NEW POST: Loading Preview delay

[Cestus]

I'm having an annoying problem with PowerPoint 2003:

In short, I open PowerPoint, I go to the "Format" pull-down menu and
select "Slide Design". This brings up my templates (I have about 200),
so I can pick the one I want to use for the presentation. The problem
is that it displays all of the templates on the right side of the
screen, but each is an empty box which reads "AIRMAIL.POT Loading
Preview...", "ANGLES.POT Loading Preview...", etc. and it takes about
20 seconds for *each* preview image to load. PP runs slow until all
are generated (about 20-40 minutes), and once all are generated they
will be there if I close PP and restart. However, if I reboot the
computer, they are all gone again and the process starts all over when
I go to use my templates.

The odd thing is that I've got a zippy graphics card and CPU, running
Windows XP SP2 with 1GB of RAM, and I didn't used to have this
problem. It used to just zip through the list and create all the
template previews in just a few seconds. I figure a setting somewhere
must have gotten changed or maybe a file corrupted, but I can't seem
to find it. I have PP on my laptop, and I have all the same templates
there as well, and it does not have this problem. I went to "Tools"
"Options..." and compared all the PP settings on each, and my desktop
and laptop PP settings are the same. I've tried to search in the MS
Knowledge Base on this, but haven't found anything useful.

As you can imagine, this really cuts into my productivity when I want
to use PowerPoint. Any ideas on what might be causing this problem and
how to fix it would be most welcome. Thanks.

 

[Luc]

Cestus,
See if this helps:
http://pptfaq.com/FAQ00779.htm

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

In addition to Luc's suggestion, a wild guess.

Navigate to the folder where your templates are stored using Windows Explorer.
Once there, choose Tools, Folder Options, View tab
See if there's a check next to "Do not cache thumbnails"
If so, remove it and see if that helps.

 

[TAJ Simmons]

Steve,

Is it worth adding that to the FAQ page?

TAJ

 

[Cestus]

Steve:

I checked, but that was NOT the problem. C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Templates\Presentation Designs folder does NOT have "do not
cache thumbnails" checked. Great idea though. Thanks.

I'm still working through the suggestions Luc gave me. So far, no joy.
I defrag regularly, keep my OS and software updated, etc. Changing
hardware acceleration didn't do anything except make some other
programs unhappy, so I set it back to full. Will reply here with
update when I've had a chance to try them all. Thanks to both of you!

-{>}
JB

 

[Cestus]

Thanks. Working through the list. Defrag not an issue. Win XP and
Office 2003 both up to date. Downloaded newest graphics driver (went
from version 163.71 to 163.75), but problem persists. Checked add-ins
under PowerPoint, but there are none listed. I don't use Outlook,
ever. Getting near the end of the list. Will keep working. Open to
other suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Steve,

Is it worth adding that to the FAQ page?

Dunno ... Cestus says it didn't help, so I guess not. ;-)

 

[TAJ Simmons]

OK

 

[Cestus]

Cestus,
See if this helps:
http://pptfaq.com/FAQ00779.htm

Sorry no reply for a while. I think I've worked through all the
suggestions. No joy. I'll let you know if I figure it out. Thanks
again. Happy Holidays.

 

[Cestus]

Success! Just wanted to update this post for those who were trying to
help me.

What I finally did was to search and find where all my .POT files were
located. They were in three locations:
1 - C:\Documents and Settings\{my username}\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates
2 - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\1033
3 - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Presentation Designs

I pulled all of them out to a new temp directory, deleted some
duplicates, then put them all in location #1. Next time I started PP,
and opened Format... Slide Design... they all instantly appeared.

Just wanted to add this experience and solution to the hive mind in
case others encounter it in the future. Thanks again.