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Powerpoint text animation problem.
I have a problem with text animations in Powerpoint 2007. I will explain the best I can.
I have a powerpoint presentation that has text animations in it. By that I mean that certain slides have text that slide down from the top of the screen into view with the advancement of the presentation. These animations are basically bullet points in the text and with each tap of the page down button another one slides into view.
Intermittently I have been having issues where those animations get stuck at the top of the page so they don't slide down all the way. To explain it, it appears that the text slides down but then positions itself in the wrong place on the screen. My biggest problem with this is that I can never successfully reproduce this issue 100% of the time. Using this morning as an example, I went through the presentation on the projector that we were using today for this powerpoint. I tested the presentation to see if the issue would occur and it didn't. Then half way through the presentation the issue started to occur. If you exit out of the presentation and then start again it seems to go away.
The presentation is usually only given on either specific desktop computer with a specific projector paired with the desktop computer or a laptop computer that is almost always paired with a certain projector. The problem seems to occur more on the desktop then on the laptop. The desktop is XP the laptop is Vista.
I can see that it is most likely the machine that is causing the issue but I can't seem to figure out how to fix the problem on this one computer short of removing the text animations which I would rather avoid if possible.
Please let me know if you need more information and I will try and provide it for you.
Thanks.
I have a powerpoint presentation that has text animations in it. By that I mean that certain slides have text that slide down from the top of the screen into view with the advancement of the presentation. These animations are basically bullet points in the text and with each tap of the page down button another one slides into view.
Intermittently I have been having issues where those animations get stuck at the top of the page so they don't slide down all the way. To explain it, it appears that the text slides down but then positions itself in the wrong place on the screen. My biggest problem with this is that I can never successfully reproduce this issue 100% of the time. Using this morning as an example, I went through the presentation on the projector that we were using today for this powerpoint. I tested the presentation to see if the issue would occur and it didn't. Then half way through the presentation the issue started to occur. If you exit out of the presentation and then start again it seems to go away.
The presentation is usually only given on either specific desktop computer with a specific projector paired with the desktop computer or a laptop computer that is almost always paired with a certain projector. The problem seems to occur more on the desktop then on the laptop. The desktop is XP the laptop is Vista.
I can see that it is most likely the machine that is causing the issue but I can't seem to figure out how to fix the problem on this one computer short of removing the text animations which I would rather avoid if possible.
Please let me know if you need more information and I will try and provide it for you.
Thanks.
John Wilson
Have you got a local default printer on the PC with problems?
ASKER
Not that I can tell. There are two printers but both are "virtual" printers. One is the standard XPS printer that is usually installed on XP and the other is an "image" printer that works in conjunction with the type of projector that this particular machine is plugged into.
The projector is called a SmartBoard and it is basically a touchscreen projector. It has a flat hard surface and there is a projector mounted behind that that projects the image from the computer on to the surface. It has sensors around the outside of the screen that touches on the screen. Touching the screen moves the cursor around the screen. It is also is like a whiteboard in that there are "markers" that can be picked up and used to draw on the screen. The "image" printer is used to print these images to a usable file format like .jpg or something simliar.
The image printer functions properly and there are no errors listed in the printer menu.
The projector is called a SmartBoard and it is basically a touchscreen projector. It has a flat hard surface and there is a projector mounted behind that that projects the image from the computer on to the surface. It has sensors around the outside of the screen that touches on the screen. Touching the screen moves the cursor around the screen. It is also is like a whiteboard in that there are "markers" that can be picked up and used to draw on the screen. The "image" printer is used to print these images to a usable file format like .jpg or something simliar.
The image printer functions properly and there are no errors listed in the printer menu.
ASKER
Any other ideas?
I believe what JSRWilson was getting at is the fact that PPT 2007 is particularly picky about its default printer drivers. See http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00850.htm for information on the problem, and click the link there to "how to install a test printer driver." Then follow those instructions to install that particular printer as a local default printer to see if that resolves the issues.
ASKER
Echo,
I was able to put this fix in place on this PC. Your link looks to describe a few of the symptoms that I am having with this issue. I followed the How to install a Test printer instructions and I hope to have a chance to test with the problem powerpoint today or tomorrow.
I will post back and let you know what I find.
Thanks for your suggestions.
I was able to put this fix in place on this PC. Your link looks to describe a few of the symptoms that I am having with this issue. I followed the How to install a Test printer instructions and I hope to have a chance to test with the problem powerpoint today or tomorrow.
I will post back and let you know what I find.
Thanks for your suggestions.
ASKER
Yesterday we used this presentation again on the problem computer and again the same thing happened. Animations to drop down text and graphics on certain slides would not drop the text or images. Some would drop down but they wouldn't drop in the proper place and would usually all overlap each other in the top left hand corner. If you exit the presentation and start it again it would work fine.
So adding a test default printer did not fix the issue.
Any other ideas?
So adding a test default printer did not fix the issue.
Any other ideas?
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ASKER
Echo,
Thanks for adding some more suggestions for this. I hadn't checked SP level on the office install. That is a good place to start. I will check that first and try your other suggestions as well. Hopefully I can get some time on that PC either today or tomorrow.
Thanks.
Thanks for adding some more suggestions for this. I hadn't checked SP level on the office install. That is a good place to start. I will check that first and try your other suggestions as well. Hopefully I can get some time on that PC either today or tomorrow.
Thanks.
ASKER
Ok. Well it took much longer than I expected to try those methods but one of them did work or so it appears it did.
I installed SP1 for Office 2007 and haven't seen the issue resurface. I am going to go ahead and call this one solved just because I would usually see this problem crop up at least once during a full day of presentations on this computer. We were able to make it through a full day without the issue reappearing so I believe SP1 was what solved it.
Thanks Echo for the suggestions. Points to you.
I installed SP1 for Office 2007 and haven't seen the issue resurface. I am going to go ahead and call this one solved just because I would usually see this problem crop up at least once during a full day of presentations on this computer. We were able to make it through a full day without the issue reappearing so I believe SP1 was what solved it.
Thanks Echo for the suggestions. Points to you.
Glad to hear you got it resolved.