Opening PowerPoint 95 files with PowerPoint 2007

[th_usenet]

Apparently, PowerPoint 2007 no longer supports PowerPoint 95 or earlier
files. At first, I thought it was something similar to MS Knowledge
Base Article 922850, but moving the file to one of PowerPoint's
"trusted" locations didn't help. The error was different, too. It says,
in part, "The selected file does not appear to be a valid Microsoft
Office PowerPoint file."

To see this, open a PPT file in PowerPoint 2007 (or 95, if you happen
to have it), then save it as a PowerPoint 95 file. Finally, try to open
it in PowerPoint 2007, and it will fail.

At first, I thought, "Well, MS just decided it wasn't worth supporting
formats that are this old." I didn't think much about it, but then I
managed to open a Word 2.0 file in Word 2007 (after jumping through
security hoops). Why would PowerPoint 2007 be less compatible than Word
2007?

 

[Echo S]

Apparently, PowerPoint 2007 no longer supports PowerPoint 95 or earlier
files. At first, I thought it was something similar to MS Knowledge
Base Article 922850, but moving the file to one of PowerPoint's
"trusted" locations didn't help. The error was different, too. It says,
in part, "The selected file does not appear to be a valid Microsoft
Office PowerPoint file."

This actually doesn't surprise me, as support for the PPT 95 file format has
been discontinued. MS moved to a different file format in PPT 97 and used
that through the 2003 version, and that is the only file format that's still
supported.

To see this, open a PPT file in PowerPoint 2007 (or 95, if you happen
to have it), then save it as a PowerPoint 95 file. Finally, try to open
it in PowerPoint 2007, and it will fail.

I can't save a PPT 95 file from PPT 2007 in the first place. That makes
sense to me -- 2007 won't save or open the 95 file format.

At first, I thought, "Well, MS just decided it wasn't worth supporting
formats that are this old." I didn't think much about it, but then I
managed to open a Word 2.0 file in Word 2007 (after jumping through
security hoops). Why would PowerPoint 2007 be less compatible than Word
2007?

I don't know the answer to this, but I'd bet that the PPT 95 format is more
drastically different from the later formats than it is in the Word world.

If you have a lot of PPT 95 files to deal with, I'd recommend keeping an
earlier version around to open them as necessary. And I would definitely
start saving those old files in at least the 97-2003 format!

 

[th_usenet]

I can't save a PPT 95 file from PPT 2007 in the first place. That makes
sense to me -- 2007 won't save or open the 95 file format.

I just double-checked. The fourth option in the Save As dialog for
PowerPoint 2007 is PowerPoint 95 (*.ppt). We have a bunch of older
PowerPoint files that we've always been able to open in PowerPoint 97,
and even in Beta 2 of Office 2007. Now, we can't open them in 2007.

 

[th_usenet]

I just double-checked. The fourth option in the Save As dialog for
PowerPoint 2007 is PowerPoint 95 (*.ppt). We have a bunch of older
PowerPoint files that we've always been able to open in PowerPoint 97,
and even in Beta 2 of Office 2007. Now, we can't open them in 2007.

Let me rephrase this whole thing. This is what I get for posting in a
hurry.

The save as PPT 95 option is in PowerPoint 2003, not 2007. So, save it
as PPT 95 from 2003, then try to open in 2007, and it fails.

 

[Echo S]

Let me rephrase this whole thing. This is what I get for posting in a
hurry.

The save as PPT 95 option is in PowerPoint 2003, not 2007. So, save it
as PPT 95 from 2003, then try to open in 2007, and it fails.

Ahhhh.

That doesn't surprise me so much. From 2007, you're saving one format
back -- from 2007 to 97/2003. The 95 format is yet another format back from
that. (And yeah, it's available in 2003.)

However, if you were able to open PPT 95 files in PPT 2007 during the beta,
I'd think that should still work. Are you sure you didn't open them in 2003,
save them (which would be the 97/2003 format by default), and then open that
in 2007?

I still have B2TR here, but I don't have any PPT 95 files to test with. If
you want to mail me a small (200kb or less) file, I can try it here. Email
it to echos at indy dot net.

 

[Echo S]

I still have B2TR here, but I don't have any PPT 95 files to test with.

My turn to rephrase -- I have both B2TR and the RTM version of PPT 2007
here.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

My turn to rephrase -- I have both B2TR and the RTM version of PPT 2007
here.

FWIW, just saved from 2003 to a PPT95 file; B2TR was able to open it.
No option to save to 95 format though.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Let me rephrase this whole thing. This is what I get for posting in a
hurry.

The save as PPT 95 option is in PowerPoint 2003, not 2007. So, save it
as PPT 95 from 2003, then try to open in 2007, and it fails.

I'm curious; what's the advantage of keeping files in PPT95 format?
Other than helping to enrich disk drive manuafacturers (the files are often
much larger than theyd' be in 97-2003 format).

Since you have 2003, why not open them there, save to the normal 2003 format
and have files (smaller files) that you can open in 2007?

 

[Echo S]

FWIW, just saved from 2003 to a PPT95 file; B2TR was able to open it.
No option to save to 95 format though.

Okay, okay.

In 2003, I opened a new, blank presentation and File|Save As and chose PPT
95.

I also opened another new, blank presentation and File|Save As and chose
"PPT 97-2003 & 95" format.

PPT 2007 RTM version will not open the "straight" PPT 95 file, as Troy
reports.

PPT 2007 RTM version *will* open the "97-2003 & 95" version.

I should have gone ahead and tried this -- I was thinking it might be a
problem with something specific in the 95 files, but it seems not.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

In 2003, I opened a new, blank presentation and File|Save As and chose PPT
95.

I also opened another new, blank presentation and File|Save As and chose
"PPT 97-2003 & 95" format.

PPT 2007 RTM version will not open the "straight" PPT 95 file, as Troy
reports.

PPT 2007 RTM version *will* open the "97-2003 & 95" version.

I should have gone ahead and tried this -- I was thinking it might be a
problem with something specific in the 95 files, but it seems not.

Sounds like RTM won't do 95 files any longer (in or out) but will use the
"97etc" component of "compound" files; that makes sense.