Frequently can't pasted into Mac PowerPoint 2004

[Fenton]

System: PowerBook G4, 10.4.11, Mac Office 2004, all patches.

Maybe a third of the time, I cannot paste any clipboard content into
PowerPoint. All relevant paste items in the Edit menu are dimmed, and
Command+v does nothing. It's not related to the type of content on the
clipboard. The spectrum from a single word from another slide in the same
file, to something complex from a Classic application, can fail. Some other
odd facts:

- The source of the previous copy can be anything, even another slide in the
same file.
- The clipboard is indeed loaded; I can paste to any other applicaion.
- And pasting anywhere else suddenly makes paste once again available in
PowerPoint.
- Sometimes, after pressing Cmd+v five or six times, it suddenly regains the
ability to paste.

I don't see anything the same on the Web (it's not the same as described in
MS article 124820), so it's not wide spread. Yet I can't imagine what could
be wrong with just my machine. Any ideas?

 

[CyberTaz]

Try repairing disk permissions & re-launching PPt. If that doesn't correct
it I'd suggest getting the OS X 10.4.11 Combo Update form the Apple
Downloads site & apply that followed by a shutdown & restart of your Mac.

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

 

[Fenton]

Try repairing disk permissions & re-launching PPt. If that doesn't correct
it I'd suggest getting the OS X 10.4.11 Combo Update form the Apple
Downloads site & apply that followed by a shutdown & restart of your Mac.

Permissions are done periodically, as also cache cleaning, cron scripts, etc.
But about that combo ... are you saying I might get different results using
that than I would the autodownload update?

 

[CyberTaz]

Absolutely - SU essentially provides a "touch-up" version [smaller file,
quicker d/l], the Combos do a "make-over" version. I've come to rely on SU
for only the other Apple updates. I always decline the actual OS X updates
then go & fetch the Combo - started doing that back in Tiger.

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

 

[Tim Murray]

Absolutely - SU essentially provides a "touch-up" version [smaller file,
quicker d/l], the Combos do a "make-over" version. I've come to rely on SU
for only the other Apple updates. I always decline the actual OS X updates
then go & fetch the Combo - started doing that back in Tiger.

Perhaps it is even a placebo effect, but since I did the full boat combo, the
clipboard is more well behaved.

 

[Jim Marsh]

System: MacBook Pro OS X 10.4.11, PowerPoint 2004 11.2.3

Looks like I have a similar set of problems. I'm running ppt on a two year old MacBook Pro. I've had the machine with this version installed since 2006 but hadn't attempted to use the ppt. app until today.

I'd used ppt. frequently and successfully for years at work prior to acquiring this computer and app. when I retired.

So...I know how to set up a basic ppt. slide show as well as add bells and whistles. Naturally I was surprised when I couldn't drop anything into any slide. With everything I attempted from Word documents to photos I get a screen message beginning:

"PowerPoint cannot open the type of file represented by...."

....followed by the particular file's address.

Sometimes there will be an additional bit about the file possibly being corrupted or damaged.

At first I thought it might be the result of using TIFF files for the first time but old trusty jpgs didn't work either.

I went to various photos and docs I knew had been used successfully in ppt. presentations in the past with the same result.

I've gone through as many settings and preferences menus as I can find and enabled ppt. to open "ALL DOCUMENTS" with no luck. Several times ppt. appeared to be attempting to open but then crashed. I tried opening and converting some images to different file formats both in Photoshop and Graphic Converter but ppt. still won't recognize them.