Slides and outline panes are displayed incorrectly when you open a PowerPoint 2000 presentation in PowerPoint 2002 or in PowerPoint 2003 (285477)

SYMPTOMS

When you use Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 or Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 to open a Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 presentation, the panes may not be displayed in the same position in which they were originally saved. Additionally, in PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2002, a Slides tab and an Outline tab are visible in the upper-left portion of the PowerPoint user interface (UI).

CAUSE

This behavior can occur when you save your presentation in PowerPoint 2000 and all of the following conditions are true:

You save the presentation in normal view.
You minimize the outline pane so that it is not visible.
You enlarge the slides pane to fill nearly the entire window.
You ensure that the notes pane is visible.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, use one of the following methods.

Method 1

Adjust the width of the panes so that they are displayed in their original positions, and then save the presentation in PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2002. To do this, follow these steps:

Open your presentation in PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2002.
Drag the vertical split bar to resize the panes to the size and position that you want.
On the File menu, click Save.

The panes are displayed with these settings the next time that you open the presentation.

Method 2

Specify a default view in which to display your presentations every time that you start PowerPoint. To do this, follow these steps:

Open your presentation in PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2002.
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the View tab.
Under Default View, select the view that you want, and then click OK.

For example, if you do not want to view thumbnails, select Normal - outline, notes and slide or Normal - slide only or any of the views listed that do not show thumbnails.

All new and existing presentations are now opened in the view that you selected.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about PowerPoint views, click Microsoft PowerPoint Help on the Help menu, type powerpoint views in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.