Troubleshooting PPTools
If you have any problems with your PPTools add-ins, even if they're just the free demos, we're here to help.
Here are some things you should try:
Double-check security settings
- Start PowerPoint and choose Tools, Macro, Security.
- Click the Security Level tab and choose Low. You'll only be leaving it set to Low for a few minutes.
- Click the Trusted Sources tab and put a checkmark next to "Trust all installed add-ins and templates"
- Click OK to close the Security dialog box
- Quit PowerPoint
- PowerPoint again. The PPTools toolbars should now appear. You can then choose Tools, Macro, Security again and set Security back to High. Settings above High will not allow PPTools to run.
Restart your PC
It's amazing how many problems disappear when you restart your PC, so that's always the first thing to do when troubleshooting. Choose Start, Shut Down and power down your computer. Wait a few minutes, then restart it.
Reinstall using the latest version of the PPTools add-in
- Visit the PPTools download page
- Download the installer for the PPTool add-in you're having trouble with.
- Save it to a convenient location like your Desktop.
- Once the download completes, doubleclick the file to run it.
- It will want to install to the same folder as you've already installed your PPTools add-ins in. Let it reinstall to that same folder.
- Restart PowerPoint and see if the same problem occurs.
Verify that the add-in isn't disabled
If you have PowerPoint 2002 or 2003:
- Click Help, then About Microsoft PowerPoint
- Click Disabled Items
- If you see any PPTools add-ins on the list, click the item then click Enable
- Click Close
- Click OK
- Restart PowerPoint and see if the add-in now functions
If you have PowerPoint 2007:
- Click the Office Button
- Click PowerPoint Options
- Click Add-ins
- Next to "Manage" choose "Disabled Items"
- Click Go
- If you see any PPTools add-ins on the list, click the item then click Enable
- Click Close
- Restart PowerPoint and see if the add-in now functions
Verify that VBA is installed
In Office 2002 and up, VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is an optional feature. If it's not installed, add-ins like PPTools can't run, since they require VBA to work.
Start PowerPoint, then choose Tools, Macro, Visual Basic Editor (or simply press Alt+F11)
If VBA is installed, a new window titled "Microsoft Visual Basic - [Presentation Name]" will appear. If no such window appears, you'll need to re-run Office Setup, choose a Custom installation and make sure that Visual Basic for Applications is selected to be installed.
Check your user privileges
If you installed under Windows NT4, Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you may not have been logged in with sufficient priviliges to allow the installer to create a few necessary registry settings.
- Log out
- Log in as an administrator or get an admistrator to log in for you
- Re-run the installer(s) for your chosen PPTool(s), choosing the same installation options as you did earlier. Note that you'll have to change the security settings (as requested by the installer) again; the settings you made as one user don't affect the settings you see when logged in as a different user.
- Start PowerPoint and verify that you can now see the new PPTools toolbars and PPTools menu item. Then you can quit PowerPoint, log back out and log back in at your ordinary user level.
The PPTools installers create a new PPTools folder, copy the PPTools add-in and help files to the new folder, then set a few registry entries that ensure that PowerPoint automatically loads the MASTTBAR.PPA add-in every time it starts up. This is our Master Toolbar add-in. It then loads the other add-ins in the PPTools folder.
If the installer can't create a new folder for PPTools or make the necessary registry entries, the Master Toolbar add-in won't start, so PPTools is totally disabled for all practical purposes.
Try uninstalling then reinstalling PPTools
- Quit PowerPoint if it's running
- Choose Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs
- Locate and click "PPTools - Remove ALL" in the list of installed programs
- Click "Change/Remove" and accept the option to remove PPTools
- Close the Add/Remove Programs dialog box
- Re-run the installer for the PPTools addin you're trying to install then start PowerPoint again to see if it installed properly this time
Try a different user profile
We've encountered several instances where the PPTools installer created all necessary directories, copied all needed files and made any required registry entries, but PPTools still didn't work.
So far, each time this has happened, switching to a different user profile or creating a new one made everything work as expected. As near as we can tell, it's possible for a corrupted user profile to prevent PPTools (and we presume other software) from working properly.
Perform some basic Windows setup
Windows has a few default settings that are just dramatically stupid. In order to troubleshoot software problems, you'll nearly always need to change them, so we may as well do that right now
- Doubleclick My Computer
- Choose Tools, Folder Options
- Click the View tab
- Look for "Hide extensions for known file types"
- Remove the checkmark next to it.
- Click OK
Contact us
If the steps above don't help, create a Diagnostics report and email it to us along with a description of the problem you're having.
Here's how to create the Diagnostics report:
- Start PowerPoint.
- From the menu bar, choose PPTools, MasterBar, Help. The Help dialog box appears.
- If there's a checkbox marked "Enable verbose logging" put a check next to it then close the Help dialog box.
- Restart PowerPoint and repeat whatever you were doing when you noticed the problem before.
- Once you've provoked the problem, open the Help dialog box as before.
- Click the DIAGNOSTICS button.
- PPTools generates a file called DIAGS.TXT in your PPTools folder and then opens it in Notepad so you can examine it.
- View the contents of the file if you like, then close it.
- Attach the file DIAGS.TXT to an email and send it to us at the address below.
Note: Unless you requested a different folder when you installed your PPTools software, your PPTools folder will be C:\Program Files\RnR\PPToolsV2\
The Diagnostics report lists the path to your PPTools folder on the second line of the report.
Don't forget to attach DIAGS.TXT to the email.
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