powerpoint, After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

by **Cvilledave** » Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:08:59 GMT

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I upgraded to the latest version of Mac Office last night, along with the most recent OpenXMLConverter. Unfortunately, now neither version of PowerPoint (2008 or 2004) I have installed on my Mac can open any of the .pptx files previously created. I checked to see if Word could open .docx files and it was fine.

Is anyone having similar problems? Any suggestions on how to resolve this?

Dave

by **ashleye** » Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:10:32 GMT

I have exactly the same problem, can't open PPTX files. I get this message:

"Microsoft powerpoint cannot open the file. You may need to download the latest updates for Office for Mac. Do you want to visit the Microsoft Web site for more information?"

When you go the site it provides workarounds for Excel but not Powerpoint and suggests you do the latest update. DUH!!!!! The update is what caused the problem.

Seems Microsoft can't do anything right!!

by **mlh78750** » Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:24:14 GMT

I have files I created in 12.1.9 that I can no longer open in 12.2. This is a huge problem with this update. I just hope that they fix this very quickly. I guess I need to get the original media out again and reinstall so that I can regress to 12.1.9. And I was looking forward to the path animations and other improvements in SP2. I can't believe that Microsoft missed this in testing. :(

by **MarcosM** » Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:01:44 GMT

Hi all,

I have not been able to reproduce your issue with a large number of
test files I have at my disposal. Can each of you encountering this
problem PLEASE send a sample file directly to me? You can send it to
XXXX@XXXXX.COM , along with a brief description of the history
of ths file.

Thanks,

Marcos Montenegro
Macintosh Business Unit
Microsoft Corp.
This posting is provided *AS IS* with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

by **CyberTaz** » Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:53:21 GMT

No problem here -- Did you repair disk permissions & restart your Mac after
applying the updates? Try that & see if it makes a difference.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

On 7/21/09 8:08 AM, in article XXXX@XXXXX.COM ,

by **CyberTaz** » Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:14:53 GMT

Apparently it isn't the update itself that is at fault -- I along with a
number of other users are not experiencing any such issue working on both
Intel as well as PPC Macs with a mixtures of Tiger & Leopard. I also know
for a fact that the updates are thoroughly tested before being released. I
understand that it isn't what you would prefer to hear, but such problems
are normally attributable to something about the local system where it's
occurring. Please understand that I'm not saying that the *user* is to
blame, but sometimes things happen without us realizing it.

Try repairing disk permissions followed by a restart & see if that clears up
the problem. Also, a member of MacBU has offered an open invitation to
forward him copies of such files in an effort to help identify the cause of
the problem. Quite frankly, that's beyond the call of duty when there's very
little if any reason to suspect the software itself, so please keep the
zingers in the blogs & chat-rooms where they belong. The newsgroups are
provided for the purpose of *assisting* one another, not for soapbox
oratories that denigrate or bash anyone.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

On 7/21/09 11:10 AM, in article XXXX@XXXXX.COM ,

by **Cvilledave** » Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:18:09 GMT

Yes ... disk permissions were repaired and I restarted my Mac. That had no effect.

by **Cvilledave** » Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:39:23 GMT

> Apparently it isn't the update itself that is at fault --

It may not be the only thing at fault, but given that's all that has changed in the last few days one might expect the update has something to do with the problem. Since this isn't happening with everyone's pptx files, that suggests there might be something on both ends (the software update and specific files) that wasn't expected or tested.

I've worked in software development and it can be very difficult to test software much less develop error free code. Uncovering issues with a new release isn't totally unexpected.

On the plus side, Marcos and the MAC BU have been very responsive in proactively asking for sample files so they can diagnose the problem. Hopefully they will be able to address workarounds or fixes soon.

by **Eurythenes** » Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:51:45 GMT

I used time machine to reset my Office 2008 folder and Microsoft preferences to their condition prior to the update and now all works fine. I switched my office update to manual and I'm concerned that I may never feel it's safe to update Office 2008.

Trust MS to claim nothing is their fault.

They also told me that it's not the fault of MS that I can't optimize pdf files created using PowerPoint even though I can optimize files created with any other program.

Maybe MS never does anything wrong...... but their does seem to be a correlation between MS updates and problems on my computer!

by **russcus** » Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:40:20 GMT

I sent a sample file to Marcos Montenegro as requested above.

Created the file with PowerPoint 12.1.9
Edited the file with PowerPoint 12.1.9
Quit all applications
Installed the 12.2.0 update
Launched PowerPoint 12.2.0 (no file open request)
Error message "Microsoft powerpoint cannot open the file. You may need to download the latest updates for Office for Mac. Do you want to visit the Microsoft Web site for more information?"
File>Open sample file
Error message
Repaired permissions
Restarted
Launched PowerPoint 12.2.0 (no file open request)
Error message
File>Open sample file
Error message
Switched to a new admin account
Launched PowerPoint 12.2.0 (no file open request)
No error message
File>Open sample file
Error message
File>Open a four year-old .ppt file
File opens, error message still displays
File>Open a half-dozen other .pptx files
Error message

Mac OS X 10.5.7
Office 2008 Home and Student Addition
Word and Excel 12.2.0 exhibit no abnormal behavior

by **mlh78750** » Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:27:10 GMT

> I have not been able to reproduce your issue with a large number of

Marcos,

Thanks for the offer. I can't forward the any of the three files I ran into problems with since they have sensitive information in them. And I reinstalled yesterday to get back to 12.1.9 since I needed to get my work done.

I can describe how I authored the files. They were created in 12.1.9. I used a template that was created under win/2004 version. I then added content including cut-n-paste of pages from other ppts that were created using both windows and mac office.

I was very excited to see 12.2 add path animations. I saved my files. Did the upgrade. rebooted. Launched ppt and was unable to open the files. I did load them on win/2007 and they loaded fine. But even a save from win/2007 would not allow me to open them again in 12.2 version. I reinstalled office and upgraded back to 12.1.9 and i can edit the files agin without a problem. I did forward one of the files to a co-worker who also updated to 12.2 and he was also unable to open them.

--Mike

by **markmillx** » Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:15:05 GMT

Hello Marcos, Similar challenge, after updating to SP 12.2, some PPTX files will not open and two really critical PPTM files will not open. Regrettably they contain sensitive corporate information so, I can not forward them to you. Any suggestions as to when a fix can be worked out?

Thanks,

Mark

by **Kradeka** » Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:19:49 GMT

I just want to echo that I have experienced the same problem.

I will use Time Machine to go back to the last version of Office prior to this update.

I don't think it has anything at all to do with the files - it affects ALL of my pptx files - all created with Office 2008 - and I have many!!

by **CyberTaz** » Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:42:31 GMT

For the record:

On 7/21/09 6:14 PM, in article C68BB61D.503A5% XXXX@XXXXX.COM ,

It appears my confidence was misplaced... Apparently the release was
thoroughly tested, but the issue seems to have been anticipated & SP2 was
released all the same. I don't claim to know the facts nor do I pretend to
understand all circumstances involved.

At the same time, I must admit that I have not experienced the problem
myself on either of my Office 2008 [Tiger & Leopard] installations with the
SP2 update applied. I've had no problem with any files which are known to
have been created by 2007 & earlier on PCs as well as files created by 2004
on a Mac or with files created by 2008 prior to the 12.2.0 update.

To anyone experiencing such problems I'd suggest you do the following:

1- Use Help> Send Feedback to report it,
2- Submit the issue via email, AND
3- Contact MS Customer Support by phone

The support page is: http://support.microsoft.com/ph/12853

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

by **DigitalDCH** » Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:36:00 GMT

Add me to the growing list of people with this incredibly frustrating problem. I have several PPTX files from clients that worked fine last week (pre-12.2.0) that now refuse to open. The support page the dialog box takes you to:

< http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972141> ;

...doesn't really help as the proposed workaround simply states:

"If updates do not resolve the issue, you can re-create or save the Excel workbook, Word document, or PowerPoint presentation in a file format other than Open XML. For example, you can save the file in the .xls, .doc, or .ppt file format."

Since these aren't my original documents, I can't easily "re-create or save" the files in a different format.

Since these files worked perfectly fine under 12.1.9, I personally view this as a bug introduced by 12.2.0 that needs to be fixed ASAP.

Dave

powerpoint, After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files

powerpoint >> After installing Office 2008 SP2 and OpenXML updates Powerpoint cannot open .pptx files