Supercharge your PowerPoint productivity with
Supercharge your PPT Productivity with PPTools - Click here to learn more.

Proud member of

PPTools

Image Export converts PowerPoint slides to high-quality images.

PPT2HTML exports HTML even from PowerPoint 2010 and 2013, gives you full control of PowerPoint HTML output, helps meet Section 508 accessibility requirements

Merge Excel data into PowerPoint presentations to create certificates, awards presentations, personalized presentations and more

Resize your presentations quickly and without distortion

Language Selector switches the text in your presentation from one language to another

FixLinks prevents broken links when you distribute PowerPoint presentations

Shape Styles brings styles to PowerPoint. Apply complex formatting with a single click.

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

Problem

Solution

This only seems to occur under Windows Vista and Windows 7. If you have either of those Windows versions and experience this problem, you need to locate the main PowerPoint executable file, POWERPNT.EXE, and change its properties, specifically one called Desktop Composition.

If you have Windows 7

If you have Windows Vista

That's all there is to it

Start PowerPoint back up and go to work. You may see a message saying that the color scheme has changed to Windows, Vista Basic and that some visual elements are disabled temporarily. Apparently that's a side-effect of disabling desktop composition. Don't just click the X to get rid of it.

Instead, click where it says to click for "More Information." A dialog box will pop up with the option to check "Don't show this message again."

By checking that box, you won't have to see the annoying color scheme message every time you start PowerPoint. This applies to PowerPoint 2010 and Windows 7.

Thanks to PowerPoint MVP Shawn Toh (tohlz) of PowerPoint Heaven for this solution and to Martin C for the Windows 7 suggestions, and to PowerPoint MVP David Marcovitz for the tip about permanently getting rid of that silly color scheme message.


Did this solve your problem? If so, please consider supporting the PPT FAQ with a small PayPal donation.
Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape Contents © 1995 - 2022 Stephen Rindsberg, Rindsberg Photography, Inc. and members of the MS PowerPoint MVP team. You may link to this page but any form of unauthorized reproduction of this page's contents is expressly forbidden.

Supercharge your PPT Productivity with PPTools

content authoring & site maintenance by
Friday, the automatic faq maker (logo)
Friday - The Automatic FAQ Maker

Office shapes move or duplicate themselves when I click them (VISTA/Windows 7)
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00882_Office_shapes_move_or_duplicate_themselves_when_I_click_them_-VISTA-Windows_7-.htm
Last update 23 June, 2011
Created: