strange menu behavior in PP XP

[Ray]

I noticed yesterday that every time I open PowerPoint
(2002), I get a new blank menu item in my "Format" menu,
below "Background" and above "Object". I've tried
everything to find the source of the problem (virus scans,
macros, repairing and re-installing Office), but nothing
seems to work. Has anyone else seen this, and what should
I do? Right now, I use the customize toolbars to remove
this blank line every time I start PP, but this seems
ridiculous.

 

[Steve Rindsberg, PPTMVP]

I noticed yesterday that every time I open PowerPoint

(2002), I get a new blank menu item in my "Format" menu,
below "Background" and above "Object". I've tried
everything to find the source of the problem (virus scans,
macros, repairing and re-installing Office)

Have you checked Tools, Addins?
Have you installed any new addins or other software for PowerPoint?

 

[Ray]

Checked add-ins, nothing except Adobe Acrobat. Haven't
installed anything new lately -- the only special software
I was using was PowerPlugs by CrystalGraphics, but I've
uninstalled all of that as well....

 

[Steve Rindsberg, PPTMVP]

Checked add-ins, nothing except Adobe Acrobat.

It has it's own fair share of oddities, but this isn't one of them. Let's
let it off the hook for now. ;-)

Haven't
installed anything new lately -- the only special software
I was using was PowerPlugs by CrystalGraphics, but I've
uninstalled all of that as well....

These two give you a way of checking a bit more deeply than PPT itself will
let you go.

What add-ins are loaded?
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00374.htm

How to disable add-ins
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00324.htm

It's also possible, I suppose, that your PCB file has become corrupt
somehow.
This is where all the customizations are stored.
With PPT shut down, do a file search for *.PCB
There'll probably be just one file of that extension. Rename it to *.BAK or
something more distinctive then start PPT again and see if that solves the
problem.

 

[Ray]

Thank you Steve!!! Using the VBA script at rdpslides, I
found some add-ins that weren't showing up in the menu add-
ins list -- but the actual files didn't exist. Went to
the registry and found keys for v.8 (Office 97), so I
deleted all references to those. All is good now!

 

[Steve Rindsberg, PPTMVP]

Thank you Steve!!! Using the VBA script at rdpslides, I
found some add-ins that weren't showing up in the menu add-
ins list -- but the actual files didn't exist. Went to
the registry and found keys for v.8 (Office 97), so I
deleted all references to those. All is good now!

Ray, great! Thanks for letting us know.