PP 2004 11.5.5 can open PPTX without the "Open XMl converter" also

[RAHUL]

Hi All,

I have PowerPoint 2004 11.5.5 installed on my system. Initially when I
used to open pptx files with it, it used to say "unsupported format,
please download the converter pack". I downloaded and installed the
Open XML converter pack on my mac. Then it started working fine.
Then I deleted the Open XMl converter.app (did a "rm -rf *" on it) but
after that also my PowerPoint 2004 opens/edits/saves the PPTX happily,
without any problem at all.

Does Open XMl converter changes something in the installed PowerPoint
which enables it to work with the PPTX files even without Open XML
converter, Or does it update some of the shared libraries of
PowerPoint which does not get deleted when we remove the "Open XML
Converter"

Thanks in advance
Rahul

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Rahul,

I have never heard of this before, but since it seems to be working for
you, my guess is that the Open XML Converter installs filters for the
new file formats somewhere inside the Office folder, and that the
application itself is only a frontend for these filters, which explains
why the filters did not get removed when you deleted the application itself.

Keep in mind that the Converter application can do one thing that the
individual applications can't do, which is batch-changing documents in
the new Office Open XML format into the old binary file format.

 

[CyberTaz]

When you say "opens/edits/saves the PPTX happily" are you referring to
*any*.pptx files that come down the pike since deleting the OXML Converter?
Or are you talking about the *same* .pptx file(s) you had already converted
*before* deleting the Converter app?

I'm no more certain than Michel, but my expectation is just the opposite of
his: I would expect that the converted file, itself, is what would be
modified by the conversion process. I don't see any way that the Office apps
would be directly modified by the installation of the Converter other than
the menu updating that occurs... that's fairly well supported by the fact
that the Converter app causes no change to the version numbers & IIRC was
not supplied as an Update to Office 2004 in the first place.

I would further guess that you have another copy of the OXML Converter app
stored somewhere without realizing it -- such as a Time Machine backup.

 

[Jim Gordon Mac MVP]

Hi All,

I have PowerPoint 2004 11.5.5 installed on my system. Initially when I
used to open pptx files with it, it used to say "unsupported format,
please download the converter pack". I downloaded and installed the
Open XML converter pack on my mac. Then it started working fine.
Then I deleted the Open XMl converter.app (did a "rm -rf *" on it) but
after that also my PowerPoint 2004 opens/edits/saves the PPTX happily,
without any problem at all.

Does Open XMl converter changes something in the installed PowerPoint
which enables it to work with the PPTX files even without Open XML
converter, Or does it update some of the shared libraries of
PowerPoint which does not get deleted when we remove the "Open XML
Converter"

Thanks in advance
Rahul

I think you probably installed some of the more recent updates for
Office 2004. I'm pretty sure these updates allow Office 2004 to use XML
files without using the converter.

-Jim

 

[RAHUL]

When you say "opens/edits/saves the PPTX happily" are you referring to
*any*.pptx files that come down the pike since deleting the OXML Converter?
Or are you talking about the *same* .pptx file(s) you had already converted
*before* deleting the Converter app?

I'm no more certain than Michel, but my expectation is just the opposite of
his: I would expect that the converted file, itself, is what would be
modified by the conversion process. I don't see any way that the Office apps
would be directly modified by the installation of the Converter other than
the menu updating that occurs... that's fairly well supported by the fact
that the Converter app causes no change to the version numbers & IIRC was
not supplied as an Update to Office 2004 in the first place.

I would further guess that you have another copy of the OXML Converter app
stored somewhere without realizing it -- such as a Time Machine backup.

Hi Bob,

I am referring to *any*.pptx files which were never touched with
PowerPoint 2004 before (directly created by PowerPoint 2008 files), In
my scenario PowerPoint was able to work with all such *.pptx files.
I do not have any other installation of "Open XML converter" I did it
on a fresh system, I had installed it once and after that I did a "rm -
rf *" to remove the app folder.

 

[CyberTaz]

I'm not sure you removed what you 'think' you did

There is an Open XML Converter.app application which is installed to the
main Applications folder. That, however, is a stand-alone program for
separately converting .___x files singly or in batches without having to
open them in their respective programs. If that's what you removed I can
understand why PPT 2004 [as well as the other '04 apps] would continue to
open .___x files.

The guts used by that program & by the Office 2004 apps is installed to:

HD/Library/Application Support/Microsoft

in a folder named Office Converter Support. If that folder is intact the
programs would still have the resources to open .___x files, you just no
longer have the independent/batch conversion front end.

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

 

[RAHUL]

Thanks Bob,

You are right, the "Office Converter Support" folder is still there,
which is enabling PP 204 to work with pptx.ppsx files.

Thanks again
Rahul

I'm not sure you removed what you 'think' you did

There is an Open XML Converter.app application which is installed to the
main Applications folder. That, however, is a stand-alone program for
separately converting .___x files singly or in batches without having to
open them in their respective programs. If that's what you removed I can
understand why PPT 2004 [as well as the other '04 apps] would continue to
open .___x files.

The guts used by that program & by the Office 2004 apps is installed to:

HD/Library/Application Support/Microsoft

in a folder named Office Converter Support. If that folder is intact the
programs would still have the resources to open .___x files, you just no
longer have the independent/batch conversion front end.

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

Hi Bob,

I am referring to *any*.pptx files which were never touched with
PowerPoint 2004 before (directly created by PowerPoint 2008 files), In
my scenario PowerPoint was able to work with all such *.pptx files.
I do not have any other  installation of "Open XML converter" I did it
on a fresh system, I had installed it once and after that I did a "rm -
rf *" to remove the app folder.