PowerPoint Enable/Disable Pen

[aehan]

I can't turn the pen on during a slide show, have tried all methods so think
it must be disabled, I can't find where to enable it. Can anyone help
please? Thankyou.

 

[Bill Foley]

CTRL+P (while in Slide Show Mode) shifts to the pen and CTRL+A shifts back
to the pointer (or ESC). If it doesn't work, it might be because your
presentation is set up to run as a KIOSK (Slide Show, Set up Show).

To learn more of these tricks, press the F1 key while in Slide Show mode to
see a help screen.

 

[Sonia]

Go to Tools > Options > View and check the box next to "Show menu on right mouse
click". Then in Slide Show mode, right click on the slide and select your pen
or pointer.

 

[aehan]

The right menu is enabled, and the slide show is in normal mode - not kiosk
or anything else different. On my own PC at home which appears to be set up
in the same way I can use the pen and all of the shortcut keys in a slide
show, but at work I can't use the pen, I don't understand. I wondered if
there was a particular setting or if it was an installation fault? Thanks
for taking time to answer.

 

[Bill Foley]

I can't think of any installation setting or problem with that regard. What
happens when you open PowerPoint, go into Slide Show Mode, move the mouse to
see the pointer, then press CTRL+P? Does it change to a pen or does it stay
a cursor?

 

[aehan]

As far as I can remember it stays as the arrow cursor, however I'm not at
work at the moment and will have to check it tomorrow. What did happen was
that when I pressed Ctrl+P and then held the mouse button down to draw there
was no pen, when I released the mouse button the next slide appeared which is
why I thought the pen had been disabled. Other shorcuts like B for black
screen are fine.

 

[Bill Foley]

Nothing really comes to mind (except maybe a keyboard problem). Couldn't be
Gremlins or Ghoulies. They only come out at Halloween! HA!

While you are in Edit Mode creating you presentation, draw a simple oval or
rectangle, select it, then press CTRL+D. Did it duplicate it? If it did, I
might have to recommend heavy drinking because I have exhausted any thought
I might have on this problem. If it didn't duplicate it, hook up another
keyboard and try again.

Maybe someone else might have an idea.

SORRY!

 

[aehan]

Thanks for looking at it. I'll have a go at the Ctrl+D thing tomorrow when I
get to work, and if that is OK will suggest changing the keyboard. Hope its
not the ghoulies...

 

[Sonia]

We never asked a few questions that may or may not be relevant:
What version of Windows are you running at work? What's the latest Service Pack
applied?
What version of PowerPoint are you running at work? What's the latest Service
Pack applied?
What color do you have the pen set to in Slide Show > Set Up Show?
What color is your slide background?

 

[aehan]

Windows XP Service Pack 2, PowerPoint 2003 - don't know re service pack.
Colour of pen is red, colour of background is blue. IT Services at work are
now looking at the problem because it is affecting several machines. Thanks
for all your efforts.

 

[Sonia]

If you haven't applied Service Pack 1 to Office 2003 I would start there. You
can tell by going to Help > About. If it doesn't mention SP 1 then you should
go to Help > Check for Updates and follow the links.

 

[Sonia]

Here's the solution that finally surfaced with a little research. Another user
found that a "full" install fixed the problem. I then pinned it down to the
Handwriting component that is needed for the pen to work in Slide Show mode.

Put your installation CD in your drive and run setup.exe, select Add or Remove
Features, and on
the next dialog check the box for "Choose advanced customization of
applications" and click OK. Then on the next dialog click on the "+" next to
Office Shared Features and click on the icon next to Microsoft Handwriting
Component and select "Run from my computer". That is required for the pen/ink
feature to work for you in Slide Show mode.

 

[Eileen]

I am having the same problem with several computers at work. My Office Shared
features does not list Handwriting Component. I am using Office 2003 with
latest Updates, SP, etc. Any other ideas will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Echo S]

Sonia's instructions about locating the Handwriting Component in the Office
Shared Features on the installation CDs.

If you're looking on the harddrives, you won't see Handwriting Component
because it's not been installed. You need to actually install it.

 

[Eileen]

I was looking on the CD. Options under Office Shared Features were: Clip
Organizer, Converters and Filters, Digital Certificates for VBA, Fonts, Web
Components, Proofing Tools, Download Control, Themes, VBA, SOAP Toolkit.

Sonia's instructions about locating the Handwriting Component in the Office
Shared Features on the installation CDs.

If you're looking on the harddrives, you won't see Handwriting Component
because it's not been installed. You need to actually install it.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

I am having the same problem with several computers at work. My Office Shared
features does not list Handwriting Component. I am using Office 2003 with
latest Updates, SP, etc. Any other ideas will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Echo S]

Ah, sorry. I read your question differently. (obviously!)

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer, though. Hopefully someone else will.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

I was looking on the CD. Options under Office Shared Features were: Clip
Organizer, Converters and Filters, Digital Certificates for VBA, Fonts, Web
Components, Proofing Tools, Download Control, Themes, VBA, SOAP Toolkit.

Sonia's instructions about locating the Handwriting Component in the Office
Shared Features on the installation CDs.

If you're looking on the harddrives, you won't see Handwriting Component
because it's not been installed. You need to actually install it.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

I am having the same problem with several computers at work. My Office Shared
features does not list Handwriting Component. I am using Office 2003 with
latest Updates, SP, etc. Any other ideas will be greatly appreciated!

:

Here's the solution that finally surfaced with a little research. Another user
found that a "full" install fixed the problem. I then pinned it

down to
the

Handwriting component that is needed for the pen to work in Slide

Show
mode.

Put your installation CD in your drive and run setup.exe, select Add

or
Remove

Features, and on
the next dialog check the box for "Choose advanced customization of
applications" and click OK. Then on the next dialog click on the

"+"
next to

Office Shared Features and click on the icon next to Microsoft Handwriting
Component and select "Run from my computer". That is required for

the
pen/ink

feature to work for you in Slide Show mode.

Windows XP Service Pack 2, PowerPoint 2003 - don't know re service pack.
Colour of pen is red, colour of background is blue. IT Services

at
work are

now looking at the problem because it is affecting several

machines.
Thanks

for all your efforts.

:

We never asked a few questions that may or may not be relevant:
What version of Windows are you running at work? What's the

latest
Service

Pack
applied?
What version of PowerPoint are you running at work? What's the latest
Service
Pack applied?
What color do you have the pen set to in Slide Show > Set Up Show?
What color is your slide background?


Thanks for looking at it. I'll have a go at the Ctrl+D thing tomorrow when
I
get to work, and if that is OK will suggest changing the

keyboard.
Hope

its
not the ghoulies...

:

Nothing really comes to mind (except maybe a keyboard

problem).
Couldn't

be
Gremlins or Ghoulies. They only come out at Halloween! HA!

While you are in Edit Mode creating you presentation, draw a simple oval
or
rectangle, select it, then press CTRL+D. Did it duplicate it?

If
it did,

I
might have to recommend heavy drinking because I have

exhausted
any

thought
I might have on this problem. If it didn't duplicate it, hook

up
another

keyboard and try again.

Maybe someone else might have an idea.

SORRY!

--
Bill Foley, Microsoft MVP (PowerPoint)
Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor - XP
www.pttinc.com
Check out PPT FAQs at: http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/
Check out Word FAQs at: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/index.htm

As far as I can remember it stays as the arrow cursor,

however
I'm not

at
work at the moment and will have to check it tomorrow. What

did
happen

was
that when I pressed Ctrl+P and then held the mouse button

down
to draw

there
was no pen, when I released the mouse button the next slide appeared
which
is
why I thought the pen had been disabled. Other shorcuts

like B
for

black
screen are fine.

:

I can't think of any installation setting or problem with

that
regard.

What
happens when you open PowerPoint, go into Slide Show Mode, move the
mouse to
see the pointer, then press CTRL+P? Does it change to a

pen
or does

it
stay
a cursor?

--
Bill Foley, Microsoft MVP (PowerPoint)
Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor - XP
www.pttinc.com
Check out PPT FAQs at: http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/
Check out Word FAQs at: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/index.htm

The right menu is enabled, and the slide show is in

normal
mode -

not
kiosk
or anything else different. On my own PC at home which appears to
be
set
up
in the same way I can use the pen and all of the

shortcut
keys in a

slide
show, but at work I can't use the pen, I don't

understand.
I

wondered
if
there was a particular setting or if it was an

installation
fault?

Thanks
for taking time to answer.

:

Go to Tools > Options > View and check the box next to "Show menu
on
right mouse
click". Then in Slide Show mode, right click on the

slide
and

select
your pen
or pointer.
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials



I can't turn the pen on during a slide show, have

tried
all

methods
so
think
it must be disabled, I can't find where to enable

it.
Can

anyone
help
please? Thankyou.

 

[Sonia]

If you don't have Handwriting Component listed then all I can think of is that
you have a different version of Office 2003. I have Office 2003 Professional
and it includes a number of features that you don't list, i.e. International
Support, Office Assistant, New and Open Office Document Shortcuts, Alternative
User Input. Can you tell us what the CD label and packaging says? Does it say
"Professional"? Is it an English language version?
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com