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rbellows

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opening powerpoint file problem

I'm suddenly not able to open a powerpoint file I've been working on.  It tries to open it, gets about four little bars into the open, then says "powerpoint can't open the type of file represented by xxx."
The file is a .ppt file, and says type powerpoint presentation.  I'm not aware of any damage I did to it.  I've tried renaming, and coping to another folder, no luck.  I tried opening a new powerpoint file and them attempted to insert the slides, no luck, said wrong file type.  Naturally this is an important file, not backed up (my daughter's highschool presentation due tomorrow for a critical grade).  Any help would be appreciated.  Ps, it opens in Word, just looks like heiroghliphics (sp?).
Avatar of RickHulshof
RickHulshof

Just a thought - run virus software with latest update - this sounds sort of familiar. If you don't have software you can do a trial run online at http://www.mcafee.com

Another thought - is this program only on a floppy or the hard drive ??
OKay - I was wrong on the virus - here's all I could find. (from Microsofts website)PPT97: Troubleshooting Damaged Presentations on Windows 95

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft PowerPoint 97 For Windows

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

Invalid Page Fault, General Protection Fault, and Illegal Instruction errors.


A message that says:
This is not a PowerPoint Presentation
-or-
PowerPoint can't open the type of file represented by Filename
when you attempt to open a presentation, where Filename is the file name of the presentation you are attempting to open.


Out of memory errors, or low system resources errors.


If this unexpected behavior is exclusive to one presentation, the presentation may be corrupted. This article provides some common steps you can use to attempt to recover a damaged presentation. However, keep in mind that these steps do not guarantee successful recovery of the damaged file. In some cases, depending on the type of corruption, you will not be able to recover any data and you will have to re-create the damaged presentation.

NOTE: In some cases you may receive these symptoms for reasons other than a corrupted presentation.



RESOLUTION
After you determine that the presentation has been corrupted, try the following methods to attempt to recover the damaged file. The methods listed 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


Follow the procedures in the "General Troubleshooting" section first.

NOTE: Although you can use some of these troubleshooting steps in Microsoft Windows NT, many are targeted for Microsoft Windows 95.
General Troubleshooting
Restart Windows in Safe Mode:
Restart the computer. When you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, press F8, and then select Command Prompt Only from the Startup menu.

NOTE: If Windows starts, edit the Autoexec.bat file, remove or disable the "win" line, and repeat step 1.


Start Windows 95 with a minimal set of Windows drivers by typing the following line: win /d:m

NOTE: If networking components are required to start Windows 95, type the following line instead of the previous line: win /d:n


If you are able to open your presentation after Windows has started in Safe Mode, then a system conflict exists that is preventing you from opening your presentation.
If You Are Unable to Open a Presentation
If you are still unable to open your presentation, try one of the following methods.
Method 1: Drag the Presentation to the PowerPoint Program File
Determine the location of the PowerPoint program on your computer. The default location for PowerPoint 97 is:


C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office
Use the drag-and-drop technique to move the damaged PowerPoint presentation to the PowerPoint program icon.


Method 2: Double-Click the PowerPoint Presentation in Windows Explorer
Method 3: Attempt to Insert Slides into a Blank Presentation
To insert slides into a blank presentation, follow these steps:
On the File menu, click New.


Click Blank Presentation, and then click OK.


If the New Slide dialog box appears, click OK.

The selection you make in this dialog box does not matter. You can delete this slide after you re-create your presentation.


On the Insert menu, click Slides From File, and then click the Find Presentation tab.


Click Browse. Select the damaged presentation, and click Open.

The Slide Finder dialog box appears.


Click Insert All.

If this operation is successful, all of the slides from the damaged presentation, excluding the slide master, are inserted in the new presentation.


Save the presentation.

If your presentation does not look the way you expect after trying these steps, try applying the damaged presentation as a template:


Make a back-up copy of your presentation.


On the Format menu, click Apply Design.


Select the damaged presentation, and then click Apply.

The slide master of the damaged presentation replaces the new slide master.

NOTE: If you begin to experience unexpected behavior, the template may have corrupted the presentation. In this case, use the backup copy and re-create the master slide.


Method 4: Try Opening the Presentation in PowerPoint Viewer
If you are unable to open the presentation in PowerPoint viewer, your PowerPoint installation may be corrupted or the presentation may contain corrupted objects.
Method 5: Move the File to Another Computer
In some cases, copying the PowerPoint file to a different computer allows you to open the presentation. If you are able to open the file, look at each slide to determine if there are any blank object placeholders. If there are, delete them. Resave the presentation and then copy the presentation back to the original computer.
Method 6: Move the File to Another Disk
Windows may not be able to read the file from where it is currently saved. Try copying the file to another disk. For example, copy the file from a floppy disk to the hard disk.

NOTE: If you are unable to copy the file from the disk on which it is saved, it may be cross-linked with other files or folders, or it may be located in a damaged sector of the disk. Try method 7.
Method 7: Run ScanDisk
Run ScanDisk to repair all errors on the drive. Have it repair all cross-linked files and convert lost fragments to files.

NOTE: Even though Scandisk may determine that your file is cross-linked and repair it, this is not a guarantee that PowerPoint will be able to read the file.
Method 8: Copy the File to a Macintosh Computer
Copy the file to a Macintosh computer and open it in PowerPoint for the Macintosh.

NOTE: This procedure requires that you install the PowerPoint 97 converter for PowerPoint 4.0 for the Macintosh. To obtain this converter, please see the following Microsoft Web site:

The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Software Library. Click the file names below to download the files:

For 68000 based processors download this file:
PP8_68K.HQX

For PowerPC based processors and later, download this file:
PP8_PPC.HQX

Release Date: Nov-13-97

For more information about how to download files from the Microsoft Software Library, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services
Method 9: Open File in Microsoft Internet Explorer
NOTE: You do not have to be connected to the Internet to perform these steps.


Open Microsoft Internet Explorer or another browser.


On the File menu, click Open.


Click Choose File or Browse. Navigate to the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and open it.


If the file is opened, then click Save As on the File menu, and save it under a different file name.
If You Are Able to Open a Damaged Presentation
Method 1: Attempt to Apply the Damaged Presentation as a Template
Insert the slides into a blank presentation, and then apply the damaged presentation as a template to preserve the master.
On the File menu, click New.


Click Blank Presentation and then click OK.


If the New Slide dialog box appears, click OK.

The selection you make in this dialog box does not matter. You can delete this slide after you re-create your presentation.


On the Insert menu, click Slides From File, and click the Find Presentation tab.


Click Browse, select the damaged presentation and then click Open.

The Slide Finder dialog box appears.


Click Insert All.

If successful, this operation inserts all of the slides from the damaged presentation, excluding the slide master, in the new presentation.


Save the presentation.

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


Make a back-up copy of your presentation.


On the Format menu, click Apply Design.


Select the damaged presentation and then click Apply.

The slide master of the damaged presentation replaces the new slide master.

NOTE: If you begin to experience unexpected behavior, the template may have corrupted the presentation. In this case, use the backup copy and re-create the master slide.


Method 2: Paste the Slides from the Damaged File into a New File
Use a copy and paste operation to move the slides from the damaged presentation to a blank presentation:
Open the damaged presentation.


On the File menu, click New.


Click Current Presentation Format.

This step applies the same slide master used by the damaged presentation.


On the View menu, click Slide Sorter.

If you receive errors when you switch views, try changing to Outline view instead.


Select a slide to copy.


On the Edit menu, click Copy.

If you want to copy more than one slide at a time, hold down SHIFT and click each slide that you want to copy.


Switch to the new presentation. On the Window menu, click the new presentation option.


On the View menu, click Slide Sorter.


On the Edit menu, click Paste.


Repeat steps 5-9 until the entire presentation is transferred.


NOTE: In some situations one damaged slide may 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 3: 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 the file. This method, if successful, recovers only the text that appears in Outline view:
Open the presentation.


On the File menu, click Save As.


In the Save File As Type list, select Outline (RTF Text).


In the File Name box, type the name you want, pick a location to store the file, and then click Save.


Close the file.


NOTE: To continue working after you open the RTF file, click Open on the File menu, and in the List Files Of Type list, select All Readable Outlines or All Files. RTF files do not appear if you select the All PowerPoint Presentations option.



MORE INFORMATION
For additional information, please click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q193848 PPT97: PowerPoint Presentation Cloning Add-in Available

Q156126 Troubleshooting Windows 95 Using Safe Mode
Q159572 OFF97: Right-Clicking File Causes Error and Computer Stops
Q164519 Troubleshooting Office Kernel32.dll Errors Under Windows 95
Q88082 PPT: Error Opening Untranslated PowerPoint File

Additional query words: ppt powerpt 95 8.0 powerpnt pages faults illegal invalid acts weird crashed crash broken gpf ipf hosed corrupt tshoot t-shoot damaged presentation troubleshooting corruption corrupted

Keywords : kbtshoot kbdta
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb
What version of PowerPoint are you using, and have you been using PowerPoint on different machines?  This message is a standard one if you are opening a PowerPoint 97 *.ppt in PowerPoint 95.
Although unlikely (you would remember it) but nonetheless: Did you or your daughter happen to edit and save this presentation on another PC ? If yes, are you sure it was not a higher version ? If you have the Office 4.3 at home and Office 97 at work you would certainly experience this, between 95 and 97 I am not sure.
Huh, am I such a slow typer ?
Avatar of rbellows

ASKER

more info on the problem:
1. opening in safe mode did not help
2. dragging onto powerpnt di not work
3. attempting to insert slides did not work.
4.double-clicking on presentation in explorer didnot work.
5.don't have powerpoint viewer, so didn't try this?
6. no ohter computer to move files to right now.
7. tried moving to a zip and to a floppy, still would not open.
8. scandisk finds no errors.
9.do not have a mac to move to.
10. all done on PowerPoint 97, no other version.

any more suggestions are really welcome, thanks
Cri, maybe such a slow reader :-)
Adjusted points from 200 to 300
virus checker found no problem.
Still no ideas that seem to work. I'll e-mail the file to anyone that wants to take a crack at opening it. Thanks, Rich
I'll try - Email it to
RickHulshof@aol.com

Rick
I have the same problem.  Is your file very big?  Mine is about 50 MB.  I read somewhere on the MS site that the error is due to the fact that you have word open while you're trying to import it into PowerPoint.  In any case, I'll give anyone 500 points who can solve this problem for me as well.  I still have no solution and I don't want to recreate this huge file.
macross

I spent quite a few hours trying to open his file to to avail. The file seemed intact and I could even see a preview in explorer. But same error in trying to open it. It doesn't look like it can be fixed - I wonder if the two of you were to call there support line if they would try to work with it if you could send it - you would need to compress that 50MB file though. Just a thought -

Rick
Ok, give me a go.

ppe@drpatch.com
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Anne Troy
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This answer did not solve the problem, but neither did anyone else.  Seems to be good advice on how to avoid a similar problem
Thanks, RB!
OK - I read the above trail. I am hoping someone has found a solution to this since 2000. I am using MS Power point 2002 with sp2 on a IBM Laptop running MS Windows XP professional. I ran into a low virtual memory error, saved my powerpoint file, rebooted and got the following message: Powerpoint can't open the type of file represented by c:\filepath and file name.

I am pretty desperate for any answers...