Return from "Black Screen" not working properly

[Guest]

I have an odd problem that I cannot fix.

I am running OfficeXP. When running a Powerpoint slide presentation and if
I black out the presentation (by using the 'B' key), I can bring the
presentation back by pressing any key (except 'CTRL', 'ALT', 'SHIFT' - may be
other 'special' key as well) on the key board.

The implication is that if I want to advance to the next slide by, say,
pressing the right arrow key, I have to press the right arrow key twice.
Also if I want to jump to another slide that is out of sequence, say jump to
slide 23 ('23 + ENTER'), it will take the first keystroke ('2') to unblank
the screen then jump to slide 3. This is very distracting to the audience.

I've tried other Powerpoint installations on differenct computers but none
behaved this way.

I've searched everywhere, used HELP in Powerpoint, and tried all the
drop-down menus in Powerpoint but still I could not find a solution to the
above problem.

Has anyone out there encountered this problem and how did you fix the problem?

 

[Sonia]

That's the way it works for me. The black screen is a "toggle". A "B" blackens
the screen and a second "B" or "." or other key stroke unblackens the screen.
It's an on and off situation.

 

[Guest]

Hi Sonia,

Thanks for your reply.

I ran tests on other Powerpoint installations (some were older and some were
newer). This installation (Office XP) is the only one that behaved this way.

Other installations simply ignore the keystroke if it was not part of the
command key set. For example, if I put a black screen up by pressing the "B"
key, I could unblank the screen by pressing "B" again or ".". If I press
"Y", Powerpoint would not react to that keystroke.

This is the first time I encountered this behavior in all my experiences
with Powerpoint slide presentation. So I think it does not normally behave
in this manner.

 

[Sonia]

Yes it change (accidentally?) in PowerPoint 2002 and remains changed in
PowerPoint 2003 and the PowerPoint 2003 Viewer. At least that's the way it
works in those versions on my system. If I understand correctly, you are saying
that you have tried it in PowerPoint 2002 on other systems where only "B" and
"." work. I cannot explain that.

 

[Guest]

Your interpretation is correct.

Last night I uninstalled Office XP and installed Office 2003. The behaviour
was the same. I know 100% Powerpoint 2003 does not behave like that in my
other Powerpoint 2003 installations. So it looks like it is not an strictly
an Office XP problem. It may have something to do with other component in my
Windows2K installation.

I have other keyboard personalities (may be the Chinese, Taiwan, keyboard is
the problem) installed in this problematic installation. I'll remove this to
see if it makes any difference.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Hi Sonia,

I humbly submit that I made a sequence of errors of testing in this whole
affair. I must have made some assumptions from memory instead of verifying
afresh.

You are absolutely right that this behaviour was changed, probably in Office
2002, and carried on to Office 2003. This is the normal behaviour now for
Powerpoint. But it just does not make logical sense to me why they changed
this behavior.

I guess I have to find a way to workaround this since it does behave this
way now.

Thanks!