Can't see task pane design template

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Hello,

A couple of other thoughts:

Check to see the default templates settings for each user:
Open Word
Click on Tools, Options, File Locations
Check the locations of User Templates and Workgroup templates

Are either one a shared network drive? If so, this could be set by user
policies on your network and performance of the network could be impacting
the display.

Also, it's a long shot, but internet connectivity might have an impact.
Disable this by: Open PowerPoint
Click on Tools, General, Service Options
Click on Online Content
Uncheck the top box
Click ok, ok
Close PowerPoint

Restart PowerPoint and see if it makes a difference.

Do let us know what you find.
 
Hello Echo,

the task panes came back after I had restarted the computer for another
reasons but then they disappeared. The only thing I had recently installed
was the reference software Endnote. What's interesting about the situation
though is that the design templates were always visible, even after the
software was installed, for the other user on this computer.

I can't find the info you posted for Meg - don't see her name anywhere on
the thread (sorry...)

Thanks,

Echo S said:
Hm. I just posted some additional things for Meg to check. Can you do those
steps, too, and let us know the results?

Oh, I wanted to ask Meg this, too, but I forgot -- what video card do you
have? Oh, and what antivirus program are you using?

It's especially interesting that this suddenly started happening for you.
What changed on your system yesterday (March 3, actually)? Did you install
any software or trial software, even if it wasn't specifically a PowerPoint
add-in? Did you install any service packs or service releases, even if they
were for Windows or non-Microsoft software? Did you let any programs check
for updates and install them? (For example, Adobe products will do an auto
update check and installation if you've allowed that. Many firewalls and
antivirus programs will update automatically, too)

I'm still scratching my head and trying to gather enough information to
figure this one out. Thanks for any additions to our collective
knowledgebase!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
How to Prevent PowerPoint Overload (March 23 webcast)
http://tinyurl.com/bp2h8


Heike said:
Hello Echo,

I have the same problem as everybody else in this thread, with a twist
though. I've been using powerpoint for a few months and suddenly since
yesterday I can't see the design templates nor the slide layouts on the
task
pane (the other functions in the task pane work. Like the others, I can
select and use the template and slide layouts but don't actually see them
until I activate them in a presentation. Now, I've check your add-ins
suggestion in the message and have also looked at my menus but nothing has
changed there since before they were visable. Oh, it affects old and new
powerpoint presentations. Any suggestions as to what I can do or try?

Heike

Echo S said:
Thanks for the info on your user's setup, Meg. No,
uninstalling/reinstalling
probably won't help it. I suspect an add-in of some sort, even if it's
not
that particular translator.

Does this user have any add-ins installed? There are actually three or
four
different places to look for add-ins.

1. PPA files. Close PPT and do a search on the harddrive for all *.PPA
files. Rename them to *.PPX or *.OLD or something. Start PPT again. If
you
no longer have blank thumbnails, then you can rename the files back to
PPA
one at a time until you isolate the problem.

2. COM add-ins. (Thanks, Steve!) In PPT go to Tools|Customize. On the
Commands tab, choose Tools on the left and scroll on the right until you
see
COM add-ins. Drag that to a toolbar. Click Close to close the dialog box.
Now click that COM button on the toolbar. What's listed? Clear the
checkboxes and hit OK to close that dialog. Restart PPT. Problem
resolved?

3. Other add-ins listed in the registry. Close PPT. Go to Start|Run and
type
regedit. In the registry, head to
hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins. There may
be
a list of various add-ins there. Rename them by right clicking, choosing
Rename, and putting an X in front of them or something simple like that.
Restart PPT. Problem resolved?

4. There's another place in the registry you might find PPT add-ins.
hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins. Rename
these
the same way as described above and see if the problem is resolved.

There may be other places in the registry, but I don't know where they'd
be
off the top of my head. I'd start with those, though. If you want to list
what you're seeing, maybe we can help you identify things and eliminate
some
pretty easily.

Also look at the user's menus. What all is listed along the top row?
(File,
Edit, View, etc.) We were able to pinpoint Chris's issue pretty quickly
just
by seeing the screenshot with an unusual menu item. I'd love to know if
you
pinpoint the issue there -- it's more information we can give to MS to
try
to figure out what exactly is causing the problem.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

Well, the problem isn't just coming from that translator add-in --
we're having the exact same problem with one of our users. As near as
I can tell, she's not running anything unusual, and other users with
the same set-up are not reporting the same problem.

It's not limited to a single presentation for her either. She's using
a Dell laptop with a docking station, and running XP SP2, and Office
2003.

Any advice? Should I uninstall PPT and reinstall it? She's not
experiencing any other problems with her computer.

--Meg


Echo S wrote:
Thanks, Chris, I really appreciate it. It's so nice to be closer to
solving
this one!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

"Chris Banyai-Riepl" <[email protected]>
wrote
in
message Yes, that is the software. I'm using the demo, and will probably
shell
out
the bucks for the full blown one. So far I'm fairly impressed with
it.
Anyway, it is the Pro 7.0 one.

For video, it is an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M. The laptop is a Toshiba
Satellite L25. Any other specs you need, just ask.

Chris

:

"Chris Banyai-Riepl" <[email protected]>
wrote
in
message Well, the nice thing about this translator program is that I can
choose
which
Office programs the toolbar shows up on, and since I really don't
need
to
translate Powerpoint slides, I just turned it off from that
entirely.

That's a very cool feature!

I'll send a note to Promt about that issue and see if they can
fix
it
in
an
update, but that won't cure issues for people who are using some
other
add-in
program with low-color toolbars. If that is, in fact, what the
issue
is.


Is this the same Prompt Translator software, Chris?
http://www.online-translator.com/?lang=en Can I ask which you're
using? I
see both Prompt Office 7.0 and Prompt Pro 7.0. I'd like to kick
this
issue
over to MS testing, and details like that always help. :-) Maybe
they
can
figure out exactly what is causing the problem.

Can I also ask what ATI video card your system has?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Just wanted to let everybody know that we've made another discovery
about this problem on our system. It seems to be related, for our user
anyway, to other Microsoft applications being open. That is, if the
user opens Word or Outlook first, and THEN opens PowerPoint, the
templates are invisible. However, if she closes all applications and
then opens PowerPoint before opening anything else, the templates are
back. This work-around is working consistently for her. Our network
adminstrator hypothesized that it has something to do with sharing of a
template file, like normal.dot.

So, if you're having this problem as well, try closing all MS products
and then opening PowerPoint by itself. Once PowerPoint is open, you
can open Word, Outlook, etc. and the templates should remain visible.
Strange, but true!

--Meg
 
Thanks for posting this followup info, Meg! Hopefully this will help otheors
who tackle the same issue.
 
I solved my problem with the dissapearing templates ....

uninstal Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.07 ...


all is good now.

I use version 5 of the reader and all works well
 
I have the problem described here (on all my computer 1 laptop and 2
desktops whith different video cards and operating system that is 2000
and XP all whith the latest updates).

The posts helped me to get some insights. Here is how I solved my
problem and what is for me its source.

Note all the follwing tests where done with AdobeRD32.exe (version
7.0.7) running as a background process.

As meg suggested, starting PPT first solve the problem (no other office
application is started).

Starting OUTLOOK first is enought the design templates and the
slidelayout in PPT to be invisible (other task pane tools are correctly
displayed).

Note that at start up, outlook 2003 launches WORD as a background
process. Starting OUTLOOK first (killing WORD if necessary) causes no
trouble to PPT.

Now what happens when running word (outlook and ppt are still running).
No problem. What happens if I close and restart ppt (both outlook and
word are running) ? No design templates or slidelayout appears in the
PPT task pane.

Therefore Word may cause the problem.

As a former post suggested (22 mar 2006 15:24 ), the problem may come
from EndNote (EndNote 8.0.2 Bld 1150 is installed on my computer)
add-ins.

How to verify the problem is caused by Endnote add-ins.

Simply unchecked the add-ins in Word (Tool/Templates and Add-ins then
unckeck En8Cwyw.WordXP.wll). Close any opened word document but leave
the word application opened.

PPT take pane is able to display the design templates and add-ins.
Close any opened PPT document leaving PPT opened.

Recheck (reactivate) En8Cwyw.WordXP.wll (PPT is still running) in word.
Create a new PPT document : no problem. Close PPT and reopen it. No
design templates and slidelayout appears (in fact are visible) in the
task pane.

En8Cwyw.WordXP.wll seems to be the source of a conflict in PPT when
trying to display the thumbnails for both the design templates and
slidelayout.

As a user endnote, I know Endnote have a long tradition of
understandable behavior when upgrading office (I had no problem until I
upgrade to Office 2003).

Hope this lines help.

Thank you all for the helpful posts and ideas

David
 
Nice work!

Let me suggest one other test: I believe there's an option in Outlook that
lets you tell whether or not to use Word as the editor for Email.

I'm guessing that's enabled and that if you turn it off, you could keep Outlook
open w/o causing problems in PPT ... my theory is that it wouldn't then start
Word and Word wouldn't load the End Note addin and there you go.
 
Thank you so much for this wonderful detective work, David! It seems really
odd that an add-in running in Word would mess up the pane in PPT, but it
sure does explain some of the reports we've been seeing!

Really appreciate the followup. Thanks again.
 
Wuli said:
When i look in the task pane -> design templates
I cannot see the templates. they are there but they are invisible!
I saw that someone recommended in the past to lower the hardware
acceleration of the video card, but that did not work.
any suggestions?

Thanks
Click to expand...

We found that if PowerPoint is the only MS app running it works! I think
its mostly Outlook causing the problem.
 
mersman said:
We found that if PowerPoint is the only MS app running it works! I think
its mostly Outlook causing the problem.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information, mersman. I think there's an Office-wide add-in
of some sort that's started when Outlook, or maybe Word, is started. (Or
maybe if Word is the Outlook editor, that makes a difference?)
 
Thanks for the information, mersman. I think there's an Office-wide add-in
of some sort that's started when Outlook, or maybe Word, is started. (Or
maybe if Word is the Outlook editor, that makes a difference?)
Click to expand...

That was the case with another user. It went something like:

Outlook running, templates disappeared.
Outlook set to use Word as editor.
Word had an add-in installed. Removing that solved the problem but user needed
the addin. So disabling Word as editor in Outook (or not using Outlook/PPT
together) was the workaround.
 
I've read many excellent recommendations in this discussion. Here's my input.


I've two workstations, in this configuration:

Windows XP Pro, 5.1.2600 SP2 Build 2600
Dell Optiplex GX280
Intel 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset, driver 6.14.10.4410
MS Office Powerpoint 2003 (11.8110.8107) SP2
MS Office Word 2003 (11.8106.8107) SP2
MS Office Outlook 2003 (11.8010.8107) SP2

Full administrator rights
Microsoft PowerPoint, no Standard Add-ins; COM Add-ins,
MultiMgrAddIn.AddInDesigner1 and Microsoft PowerPoint Presenter Tools

Checked the registry keys with these results:
hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins - shows the
items above
hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins - no
powerpoint key in registry

Icons sometimes show up after Office detect/repair, but vanish again
following a restart of the application.

I followed a tip I read earlier in the discussion regarding Word, with these
results:

1. Start Powerpoint, then open Outlook - slide layour/design task pane
icons visible.
2. Start Outlook, open Powerpoint - icons invisible.
3. Start Outlook, open Powerpoint, kill Word via task manager, restart
Powerpoint - icons visible.
4. Start Outlook, disable Word as editor, open Powerpoint - icons visible.
5. Start Powerpoint, open Outlook (Word editor disabled) - icons visible.
6. Open Word then Powerpoint or Powerpoint then Word - icons visible.

Thanks.
 
Thank you for following up with this information, jfmtech. It seems to
follow what we're hearing from others. I sure wish we could figure out what
actually causes the problem, though.

(I believe the MultiMgr/Presenter Tools is part of the typical PPT
installation and not a separate add-in.)

Do you have any Word macros or add-ins or helper apps or whatever Word uses
:-) ?
 
I'm sorry, I don't have any new information or guesses to venture.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

jfmtech said:
Sorry for the delay in responding. No Word add-ins, macros, or helper apps
are installed on my two affected systems.

Any closer to discovering the cause of this issue and a possible solution,
Echo S?

Thanks.

Echo S said:
Thank you for following up with this information, jfmtech. It seems to
follow what we're hearing from others. I sure wish we could figure out
what
actually causes the problem, though.

(I believe the MultiMgr/Presenter Tools is part of the typical PPT
installation and not a separate add-in.)

Do you have any Word macros or add-ins or helper apps or whatever Word
uses
:-) ?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/


jfmtech said:
I've read many excellent recommendations in this discussion. Here's my
input.


I've two workstations, in this configuration:

Windows XP Pro, 5.1.2600 SP2 Build 2600
Dell Optiplex GX280
Intel 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset, driver 6.14.10.4410
MS Office Powerpoint 2003 (11.8110.8107) SP2
MS Office Word 2003 (11.8106.8107) SP2
MS Office Outlook 2003 (11.8010.8107) SP2

Full administrator rights
Microsoft PowerPoint, no Standard Add-ins; COM Add-ins,
MultiMgrAddIn.AddInDesigner1 and Microsoft PowerPoint Presenter Tools

Checked the registry keys with these results:
hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins - shows
the
items above
hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\powerpoint\addins - no
powerpoint key in registry

Icons sometimes show up after Office detect/repair, but vanish again
following a restart of the application.

I followed a tip I read earlier in the discussion regarding Word, with
these
results:

1. Start Powerpoint, then open Outlook - slide layour/design task pane
icons visible.
2. Start Outlook, open Powerpoint - icons invisible.
3. Start Outlook, open Powerpoint, kill Word via task manager, restart
Powerpoint - icons visible.
4. Start Outlook, disable Word as editor, open Powerpoint - icons
visible.
5. Start Powerpoint, open Outlook (Word editor disabled) - icons
visible.
6. Open Word then Powerpoint or Powerpoint then Word - icons visible.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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