Some powerpoint files open some don't

[dendw]

Version: 2004 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) Processor: Intel I know this is an old question but I would appreciate and answer.

"When trying to load a powerpoint document made on a PC in powerpoint on my mac the viewer shows the first slide yet when I press open the screen is completely blank..."

Not only that but my computer crashes.

 

[CyberTaz]

You'll need to supply details before anyone can venture a guess:

Is your installation of Office fully updated (11.5.8)?

Is OS X fully updated (10.4.11)?

What type of 'powerpoint document' is it [.ppt, .pptx, .ppsx,...]?

What is the nature of the file's content? Some types of content supported by
Windows won't work on a Mac & vice-versa.

What exactly do you mean by "screen is completely blank"? Does PPT launch or
not? What exactly are you seeing? You have to tell us because we aren't
there to see it for ourselves. Complete & accurate descriptions help a lot.

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

 

[dendw]

I'm running 11.5.7 on OSX 10.4.11

When I go to open a PPS file someone has sent me the first screen comes up but the computer crashes and does not respond to any key strokes and the cursor disappears. This happens intermittently with some files but not with others. When I place the file on the desktop and then open it in Normal View then I can view the graphics one by one, but if I try to play the slide show I get a crash.

Thanks for your help.
dendw

 

[CyberTaz]

It sounds more like PowerPoint is hanging rather than the Mac crashing...
When this happens can you Command+Tab to Finder & select Force Quit from the
Apple menu? If so that isn't a computer crash. That may sound 'picky' but
it's a very significant distinction.

If "has sent me" is meant to suggest as an attachment to email there are any
number of opportunities for maladies to be inflicted on the file. The best
protection is to have the sender attach Zipped files, save them to your HD &
open them from there.

There are still a number of other possible causes but my first guess is that
the files presenting the problem include links to external content such as
images, audio, or other media items which can't be found when the show is
run. If that's the case the sender needs to include the linked files & you
may need to re-link them locally. Otherwise you'll need to determine what
the links are & delete them in order to run the show.

It may also be that the files include embedded content which isn't supported
by the software or media players you have. It may even be content not
supported by OS X itself. In this case as well as the matter of links you'll
need to take an accurate inventory of what the file contains.

From a local viewpoint make sure you have Office fully updated (11.5.8 was
just released), that OS X is fully updated & repair disk permissions.

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

 

[dendw]

Thanks very much for the explanation. You are correct. Because I did not know about the Control-Tab shortcut, I presumed the computer was locking up but found after trying it on the problematic PPS file that it was indeed the PowerPoint.

How would I take and inventory of what the file contains? How can embedded material be transcribed to PowerPoint in the Office Mac suite without being made compatible?

 

[CyberTaz]

What I meant by 'inventory' is to open the file & manually examine the
objects that have been included in the file. One tool you can use, though,
is the Compatibility Report feature available from the View menu. It may
very well point you in the right direction.

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