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Mac Forum / Applications / PowerPoint / May 2008PowerPoint won't open files from thumb drives
Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: intel PowerPoint 2008 absolutely refuses to open or read any files saved on a FAT32 thumb drive. If I try to save a new file there, it simply saves it in my home folder instead, and if I try to open a file, it complains that the file is in the wrong format. The thumb drive works just fine, and every other programme can open files just fine. Any fix for this? I really need to be able to run presentations off a thumb drive. I have PPT 2008 running on Mac OS X Tiger, and tried creating a new PowerPoint file, saving to an external Lexar 1 GB thumb drive that was formatted in FAT32 format, and then reading it back into PowerPoint. No problems. I wonder if this is a Leopard issue? Have you tried copying all of the thumb drive files onto your hard drive, reformatting the thumb drive on your Mac, replacing your files and then doing the above process again? Jeff Chapman On 08/05/02 3:58, in article ee9a49c.-1@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, > Version: 2008 > Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > can open files just fine. Any fix for this? I really need to be able to run > presentations off a thumb drive. > I have PPT 2008 running on Mac OS X Tiger, and tried creating a new > PowerPoint file, saving to an external Lexar 1 GB thumb drive that was [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > can open files just fine. Any fix for this? I really need to be able to run > > presentations off a thumb drive. Yeah, I have reformatted the drive. It had no effect. Yeah - I tried saving a new .pptx file to two different USB thumb drives, closing PowerPoint 2008 and then reopening the file. I couldn't reproduce your problem, unfortunately. One was a FAT16/MS-DOS drive (512MB); the other was a FAT32/MS-DOS drive (1GB). You wrote that "If I try to save a new file there, it simply saves it in my home folder instead" - this seems like an important clue to what's going on. Do you have any other USB or Firewire devices you can try saving to, to see if the problem persists? Aside from the newsgroups and knowledgebase online, this kind of thing makes me wonder what sort of direct support Microsoft offers for PowerPoint users. Checking out the support.microsoft.com site, it looks like they will support you with one free phone request and one free e-mail request. Personally, I think it's pretty paltry... but if you can't find your answer through newsgroups, the online knowledgebase or Google, it might be worth it to bug Microsoft support about it. All I can say is that the problem doesn't occur on my end - but then again, I'm running Tiger, not Leopard, which may make some kind of difference. Jeff On 08/05/02 9:20, in article ee9a49c.1@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw, >> I have PPT 2008 running on Mac OS X Tiger, and tried creating a new >> PowerPoint file, saving to an external Lexar 1 GB thumb drive that was [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > Yeah, I have reformatted the drive. It had no effect. > Yeah - I tried saving a new .pptx file to two different USB thumb drives, > closing PowerPoint 2008 and then reopening the file. I couldn't reproduce [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > on my end - but then again, I'm running Tiger, not Leopard, which may make > some kind of difference. I have also tried it on two different thumb drives, with identical results. Works fine with HFS+ (don't know about NTFS), but not FAT32. maybe it is a bug with PowerPoint 08 and LeopardÂ… Gordon, How big is your powerpoint file? Try creating a new small presentation directly on the drive - does that work? see How to prevent PowerPoint file corruption http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA011168771033.aspx cheers TAJ Simmons Microsoft Powerpoint MVP http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com awesome - powerpoint templates, powerpoint backgrounds, free samples, ppt tutorials... >> Yeah - I tried saving a new .pptx file to two different USB thumb drives, >> closing PowerPoint 2008 and then reopening the file. I couldn't reproduce [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > results. Works fine with HFS+ (don't know about NTFS), but not FAT32. > maybe it is a bug with PowerPoint 08 and Leopard. > Gordon, > > How big is your powerpoint file? > > Try creating a new small presentation directly on the drive - does that > work? Also - be aware that file names on FAT32 are restricted. Make sure you use a short file name with no special characters to be on the safe side. Don't put the file several folders deep. Keep it at or near the top of the drive's directory. -Jim  SignatureJim Gordon Mac MVP MVPs are independent experts who are not affiliated with Microsoft. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Visit my blog http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-i7JMeio7cqvhotIUwCzaJWq9 As I mentioned early, I cannot save any PowerPoint files to the drive at all, regardless of their size, complexity, or name. Even if I create a blank presentation in PowerPoint and try to save it to the drive with the name "file.ppt", it will not save there and will instead be saved in my home folder. > As I mentioned early, I cannot save any PowerPoint files to the drive at all, regardless of their size, complexity, or name. Even if I create a blank presentation in PowerPoint and try to save it to the drive with the name "file.ppt", it will not save there and will instead be saved in my home folder. My first suspicion is that there is a permission locking you out of the thumb drive. Why not try this? Copy the existing files to your hard drive, reformat the thumb drive, and try again. -Jim SignatureJim Gordon Mac MVP MVPs are independent experts who are not affiliated with Microsoft. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Visit my blog http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-i7JMeio7cqvhotIUwCzaJWq9 Hi Folks - I wish I had a solution but perhaps some additional results will help narrow the field of possibilities. On a MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.0, PPT 12.0.1 I had no trouble saving to or opening from a 2 GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro formatted as FAT 16 - new files as well as Save As of pre-existing files. This was also regardless of file format (.ppt/.pptx) although the largest file was only 100K. Added to the other info gathered it suggests that it isn't an inherent flaw in PPT 2008 or Leopard 10.5.0 or FAT format in general. Further, even though Gordon is reporting the problem only with PPT I don't see it as being attributable to the program - apps simply call the Save services just like print services & hand the data off to the OS to be written to the media. I'm wondering if this is yet another broken aspect of 10.5.*2* - if that's what Gordon's using (if the specific version was indicated in any of his posts I missed it - only saw 10.5 indicated in the op.) I also don't think it's been clarified as to whether he has the 12.0.1 update applied to Office - it may not make a difference but there must be *something* causing him to have the problem. Wish I could offer more:-( If anything else occurs to me I'll chime back in. SignatureRegards |:>) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac >I have PPT 2008 running on Mac OS X Tiger, and tried creating a new > PowerPoint file, saving to an external Lexar 1 GB thumb drive that was [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] >> run >> presentations off a thumb drive. |
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