How to troubleshoot damaged PowerPoint for Mac presentations (188898)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2004 for Mac
  • Microsoft PowerPoint X for Mac
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2001 for Macintosh
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 98 Macintosh Edition
This article was previously published under Q188898

SYMPTOMS

If you are experiencing unexpected behavior when working with a PowerPoint file, your presentation may be damaged or corrupted. Symptoms of a corrupted presentation include the following:

  • Type 11, Type 1, or Bad f-line errors when you open or work with a presentation.

  • A message that says "This is not a PowerPoint presentation" when you attempt to open a presentation.

  • Out of memory errors when you attempt to open a small presentation.

  • PowerPoint, or your Macintosh hangs, and stops responding.
If this unexpected behavior is exclusive to one presentation, the presentation may be corrupted.

NOTE: It is also possible to receive the above symptoms for other reasons.

RESOLUTION

After you determine that the presentation has been corrupted, try the following methods to attempt to recover the damaged file. The methods listed below are split into the following sections:

  • General Troubleshooting
  • If You Are Unable to Open a Presentation
  • If You Are Able to Open a Damaged Presentation
If you are using PowerPoint X for the Mac or PowerPoint 2004 for the Mac, only use Method 3 of the "General Troubleshooting" section. The first two steps do not apply to Macintosh Operating System OS X. If you are using PowerPoint 98 or 2001, follow all procedures in the "General Troubleshooting" section first.

General Troubleshooting

Method 1: Install the latest updates for your version of PowerPoint for Mac For additional information about how to install the latest updates for your version of PowerPoint for Mac, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

323601 How to obtain the latest version of a Microsoft product for a Macintosh computer

Method 2: Rebuild the Desktop

If you are running System 8.1.x, perform a clean rebuild of the desktop using the following steps:
  1. Disable all extensions and control panels except Macintosh Easy Open in the Extensions Manager control panel.
  2. Restart the computer while holding down the OPTION and COMMAND keys.

    This should bring up a dialog box with a message similar to the following: 
    Are you sure you want to rebuild the desktop file on the
      disk <name of your hard drive>?
  3. Click OK to proceed with the rebuild.
  4. Once the desktop has been rebuilt, open the Extensions Manager control panel and turn all of the extensions and control panels back on.
Method 3: Start the computer with Extensions Disabled

Because PowerPoint will not start when you start with the SHIFT key held down to disable extensions, use the following steps to disable the extensions:

These steps assume you are running System 8.1.x.

  1. Click the Apple Menu, point to Control Panels, and click Extensions Manager.
  2. Click Duplicate Set and give it a name.
  3. In the On/Off column, clear the check for Control Panels, Extensions, Shutdown Items, Startup Items, and System Folder.
  4. In the Extensions folder, check the following items:

    Microsoft Component Library
    Microsoft Structured Storage
    Microsoft OLE Automation
    Microsoft OLE Library

  5. Close Extension Manager and Restart your Macintosh.
Method 4: Remove All Auto-Recover Files

One or more corrupted Auto-recover files may be on the system, and may be preventing PowerPoint from opening your presentation properly.

NOTE: Auto-recover files are not used by earlier versions of PowerPoint.

  1. Switch to the System Folder.
  2. Open the Preferences folder.
  3. Drag all files called "PowerPoint temp file x," where x is a number, to the Trash.
  4. Attempt to open your presentation.

If You Are Unable to Open a Presentation

Method 1: Drag and Drop the File

  1. Arrange the windows on your desktop so that you can see the file you are trying to open and the PowerPoint program icon.
  2. Click the presentation and drag its icon on top of the PowerPoint program icon.
Method 2: Open PowerPoint and then Click Open on the File Menu

If you cannot open the presentation from the Open dialog box, the thumbnail image may be damaged. After you click a presentation in the PowerPoint Open dialog box, PowerPoint displays a thumbnail of the first slide. If this thumbnail is damaged PowerPoint may not be able to open the file using this method. Try a different method.

NOTE: PowerPoint 98 does not display a thumbnail of the first slide of a Windows PowerPoint presentation.

Method 3: Double-Click the PowerPoint Presentation

In the Finder, double-click the presentation file you want to open.

Method 4: Attempt to Insert the Slides into a Blank Presentation

  1. On the File menu, click New.
  2. Click the Blank Presentation button in the New Presentation dialog box, and then click OK.
  3. If the New Slide dialog box appears, click OK.

    Your selection from this dialog box does not matter; after you re-create the presentation, you can delete this slide.
  4. On the Insert menu, click Slides From File.
  5. In the resulting dialog box, locate the damaged presentation.
  6. Click the presentation and then click the Insert button.

    If successful, this operation inserts all of the slides from the damaged presentation, omitting the master, into the blank presentation you just created.
  7. Save the presentation.
Method 5: Apply the Damaged Presentation as a Template

If your presentation does not look the way you expect, try applying the damaged presentation as a template. To do this:

  1. Make a backup copy of your presentation.
  2. On the Format menu, click Apply Design.

    NOTE: In some versions of PowerPoint this feature is called Presentation Template.
  3. Locate the damaged presentation.
  4. Click the presentation and then click the Apply button. This operation replaces the master of the new presentation with the master of the damaged presentation.
NOTE: If you start to experience unexpected behavior, after applying the template, this may indicate that the template is corrupted. In that case, use the backup copy and recreate your master slide.

Method 6: Try opening the Presentation with PowerPoint Viewer

If you are able to a open the presentation, this may be an indication that your PowerPoint program is damaged or that you have some corrupted objects within the presentation.

Method 7: Try Opening the Presentation on Another Computer

Move the file to a computer running another operating system, such as Windows 98.

In some cases, moving the PowerPoint file to a different operating environment may allow you to open the presentation. If you are able to open the file, search the slides for any blank object place holders and delete them. Re-save the presentation and then return the file to its original operating environment.

You Are Able to Open a Damaged Presentation

Method 1: Insert the Slides into a Blank Presentation

Insert the slides into a blank presentation, and then apply the damaged presentation as a template to preserve the master.

  1. On the File menu, click New.
  2. Click the Blank Presentation button in the New Presentation dialog box, and click OK.
  3. If the New Slide dialog box appears, click OK.

    Your selection from this dialog box does not matter; after you recreate the presentation, you can delete this slide.
  4. On the Insert menu, click Slides From File.
  5. In the resulting dialog box, locate the damaged presentation.
  6. Click the presentation and then click Insert.

    This operation inserts all of the slides from the damaged presentation, except the master, into the blank presentation you just created.
  7. Save the presentation.

    If your presentation does not look the way you expect, try Method 2, "Attempt to Apply the Damaged Presentation as a Template."
Method 2: Attempt to Apply the Damaged Presentation as a Template
  1. Create a backup copy of the presentation.
  2. On the Format menu, click Apply Design.
  3. Locate the damaged presentation.
  4. Click the presentation, and then click Apply.

    This operation replaces the master of the new presentation with the master of the damaged presentation.
NOTE: If you start to experience unexpected behavior after applying the template, this may indicate that the template is corrupted. In that case, revert to a backup and recreate your master slide.

Method 3: Paste the Slides from the Damaged Presentation to a New One

Use a copy and paste operation to move the slides from the damaged presentation to a blank presentation. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open the damaged presentation.
  2. On the File menu, click New.
  3. Use the same master as the damaged presentation by clicking the Current Presentation Format button.
  4. Change the view of the damaged presentation to Slide Sorter view by clicking Slide Sorter on the View menu.

    If you receive errors when you change the view of the damaged presentation to Slide Sorter view, try changing to Outline View instead.
  5. Select a slide to copy.
  6. On the Edit menu, click Copy.

    It is possible to copy more than one slide at a time. The number of slides you can copy at one time directly relates to the amount of available RAM on your computer.
  7. Switch to the new presentation and click Slide Sorter on the View menu.
  8. Paste the copied slides into the new presentation.
  9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 until the entire presentation is transferred.
NOTE: In some situations one damaged slide can cause a problem for the entire presentation. If you notice odd behavior within the new presentation after copying a slide to it, that slide is most likely corrupted. Either re-create the slide or copy portions of the slide to a new slide.

Method 4: Save the presentation as RTF (Rich Text Format)

If the corruption is throughout the presentation, saving as RTF may be the only option to recover any data. This method, if successful, recovers only the text that appears in Outline view. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open the corrupted presentation.
  2. On the File menu, click Save As.
  3. Select Outline (RTF Text) from the Save File As Type drop-down list.
  4. Name the file, pick a location to store the file, and then click Save.
NOTE: When you open this RTF file, to continue working, select All Readable Outlines or All Files from the List Files of Type drop-down list. RTF files will not appear when the Presentations option is selected.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:1/28/2005
Keywords:kbprb kbtshoot KB188898
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