to 12.1.9 since I needed to get my work done.

I can describe how I authored the files. They were created in 12.1.9. I used a template that was created under win/2004 version. I then added content including cut-n-paste of pages from other ppts that were created using both windows and mac office.

I was very excited to see 12.2 add path animations. I saved my files. Did the upgrade. rebooted. Launched ppt and was unable to open the files. I did load them on win/2007 and they loaded fine. But even a save from win/2007 would not allow me to open them again in 12.2 version. I reinstalled office and upgraded back to 12.1.9 and i can edit the files agin without a problem. I did forward one of the files to a co-worker who also updated to 12.2 and he was also unable to open them.

--Mike

 

[markmillx]

Hello Marcos, Similar challenge, after updating to SP 12.2, some PPTX files will not open and two really critical PPTM files will not open. Regrettably they contain sensitive corporate information so, I can not forward them to you. Any suggestions as to when a fix can be worked out?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Kradeka]

I just want to echo that I have experienced the same problem.

I will use Time Machine to go back to the last version of Office prior to this update.

I don't think it has anything at all to do with the files - it affects ALL of my pptx files - all created with Office 2008 - and I have many!!

 

[CyberTaz]

For the record:

I also know
for a fact that the updates are thoroughly tested before being released.

It appears my confidence was misplaced... Apparently the release was
thoroughly tested, but the issue seems to have been anticipated & SP2 was
released all the same. I don't claim to know the facts nor do I pretend to
understand all circumstances involved.

At the same time, I must admit that I have not experienced the problem
myself on either of my Office 2008 [Tiger & Leopard] installations with the
SP2 update applied. I've had no problem with any files which are known to
have been created by 2007 & earlier on PCs as well as files created by 2004
on a Mac or with files created by 2008 prior to the 12.2.0 update.

To anyone experiencing such problems I'd suggest you do the following:

1- Use Help> Send Feedback to report it,
2- Submit the issue via email, AND
3- Contact MS Customer Support by phone

The support page is: http://support.microsoft.com/ph/12853

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[DigitalDCH]

Add me to the growing list of people with this incredibly frustrating problem. I have several PPTX files from clients that worked fine last week (pre-12.2.0) that now refuse to open. The support page the dialog box takes you to:

<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972141>

....doesn't really help as the proposed workaround simply states:

"If updates do not resolve the issue, you can re-create or save the Excel workbook, Word document, or PowerPoint presentation in a file format other than Open XML. For example, you can save the file in the .xls, .doc, or .ppt file format."

Since these aren't my original documents, I can't easily "re-create or save" the files in a different format.

Since these files worked perfectly fine under 12.1.9, I personally view this as a bug introduced by 12.2.0 that needs to be fixed ASAP.

Dave

 

[milla1380]

I am having the same issue as well, just updated office a couple of hours ago. Is there a fix or work around yet? Other than re-installing office?

 

[DigitalDCH]

Just a quick FYI...I took Marcos up on his earlier request to email him problem presentations so he could try to figure out what the problem was.

I sent him a PPTX file that I received from a client that was created on a Windows machine (used to open fine on my machine, but not after 12.2.0).

I got a reply from him last evening that said he found the issue with the PPTX file, but that so far the only solution he found was to have the creator resave the file on the original machine with PowerPoint 2007 after they had installed SP2.

Unfortunately that's not an option in my case (since I had worked hard to convince this particular client that interoperability wasn't going to be a problem with them being a Windows shop and me being on a Mac), but at least it sounded like the MS team was zeroing in on the problem...

Dave

 

[MarcosM]

Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.1 update is now live! This release fixes the issue in Office 12.2.0 where some users were not able to open some PowerPoint (.pptx) & Excel (.xlsx) files. The release is available for English versions today, August 6, and other languages will be available soon.

To download please visit: <http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx>

This update only applies to 12.2.0. If you are running a previous release, you must update to 12.2.0 first, and then install 12.2.1. The update is also available from the Auto Update tool.

Marcos Montenegro
Macintosh Business Unit
Microsoft Corp.

This posting is provided *AS IS* with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Cvilledave]

Thanks, Marcos. While I would have preferred the problem never occurred, your responsiveness in soliciting test files to diagnose the problem and the Mac BU's relatively quick release of a fix are much appreciated!

Dave