Clarity of Graphics in Slide Sorter View Substantially Reduced

[Guest]

We have discovered a substantial reduction in the clarity of graphics when
using the slide sorter view in PowerPoint 2003 versus PowerPoint 97, making
it very difficult to work with moving slides around or choosing slides to
copy to other presentations. Has anyone experienced this same problem and
found a fix?

 

[Sonia]

Side-by-side, the same presentation in PowerPoint 97 and PowerPoint 2003, dual
monitors, they don't seem different to me. Are you sure that you are doing an
apples to apples comparison? Same display resolution and same magnification of
the slides? Same presentation? Same monitor and video driver?
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com

 

[Guest]

Side-by-side, the same presentation in PowerPoint 97 and PowerPoint 2003, dual
monitors, they don't seem different to me. Are you sure that you are doing an
apples to apples comparison? Same display resolution and same magnification of
the slides? Same presentation? Same monitor and video driver?
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com

 

[Guest]

I am looking at the same presentation. However, I have two CPU's connected
to a Dell 1701FP via a switchbox. One system is running Windows XP
Professional with Office 2003 (ATI Tech Inc. RAGE 128 Pro Ultra GL AGP
videocard); the other is running Windows NT with Office 97 (video card type
unknown). The .ppt presentation displays with much more clarity in slide
sorter view when opened on the NT machine using PowerPoint 97.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

If you answered Sonia's question, the answer somehow got lost.
Better give it another shot.
Thanks!

 

[Austin Myers]

NT was never famous for video grapics. (It's a work station after all.
(<g>) My suggestion is to find out what video card you have and update the
drivers. A stop at the MS download site to update your version of DirectX
may also be in order.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I am looking at the same presentation. However, I have two CPU's connected
to a Dell 1701FP via a switchbox. One system is running Windows XP
Professional with Office 2003 (ATI Tech Inc. RAGE 128 Pro Ultra GL AGP
videocard); the other is running Windows NT with Office 97 (video card type
unknown). The .ppt presentation displays with much more clarity in slide
sorter view when opened on the NT machine using PowerPoint 97.

We really have a mix of stuff here, not just PPT97 vs 2003.
You might also check the quality and length of cables to and from the switchbox and
even swap them around so that you try each computer at each switch position (the
switch contacts sometimes go bad and cause video problems).

Or to save a little time:

- Make sure both systems are running at the same resolution and color depth

- Display the same presentation on each, in slide sorter view. Make sure the zoom
levels are the same

- Make a screen shot of each

- Move both screenshot files to the same PC and compare there.

 

[Guest]

I have done a screen shot comparing the slide sorter mode using both
PowerPoint 2003 on the XP box and PowerPoint 97 on the NT box. The slides
are much more clear coming from PowerPoint 97 which is running under NT.
This same problem occurs on other computers in the area, not just on my
systems. When viewing the same .ppt presentation using slide sorter view
with NT/PowerPoint 97, the clarity is much better than when viewing the same
presentation on with XP/PowerPoint 2003 box.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I have done a screen shot comparing the slide sorter mode using both
PowerPoint 2003 on the XP box and PowerPoint 97 on the NT box.

Excellent ... can you post the screenshots on a publically accessible site so we can get
a look?

 

[Guest]

Last evening my NT box with PowerPoint97 was upgraded to XP and Office 2003.
There were no hardware changes. The clarity that we saw with
NT/PowerPoint97 is now gone. This has to be related to the software. Here
is a link to the screenshots:
http://webpages.charter.net/baxters4/SlideSortView_GraphicClarityIssue.htm

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

That certainly brings it into focus.

First thing I'd do is check your display properties (rightclick the desktop,
choose Properties, click the Settings tab and make sure the display is set to
24 or 32 bit color (it may be called "millions of colors" or "true" color).
If it's set to 16-bit color or 256-color / 8-bit color mode, that might
explain what you're seeing.

If that's not it, open your presentation and choose View, Master, Slide
Master. Add a JPG, any JPG, to the master. Close the master view then go to
Slide view and see if that helped.

Last evening my NT box with PowerPoint97 was upgraded to XP and Office 2003.

There were no hardware changes. The clarity that we saw with
NT/PowerPoint97 is now gone. This has to be related to the software. Here
is a link to the screenshots:
http://webpages.charter.net/baxters4/SlideSortView_GraphicClarityIssue.htm

I have done a screen shot comparing the slide sorter mode using both
PowerPoint 2003 on the XP box and PowerPoint 97 on the NT box.

Excellent ... can you post the screenshots on a publically accessible site so we can get
a look?

 

[Guest]

My display properties are set at "highest (32 bit)" for color quality. Thus
I added a .jpg to the master as suggested and this did not help either. Any
other ideas?

That certainly brings it into focus.

First thing I'd do is check your display properties (rightclick the desktop,
choose Properties, click the Settings tab and make sure the display is set to
24 or 32 bit color (it may be called "millions of colors" or "true" color).
If it's set to 16-bit color or 256-color / 8-bit color mode, that might
explain what you're seeing.

If that's not it, open your presentation and choose View, Master, Slide
Master. Add a JPG, any JPG, to the master. Close the master view then go to
Slide view and see if that helped.

Last evening my NT box with PowerPoint97 was upgraded to XP and Office 2003.

There were no hardware changes. The clarity that we saw with
NT/PowerPoint97 is now gone. This has to be related to the software. Here
is a link to the screenshots:
http://webpages.charter.net/baxters4/SlideSortView_GraphicClarityIssue.htm

 

[Sonia]

Is there any chance that you could make a few of your slides available on a
website so that a few of us can test on our various test configurations? That
might help us pin down what is different. One thing that I notice is that
you've made heavy use of images that are possibly scans (?). It's possible that
we aren't testing with comparable files.

My display properties are set at "highest (32 bit)" for color quality. Thus
I added a .jpg to the master as suggested and this did not help either. Any
other ideas?

That certainly brings it into focus.

First thing I'd do is check your display properties (rightclick the desktop,
choose Properties, click the Settings tab and make sure the display is set to
24 or 32 bit color (it may be called "millions of colors" or "true" color).
If it's set to 16-bit color or 256-color / 8-bit color mode, that might
explain what you're seeing.

If that's not it, open your presentation and choose View, Master, Slide
Master. Add a JPG, any JPG, to the master. Close the master view then go to
Slide view and see if that helped.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

My display properties are set at "highest (32 bit)" for color quality. Thus
I added a .jpg to the master as suggested and this did not help either. Any
other ideas?

I'll second Sonia's suggestion for one thing.

For another, you might try cutting back your video hardware accelleration and/or
checking the video board manufacturer's site to see if updated drivers are
available. I'd do the accel test first.

That certainly brings it into focus.

First thing I'd do is check your display properties (rightclick the desktop,
choose Properties, click the Settings tab and make sure the display is set to
24 or 32 bit color (it may be called "millions of colors" or "true" color).
If it's set to 16-bit color or 256-color / 8-bit color mode, that might
explain what you're seeing.

If that's not it, open your presentation and choose View, Master, Slide
Master. Add a JPG, any JPG, to the master. Close the master view then go to
Slide view and see if that helped.