Frustrated with PPT

[Guest]

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in response. At first the IT department thought the
newer version of PPT was conflicting with an older version of PPT - the DLLs
might have been causing problems - wrong... Here are just a few of the
multitude of errors I've been having with PowerPoint 2003.

Toolbars randomly disappear and / or rearrange themselves

When coping & pasting text as a text block or into a text block, text will:

1) Automatically add bullets
2) Bold text will become italic, italic text will become normal, etc…
3) Font sizes change
4) Text in tables change color, size, attributes, etc…

When pasting a text block to a slide with the “Title†layout applied, the
pasted text block takes on the “Title†format despite the fact there is
already a “Title†typed

Text blocks move around chart after saving, closing and then reopening
presentation – especially on the “Title†charts!

Font sizes constantly change on the Master slides – especially on the
“Title†charts - especially when new charts are copied and pasted from one
presentation to another or "New" charts are added

Intermittent Errors:

The line spacing changes when text is copied and pasted into a text
block

New text blocks will not “Auto Wrapâ€

Objects will “NOT†snap to grid, align to guidelines or chart edges.

Multiple slide designs merge onto "one" single chart

Fixes? I haven't been able to fix most of these issues.

 

[Austin Myers]

First,

Do you have *ALL* Windows and Office updates installed? (Including DirectX)



Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia http://www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Guest]

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in response. At first the IT department thought the
newer version of PPT was conflicting with an older version of PPT - the DLLs
might have been causing problems - wrong... Here are just a few of the
multitude of errors I've been having with PowerPoint 2003.

I'm not sure what you're responding to, as this shows up as a new thread.
Anyway, as Austin said, first make sure you've installed all service packs to
Office and Windows.

Toolbars randomly disappear and / or rearrange themselves

There are a couple of toolbars that pop up when you have appropriate objects
selected. For example, when you select a picture, the Picture toolbar will
appear. When you select a table, the Table toolbar will appear. That's by
design.

When coping & pasting text as a text block or into a text block, text will:

1) Automatically add bullets
2) Bold text will become italic, italic text will become normal, etc…
3) Font sizes change
4) Text in tables change color, size, attributes, etc…

Pasting into a "text block" (a placeholder -- where it says "click to add
text") is actually different than pasting into a manual textbox.

Basically, the stuff in a text placeholder takes on the formatting from the
slide master (View|Master|Slide Master). Text in tables also takes on this
formatting. You sometimes need to reapply the slide layout to have the
formatting apply as it should. To do this, go to Format|Slide Layout and
reapply the layout.

When pasting a text block to a slide with the “Title†layout applied, the
pasted text block takes on the “Title†format despite the fact there is
already a “Title†typed

Are you pasting into a regular "manual" textbox, or are you pasting into the
title or subtitle placeholder?

Text blocks move around chart after saving, closing and then reopening
presentation – especially on the “Title†charts!

This might be related to a bug. I'll post about it later.

Font sizes constantly change on the Master slides – especially on the
“Title†charts - especially when new charts are copied and pasted from one
presentation to another or "New" charts are added

I'm confused here. Are you having issues with title slide masters, or are
you having issues with charts?

You might want to go to Tools|Autocorrect and turn off the automatic layout
options.

Intermittent Errors:

The line spacing changes when text is copied and pasted into a text
block

New text blocks will not “Auto Wrapâ€

Set up a textbox the way you want, then right-click and choose "set
autoshape defaults." This should help.

Also make sure you turn on paste options in Tools|Options|Edit. Then you can
choose what formatting to take on.

Objects will “NOT†snap to grid, align to guidelines or chart edges.

Do you have the snap turned on?

Multiple slide designs merge onto "one" single chart

I don't understand what you mean here.

Fixes? I haven't been able to fix most of these issues.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! San Diego, September 17-20
http://www.pptlive.com

 

[Guest]

Hi All,

I was responding to the post I originally created "The World's Worst
Application".

I've been using PPT for over 10 years now and I know that when toolbars are
turned on through the "Tools" "Customize" options they will and "DO" remain -
what I cannot figure out is why the "File" or "Edit" toolbars are turning off
or moving? This is NOT common to PPT.

Regular text, whether a "Manual" text block or a table, should NOT change
sizes, colors, etc when I paste into a "Blank" layout slide. And yet this is
happening almost everytime on every chart.

If I copy a simple "manually created" text block from one slide, it should
paste exactly in the same spot with exactly the same attributes when pasted
onto a new slide - it should NOT apply bullets, change size or color or apply
the slide "layout" - this makes no sense! PPT has NEVER done this in the
past.

All of the Office Apps have been uninstalled / reinstalled multiple times -
there doesn't seem to be a fix - and the IT Dept does have the latest version.

If I copy a series of slides from one Presentation with for example "Design
A" and I paste them into a presentation with "Design B" what happens is an
utter nightmare! The 2 "Designs" merge, the slide masters delete and there
is only one Slide Master remaining - usually the "Title Master". This one
slide takes EVERY image from the 2 designs and "Splices" them together
creating "Franken-Slide". What happens to the text formatting? Your guess
is as good mine! It's ALL messed up!

My counterparts in the office have PPT 2004 for the Macs and they're all
doing the same things. Is it a bug?

The bottom line is - there are issues with Toolbars moving / turning off,
text blocks taking on new/changing attributes, the "Slide Masters" taking
manual "text blocks" and applying attributes when they are not needed /
required, whether the "Snap to Grid / Object" has been turned on the objects
will no "Snap", and the Slide Master is merging multiple designs onto one
slide.

I'm not angry with anybody on this forum (I'm just venting and hoping to
find some answers) and I'm sure this all sounds very odd... but I gotta tell
ya - I've never seen any application act like this! Like I first mentioned,
I've been using PPT for over 10 years and I know where to turn on/off all the
different options, etc... but these continuing issues are mind blowing!

What to do what to do??????

Thanks for everybody's time and input!

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in response. At first the IT department thought the
newer version of PPT was conflicting with an older version of PPT - the DLLs
might have been causing problems - wrong... Here are just a few of the
multitude of errors I've been having with PowerPoint 2003.

I'm not sure what you're responding to, as this shows up as a new thread.
Anyway, as Austin said, first make sure you've installed all service packs to
Office and Windows.

Toolbars randomly disappear and / or rearrange themselves

There are a couple of toolbars that pop up when you have appropriate objects
selected. For example, when you select a picture, the Picture toolbar will
appear. When you select a table, the Table toolbar will appear. That's by
design.

When coping & pasting text as a text block or into a text block, text will:

1) Automatically add bullets
2) Bold text will become italic, italic text will become normal, etc…
3) Font sizes change
4) Text in tables change color, size, attributes, etc…

Pasting into a "text block" (a placeholder -- where it says "click to add
text") is actually different than pasting into a manual textbox.

Basically, the stuff in a text placeholder takes on the formatting from the
slide master (View|Master|Slide Master). Text in tables also takes on this
formatting. You sometimes need to reapply the slide layout to have the
formatting apply as it should. To do this, go to Format|Slide Layout and
reapply the layout.

When pasting a text block to a slide with the “Title†layout applied, the
pasted text block takes on the “Title†format despite the fact there is
already a “Title†typed

Are you pasting into a regular "manual" textbox, or are you pasting into the
title or subtitle placeholder?

Text blocks move around chart after saving, closing and then reopening
presentation – especially on the “Title†charts!

This might be related to a bug. I'll post about it later.

Font sizes constantly change on the Master slides – especially on the
“Title†charts - especially when new charts are copied and pasted from one
presentation to another or "New" charts are added

I'm confused here. Are you having issues with title slide masters, or are
you having issues with charts?

You might want to go to Tools|Autocorrect and turn off the automatic layout
options.

Intermittent Errors:

The line spacing changes when text is copied and pasted into a text
block

New text blocks will not “Auto Wrapâ€

Set up a textbox the way you want, then right-click and choose "set
autoshape defaults." This should help.

Also make sure you turn on paste options in Tools|Options|Edit. Then you can
choose what formatting to take on.

Objects will “NOT†snap to grid, align to guidelines or chart edges.

Do you have the snap turned on?

Multiple slide designs merge onto "one" single chart

I don't understand what you mean here.

Fixes? I haven't been able to fix most of these issues.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! San Diego, September 17-20
http://www.pptlive.com

 

[Austin Myers]

I will ask once more, are you certain you have ALL the Windows and Office
updates installed?



Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia http://www.pfcmedia.com

Hi All,

I was responding to the post I originally created "The World's Worst
Application".

I've been using PPT for over 10 years now and I know that when toolbars
are
turned on through the "Tools" "Customize" options they will and "DO"
remain -
what I cannot figure out is why the "File" or "Edit" toolbars are turning
off
or moving? This is NOT common to PPT.

Regular text, whether a "Manual" text block or a table, should NOT change
sizes, colors, etc when I paste into a "Blank" layout slide. And yet this
is
happening almost everytime on every chart.

If I copy a simple "manually created" text block from one slide, it should
paste exactly in the same spot with exactly the same attributes when
pasted
onto a new slide - it should NOT apply bullets, change size or color or
apply
the slide "layout" - this makes no sense! PPT has NEVER done this in the
past.

All of the Office Apps have been uninstalled / reinstalled multiple
times -
there doesn't seem to be a fix - and the IT Dept does have the latest
version.

If I copy a series of slides from one Presentation with for example
"Design
A" and I paste them into a presentation with "Design B" what happens is an
utter nightmare! The 2 "Designs" merge, the slide masters delete and
there
is only one Slide Master remaining - usually the "Title Master". This one
slide takes EVERY image from the 2 designs and "Splices" them together
creating "Franken-Slide". What happens to the text formatting? Your
guess
is as good mine! It's ALL messed up!

My counterparts in the office have PPT 2004 for the Macs and they're all
doing the same things. Is it a bug?

The bottom line is - there are issues with Toolbars moving / turning off,
text blocks taking on new/changing attributes, the "Slide Masters" taking
manual "text blocks" and applying attributes when they are not needed /
required, whether the "Snap to Grid / Object" has been turned on the
objects
will no "Snap", and the Slide Master is merging multiple designs onto one
slide.

I'm not angry with anybody on this forum (I'm just venting and hoping to
find some answers) and I'm sure this all sounds very odd... but I gotta
tell
ya - I've never seen any application act like this! Like I first
mentioned,
I've been using PPT for over 10 years and I know where to turn on/off all
the
different options, etc... but these continuing issues are mind blowing!

What to do what to do??????

Thanks for everybody's time and input!

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in response. At first the IT department thought
the
newer version of PPT was conflicting with an older version of PPT - the
DLLs
might have been causing problems - wrong... Here are just a few of the
multitude of errors I've been having with PowerPoint 2003.

I'm not sure what you're responding to, as this shows up as a new thread.
Anyway, as Austin said, first make sure you've installed all service
packs to
Office and Windows.

Toolbars randomly disappear and / or rearrange themselves

There are a couple of toolbars that pop up when you have appropriate
objects
selected. For example, when you select a picture, the Picture toolbar
will
appear. When you select a table, the Table toolbar will appear. That's by
design.

When coping & pasting text as a text block or into a text block, text
will:

1) Automatically add bullets
2) Bold text will become italic, italic text will become normal, etc.
3) Font sizes change
4) Text in tables change color, size, attributes, etc.

Pasting into a "text block" (a placeholder -- where it says "click to add
text") is actually different than pasting into a manual textbox.

Basically, the stuff in a text placeholder takes on the formatting from
the
slide master (View|Master|Slide Master). Text in tables also takes on
this
formatting. You sometimes need to reapply the slide layout to have the
formatting apply as it should. To do this, go to Format|Slide Layout and
reapply the layout.

When pasting a text block to a slide with the "Title" layout applied,
the
pasted text block takes on the "Title" format despite the fact there is
already a "Title" typed

Are you pasting into a regular "manual" textbox, or are you pasting into
the
title or subtitle placeholder?

Text blocks move around chart after saving, closing and then reopening
presentation - especially on the "Title" charts!

This might be related to a bug. I'll post about it later.

Font sizes constantly change on the Master slides - especially on the
"Title" charts - especially when new charts are copied and pasted from
one
presentation to another or "New" charts are added

I'm confused here. Are you having issues with title slide masters, or are
you having issues with charts?

You might want to go to Tools|Autocorrect and turn off the automatic
layout
options.

Intermittent Errors:

The line spacing changes when text is copied and pasted into a text
block

New text blocks will not "Auto Wrap"

Set up a textbox the way you want, then right-click and choose "set
autoshape defaults." This should help.

Also make sure you turn on paste options in Tools|Options|Edit. Then you
can
choose what formatting to take on.

Objects will "NOT" snap to grid, align to guidelines or chart edges.

Do you have the snap turned on?

Multiple slide designs merge onto "one" single chart

I don't understand what you mean here.

Fixes? I haven't been able to fix most of these issues.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! San Diego, September 17-20
http://www.pptlive.com

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

You mentioned earlier that IT thought there might be a conflict between 2003 and an
earlier version of Office but ruled that out. How, exactly? Should we take it that
there *is* and never was an earlier version or was some other logic applied?

Hi All,

I was responding to the post I originally created "The World's Worst
Application".

I've been using PPT for over 10 years now and I know that when toolbars are
turned on through the "Tools" "Customize" options they will and "DO" remain -
what I cannot figure out is why the "File" or "Edit" toolbars are turning off
or moving? This is NOT common to PPT.

Regular text, whether a "Manual" text block or a table, should NOT change
sizes, colors, etc when I paste into a "Blank" layout slide. And yet this is
happening almost everytime on every chart.

If I copy a simple "manually created" text block from one slide, it should
paste exactly in the same spot with exactly the same attributes when pasted
onto a new slide - it should NOT apply bullets, change size or color or apply
the slide "layout" - this makes no sense! PPT has NEVER done this in the
past.

All of the Office Apps have been uninstalled / reinstalled multiple times -
there doesn't seem to be a fix - and the IT Dept does have the latest version.

If I copy a series of slides from one Presentation with for example "Design
A" and I paste them into a presentation with "Design B" what happens is an
utter nightmare! The 2 "Designs" merge, the slide masters delete and there
is only one Slide Master remaining - usually the "Title Master". This one
slide takes EVERY image from the 2 designs and "Splices" them together
creating "Franken-Slide". What happens to the text formatting? Your guess
is as good mine! It's ALL messed up!

My counterparts in the office have PPT 2004 for the Macs and they're all
doing the same things. Is it a bug?

The bottom line is - there are issues with Toolbars moving / turning off,
text blocks taking on new/changing attributes, the "Slide Masters" taking
manual "text blocks" and applying attributes when they are not needed /
required, whether the "Snap to Grid / Object" has been turned on the objects
will no "Snap", and the Slide Master is merging multiple designs onto one
slide.

I'm not angry with anybody on this forum (I'm just venting and hoping to
find some answers) and I'm sure this all sounds very odd... but I gotta tell
ya - I've never seen any application act like this! Like I first mentioned,
I've been using PPT for over 10 years and I know where to turn on/off all the
different options, etc... but these continuing issues are mind blowing!

What to do what to do??????

Thanks for everybody's time and input!

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in response. At first the IT department thought the
newer version of PPT was conflicting with an older version of PPT - the DLLs
might have been causing problems - wrong... Here are just a few of the
multitude of errors I've been having with PowerPoint 2003.

I'm not sure what you're responding to, as this shows up as a new thread.
Anyway, as Austin said, first make sure you've installed all service packs to
Office and Windows.

Toolbars randomly disappear and / or rearrange themselves

There are a couple of toolbars that pop up when you have appropriate objects
selected. For example, when you select a picture, the Picture toolbar will
appear. When you select a table, the Table toolbar will appear. That's by
design.

When coping & pasting text as a text block or into a text block, text will:

1) Automatically add bullets
2) Bold text will become italic, italic text will become normal, etc…
3) Font sizes change
4) Text in tables change color, size, attributes, etc…

Pasting into a "text block" (a placeholder -- where it says "click to add
text") is actually different than pasting into a manual textbox.

Basically, the stuff in a text placeholder takes on the formatting from the
slide master (View|Master|Slide Master). Text in tables also takes on this
formatting. You sometimes need to reapply the slide layout to have the
formatting apply as it should. To do this, go to Format|Slide Layout and
reapply the layout.

When pasting a text block to a slide with the “Title†layout applied, the
pasted text block takes on the “Title†format despite the fact there is
already a “Title†typed

Are you pasting into a regular "manual" textbox, or are you pasting into the
title or subtitle placeholder?

Text blocks move around chart after saving, closing and then reopening
presentation – especially on the “Title†charts!

This might be related to a bug. I'll post about it later.

Font sizes constantly change on the Master slides – especially on the
“Title†charts - especially when new charts are copied and pasted from one
presentation to another or "New" charts are added

I'm confused here. Are you having issues with title slide masters, or are
you having issues with charts?

You might want to go to Tools|Autocorrect and turn off the automatic layout
options.

Intermittent Errors:

The line spacing changes when text is copied and pasted into a text
block

New text blocks will not “Auto Wrapâ€

Set up a textbox the way you want, then right-click and choose "set
autoshape defaults." This should help.

Also make sure you turn on paste options in Tools|Options|Edit. Then you can
choose what formatting to take on.

Objects will “NOT†snap to grid, align to guidelines or chart edges.

Do you have the snap turned on?

Multiple slide designs merge onto "one" single chart

I don't understand what you mean here.

Fixes? I haven't been able to fix most of these issues.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! San Diego, September 17-20
http://www.pptlive.com

 

[Guest]

All of Office 2003 was unistalled - the machines were even wiped out and
reformatted. And still these errors exist.

The IT Dept thought that the earlier version of Office (2000), if not
uninstalled, was causing DLL issues - they said some coding was the same and
that the new version was looking at the older DLLs creating errors & glitches
- I'm just a user so I hope I'm explaining correctly.

So, yes, there was an earlier version - Office 2000. In the beginning, it
was never uninstalled, it was overwritten by Office 2003 when the updates
were pushed through the server - does that make sense?

You mentioned earlier that IT thought there might be a conflict between 2003 and an
earlier version of Office but ruled that out. How, exactly? Should we take it that
there *is* and never was an earlier version or was some other logic applied?

Hi All,

I was responding to the post I originally created "The World's Worst
Application".

I've been using PPT for over 10 years now and I know that when toolbars are
turned on through the "Tools" "Customize" options they will and "DO" remain -
what I cannot figure out is why the "File" or "Edit" toolbars are turning off
or moving? This is NOT common to PPT.

Regular text, whether a "Manual" text block or a table, should NOT change
sizes, colors, etc when I paste into a "Blank" layout slide. And yet this is
happening almost everytime on every chart.

If I copy a simple "manually created" text block from one slide, it should
paste exactly in the same spot with exactly the same attributes when pasted
onto a new slide - it should NOT apply bullets, change size or color or apply
the slide "layout" - this makes no sense! PPT has NEVER done this in the
past.

All of the Office Apps have been uninstalled / reinstalled multiple times -
there doesn't seem to be a fix - and the IT Dept does have the latest version.

If I copy a series of slides from one Presentation with for example "Design
A" and I paste them into a presentation with "Design B" what happens is an
utter nightmare! The 2 "Designs" merge, the slide masters delete and there
is only one Slide Master remaining - usually the "Title Master". This one
slide takes EVERY image from the 2 designs and "Splices" them together
creating "Franken-Slide". What happens to the text formatting? Your guess
is as good mine! It's ALL messed up!

My counterparts in the office have PPT 2004 for the Macs and they're all
doing the same things. Is it a bug?

The bottom line is - there are issues with Toolbars moving / turning off,
text blocks taking on new/changing attributes, the "Slide Masters" taking
manual "text blocks" and applying attributes when they are not needed /
required, whether the "Snap to Grid / Object" has been turned on the objects
will no "Snap", and the Slide Master is merging multiple designs onto one
slide.

I'm not angry with anybody on this forum (I'm just venting and hoping to
find some answers) and I'm sure this all sounds very odd... but I gotta tell
ya - I've never seen any application act like this! Like I first mentioned,
I've been using PPT for over 10 years and I know where to turn on/off all the
different options, etc... but these continuing issues are mind blowing!

What to do what to do??????

Thanks for everybody's time and input!

:

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in response. At first the IT department thought the
newer version of PPT was conflicting with an older version of PPT - the DLLs
might have been causing problems - wrong... Here are just a few of the
multitude of errors I've been having with PowerPoint 2003.

I'm not sure what you're responding to, as this shows up as a new thread.
Anyway, as Austin said, first make sure you've installed all service packs to
Office and Windows.

Toolbars randomly disappear and / or rearrange themselves

There are a couple of toolbars that pop up when you have appropriate objects
selected. For example, when you select a picture, the Picture toolbar will
appear. When you select a table, the Table toolbar will appear. That's by
design.


When coping & pasting text as a text block or into a text block, text will:

1) Automatically add bullets
2) Bold text will become italic, italic text will become normal, etc…
3) Font sizes change
4) Text in tables change color, size, attributes, etc…

Pasting into a "text block" (a placeholder -- where it says "click to add
text") is actually different than pasting into a manual textbox.

Basically, the stuff in a text placeholder takes on the formatting from the
slide master (View|Master|Slide Master). Text in tables also takes on this
formatting. You sometimes need to reapply the slide layout to have the
formatting apply as it should. To do this, go to Format|Slide Layout and
reapply the layout.

When pasting a text block to a slide with the “Title†layout applied, the
pasted text block takes on the “Title†format despite the fact there is
already a “Title†typed

Are you pasting into a regular "manual" textbox, or are you pasting into the
title or subtitle placeholder?

Text blocks move around chart after saving, closing and then reopening
presentation – especially on the “Title†charts!

This might be related to a bug. I'll post about it later.

Font sizes constantly change on the Master slides – especially on the
“Title†charts - especially when new charts are copied and pasted from one
presentation to another or "New" charts are added

I'm confused here. Are you having issues with title slide masters, or are
you having issues with charts?

You might want to go to Tools|Autocorrect and turn off the automatic layout
options.

Intermittent Errors:

The line spacing changes when text is copied and pasted into a text
block


New text blocks will not “Auto Wrapâ€Â

Set up a textbox the way you want, then right-click and choose "set
autoshape defaults." This should help.

Also make sure you turn on paste options in Tools|Options|Edit. Then you can
choose what formatting to take on.

Objects will “NOT†snap to grid, align to guidelines or chart edges.

Do you have the snap turned on?

Multiple slide designs merge onto "one" single chart

I don't understand what you mean here.

Fixes? I haven't been able to fix most of these issues.


--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! San Diego, September 17-20
http://www.pptlive.com

-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

All of Office 2003 was unistalled - the machines were even wiped out and
reformatted. And still these errors exist.

The IT Dept thought that the earlier version of Office (2000), if not
uninstalled, was causing DLL issues - they said some coding was the same and
that the new version was looking at the older DLLs creating errors & glitches
- I'm just a user so I hope I'm explaining correctly.

So, yes, there was an earlier version - Office 2000. In the beginning, it
was never uninstalled, it was overwritten by Office 2003 when the updates
were pushed through the server - does that make sense?

Your explanation of their logic makes perfect sense. I don't think their logic's
correct, though. Their hypothesis is reasonable but installers as a rule overwrite
older DLLs with new ones where there's a conflict.

For the most part, 2000 and 2003 can coexist in relative peace. I doubt that's the
problem. And if the problem persists after a reformat and reinstall of 2003 with no
2000 involved, it more or less proves that the presence of 2000 wasn't an issue.

You mentioned earlier that IT thought there might be a conflict between 2003 and an
earlier version of Office but ruled that out. How, exactly? Should we take it that
there *is* and never was an earlier version or was some other logic applied?

Hi All,

I was responding to the post I originally created "The World's Worst
Application".

I've been using PPT for over 10 years now and I know that when toolbars are
turned on through the "Tools" "Customize" options they will and "DO" remain -
what I cannot figure out is why the "File" or "Edit" toolbars are turning off
or moving? This is NOT common to PPT.

Regular text, whether a "Manual" text block or a table, should NOT change
sizes, colors, etc when I paste into a "Blank" layout slide. And yet this is
happening almost everytime on every chart.

If I copy a simple "manually created" text block from one slide, it should
paste exactly in the same spot with exactly the same attributes when pasted
onto a new slide - it should NOT apply bullets, change size or color or apply
the slide "layout" - this makes no sense! PPT has NEVER done this in the
past.

All of the Office Apps have been uninstalled / reinstalled multiple times -
there doesn't seem to be a fix - and the IT Dept does have the latest version.

If I copy a series of slides from one Presentation with for example "Design
A" and I paste them into a presentation with "Design B" what happens is an
utter nightmare! The 2 "Designs" merge, the slide masters delete and there
is only one Slide Master remaining - usually the "Title Master". This one
slide takes EVERY image from the 2 designs and "Splices" them together
creating "Franken-Slide". What happens to the text formatting? Your guess
is as good mine! It's ALL messed up!

My counterparts in the office have PPT 2004 for the Macs and they're all
doing the same things. Is it a bug?

The bottom line is - there are issues with Toolbars moving / turning off,
text blocks taking on new/changing attributes, the "Slide Masters" taking
manual "text blocks" and applying attributes when they are not needed /
required, whether the "Snap to Grid / Object" has been turned on the objects
will no "Snap", and the Slide Master is merging multiple designs onto one
slide.

I'm not angry with anybody on this forum (I'm just venting and hoping to
find some answers) and I'm sure this all sounds very odd... but I gotta tell
ya - I've never seen any application act like this! Like I first mentioned,
I've been using PPT for over 10 years and I know where to turn on/off all the
different options, etc... but these continuing issues are mind blowing!

What to do what to do??????

Thanks for everybody's time and input!

:

:

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in response. At first the IT department thought the
newer version of PPT was conflicting with an older version of PPT - the DLLs
might have been causing problems - wrong... Here are just a few of the
multitude of errors I've been having with PowerPoint 2003.

I'm not sure what you're responding to, as this shows up as a new thread.
Anyway, as Austin said, first make sure you've installed all service packs to
Office and Windows.

Toolbars randomly disappear and / or rearrange themselves

There are a couple of toolbars that pop up when you have appropriate objects
selected. For example, when you select a picture, the Picture toolbar will
appear. When you select a table, the Table toolbar will appear. That's by
design.


When coping & pasting text as a text block or into a text block, text will:

1) Automatically add bullets
2) Bold text will become italic, italic text will become normal, etc…
3) Font sizes change
4) Text in tables change color, size, attributes, etc…

Pasting into a "text block" (a placeholder -- where it says "click to add
text") is actually different than pasting into a manual textbox.

Basically, the stuff in a text placeholder takes on the formatting from the
slide master (View|Master|Slide Master). Text in tables also takes on this
formatting. You sometimes need to reapply the slide layout to have the
formatting apply as it should. To do this, go to Format|Slide Layout and
reapply the layout.

When pasting a text block to a slide with the “Title†layout applied, the
pasted text block takes on the “Title†format despite the fact there is
already a “Title†typed

Are you pasting into a regular "manual" textbox, or are you pasting into the
title or subtitle placeholder?

Text blocks move around chart after saving, closing and then reopening
presentation – especially on the “Title†charts!

This might be related to a bug. I'll post about it later.

Font sizes constantly change on the Master slides – especially on the
“Title†charts - especially when new charts are copied and pasted from one
presentation to another or "New" charts are added

I'm confused here. Are you having issues with title slide masters, or are
you having issues with charts?

You might want to go to Tools|Autocorrect and turn off the automatic layout
options.

Intermittent Errors:

The line spacing changes when text is copied and pasted into a text
block


New text blocks will not “Auto Wrapâ€Â

Set up a textbox the way you want, then right-click and choose "set
autoshape defaults." This should help.

Also make sure you turn on paste options in Tools|Options|Edit. Then you can
choose what formatting to take on.

Objects will “NOT†snap to grid, align to guidelines or chart edges.

Do you have the snap turned on?

Multiple slide designs merge onto "one" single chart

I don't understand what you mean here.

Fixes? I haven't been able to fix most of these issues.


--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! San Diego, September 17-20
http://www.pptlive.com

-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
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