Insert Picture freezes PowerPoint - Marti

[Marti]

Hi,

I'm using Office 2003 and Windows XP, latest updates to all applied.
When I do "Insert/Picture/From FIle" on the menu, PowerPoint freezes
and I get the "we're sorry, but PowerPoint has an error and has to
close - and it does, sending a report to MS along the way.

I re-installed Office 2003, with no change in behavior. I'm wondering
if it's looking by default in a non-existent folder or something, as I
have my pictures not in a default "My Pictures" folder...but I have
(an empty) My Pictures folder in My Documents.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Marti

 

[Echo S]

What kind of picture (TIF, JPG, PNG, EPS, etc.) are you trying to insert
when this happens? Does it only happen with some pictures, or does it happen
with all pictures? Are the pictures very large (file-sizewise)?

Do you have SP-1 installed for Office 2003? Go to Help/Check for Updates to
install it.

 

[Marti]

Thanks for responding. I have SP-1 installed and all other updates.
When I click on "Insert/Picture/From File" the box appears on the
screen where I'd expect the directories and files to display. But
there it hangs, nothing happens, and eventually PowerPoint has to
close. So I never get to the point of searching for or selecting a
picture to insert. Appreciate any thoughts or advice.

Marti

 

[Marti]

Hi,

Just went back and checked - the "Insert/Picture/From File" window
freezes in all office apps, or at least in Excel and Word, in addition
to PowerPoint. Don't know what code Office uses to generate the
Insert Picture box - could it be an XP module or something?

Thanks for any help, advice, assistance.

Marti

 

[Echo S]

When you go to Insert/Picture/From File, PPT and the other Office apps
automatically open the My Pictures folder.

It could be that you've got something in there causing problems -- maybe a
humongous picture, maybe one with a corrupt preview thumbnail, maybe
something else.

So, as a test, I'd move everything in the My Pictures folder into another
folder on your harddrive and see if Insert/Picture/From File works then.

I'd probably also turn hardware acceleration down. I'm always amazed at how
many oddities that seems to fix. For instrux, see How to set graphics
hardware acceleration back ttp://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00129.htm

 

[Marti]

I moved everything out of the "My Pictures" file under "My Documents,"
then tried to insert picture with the same (freeze) results. Then I
turned hardware acceleration down, tried again and had the same
(freeze) results.

I have CompuPio Pro on my computer, could that cause a problem? It
doesn't contain "My Pictures" files because I don't use that
directory, but does thumbnail all my work pictures and family pictures
in other directories. Would hate to remove it just to test unless the
odds are good it's causing the problem...

Thanks for your help, Echos.

Marti

 

[Echo S]

Well, crud. I was hoping that would do it.

I think, before I uninstalled CompuPio Pro, I'd probably disable any PPT
add-ins and see if any of them are causing the problem. (I'm assuming
CompuPio Pro isn't a PPT add-in.) Close PPT and search your harddriver for
files named *.PPA If you find any, rename them to *.PPX Then restart PPT and
try the Insert/Picture/From File again.

 

[Marti]

No .PPA files on the system, and no add-ins active (checked) in
PowerPoint, Word or Excel. I did remove CompuPic Pro, with no result.
I can change the directory that Insert Picture defaults to in the
tools, options menu of Word, so when the "Insert Picture" window opens
up, it shows "My Documents" rather than "My Pictures" but the result
is the same - just freezes and says it has to close - Word, in this
case.

Have to think that something is corrupt in either the "Insert Picture"
window application or code - whatever it is - or in the registry. Did
run repair on Office, also, with no results. Oh, and am using a
bought and genuine copy of Office, by the way...

Also, the same thing happens in Visio 2003, so there has to be a
common "insert picture" module that serves all of the Office apps - or
doesn't serve them in my case! Any ideas? Really appreciate you
hanging with me on this!

Marti

 

[Marti]

Echo...

I found this on Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;301459

and I copied/pasted the macro into Word. It froze the system after I
ran it, but after I ctrl-alt-del Word and restarted it, then went to
the menu "insert/picture/from file" it brought up the files and worked
fine! Then I tried to change to thumbnail view, and that worked...but
when I cancelled out and started "insert/picture/from file" again, it
hung up and froze. So maybe it has something to do with displaying
thumbnail, which is the default for that window from the article.

Now, this macro is for word. I tried to use it in PowerPoint and
Excel, but it didn't work, wouldn't run. MS gives no examples to
accomplish the same in those apps, or Visio for that matter. Any idea
how I can modify to make it run? I'd be happy just to get them all
working like Word is right now - although I'd like to see them all
work in thumbnail...!

Marti

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Grabbing at straws:
From:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=225208

ImageStream 97
Problem:

Microsoft has received reports that if you have installed the ImageStream 97
graphics converters (a third-party set of filters for importing additional
formats), Word 2000 may crash after choosing Picture from File from the Insert
menu.

Word immediately crashes without any error message (same happens with Excel
2000 and PowerPoint 2000).

Resolution:

Remove the graphics filters.

 

[Marti]

Thanks, Steve..but don't have ImageStream loaded - don't have it at
all! Do appreciate the thought.

Marti

 

[Austin Myers]

Marti,

My guesstimate is you have some sort of application that has installed it's
own filters and convertors and it's causing PPT problems. Here is something
to try. As the administrator set up an an account that has access to PPT
and nothing else. Log off and log on as this new user. Test to see if the
problem remains.

Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Marti]

Ahh, Austin,

I'm good, but I'm not that good! How do I do all that?

By the way, Microsoft Office Picture Manager doesn't have a problem
with the directories or graphic files...and, by playing with the
following VB macro:

Sub InsertPicture()
'
' InsertPicture Macro
' Inserts a picture from a graphics file.
' Sets the View to (D)etail with SendKeys.
' View choices [change last Sendkey Letter].
' D - (D)etails view
' G - Lar(g)e Icon view
' L - (L)ist view
' M - S(m)all Icon view
' R - P(r)operties View
' V - Pre(v)iew View
' T - (T)humbnails View

SendKeys ("%L{LEFT}D")
Application.Dialogs(wdDialogInsertPicture).Show

End Sub

I was able to get Word to work kind of, the Insert Picture window
displays the files in detail (not thumbnail, that seems to hang things
up) and I can select and insert into a word document. But I can't
figure out how to run similar code in PowerPoint (or Excel, Visio,
etc.) - got the code from a Microsoft Article ID : 301459 - I don't
know anything about VB, either!

Marti

 

[Austin Myers]

In WinXP go to the control panel and select users. Follow the wizard to
create a new user.


-
Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com

Ahh, Austin,

I'm good, but I'm not that good! How do I do all that?

By the way, Microsoft Office Picture Manager doesn't have a problem
with the directories or graphic files...and, by playing with the
following VB macro:

Sub InsertPicture()
'
' InsertPicture Macro
' Inserts a picture from a graphics file.
' Sets the View to (D)etail with SendKeys.
' View choices [change last Sendkey Letter].
' D - (D)etails view
' G - Lar(g)e Icon view
' L - (L)ist view
' M - S(m)all Icon view
' R - P(r)operties View
' V - Pre(v)iew View
' T - (T)humbnails View

SendKeys ("%L{LEFT}D")
Application.Dialogs(wdDialogInsertPicture).Show

End Sub

I was able to get Word to work kind of, the Insert Picture window
displays the files in detail (not thumbnail, that seems to hang things
up) and I can select and insert into a word document. But I can't
figure out how to run similar code in PowerPoint (or Excel, Visio,
etc.) - got the code from a Microsoft Article ID : 301459 - I don't
know anything about VB, either!

Marti

Marti,

My guesstimate is you have some sort of application that has installed it's
own filters and convertors and it's causing PPT problems. Here is something
to try. As the administrator set up an an account that has access to PPT
and nothing else. Log off and log on as this new user. Test to see if the
problem remains.

Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Marti]

Should have said, I know how to create a new user, but how do I
restrict the new user to just having access to PowerPoint. Thanks.

Marti

In WinXP go to the control panel and select users. Follow the wizard to
create a new user.


-
Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com

Ahh, Austin,

I'm good, but I'm not that good! How do I do all that?

By the way, Microsoft Office Picture Manager doesn't have a problem
with the directories or graphic files...and, by playing with the
following VB macro:

Sub InsertPicture()
'
' InsertPicture Macro
' Inserts a picture from a graphics file.
' Sets the View to (D)etail with SendKeys.
' View choices [change last Sendkey Letter].
' D - (D)etails view
' G - Lar(g)e Icon view
' L - (L)ist view
' M - S(m)all Icon view
' R - P(r)operties View
' V - Pre(v)iew View
' T - (T)humbnails View

SendKeys ("%L{LEFT}D")
Application.Dialogs(wdDialogInsertPicture).Show

End Sub

I was able to get Word to work kind of, the Insert Picture window
displays the files in detail (not thumbnail, that seems to hang things
up) and I can select and insert into a word document. But I can't
figure out how to run similar code in PowerPoint (or Excel, Visio,
etc.) - got the code from a Microsoft Article ID : 301459 - I don't
know anything about VB, either!

Marti

Marti,

My guesstimate is you have some sort of application that has installed it's
own filters and convertors and it's causing PPT problems. Here is something
to try. As the administrator set up an an account that has access to PPT
and nothing else. Log off and log on as this new user. Test to see if the
problem remains.

Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

PowerPoint Video and PowerPoint Sound Solutions www.pfcmedia.com



Hi,

I'm using Office 2003 and Windows XP, latest updates to all applied.
When I do "Insert/Picture/From FIle" on the menu, PowerPoint freezes
and I get the "we're sorry, but PowerPoint has an error and has to
close - and it does, sending a report to MS along the way.

I re-installed Office 2003, with no change in behavior. I'm wondering
if it's looking by default in a non-existent folder or something, as I
have my pictures not in a default "My Pictures" folder...but I have
(an empty) My Pictures folder in My Documents.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Marti