Mac Windows issues

[fergus]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

I am having trouble with powerpoint files at a conference. I am saving my powerpoint (.ppt) files (from Office 2008) and moving to the conference computer using a USB stick. However when I double click them on the conference pc (windows XP pro) powerpoint says it can't recognise that file format. I have tried saving as a .pps file or as a .ppt file from office 2004 but neither of these will open either....

I can't really understand it as normally I have no problem moving between mac and Windows.

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello there - What version of PowerPoint is on your Windows machine, just
out of curiosity?

My first guess is that perhaps you haven't saved the PowerPoint file in PPT
2008 for Mac with file extensions. Windows cannot recognize what application
to launch a file in unless it has that three- or four-letter extension. (To
make matters more complicated, Windows XP/Vista hides the three-letter
extension on files out of the box...)

In Windows Explorer, go to the Folder Options, View tab and make sure that
the check mark for "Hide extensions for known file types" is cleared, i.e.
unchecked, and click OK. Then, have a look at your file again that you
brought in from the Mac. Can you now see the three or four-letter filename
extension of .ppt or .pptx? If the answer to this is no, then add the
extension .ppt or .pptx to the filename, and try opening it again in PPT for
Windows. If this still doesn't work, look at the file icon. Does it show up
as a PowerPoint icon, or as something else? If as something else, then
you'll need to repair your file associations in Windows. Repairing file
associations for a file with a visible extension can be done in the Folder
Options of Windows Explorer as well... or you can do a right-click on the
file, select Open With and then select the program you always want to use to
open the file, yada yada.

Also, just for future reference, if you pass files often to PPT for Windows,
be sure that when you save the file, the "Hide extension" checkbox in PPT
for Mac 2008 remains unchecked.

It looks like no one has answered your question here for several days, but I
hope that you're still with us this and that this helps you out. (Or else, I
hope that you'd already figured it out anyway...)

Jeff Chapman