Can't see task pane design template

[Echo S]

Thanks, Chris, I really appreciate it. It's so nice to be closer to solving
this one!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

Yes, that is the software. I'm using the demo, and will probably shell
out
the bucks for the full blown one. So far I'm fairly impressed with it.
Anyway, it is the Pro 7.0 one.

For video, it is an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M. The laptop is a Toshiba
Satellite L25. Any other specs you need, just ask.

Chris

in
message news:[email protected]...

Well, the nice thing about this translator program is that I can choose
which
Office programs the toolbar shows up on, and since I really don't need
to
translate Powerpoint slides, I just turned it off from that entirely.

That's a very cool feature!

I'll send a note to Promt about that issue and see if they can fix it
in
an
update, but that won't cure issues for people who are using some other
add-in
program with low-color toolbars. If that is, in fact, what the issue
is.

Is this the same Prompt Translator software, Chris?
http://www.online-translator.com/?lang=en Can I ask which you're using? I
see both Prompt Office 7.0 and Prompt Pro 7.0. I'd like to kick this
issue
over to MS testing, and details like that always help. Maybe they can
figure out exactly what is causing the problem.

Can I also ask what ATI video card your system has?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

 

[whabap]

Well, the problem isn't just coming from that translator add-in --
we're having the exact same problem with one of our users. As near as
I can tell, she's not running anything unusual, and other users with
the same set-up are not reporting the same problem.

It's not limited to a single presentation for her either. She's using
a Dell laptop with a docking station, and running XP SP2, and Office
2003.

Any advice? Should I uninstall PPT and reinstall it? She's not
experiencing any other problems with her computer.

--Meg

Thanks, Chris, I really appreciate it. It's so nice to be closer to solving
this one!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

Yes, that is the software. I'm using the demo, and will probably shell
out
the bucks for the full blown one. So far I'm fairly impressed with it.
Anyway, it is the Pro 7.0 one.

For video, it is an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M. The laptop is a Toshiba
Satellite L25. Any other specs you need, just ask.

Chris

in
message Well, the nice thing about this translator program is that I can choose
which
Office programs the toolbar shows up on, and since I really don't need
to
translate Powerpoint slides, I just turned it off from that entirely.

That's a very cool feature!

I'll send a note to Promt about that issue and see if they can fix it
in
an
update, but that won't cure issues for people who are using some other
add-in
program with low-color toolbars. If that is, in fact, what the issue
is.


Is this the same Prompt Translator software, Chris?
http://www.online-translator.com/?lang=en Can I ask which you're using? I
see both Prompt Office 7.0 and Prompt Pro 7.0. I'd like to kick this
issue
over to MS testing, and details like that always help. Maybe they can
figure out exactly what is causing the problem.

Can I also ask what ATI video card your system has?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

 

[Echo S]

Thanks for the info on your user's setup, Meg. No, uninstalling/reinstalling
probably won't help it. I suspect an add-in of some sort, even if it's not
that particular translator.

Does this user have any add-ins installed? There are actually three or four
different places to look for add-ins.

1. PPA files. Close PPT and do a search on the harddrive for all *.PPA
files. Rename them to *.PPX or *.OLD or something. Start PPT again. If you
no longer have blank thumbnails, then you can rename the files back to PPA
one at a time until you isolate the problem.

2. COM add-ins. (Thanks, Steve!) In PPT go to Tools|Customize. On the
Commands tab, choose Tools on the left and scroll on the right until you see
COM add-ins. Drag that to a toolbar. Click Close to close the dialog box.
Now click that COM button on the toolbar. What's listed? Clear the
checkboxes and hit OK to close that dialog. Restart PPT. Problem resolved?

3. Other add-ins listed in the registry. Close PPT. Go to Start|Run and type
regedit. In the registry, head to
hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins. There may be
a list of various add-ins there. Rename them by right clicking, choosing
Rename, and putting an X in front of them or something simple like that.
Restart PPT. Problem resolved?

4. There's another place in the registry you might find PPT add-ins.
hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins. Rename these
the same way as described above and see if the problem is resolved.

There may be other places in the registry, but I don't know where they'd be
off the top of my head. I'd start with those, though. If you want to list
what you're seeing, maybe we can help you identify things and eliminate some
pretty easily.

Also look at the user's menus. What all is listed along the top row? (File,
Edit, View, etc.) We were able to pinpoint Chris's issue pretty quickly just
by seeing the screenshot with an unusual menu item. I'd love to know if you
pinpoint the issue there -- it's more information we can give to MS to try
to figure out what exactly is causing the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

Well, the problem isn't just coming from that translator add-in --
we're having the exact same problem with one of our users. As near as
I can tell, she's not running anything unusual, and other users with
the same set-up are not reporting the same problem.

It's not limited to a single presentation for her either. She's using
a Dell laptop with a docking station, and running XP SP2, and Office
2003.

Any advice? Should I uninstall PPT and reinstall it? She's not
experiencing any other problems with her computer.

--Meg

Thanks, Chris, I really appreciate it. It's so nice to be closer to
solving
this one!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

in
message news:[email protected]...

Yes, that is the software. I'm using the demo, and will probably shell
out
the bucks for the full blown one. So far I'm fairly impressed with it.
Anyway, it is the Pro 7.0 one.

For video, it is an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M. The laptop is a Toshiba
Satellite L25. Any other specs you need, just ask.

Chris

:

"Chris Banyai-Riepl" <[email protected]>
wrote
in
message Well, the nice thing about this translator program is that I can
choose
which
Office programs the toolbar shows up on, and since I really don't
need
to
translate Powerpoint slides, I just turned it off from that
entirely.

That's a very cool feature!

I'll send a note to Promt about that issue and see if they can fix
it
in
an
update, but that won't cure issues for people who are using some
other
add-in
program with low-color toolbars. If that is, in fact, what the
issue
is.


Is this the same Prompt Translator software, Chris?
http://www.online-translator.com/?lang=en Can I ask which you're
using? I
see both Prompt Office 7.0 and Prompt Pro 7.0. I'd like to kick this
issue
over to MS testing, and details like that always help. Maybe they
can
figure out exactly what is causing the problem.

Can I also ask what ATI video card your system has?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

 

[whabap]

Hi, Echo! Thanks for your continued assistance with this! I'm sorry I
didn't get back to you sooner -- I was on vacation last week.

I finally got a chance to run through all these steps with my user --
she had no PPA files and no COM add-ins. There were also no add-ins of
any kind in the two registry locations you cited.

I'm not seeing anything unusual in her menu, either. A screenshot can
be found here:
http://megwood.com/PPT.bmp. Do you see anything there that seems out
of the ordinary?

She says that if she restarts her computer, the first time she opens
PPT, the templates are visible. If she closes PPT and reopens it, they
are invisible again. So, she has to restart every time she wishes to
see the templates. Weird!

I'd appreciate any more advice you might have to offer. I'm extremely
puzzled!

--Meg

 

[Heike]

Hello Echo,

I have the same problem as everybody else in this thread, with a twist
though. I've been using powerpoint for a few months and suddenly since
yesterday I can't see the design templates nor the slide layouts on the task
pane (the other functions in the task pane work. Like the others, I can
select and use the template and slide layouts but don't actually see them
until I activate them in a presentation. Now, I've check your add-ins
suggestion in the message and have also looked at my menus but nothing has
changed there since before they were visable. Oh, it affects old and new
powerpoint presentations. Any suggestions as to what I can do or try?

Heike

Thanks for the info on your user's setup, Meg. No, uninstalling/reinstalling
probably won't help it. I suspect an add-in of some sort, even if it's not
that particular translator.

Does this user have any add-ins installed? There are actually three or four
different places to look for add-ins.

1. PPA files. Close PPT and do a search on the harddrive for all *.PPA
files. Rename them to *.PPX or *.OLD or something. Start PPT again. If you
no longer have blank thumbnails, then you can rename the files back to PPA
one at a time until you isolate the problem.

2. COM add-ins. (Thanks, Steve!) In PPT go to Tools|Customize. On the
Commands tab, choose Tools on the left and scroll on the right until you see
COM add-ins. Drag that to a toolbar. Click Close to close the dialog box.
Now click that COM button on the toolbar. What's listed? Clear the
checkboxes and hit OK to close that dialog. Restart PPT. Problem resolved?

3. Other add-ins listed in the registry. Close PPT. Go to Start|Run and type
regedit. In the registry, head to
hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins. There may be
a list of various add-ins there. Rename them by right clicking, choosing
Rename, and putting an X in front of them or something simple like that.
Restart PPT. Problem resolved?

4. There's another place in the registry you might find PPT add-ins.
hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins. Rename these
the same way as described above and see if the problem is resolved.

There may be other places in the registry, but I don't know where they'd be
off the top of my head. I'd start with those, though. If you want to list
what you're seeing, maybe we can help you identify things and eliminate some
pretty easily.

Also look at the user's menus. What all is listed along the top row? (File,
Edit, View, etc.) We were able to pinpoint Chris's issue pretty quickly just
by seeing the screenshot with an unusual menu item. I'd love to know if you
pinpoint the issue there -- it's more information we can give to MS to try
to figure out what exactly is causing the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

Well, the problem isn't just coming from that translator add-in --
we're having the exact same problem with one of our users. As near as
I can tell, she's not running anything unusual, and other users with
the same set-up are not reporting the same problem.

It's not limited to a single presentation for her either. She's using
a Dell laptop with a docking station, and running XP SP2, and Office
2003.

Any advice? Should I uninstall PPT and reinstall it? She's not
experiencing any other problems with her computer.

--Meg

Thanks, Chris, I really appreciate it. It's so nice to be closer to
solving
this one!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

in
message Yes, that is the software. I'm using the demo, and will probably shell
out
the bucks for the full blown one. So far I'm fairly impressed with it.
Anyway, it is the Pro 7.0 one.

For video, it is an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M. The laptop is a Toshiba
Satellite L25. Any other specs you need, just ask.

Chris

:

"Chris Banyai-Riepl" <[email protected]>
wrote
in
message Well, the nice thing about this translator program is that I can
choose
which
Office programs the toolbar shows up on, and since I really don't
need
to
translate Powerpoint slides, I just turned it off from that
entirely.

That's a very cool feature!

I'll send a note to Promt about that issue and see if they can fix
it
in
an
update, but that won't cure issues for people who are using some
other
add-in
program with low-color toolbars. If that is, in fact, what the
issue
is.


Is this the same Prompt Translator software, Chris?
http://www.online-translator.com/?lang=en Can I ask which you're
using? I
see both Prompt Office 7.0 and Prompt Pro 7.0. I'd like to kick this
issue
over to MS testing, and details like that always help. Maybe they
can
figure out exactly what is causing the problem.

Can I also ask what ATI video card your system has?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

 

[Echo S]

Hi, Meg!

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back with you on this. I don't really
have any solid answers, but I'm still hoping we can track this down.

Thanks for checking the add-ins. As a double-check, you might run the code
listed here
What add-ins are loaded? http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00655.htm
just to see if it turns up anything. (Sorry I didn't give you this earlier
to save you from a registry dive -- I didn't realize we had this entry in
the FAQ!)

Some of the add-ins that people forget they have are things like Adobe
Acrobat; translation tools like the previous poster, Chris, had; screen
capture utilities; etc. These applications are regular applications and they
get their own shortcuts and icons on the Windows Start thing, but they hook
into the Office programs as well -- but because they're not specifically
labeled, for instance, "PowerPoint add-in," people don't always realize that
they are indeed still add-ins. That's just a general comment for anyone
researching this problem and/or following this thread.

I don't see anything out of the ordinary in your screenshot, either. Thanks
for posting it! I was so hoping your user would have something obvious
hanging out on her menubar!

It's interesting that PPT seems to be fine for your user the first time she
opens it, but not the second and subsequent times. It's almost as if
something's kicking in when PPT is first started, or something's running in
the background, or you have a resources issue, or something along those
lines.

Here are some other things I'd like to know the answers to for anyone
experiencing this problem.

1) Is the machine CPU bound at the point of display failure? Use Task
Manager to determine this -- hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete and see what the CPU usage
says at the bottom of that dialog box. If you look in the Processes tab, is
POWERPNT.EXE running more than once? Is there anything listed on the
Processes tab that seems weird?

2) What is the behavior with hardware acceleration turned off? I think some
others have tried this with no luck, but it only takes a second to try.
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00129.htm has instructions for changing
hardware acceleration if you need it.

3) Is the machine running out of memory at the point of display failure?
Again, use Task Manager to determine this. Memory is listed on the
Performance tab.

4) What happens if you boot into Safe Mode? Do the templates show up when
you start PPT a second time in Safe Mode? (For others who may experience
missing/blank thumbnails the first time PPT starts, when you boot into Safe
Mode, do the thumbnails show up?)

5) Which thumbnails are blank for you? Is it both the Slide Layout and Slide
Design task panes? What about other task panes in PowerPoint that also
display thumbnails, such as the Slide Layout -- Color Scheme task pane or
the ClipArt task pane? If you have missing clipart thumbnails, empty your
Temporary Internet Files folder and try again. If the clips still don't
show, then can you open Word and see if it's also missing clip art
thumbnails?

 

[Echo S]

Hm. I just posted some additional things for Meg to check. Can you do those
steps, too, and let us know the results?

Oh, I wanted to ask Meg this, too, but I forgot -- what video card do you
have? Oh, and what antivirus program are you using?

It's especially interesting that this suddenly started happening for you.
What changed on your system yesterday (March 3, actually)? Did you install
any software or trial software, even if it wasn't specifically a PowerPoint
add-in? Did you install any service packs or service releases, even if they
were for Windows or non-Microsoft software? Did you let any programs check
for updates and install them? (For example, Adobe products will do an auto
update check and installation if you've allowed that. Many firewalls and
antivirus programs will update automatically, too)

I'm still scratching my head and trying to gather enough information to
figure this one out. Thanks for any additions to our collective
knowledgebase!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
How to Prevent PowerPoint Overload (March 23 webcast)
http://tinyurl.com/bp2h8

Hello Echo,

I have the same problem as everybody else in this thread, with a twist
though. I've been using powerpoint for a few months and suddenly since
yesterday I can't see the design templates nor the slide layouts on the
task
pane (the other functions in the task pane work. Like the others, I can
select and use the template and slide layouts but don't actually see them
until I activate them in a presentation. Now, I've check your add-ins
suggestion in the message and have also looked at my menus but nothing has
changed there since before they were visable. Oh, it affects old and new
powerpoint presentations. Any suggestions as to what I can do or try?

Heike

Thanks for the info on your user's setup, Meg. No,
uninstalling/reinstalling
probably won't help it. I suspect an add-in of some sort, even if it's
not
that particular translator.

Does this user have any add-ins installed? There are actually three or
four
different places to look for add-ins.

1. PPA files. Close PPT and do a search on the harddrive for all *.PPA
files. Rename them to *.PPX or *.OLD or something. Start PPT again. If
you
no longer have blank thumbnails, then you can rename the files back to
PPA
one at a time until you isolate the problem.

2. COM add-ins. (Thanks, Steve!) In PPT go to Tools|Customize. On the
Commands tab, choose Tools on the left and scroll on the right until you
see
COM add-ins. Drag that to a toolbar. Click Close to close the dialog box.
Now click that COM button on the toolbar. What's listed? Clear the
checkboxes and hit OK to close that dialog. Restart PPT. Problem
resolved?

3. Other add-ins listed in the registry. Close PPT. Go to Start|Run and
type
regedit. In the registry, head to
hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins. There may
be
a list of various add-ins there. Rename them by right clicking, choosing
Rename, and putting an X in front of them or something simple like that.
Restart PPT. Problem resolved?

4. There's another place in the registry you might find PPT add-ins.
hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins. Rename
these
the same way as described above and see if the problem is resolved.

There may be other places in the registry, but I don't know where they'd
be
off the top of my head. I'd start with those, though. If you want to list
what you're seeing, maybe we can help you identify things and eliminate
some
pretty easily.

Also look at the user's menus. What all is listed along the top row?
(File,
Edit, View, etc.) We were able to pinpoint Chris's issue pretty quickly
just
by seeing the screenshot with an unusual menu item. I'd love to know if
you
pinpoint the issue there -- it's more information we can give to MS to
try
to figure out what exactly is causing the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

Well, the problem isn't just coming from that translator add-in --
we're having the exact same problem with one of our users. As near as
I can tell, she's not running anything unusual, and other users with
the same set-up are not reporting the same problem.

It's not limited to a single presentation for her either. She's using
a Dell laptop with a docking station, and running XP SP2, and Office
2003.

Any advice? Should I uninstall PPT and reinstall it? She's not
experiencing any other problems with her computer.

--Meg


Echo S wrote:
Thanks, Chris, I really appreciate it. It's so nice to be closer to
solving
this one!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

"Chris Banyai-Riepl" <[email protected]>
wrote
in
message Yes, that is the software. I'm using the demo, and will probably
shell
out
the bucks for the full blown one. So far I'm fairly impressed with
it.
Anyway, it is the Pro 7.0 one.

For video, it is an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M. The laptop is a Toshiba
Satellite L25. Any other specs you need, just ask.

Chris

:

"Chris Banyai-Riepl" <[email protected]>
wrote
in
message Well, the nice thing about this translator program is that I can
choose
which
Office programs the toolbar shows up on, and since I really don't
need
to
translate Powerpoint slides, I just turned it off from that
entirely.

That's a very cool feature!

I'll send a note to Promt about that issue and see if they can
fix
it
in
an
update, but that won't cure issues for people who are using some
other
add-in
program with low-color toolbars. If that is, in fact, what the
issue
is.


Is this the same Prompt Translator software, Chris?
http://www.online-translator.com/?lang=en Can I ask which you're
using? I
see both Prompt Office 7.0 and Prompt Pro 7.0. I'd like to kick
this
issue
over to MS testing, and details like that always help. Maybe
they
can
figure out exactly what is causing the problem.

Can I also ask what ATI video card your system has?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

 

[buddycwll]

Just want to add my 2 pence worth ...

Just had a support log come in at the university where I work with at
least 5 people experiencing invisible design template problems. They
all use Office XP SP3 and will have exactly the same hardware setup as
thousands of other staff here because we have standardised
workstations. Local Support have rebuilt one user's computer and
recreated her profile which made a difference only for the first few
times she used PowerPoint before the symptoms returned.

Has anyone confirmed that removing all add-ins solve the problem? Do
Microsoft have a KB for this problem? It seems to have been around for
years!

I was going to suggest the user upgrades to Office 2003 but it seems
this problem exists in this version to?

Thanks,
Stephen.

 

[Echo S]

Microsoft doesn't have a KB article on this.

We can't confirm that removing all add-ins solves the problem. The problem's
only been reported here in this newsgroup in the past few months -- and at
this point, we're still trying to gather enough information to reliably
repro the problem so MS can fix it or publish a KB explaining it.

I'd be interested in knowing your responses to the requests for information
posted elsewhere in this thread. Personally, I'm still leaning toward an
add-in or some other program running in the background causing the problem.

 

[fancyabrew]

Ok we have the same problem with quite a few of our installs All are
Office 2003 SP2

 

[Echo S]

Ok we have the same problem with quite a few of our installs All are
Office 2003 SP2

Okay, can't really help you without further information. Please read the
other posts in this thread, and if you can contribute information, I would
love to see what we can figure out.

 

[buddycwll]

Hi Echo,

I'll see if I can convince local support guys to gather the information
requested whilst also trying some of the 'magic' suggestions on the
link from Steve.

Interesting that I'm the first person to report this in PowerPoint XP
as most seem to refer to PowerPoint 2003 in this thread. I have seen
other postings whilst doing a Google Search which show this problem (or
at least it appears to be this problem) occuring back in 2003/2004.

Thanks,
Stephen.

 

[Echo S]

Hi Echo,

I'll see if I can convince local support guys to gather the information
requested whilst also trying some of the 'magic' suggestions on the
link from Steve.

Interesting that I'm the first person to report this in PowerPoint XP
as most seem to refer to PowerPoint 2003 in this thread. I have seen
other postings whilst doing a Google Search which show this problem (or
at least it appears to be this problem) occuring back in 2003/2004.

Really? I'll have to google over the weekend. I sure don't recall it, but
that doesn't mean it didn't happen!

Whatever is causing this problem, it's becoming more prevalent lately, it
seems. Maybe not, but it sure does *seem* that way, anyway.

What I find really interesting is we have two or three reports of various
things fixing it "for awhile." One user in this thread reported that running
Detect and Repair fixed it on the user's machine "for awhile." Meg's user
doesn't see the problem until the second time she starts up PPT.

Something in the users' environment has to be causing this. I just wish we
could figure out what it is!

Also, I want to apologize for the state of the FAQ Steve pointed you to --
Steve and I are working on it, but it's not yet as organized or as easy to
follow as it should be. We hope it will be soon, though! Oh, and we made
changes to it last night, so if you looked at it yesterday, you might want
to refresh your browser when you go there today.

 

[StephenCWLL]

Hi Echo,

One of the computers here with the PowerPoint problem was kindly looked
at by local support who passed back the following information:

____________________

Windows Version: Windows XP Professional SP2 Desktop
Graphics: Intel 82865G, Driver Intel 6.13.10.3510 dated 15/04/03
PowerPoint 2002 (10.6501.6735) SP3
Log-in Privileges: Full administrative rights.
Addons: HKEY_CURRENT_USER none
Addons: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE MultiMgrAddIn.AddInDesigner1,
OfficePrintAddin.Connect

Further experiments reveal:
Running in Safe Mode (logged in as Administrator and as user) Could not
break PowerPoint (after 21 tries)
Logged in normally (as me) broke PowerPoint after ~10 goes. Running
PowerPoint in safe mode (hold down CTL while starting PP) fixed the
problem.
Logged in as user, broke PowerPoint on second go. Running PowerPoint
in safe mode did NOT change anything.
Updated graphics driver to 6.14.10.4396 dated 20/09/05. Broke PP as
user on first try!

___________________

 

[Echo S]

Thanks, Stephen! (Tell the local support team thank you, too!)

I'm not sure what to think about these results. Lemme see if some others
have some ideas.

Can I ask also which task panes is missing information? Is it the design
templates, the slide layouts, or one (or all?) of the others?

 

[StephenCWLL]

Hi Echo,

As far as I'm aware the user who is experiencing the problem has only
complained about the design templates thumbnails being blank. I've no
idea if anything else is 'missing'.

Thanks,
Stephen.

 

[StephenCWLL]

One more workstation with the problem, thanks to local support again:

Windows XP Professional SP2 Desktop
Graphics: Intel 82865G, Driver Intel 6.13.10.3510 dated 15/04/03
PowerPoint 2002 (10.6501.6735) SP3
Full administrative rights.
Addons: HKEY_CURRENT_USER none
Addons: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE MultiMgrAddIn.AddInDesigner1,

Logged in as another user (don't know but persume this was admin
rights) but couldn't break PowerPoint (21 tries and templates still
there)

Interesting

 

[Echo S]

Thanks, Stephen. Kudos to the local team!

If they have a chance to ask the users or check other task panes for stuff
missing, that would be helpful as well.

I'm still trying to find the answer.

 

[PPTMagician]

Hello,

A couple of other thoughts:

Check to see the default templates settings for each user:
Open Word
Click on Tools, Options, File Locations
Check the locations of User Templates and Workgroup templates

Are either one a shared network drive? If so, this could be set by user
policies on your network and performance of the network could be impacting
the display.

Also, it's a long shot, but internet connectivity might have an impact.
Disable this by: Open PowerPoint
Click on Tools, General, Service Options
Click on Online Content
Uncheck the top box
Click ok, ok
Close PowerPoint

Restart PowerPoint and see if it makes a difference.

Do let us know what you find.

 

[Heike]

Hello Echo,

the task panes came back after I had restarted the computer for another
reasons but then they disappeared. The only thing I had recently installed
was the reference software Endnote. What's interesting about the situation
though is that the design templates were always visible, even after the
software was installed, for the other user on this computer.

I can't find the info you posted for Meg - don't see her name anywhere on
the thread (sorry...)

Thanks,

Hm. I just posted some additional things for Meg to check. Can you do those
steps, too, and let us know the results?

Oh, I wanted to ask Meg this, too, but I forgot -- what video card do you
have? Oh, and what antivirus program are you using?

It's especially interesting that this suddenly started happening for you.
What changed on your system yesterday (March 3, actually)? Did you install
any software or trial software, even if it wasn't specifically a PowerPoint
add-in? Did you install any service packs or service releases, even if they
were for Windows or non-Microsoft software? Did you let any programs check
for updates and install them? (For example, Adobe products will do an auto
update check and installation if you've allowed that. Many firewalls and
antivirus programs will update automatically, too)

I'm still scratching my head and trying to gather enough information to
figure this one out. Thanks for any additions to our collective
knowledgebase!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
How to Prevent PowerPoint Overload (March 23 webcast)
http://tinyurl.com/bp2h8

Hello Echo,

I have the same problem as everybody else in this thread, with a twist
though. I've been using powerpoint for a few months and suddenly since
yesterday I can't see the design templates nor the slide layouts on the
task
pane (the other functions in the task pane work. Like the others, I can
select and use the template and slide layouts but don't actually see them
until I activate them in a presentation. Now, I've check your add-ins
suggestion in the message and have also looked at my menus but nothing has
changed there since before they were visable. Oh, it affects old and new
powerpoint presentations. Any suggestions as to what I can do or try?

Heike

Thanks for the info on your user's setup, Meg. No,
uninstalling/reinstalling
probably won't help it. I suspect an add-in of some sort, even if it's
not
that particular translator.

Does this user have any add-ins installed? There are actually three or
four
different places to look for add-ins.

1. PPA files. Close PPT and do a search on the harddrive for all *.PPA
files. Rename them to *.PPX or *.OLD or something. Start PPT again. If
you
no longer have blank thumbnails, then you can rename the files back to
PPA
one at a time until you isolate the problem.

2. COM add-ins. (Thanks, Steve!) In PPT go to Tools|Customize. On the
Commands tab, choose Tools on the left and scroll on the right until you
see
COM add-ins. Drag that to a toolbar. Click Close to close the dialog box.
Now click that COM button on the toolbar. What's listed? Clear the
checkboxes and hit OK to close that dialog. Restart PPT. Problem
resolved?

3. Other add-ins listed in the registry. Close PPT. Go to Start|Run and
type
regedit. In the registry, head to
hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins. There may
be
a list of various add-ins there. Rename them by right clicking, choosing
Rename, and putting an X in front of them or something simple like that.
Restart PPT. Problem resolved?

4. There's another place in the registry you might find PPT add-ins.
hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins. Rename
these
the same way as described above and see if the problem is resolved.

There may be other places in the registry, but I don't know where they'd
be
off the top of my head. I'd start with those, though. If you want to list
what you're seeing, maybe we can help you identify things and eliminate
some
pretty easily.

Also look at the user's menus. What all is listed along the top row?
(File,
Edit, View, etc.) We were able to pinpoint Chris's issue pretty quickly
just
by seeing the screenshot with an unusual menu item. I'd love to know if
you
pinpoint the issue there -- it's more information we can give to MS to
try
to figure out what exactly is causing the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

Well, the problem isn't just coming from that translator add-in --
we're having the exact same problem with one of our users. As near as
I can tell, she's not running anything unusual, and other users with
the same set-up are not reporting the same problem.

It's not limited to a single presentation for her either. She's using
a Dell laptop with a docking station, and running XP SP2, and Office
2003.

Any advice? Should I uninstall PPT and reinstall it? She's not
experiencing any other problems with her computer.

--Meg


Echo S wrote:
Thanks, Chris, I really appreciate it. It's so nice to be closer to
solving
this one!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

"Chris Banyai-Riepl" <[email protected]>
wrote
in
message Yes, that is the software. I'm using the demo, and will probably
shell
out
the bucks for the full blown one. So far I'm fairly impressed with
it.
Anyway, it is the Pro 7.0 one.

For video, it is an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M. The laptop is a Toshiba
Satellite L25. Any other specs you need, just ask.

Chris

:

"Chris Banyai-Riepl" <[email protected]>
wrote
in
message Well, the nice thing about this translator program is that I can
choose
which
Office programs the toolbar shows up on, and since I really don't
need
to
translate Powerpoint slides, I just turned it off from that
entirely.

That's a very cool feature!

I'll send a note to Promt about that issue and see if they can
fix
it
in
an
update, but that won't cure issues for people who are using some
other
add-in
program with low-color toolbars. If that is, in fact, what the
issue
is.


Is this the same Prompt Translator software, Chris?
http://www.online-translator.com/?lang=en Can I ask which you're
using? I
see both Prompt Office 7.0 and Prompt Pro 7.0. I'd like to kick
this
issue
over to MS testing, and details like that always help. Maybe
they
can
figure out exactly what is causing the problem.

Can I also ask what ATI video card your system has?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/