The PowerPoint FAQ - PowerPoint Help

PowerPoint Frequently Asked Questions

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The PowerPoint FAQ is divided into several main areas.
Click the one you're interested in or scroll to see the whole list

READ ME FIRST New Stuff Find More PowerPoint Help
Tips, Techniques, Tutorials General Info Programming PowerPoint
MacFAQs Stupid PPT-TRIX Troubleshooting
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Table of Contents

READ ME FIRST

Before you use PowerPoint

Having PowerPoint problems?

POWERPOINT for iPad / iPod / iPhone

OFFICE 2019

OFFICE 2016 / OFFICE 365 - Can ANYBODY explain this stuff?

POWERPOINT 2013 / POWERPOINT 15 / OFFICE 365

POWERPOINT 2010

POWERPOINT 2007

NEW STUFF / USEFUL STUFF

PowerPoint News

New Add-ins / Products / Sites

Tricks, Tips, Problems, Fixes and Upgrades

FIND MORE POWERPOINT HELP

PowerPoint Help Online

PowerPoint Help from Microsoft

PowerPoint-Related Subjects - Help and Info

TIPS, TECHNIQUES, TUTORIALS

Tutorials

Customizing PowerPoint

Creating Presentations

Drawing & Working with Shapes

Working with Text

Working with Charts and Graphs

Working with Sound and Movies

Distributing & Delivering Presentations

Distributing in Other Formats

Video Projectors and Dual Monitors

Screen Shows

Animation

Making Acrobat PDFs from PowerPoint

Importing and Converting

Exporting

Printing, Overheads, 35mm Slides, Pre-press

WEBifying your PowerPoint

Cross-platform Compatibility

Cross-Version Compatibility

Accessibility and Internationalization

GENERAL INFO

Misc. HowTos

Scans, Resolution, DPI

Fonts

Companion Software

Versions & Compatibility

What Is ...?

Where Can I Find ...?

General Presentation Advice

LEGALITIES, RESTRICTIONS etc.

PROGRAMMING POWERPOINT

For VBeginners

Creating and Installing Add-ins, Toolbars, Buttons

PowerPoint events; event-handling in VBA

Useful Projects

Useful general purpose code

Show Me

Exporting shapes, slides and presentations

Adding shapes, slides and presentations

Deleting shapes, slides and presentations

Changing shapes, slides and presentations

Printing

Batch Tricks

Animations and Transitions

Working with Excel

Automating one app from another

Working with MSGraph charts

Working with external data

Working with Media (Audio/video)

Working with Guides

Other

VBA bugs

MAC FAQS

Troubleshoot Problems, Interpret Error Messages

Downloads, Contact Microsoft

How-Tos

Other Mac PowerPoint Resources

STUPID PPT-TRIX

Solutions in Search of a Problem

TROUBLESHOOTING

Troubleshooting Tips and Procedures

PowerPoint Crashes Without Error Message

Specific Error Messages

Graphics Problems

Display, Screen Show & Multimedia Problems

Corrupted or unopenable PPT files

Printing Problems

File Saving Problems

Link & Copy/Paste Problems

File Import / Export Problems

Problems with PowerPoint on the Web

Text or Font Problems

Cross-Version / Cross-Platform Problems

Missing Features

Add-in and VBA problems

Misc. Nuisances

Stupid Windows Tricks

OTF font problems after Windows update KB2753842 is installed

MS warns of TrueType attack vulnerability

A tribute to Brian Reilly

A tribute to Sonia Coleman

READ ME FIRST

Do you have suggestions for the PowerPoint team?

Before you use PowerPoint   [Top]

Do this before using PowerPoint seriously

Don't do this with PowerPoint. Seriously.

What about PowerPoint's AutoSave?

And if you drive PowerPoint on a Mac, see this

Before you use PowerPoint ... SHOULD you use PowerPoint?

Virus Alert - Bogus messages that seem to be from Microsoft

Thinking about buying PowerPoint or Office pre-installed on a new computer?

What if you gave a presentation but nobody watched?

Having PowerPoint problems?   [Top]

How to repair Office

RUN PROGRAM action settings don't work any longer

Error message: The image part with relationship ID rld2 (or rld3) was not found in the file"

I can no longer insert EPS graphics into PowerPoint

Problems with Intelligent Services in Office 365

Problems with PowerPoint after updating to Windows 10

PowerPoint's not acting the way the instructions say it should

Slide.Export produces low-rez images, video export fails, images lost on save and other problems

Cannot access online pictures in PowerPoint

Most Common PowerPoint Questions

Microsoft Answers: The PowerPoint Support Forum

Problem Report Form

Contact Microsoft: suggestions, wishes, lost product keys, lost or broken CDs and DVDs

Sending files to other users, especially large files

Connect to external video

General PowerPoint troubleshooting procedures

Notes have disappeared

Disappearing or blank thumbnails in task panes

How to uninstall PowerPoint (and other Office apps)

How do I send PowerPoint feedback to Microsoft?

Product Key issues

What version of PowerPoint do I have?

POWERPOINT for iPad / iPod / iPhone   [Top]

Move files from iPod / iPad / iPhone to PC and back

OFFICE 2019   [Top]

What's new in Office 2019?

OFFICE 2016 / OFFICE 365 - Can ANYBODY explain this stuff?   [Top]

Office 365, Office 2016 - an attempt at clearing the fog

Designer isn't working

POWERPOINT 2013 / POWERPOINT 15 / OFFICE 365   [Top]

PowerPoint won't start on Surface RT tablets

PowerPoint 2013 doesn't return video to mirrored after using Presenter View

Missing templates in PowerPoint 2013

Navigation stops working during a slide show

VBA: PasteSpecial method fails during slide show

"We're sorry, something went wrong" message when saving from PowerPoint 2013

Date and Time fields do not update (PowerPoint 2013)

Picture Corrections do not work on background pictures (PowerPoint 2013)

PowerPoint 2013 crashes when add-ins are in use

PowerPoint 2013 crashes when setting transparency on images

What's new/changed in Office 2013 aka Office 15?

Click to run, CTR, Office 365, Office on Demand. What does it all MEAN?

Can I get a backup disk for Office 365?

What about Office 365 RT on Surface RT tablets?

Insert Word Art into PPT 2013

POWERPOINT 2010   [Top]

Microsoft releases Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Office 2010

Should I get 32- or 64-bit Office 2010?

How much will Office 2010 cost? What about upgrades? Technology Guarantee program?

Office 2010 Click-to-Run

New features in PowerPoint 2010

Microsoft Upload Center - what is it, why do I want it and what if I don't?

POWERPOINT 2007

PowerPoint 2007 crashes or hangs when moving, resizing or using arrow key in charts

Create a sample presentation from a theme

Office 2007 Service Packs

How do I send PowerPoint 2007 / Office 2007 feedback or report bugs to Microsoft?

Slides, Masters, Designs, Layouts ... how do they all fit together?

Staying compatible with earlier versions of PowerPoint

Effects of compatibility mode

Migrating to Office 2007 - Guides for IT Professionals

Why isn't the Insert Slide command on the Insert tab?

PowerPoint 2007 equivalents of older version commands (and Commando)

What's new in PowerPoint 2007?

How can I open PowerPoint 2007 files in earlier PowerPoint versions

Create your own PowerPoint 2007 Themes

PowerPoint 2007 quits when I close my presentation

PowerPoint 2007 text editing slow, text cut off, text display or formatting problems, print, crash problems

PowerPoint appears in grayscale or black & white, b/w

PowerPoint 2007 and PowerPoint 2010: Slide image in notes pages is low-rez / jaggy

How can I ungroup graphs/charts in PowerPoint 2007?

PPT 2007: Text jumbled up, bullet and text effects galleries blank or corrupted

PowerPoint 2007 bugs / problems

PowerPoint 2007 Hotfixes and Service Packs

PowerPoint 2007 VBA bugs/problems

Working with text in PowerPoint 2007 (VBA)

EPS graphics print poorly from PowerPoint 2007

No more Pattern Fills in PowerPoint 2007

PowerPoint 2007 Quick Tips

Using Equation Editor with PowerPoint 2007

Using MSGraph with PowerPoint 2007 (MS Graph, Charts)

Installing Office 2007 with other Office versions

PowerPoint makes pictures blurry or unsharp, loses GIF animation

Clear The Recent Document list in PowerPoint 2007 and 2003

Office files don't download correctly from a Web Server; saved as zip files instead

Red X replaces images on slides inserted into PowerPoint 2007 presentations

Links added to SmartArt don't work

PowerPoint 2007: printed text in graphics is jagged, graphics print in grayscale

PowerPoint 2007 won't update links to files on network drives

NEW STUFF / USEFUL STUFF

PowerPoint News   [Top]

Ric Bretschneider (PowerPoint Program Manager at Microsoft) blogs and podcasts

Creating animated cartoons and movies in PowerPoint

PowerPoint, PundiTuftes and the Press

New Add-ins / Products / Sites   [Top]

PowerPoint Blogs, Podcasts, Columns and Newsfeeds

Tools, Gadgets, Accessories

Corporate branding and graphics standards

Make sure your media Plays For Certain

PowerPoint Add-in to delete selected content: TagErase

Slide Into Word: A kinder, gentler Send To Word from PowerPoint MVP Bill Dilworth

Creating games in PowerPoint

A PowerPoint Yellow Pages - PowerPoint-related products and services

Free Sequential Save Add-in by Shyam Pillai

Export shapes as graphics from PowerPoint 97

Tricks, Tips, Problems, Fixes and Upgrades   [Top]

Video export your way

PowerPoint 2010 presentation broadcasting fails

Make sure that text fits slides, adding new slides as needed for "overflow"

PowerPoint unexpectedly puts content into placeholders

Links between slides don't work in PowerPoint HTML

PowerPoint connects to the internet unexpectedly

Copyright: can I use music, pictures, etc. in my presentations?

Find the color of a pixel in an image

Command Line Switches - PowerPoint and PowerPoint Viewers

PowerPoint won't open my older PowerPoint presentations

FIND MORE POWERPOINT HELP

PowerPoint Help Online   [Top]

Guidelines for the PowerPoint Support Forums

Please don't spam

Search the web for PowerPoint help

PowerPoint-Seiten auf Deutsch (PowerPoint Sites in German)

Other PowerPoint-related sites

PowerPoint for educators

What and Who are MVPs?

Where can I download a copy of PowerPoint?

PowerPoint Help from Microsoft   [Top]

Contact Microsoft - Support, Sales, Replacement CDs etc.

Make suggestions, report problems to Microsoft

Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 (XP) Information

PowerPoint Resources on microsoft.com

Using the MS KnowledgeBase (MSKB)

Office and PowerPoint Service Packs

PowerPoint-Related Subjects - Help and Info   [Top]

I want to create a book in PowerPoint

Can I use clip-art commercially?

Help with Producer

PostScript, EPS, PDF and related subjects

The Art of the Presentation

Presentations for international audiences

Web Resources: HTML, Javascript, CSS, etc.

Color Theory, File Formats, etc.

Windows troubleshooting, networking and setup resources

TIPS, TECHNIQUES, TUTORIALS

Misc Tips 1

Misc Tips 2

Misc. Tips 3

Tutorials   [Top]

Example PowerPoint Presentations

Basic PowerPoint

Drawing with PowerPoint

Linking in PowerPoint

Create or Customize Templates

Text handling and tricks

3D Graphics

Multimedia

From PowerPoint to the Web

Upload to the net with FTP

Other sites with links to tutorials

Suggested PowerPoint curriculum from MS

Using the Windows Scheduler with PowerPoint

Using Virtual PC / VMWare virtual computers

Using Japanese, Chinese, Korean (CJK) languages in PowerPoint

Pixel-accurate drawing in PowerPoint; measuring in pixels

Pixel-Accurate display of images in PowerPoint screenshows

Customizing PowerPoint   [Top]

Customizing PowerPoint's right-click popup menus

Creating Presentations   [Top]

Add an outline showing the edges of slides

Create a fake screentip (text that appears when you mouse over a shape)

Eliminate the screentip that appears over hyperlinks

Check or change the Document Properties for your presentation

Working with two monitors; editing PowerPoint on dual monitors

Creating "Pseudo-Subtitles"

Creating accessible PowerPoint presentations / PowerPoint accessibility

Slide numbering - Slide XX of YY

Flexible Slide Numbering

Set default text and drawing shape styles

Create a default "blank" presentation with your own defaults

Create your own default presentation

How can I remove the template / revert to the original blank template?

Create a table of contents (TOC) slide with links

CMYK and PowerPoint

How can I use Pantone, TruMatch, CMYK or other colors in PowerPoint?

Create your own template folder in PowerPoint 2000 and later

Create your own templates

Control the formatting of hyperlinked text

How big should text be? What's the ideal font size?

Use more than one master in a presentation

Mix Portrait and Landscape slides in a presentation

Create a slide library (slide repository, slide library, slide management)

Create a new presentation using parts of an existing one

PowerPoint File Size Limitations: how big can my PowerPoint files be?

Drawing & Working with Shapes   [Top]

How to create a spiral in PowerPoint

Hiding shapes on a gradient, textured or patterned background

Selecting shapes that are covered by other shapes

Adding editable points to a shape, editing points when PowerPoint says No

How to add arrowheads to a Cycle diagram in PowerPoint 2002

Working with Text   [Top]

Create vertically stacked text

Create a PowerPoint presentation from a plain text file

Creating Equations in PowerPoint

Add special characters to text

Removing a misspelled word once it's been added to the spell check dictionary

Working with tab stops and indents

Working with Charts and Graphs   [Top]

Working with colors in MS Graph

Create user-defined Custom Charts / Graphs or Chart Templates

Charts with Picture Markers

GANTT and other project planning chart types

Reset manually edited chart labels to show automatic text

Linking or copying information/content/charts/worksheets from Excel to PowerPoint

Extracting Excel content from PowerPoint

Working with Sound and Movies   [Top]

About recording narration in PowerPoint 2007 and onward

Edit the narration for a slide after it has been recorded

Adding show-length narration to a PowerPoint presentation

Playing movies in slow or fast motion

Fading sounds, changing volume of sounds in PowerPoint

Distributing & Delivering Presentations   [Top]

Distributing PPTs - Pitfalls, Panics & Pleasures

Does a PPS (PowerPoint Show) need PowerPoint or a Viewer to play? Can I edit a PPS?

Password protect a presentation

Send a presentation that opens automatically in email

Make an AutoRun CD

Test an AutoRun CD

Make a standalone EXE that runs a PowerPoint presentation

CD Specs

Make sure my chosen fonts are available

Make screenshow fill a wide screen display

Make the pointer or cursor go away (screenshow)

Keep the session alive (prevent screensaver, logout problems, mouse jiggler)

Creating Teacher / Student editions of presentations

Distributing in Other Formats   [Top]

Distribute presentations as Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format)

Distribute presentations as video on VHS or DVD

Distribute presentations using Microsoft Producer

Online PowerPoint Presentation Systems - web conferencing, broadcasting etc.

Distribute presentations using handhelds (PocketPC, Palm)

Make a screensaver from PowerPoint

Share a presentation on the web

Video Projectors and Dual Monitors   [Top]

What type of video connection is this?

Dual monitors and PowerPoint (by Paul Iordanides) (and others)

A Multiple Monitor Tutorial by PowerPoint MVP Chirag Dalal

How do I use Presenter view without a projector or second monitor? (by Chirag Dalal)

How do I hook up this video projector?

Video Connectors: JohnO's Techie Workshop

Video Projector Reviews/Info/Utilities

Screen Shows   [Top]

Disable mouse and keyboard control during a presentation

Create hotkeys ( keyboard shortcuts ) to macros and menu items

Adding or entering text during a show

Make Slide Titles disappear

Change the volume of sounds

Make PowerPoint go to previous slide on right mouse-click

Play DVDs in a presentation

Create menu slides with links to other presentations or links between slides in a presentation

Play sounds across multiple slides (A WAV runs through it)

Play movies across multiple slides

Launch a program w/o user seeing confirmation dialog

Reset all SLIDE TIMINGS in a presentation

Keyboard shortcut to start slide show from current slide

Auto-update linked spreadsheets or other information

Designing presentations for touch-screen - by Chirag Dalal

Animation   [Top]

Animations don't play when I go back to a slide

Change animation effect for just a few slides out of a presentation (2002/2003)

Make animated text appear line by line (build slides)

Push the animation envelope

Create MOVIE CREDITS-style crawling text

Making Acrobat PDFs from PowerPoint   [Top]

How can I make Acrobat PDFs from PowerPoint?

What's PDFMaker?

Problems making PDFs from PowerPoint

My PowerPoint PDFs are cropped; footers, page numbers, dates are missing

My PDFs from PowerPoint are rotated

PDFs from Mac PowerPoint

PDFs from PowerPoint are huge

Bad hyperlinks in PDFs

How can I make B/W PDFs?

Importing and Converting   [Top]

Importing CDs, iTunes and other downloaded sounds into PowerPoint

Import Web Pages into PowerPoint

Converting from Freelance to PowerPoint

Converting XXX presentations to PowerPoint

Converters - Sound, Movie, Graphics, etc.

Adam's Transparency Tutorial (Alpha channels and more)

Alpha Transparency from CorelDraw

Include a YouTube Flash video in your presentation

Embed FLASH effects into PowerPoint

Import PDF content into PowerPoint

BATCH IMPORT images into PowerPoint

Resize pictures to fill the slide (fit to slide)

Use GRAPHICS as BULLETS

Open a PPZ file

Convert SGI graphics for use in PowerPoint

Exporting   [Top]

Improve PowerPoint's GIF, BMP, PNG, JPG export resolution

Extract images and sounds from PowerPoint

Extract images from PowerPoint

Export linked narration sound files in logically named/numbered order

Export EPS from PowerPoint

Convert PowerPoint to Pocket PowerPoint

Convert presentations into Movie files

Convert presentations to DVD video

Printing, Overheads, 35mm Slides, Pre-press   [Top]

Print larger handouts

Printing PowerPoint: Slide size v. Printer Page size

Control how your presentation prints in B/W

Print posters or other large format output

Print large-format slides to normal size paper (tile,tiling)

Print without opening PowerPoint

PhotoEdit won't print - Not Enough Memory messages

Color Calibration on the Cheap

WEBifying your PowerPoint   [Top]

Put your PowerPoint on the Web

Put your PowerPoint-generated HTML on the web

How can I convert PowerPoint 2010 to HTML (where's the Save As Web Page command)?

Browser compatibility

Optimize PowerPoint's HTML for Netscape Navigator

Make PowerPoint 2000 HTML open full screen

Make PowerPoint 2002, PowerPoint 2003 and PowerPoint 2007 HTML open full screen

How to make links open in a new window from PowerPoint's HTML

Get rid of the outline pane and navigation controls in HTML from PowerPoint 2000 and up

Sounds won't play across multiple slides on the web

How to create HTML without frames

Control how the browser opens PowerPoint files

Everything there is to know about PowerPoint's HTML

Convert PowerPoint to Flash

Using the Web Publishing Wizard to upload your files to the web

Cross-platform Compatibility   [Top]

PC to Mac and Back

Colors appear different on Mac vs PC PowerPoint

Quicktime Links

Preparing Mac Files for the PC (or Doin' The Illustrator Two-Step)

Cross-Version Compatibility   [Top]

Set the character PowerPoint 97 and the Viewer use in place of picture bullets

Can I move my custom settings from one computer to another?

Accessibility and Internationalization   [Top]

The PPT Dictionary - PowerPoint menu commands in many languages

GENERAL INFO

Misc. HowTos   [Top]

How to UNBLOCK a file

Share files and folders from Dropbox

Where's my TEMP folder?

How to install Office, PowerPoint (and other software) on a netbook

Make Windows show file extensions and hidden files

How to back up and restore the Windows registry

How to turn off CD AutoPlay (AutoRun)

How to turn off Windows Messenger service

How to turn off UAC (user account control) in Windows Vista

Batch-convert high resolution images for PowerPoint or web use (batch downsampling)

Screen shots / Screen captures

Changing a File Association, Repairing broken File Associations

Improving the view in Windows Explorer

Add Asian Language support to PowerPoint, Office, Windows

What version of Windows / PowerPoint is it?

How to find the share name and path to a network printer

How to map a network drive

Scans, Resolution, DPI   [Top]

What's all this about DPI and INCHES and RESOLUTION?

What's the best resolution for images in PowerPoint screen shows?

Scanning - Bitmap Resolution - DPI

Preparing bitmap images for 35mm slides

Ideal Scan Sizes for 35mm Slides

What formats does Windows Media Player play?

Fonts   [Top]

PowerPoint opens presentations as Read-Only, won't allow editing when fonts embedded

Embedding fonts

Are my fonts embedded or not?

Microsoft's Typography site

Companion Software   [Top]

Sound Editors

Image Editing Software

Versions & Compatibility   [Top]

Do I have 32-bit or 64-bit PowerPoint?

Open PowerPoint 2007, 2010, 2013 files in PowerPoint 2003, 2002, 2000

Where can I get information about older Office or PowerPoint versions?

End User License Agreements (EULA)

Using Microsoft copyrighted content (clip art, sounds, fonts, etc.)

Where's PowerPoint?

Can I install standalone PowerPoint along with Small Business Edition?

About Office and Windows XP Product Activation and Licensing

PowerPoint VERSIONS

Can I install multiple versions of PowerPoint / Office?

PowerPoint 2000 Migration Guide

PowerPoint 2000 FEATURES not supported in PowerPoint 97

PowerPoint 97 vs 2000 incompatibilities

PowerPoint 2002 (XP) vs 2000 vs 97

Saving backwards to PowerPoint 95

Which version of Office 2003 is right for me?

How long will support be available?

What Is ...?   [Top]

What is a PPZ file?

What's the meaning of this?

Where Can I Find ...?   [Top]

PowerPoint Add-ins

Multimedia Converters

Office Patches (Service Releases, Service Packs, SR-x, SP-x)

More PowerPoint TEMPLATES

Clocks and timers for PowerPoint

Photos

Music clips and sounds

Clip art and graphics

Movies and movie clips

Fonts

Company and product logo graphics

Maps, Flags and other national clip art

The mother of all PPT LINKS pages

Drivers and such?

More tips. I want MORE TIPS!!

General Presentation Advice   [Top]

Check your slides in B/W view

LEGALITIES, RESTRICTIONS etc.   [Top]

How can I use Office Clip Art?

Academic Editions

PROGRAMMING POWERPOINT

These code samples come from various authors and are here for purposes of illustration. We can't (and don't) guarantee that they'll work on all systems, or that they are free of harmful side effects. It's your responsibility to verify the appropriateness and safety of any code you find here.

We don't offer tech support for the code here. If you have any problems or questions, please post a detailed description on the PowerPoint newsgroup. Whether the author chooses to respond is entirely up to them.

VBA code only works in PowerPoint 97 or later. It doesn't work at all in the free PowerPoint Viewer.

For VBeginners   [Top]

How do I use VBA code in PowerPoint

PowerPoint XML and RibbonX

How to set Macro Security in PowerPoint

Is VBA the answer? Is it the RIGHT answer? Will it solve my presentation problem?

Where can I learn more about VBA programming in PowerPoint?

VBA in PowerPoint / Mac vs. Windows

Self-certification to avoid macro security dialogs

Creating and Installing Add-ins, Toolbars, Buttons   [Top]

Create an ADD-IN with Ribbon buttons that run macros when clicked

Create an ADD-IN with TOOLBARS that run macros

Put icons on toolbar buttons

Working with toolbar buttons

Add a popup toolbar

Add / install an addin via the registry

Is VBA available?

Problems adding add-ins

Programming for 64-bit vs 32-bit Office 2010

PowerPoint events; event-handling in VBA

How can I get my code to run automatically when a presentation opens?

Make your VBA code in PowerPoint respond to events

OnSlideShowPageChange event does not fire

AutoWideScreen: an example add-in with event handling

PowerPoint event-handling best practices, oddities and workarounds

Useful Projects   [Top]

Certificate maker

Useful general purpose code   [Top]

Read a text file into an array

Show Me   [Top]

Show me the location and size of a shape

Show Me the Document Properties

Show me the Notes Text

Show me the ID of PowerPoint's command bar controls (and launch them)

Show me the next unhidden slide

Show me a list of designs and which slides use them

Show me the designs in a presentation; apply designs ONLY to selected slides

Show me the text in an ActiveX / OLE text control on a slide

Show me the built in properties and their values

Show me the fonts my presentation needs

Get a reference to a placeholder on a slide

Show Me: The hyperlinks in my presentation

What add-ins are loaded/installed?

Show me the .Type of each object on a slide

Show the .Type of each shape (including shapes in groups)

Show me the transition time of each slide and total running time of the show

Show me the transition, speed etc. of each slide

Determine which shape was clicked

The names of all main menu commands

The SlideIndex of the current slide

How many lines in the text box?

Make links and action settings visible

How to reproduce old-style preset gradients

Exporting shapes, slides and presentations   [Top]

Break a presentation up into several smaller presentations

Export comments to a text file (PowerPoint 2002 and later)

Export comments to a text file (PowerPoint 2000 and previous, Mac PowerPoint)

General-purpose routine for writing a string to a text file

Export Slide Number and Title Text to a text file

Export Text to a text file, extract text from PowerPoint (Mac or PC)

Export the text of a presentation to a CSV/Excel file

Export the notes text of a presentation

Export the PowerPoint presentation outline to a tabbed text file

Export the names and coordinates and type of all shapes

Export slides as graphics

Export Shapes as graphics

Put an image on the clipboard to use as a custom toolbar icon

Adding shapes, slides and presentations   [Top]

Working with Guides in PPT 2013 and later

Add presentation file name to each slide master

Add "leader" lines to tabbed text

Create a grid of rectangles

Flag the existence of hidden slides

Importing notes text from a text file

Add an On-Screen Keyboard to your presentation

Create a custom show from current slide selection using VBA

Copy a picture or other shape to every slide in a presentation

Double-Underline text

Insert all slides from a group of presentations into the current presentation

Add a random phrase from a text file to a text box on each slide

Add new slides with titles and text from a text file

Add a "thermometer" progress bar to each slide

Insert a picture at the correct size

Batch Insert a folder full of pictures, one per slide

Add the current path and file to every slide

Read in text from an ascii file?

Add a text box with scrollbars; populate it with text

Insert a symbol or other character at the insert cursor position

Add shape with text to "flag" hidden vs unhidden slides

How many slides can a presentation hold?

Frame a slide with a rectangle

Toggle a design grid on and off

Deleting shapes, slides and presentations   [Top]

Delete all hyperlinks in a slide presentation

Delete all slides but those in a custom show

Delete embedded sounds

Delete shapes with no fill and no line

Delete notes page text (or text and shapes)

How do I GET RID OF MACROS I've added? Warning message about "this presentation contains macros"

Ungroup all the OLE objects in a presentation

Remove all text shadows

Create a subset of an existing presentation

Changing shapes, slides and presentations   [Top]

Tricks for Teachers

Adding ALT text to audio shapes

Change one text color to another

Custom numbering a presentation

Remove underlines from descenders

Change distance from text to underlines

Identify each slide so its source can be tracked

Edit text during a slide show

Create vertical text

Uniquely rename all shapes in a presentation, eliminate duplicate shape names

Converting Scheme/Theme colors to non-Scheme colors

Indents: zeroing them out, resetting them etc.

Modifying AutoShape adjustments

Stacking a selection of shapes

Hide and Show Graphics

Changing the style of added PowerPoint 2007 tables

Rotate an image on every other slide

Hide / Unhide shapes at will

Change the formatting of Photo Album captions

Change a picture to a rounded rectangle, set the rounding radius (PowerPoint 2007)

Correct the order of shapes on Notes Pages. Fix disappearing notes in presenter view.

Sort a presentation based on slide titles

Invert the current selection: select all unselected shapes

Reformat all instances of a particular phrase

Reapply slide layout to every slide in the presentation

Assign an Action Setting, Run Macro action to multiple shapes at once

Highlight shapes in PowerPoint

Highlight text in PowerPoint

Working with Tab settings in text

Working with PowerPoint tables

Merge text from several text boxes into one text box

Changing PowerPoint's Options and AutoCorrect settings

Show me the link and let me edit it

Break all of the links in a presentation

Batch Search and Replace for Hyperlinks, OLE links, movie links and sound links

Search & Replace to change OLE link paths

Convert all OLE objects to grouped MSDraw objects

Reapply the Notes Master to each Notes Page in a presentation

Convert PowerPoint tables to HTML

Changing shapes within groups (without ungrouping)

Create "proper" fractions

Edit the name of a shape

Working with Tags (and a bit about Functions)

Change the font color of text

Change the font of all text in your presentation

Working with pictures on slides

Create agenda slides with a "moving highlight"

Convert PowerPoint 2002/2003 comments into PowerPoint 2000 comments

Change the author, date, etc. of Comments

Make subscripts and superscripts larger

Bringing certain shapes on top of others in your slides

PowerPoint underlines spaces and tabs - workaround

Changing the text in a shape during a slide show

An "LCD" counter that you can change

Printing   [Top]

Print from Slide Show View

Print alternate Slides and Notes Pages

Batch Tricks   [Top]

Do something to every shape slide or file

Batch: Do something to every file in a folder

Batch re-save presentations; update older presentations to newer PowerPoint version

Apply a shape's formatting to all similar shapes in presentation

Animations and Transitions   [Top]

VBA Linking (solve broken links problems)

Peekaboo Text: Use VBA to make text appear and disappear

Use VBA to create popup text

Apply a random transition to every slide in a presentation

Where can I find information about animation in PowerPoint 2002 (XP) and 2003?

Working with Excel   [Top]

Exel-lent Excel Sites

Excel code to modify Excel chart palette colors

Excel Charts to PowerPoint and other goodies

Convert linked Excel charts to embedded Excel charts

Automating one app from another   [Top]

General info on Office Automation

Controlling Office Applications from PowerPoint (by Naresh Nichani and Brian Reilly)

Automate Excel from PowerPoint. Automate PowerPoint from Excel. And so on.

Automating the Viewer

How to automate PowerPoint using VB

Invoke PPT and run a macro from VB

Server Office Automation Issues

ShellExecute Example

Working with MSGraph charts   [Top]

Automate MSGraph

MSGraph Colors -- The Periodic Table of the Graph

Programmatically add an MSGraph chart as a user-defined custom graph type

Extract data from MS Graph Chart

Ungroup every MSGraph chart in a presentation

Working with external data   [Top]

What this section is about

Where it starts: the DisplayData project by Naresh Nichani and Brian Reilly

Using Excel and Access data in PowerPoint Tables (by Brian Reilly and Naresh Nichani)

Excel worksheet data to a PowerPoint array (part of a tutorial by Brian Reilly and Naresh Nichani)

Working with Media (Audio/video)   [Top]

Convert embedded movies to linked movies

Working with Guides   [Top]

Adding, Deleting and Moving Guides

Other   [Top]

Setting the default language

Update charts and worksheets in a running presentation from Access data (by Naresh Nichani and Brian Reilly)

Update embedded charts and worksheets in a running presentation from Access data (Naresh Nichani and Brian Reilly)

Paragraph endings and line breaks

Links from converted Open Office files behave oddly

A Next Slide button that runs code also

Use VBA to read text from a file

Resetting positions of shapes

Using Tags

Interleave slides from several presentations

Ungroup and ReGroup all pictures and OLE objects

Reset the size of the slide images on notes pages to a single standard size

Convert commas in slide titles to a "safe" character to avoid hyperlink problems

Convert slide titles to shapes to solve hyperlink limit problems

Hide and Unhide Slide Titles

How do I distinguish the special page number characters on masters?

Keep Score with Static Variables

Recolor or hide "key" text in a presentation

Convert key text into underscore characters (ie, make them into Fill In The Blanks)

Use ShellExecute to sidestep certain linking problems

Put your macro to Sleep

Use DIR to get a list of files

Manipulating Listbox and Combobox controls on slides and forms

Fill a listbox with slide titles, make it go to chosen slide when clicked

Randomize the order of a PowerPoint presentation

Go there, Come back

Call a macro in another presentation and pass it parameters

Substitute one string for another in text

Fill the MRU (Most Recently Used) list with bogus file names

Single macro that can manipulate any shape that's clicked in slide show view

Slide number, SlideID, SlideIndex and all that jazz

Hide PowerPoint while I automate it

Macros that work in Normal/Slide view don't work in Slide Show view

Get DOCUMENT PROPERTIES without opening each file

Get the Document Properties of a PPT file

Determine the first CD ROM drive letter

Where can I learn about the PowerPoint FILE FORMAT

Hyperlink .SubAddress - How to interpret it

Where are the hyperlinks?

PowerPoint and Viewer Object Models

Create an index or table of contents (TOC) with links to a folder full of PPT files

Convert PowerPoint's color values into grayscale

SmartTags

VBA bugs   [Top]

The Name property of PowerPoint shapes is not reliable

Connector attachment points change when you move the connected shape

HasChildShapeRange returns incorrect values

Checking for autoshape text produces text

Message: "PowerPoint found an error it can't correct" when starting PowerPoint97 under Win2000

Querying Picture Properties crashes PPT XP

MAC FAQS

Troubleshoot Problems, Interpret Error Messages   [Top]

Mac: General troubleshooting suggestions for Office

Mac: QuickTime Movies don't play well in PowerPoint 2004

PowerPoint crashes / complains about missing fonts

Mac: Certain presentations crash PowerPoint 98 and 2001

Avoiding "Converting Metafile" dialogs in PowerPoint Mac

Error: "Memory was too full to draw everything..." or Red X in PowerPoint 98/2001 Mac

Mac: How do I recover corrupt or unreadable PowerPoint presentations?

Animations don't work in PowerPoint X after updating to Jaguar

Presentations lose animations in Mac PowerPoint X / Windows PowerPoint 2000 and previous

Mac: I can't import Windows Media Files into my presentation

PowerPoint X / 2004 crashes on startup

PowerPoint Viewer for Mac keeps insisting on being reinstalled

Mac PowerPoint prints in B/W to my color printer

Mac: Notes no longer match slides

Mac: Temp files eating my hard drive!

Mac: Can't import CIL files into Clip Gallery

Mac: MPEG movies unreliable - don't always play

PowerPoint 98 or 2001 crashes with a 'Type 2' error when I open it

Mac: Error 2/Crash when printing to Epson 740

Mac: Type 2 or 3 errors after customizing toolbars in PowerPoint 2001

Mac: When I select a font, PowerPoint uses a different font

Mac: Can't edit data in Microsoft Graph

Downloads, Contact Microsoft   [Top]

How do I send feedback and suggestions on PowerPoint for Mac?

Mac Office/PowerPoint Downloads, Tutorials and FAQs from Microsoft

Mac: PowerPoint Updates

Free PowerPoint Viewers for Mac

What happened to the Mac PowerPoint newsgroup?

How-Tos   [Top]

How do I use a database in Mac Office?

How to insert a .WMV movie into Mac PowerPoint

How do I enable Quartz Text Smoothing/anti-aliasing in PowerPoint X?

How do I optimize Mac presentations for Windows PowerPoint?

Mac: Use Make Movie to create a QuickTime presentation for use on Windows

Mac: Insert a picture from file/camera/scanner and size it to fit the slide in one step

How to create PDFs from Mac PowerPoint

Mac: How to create a presentation for distribution on CD

Mac: How do I customize the Office Manager?

How does PPT Mac store graphics internally?

Other Mac PowerPoint Resources   [Top]

Other Mac PowerPoint / Mac Office Sites

STUPID PPT-TRIX

OK. I'll bite. What's THIS all about?

Easter Egg

Just for fun

Awww. Do you miss your pal Clippy?

Solutions in Search of a Problem   [Top]

Object-ively Foolish or total Videocy? You decide.

Running more than one slide show at once

TROUBLESHOOTING

Troubleshooting Tips and Procedures   [Top]

General PROBLEMS and solutions

General PC Troubleshooting

How to select a default printer

How to install a TEST printer driver

How to install a local printer driver

How to set graphics hardware acceleration back

How to start Office in Safe Mode

How to start Windows in Safe Mode

How to UNBLOCK a file

Problems with unreadable CDs/DVDs

Using the Office Setup program

Completely uninstall Office - Office Erasers / Registry Cleaners

Using System Information to gather troubleshooting info

Do I have antivirus software installed? How to find out.

Norton Anti-Virus and Office

Find and Delete PowerPoint's PCB file

Are you on a network?

About User Permissions

General information about Windows Printing

What add-ins are loaded?

How to disable add-ins

Make a JING or SCREENR recording

PowerPoint Crashes Without Error Message   [Top]

PowerPoint crashes when I type text

PowerPoint 2002 / XP crashes while running add-in

PowerPoint 2002 / XP crashes when renumbering slides

PowerPoint crashes while opening certain presentations

PowerPoint crashes or becomes non-responsive when searching for More Auto-Shapes

PowerPoint won't start

PowerPoint won't start or PowerPoint starts then immediately quits or crashes

Specific Error Messages   [Top]

PowerPoint crashes when switching to Slide Master view

Corrupted file message when opening files in PowerPoint 2003

Message: "PowerPoint couldn't load the add-in" followed by the full path to a file that doesn't exist

Message: General failure with email system, action could not be completed

Message: "Failed to import ..." or "An error occurred while importing ..." while importing CGM or other graphics

Message: "The server application, source file or item can't be found ..." when you double-click an embedded PDF

Message: Some controls on this presentation can't be activated. They might not be registered on this computer.

Message: "You must accept the Office End User License Agreement" when starting an Office program

Message: This file has an older format that isn't supported.

Error message: There was an error accessing the file

File cannot be found error message when opening a file

Message: "PowerPoint has stopped working" when editing a presentation

Message: "PowerPoint has stopped working" at startup. PowerPoint won't start.

Message: "PowerPoint couldn't load the add-in [add-in file name]" when starting Powerpoint 2007

"You must accept the Office End User License Agreement" message when starting Office programs.

"Hyperlinks can be harmful to your computer and data"

PPT2003 - Can't access [filename] because the filename is invalid

"You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting" (or "attempting to save a file")

"The files cannot be copied to the temporary folder" message while using Package for CD

"invalid product key" error message when starting Office 2003 program

Error message: Microsoft Office PowerPoint can't display clip art.

"Could not load an object" or "some controls on this presentation cant be activated" messages

"\\Server\Share does not have enough free space" error when using Pack and Go

Message re "installing Microsoft Graph" when you doubleclick a graph to edit it

Error message: The address of this site is not valid. Check the address and try again.

AUTOEXEC.NT, CONFIG.NT - The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications

Security warning message when clicking a hyperlink: "files might harm your computer"

"Hidden Console of WOW VDM" error messages when installing under NT4

"Can't Display the Template Used in This Document. Windows Installer Error 1605."

Internet Explorer Cannot Download error message

"Unable to read PRES0.PPZ"

QuickTime and a TIFF (or JPEG) decompressor are needed to see this picture

Error message: NTSC decompressor needed to see this picture

PowerPoint Has Encountered an Error and Must Close

"PowerPoint can't create a hyperlink to" or message about hlink.dll

What DLL came with which software?

CLSCentralAddInn - run-time error '5' Invalid procedure call or argument

"Some files can contain viruses ..." message when clicking a hyperlink

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library error messages

Files open as Read-Only after installing Windows XP SP1, Other file/path related problems

This command is not available because the document is locked for edit

"Server Not Found" messages after installing Office XP SP2 or Office 2000 SP3

Warning messages about PDFMaker after installing SP2 for Office XP

Registration wizard appears every time you start PowerPoint

"R6025 - pure virtual function call" message when starting PowerPoint

FretrySdmError SDM Alert error message

MSO9.DLL error messages

Can't edit Org Chart, Graph, Excel (error msg: "server application, source file, or item can't be found")

"PowerPoint can't open the type of file represented by [FILENAME]" or "No text converter is installed for this file type"

PowerPoint found an error that it can't correct

"PowerPoint couldn't translate this file" when opening presentation in PPT97

The file "xxx" is stored on a disc named [something cryptic]. Please insert this disc.

Unable to launch software component to play [sound name]

Unable to Insert a Movie from the Selected File

Create MPEG 32 task_cmd is not successful

Insufficient Memory message when adding an Organization Chart

Org Chart and error messages referring to GDI

Macro security warning when no macros are present

"Insufficient memory to perform this operation" message when printing from Photo Editor

"IE 3.0 or higher is required" message when accessing help via the Office Assistant

MSO97.DLL ERRORS

Run-time error '429': ActiveX component can't create object

This application must be installed to run. Please run Setup ...

Path to the Proplus.msi file (you receive a prompt for this)

The system cannot open the device or file specified

The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed.

This patch package could not be opened. Verify that ...

This presentation might contain Far East (or Asian) text and formats that PowerPoint can't display

"An unexpected error occurred" then "I/O Error 6" or "I/O Error 0"

Graphics Problems   [Top]

Inserted images have an unwanted border or lines on one or more sides

Pictures with certain shadow settings may display incorrectly

Fuzzy or low quality preview pictures / thumbnails

Flipped images, upside-down images

Can't crop pictures (or make them transparent)

Graphics turn black

Transparent areas of graphics turn black

PNG images appear too dark or too light

Can't make white colors become transparent in PowerPoint 2002/XP

Clip Art/Clip Gallery/Design Gallery problems

Problems with EMF (Enhanced Metafile) graphics

EPS graphics don't print or don't print correctly

Microsoft Office Picture Manager Opens Slowly

TIFFs exported from PowerPoint won't open in other applications

Display, Screen Show & Multimedia Problems   [Top]

Create a Video grayed out

My 2007 presentation doesn't work as expected in the 2007 viewer

Slides don't show in Slide Show View

Slide sorter displays slides from right to left

Double-clicking doesn't work

Ink annotation doesn't work

Text over video doesn't work

What MPG formats can PowerPoint play?

Can't open modify password protected presentation in Viewer

Text bunches up at left of slide

Mysterious text appears, slides advance unexpectedly (Ghosties Ex Machina)

Grid appears in pasted/linked Excel worksheets

Pen doesn't work during slide show in PowerPoint 2003

Video/Movie plays full screen when projected

PowerPoint displays a presentation in B/W, won't show it in color

Sounds/Movies don't play, images disappear or links break when I move or email a presentation

Videos play correctly on computer but not on projector (black box)

Flashes, blue screen or blank screen when viewing slides with video clips on external monitor or projector

Animated text goes jagged in Screen Show

Can't run slideshow / screen show won't start; Icon appears on task bar

Solving MultiMedia problems

PowerPoint gets the SLOWS

PowerPoint locks up when running a presentation non-stop

Can I play DVDs in PowerPoint?

Problems with movies in PPT presentations

Animations, Sounds, Movies play only once

Animated GIFs don't animate

AVIs don't play or don't play all the way through

MUSHY/BLURRY GRAPHICS in PowerPoint

Slide View is gone. I want it back!

I don't like PPT2000's 3-pane view. I want my old view back.

Problems with Organization Chart (OrgChart)

Missing menu items

Expand Slide missing

Lines in PowerPoint 2000 tables have arrowheads

White line appears at bottom of screen during slide show

Corrupted or unopenable PPT files   [Top]

Text disappears in the Viewer

I accidentally deleted my file

Remove password from a password-protected PowerPoint file

Recovering a corrupt presentation

RED X instead of graphics

NOTES text disappears

Images that appear corrupted, image files that won't import

HTML "Round-tripping" to repair corruption

Printing Problems   [Top]

PowerPoint 2010 autorecover puts users over profile limit

PowerPoint won't print multiple copies

PowerPoint 2010 won't print Black & White; prints grayscale instead

PowerPoint 2007/2010 won't print equations

Part of my printouts are cut off

Gradient transparency doesn't print properly

Can't print password protected PowerPoint files from PowerPoint 2002 (XP)

B/W printouts don't look right

Margins are wrong, printout is off-center, can't print to edge, printing is cut off

PowerPoint prints landscape slides in portrait mode (or vice versa)

Slides don't print on notes pages

Can't print or save from PowerPoint 2002 (XP) or 2003

Printed presentations don't match what I see on screen

Pictures print blue on Canon Laser Copier

A particular slide won't print

20 Mem Overflow and 21 Print Overrun errors when printing to PCL printers

Pictures/Images print twice

File Saving Problems   [Top]

Why are my PowerPoint files so big? What can I do about it?

Handouts sent to Word make huge files

PowerPoint suddenly can't open or save files

PowerPoint files open as read-only, can't save

PowerPoint hangs when I save a file

Link & Copy/Paste Problems   [Top]

PowerPoint drops hash characters in hyperlinks when saving

Troubleshoot Link and Hyperlink Problems: links break, hyperlinks break, go to wrong slide, sounds or movies don't play

Links to Excel break

JAGGIES in pie charts

Excel info cut off or cropped when pasted into PowerPoint

Excel content turns black and white (B&W), loses color when copy/pasted into PowerPoint

Making WORD TABLES look good in PowerPoint

Problems with LINKED EXCEL CHARTS in PowerPoint

Resizing info pasted from Excel makes text sizes go crazy

Problems with fonts in embedded charts/spreadsheets, etc.

Graphs don't update automatically

Lost hyperlinks, hyperlinks link to wrong place, hyperlinks stop working

Hyperlinks don't work after copy/paste

File Import / Export Problems   [Top]

Don't make me store my pictures in My Pictures

Problems with Clip Gallery

Problems with PowerPoint on the Web   [Top]

I can't save as HTML from PowerPoint 97

Animations don't animate

Graphics are missing, replaced with white box

Text or Font Problems   [Top]

Can't type notes into the Notes Text pane in Normal view, scrollbar jumps to top in slide thumbnail pane

Text size or other formatting is lost when you save, close, and reopen a presentation

Text box won't AutoFit to Text

Text is right to left, bullets appear on right of text

Troubleshoot font problems

Text changes size after saving and reopening a file

Text disappears when I edit it

Backspace key produces empty square box character

PowerPoint adds space before apostrophe

Text disappears when ungrouping WMFs or pasted drawings

Cross-Version / Cross-Platform Problems   [Top]

Page Size changes between PowerPoint 2002 and older versions

Prevent PowerPoint XP from converting OrgCharts to XP format

Missing Features   [Top]

Where is the Carnegie Coach in the AutoContent Wizard?

Animation, Password, Multiple Master features unavailable in PowerPoint 2002/2003

Macro recorder toolbar disappears

Add-in and VBA problems   [Top]

An add-in suddenly stops working

Does this add-in have a digital signature?

Buttons that launch macros stop working

Misc. Nuisances   [Top]

Inserted pictures behave unpredictably

PowerPoint adds odd linebreaks, breaks lines in odd places or in the middle of words

Height and Width are blank in AutoFormat dialog box

Problems with USB drives

Office shapes move or duplicate themselves when I click them (VISTA/Windows 7)

Slide show suddenly quits

PowerPoint displays a "Set Profiles first, please" message at startup.

Notes pages are odd-sized

Table cells are 3D

PowerPoint icon disappears from Programs and Start lists

Function keys stop working

PowerPoint ruler shows inches instead of centimeters (cm). Or vice versa.

Centimeters are wrong

Stupid Windows Tricks

Can't delete a file or folder

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