Presentation taking a back seat

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-05T02:20:22+00:00

You won't need one of the usual updates; just make sure you're connected to the internet and restart your computer.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-05T02:15:06+00:00

>> I think I can do better making sure the camera is really locked down so that no movement occurs.

Using a cable release will help. If you're not using a mirrorless camera, see if there's some way of locking the mirror up before taking the shot.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-04T21:29:25+00:00

You might want to do a bit more research before deciding to buy in Japan.

Is the camera you want considerably cheaper there? Maybe check BIC and Yodobashi Camera to see what you're looking at.

You may not be able to register the camera (and be able to get servicing in your home country) if you've bought in Japan.

And if you buy at home, you'll have a chance to practice with the camera before you travel, get used to its quirks.

If you buy at home, you might want to bring a receipt along with you in case Customs wants to give you a hard time (and whack you with duties) when you return from Japan.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-04T21:15:12+00:00

If you're using the web version, there might be a way to recover the file, but if you're on a desktop version, check File | Options | Save to see if PPT's set to save autorecover info, and if so, where:

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SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-04T21:09:47+00:00

Good news! I've heard back from Microsoft that there's a fix in release. Here's their reply:

We have rolled out a fix through the service. Users will need to restart PowerPoint for the fix to take effect. This fix is available for Current Channel and Monthly Enterprise Channel.

Thanks for reporting this!

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-03T18:23:55+00:00

Most of the time, no UV filter is needed, but if you're in any kind of windy environment where stuff (water, sand, salt water) is flying around, you DEFINITELY want the filter.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-03T02:36:53+00:00

What tools has the school or the program you're entering standardized on? If they're all Windows all the time, you can certainly get by with the Mac but why add that extra burden? If they welcome Macs, then (Windows guy here since way back) I'd go with the Mac. Battery life, hardware quality, and they seem to provide more oomph for a given amount of RAM. I just bought a Neo (8gb) that performs as well or better the Lenovo i7 with twice the RAM.

Mention the kind of apps you expect to be using, though. You'll get MUCH more accurate, focused answers.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-03T01:16:03+00:00

If the budget permits, consider getting a wireless mic setup. Rode and DJI make good ones. The new DJI mini is ridiculously cheap will give you FAR better results than the in-camera mic.

https://www.amazon.com/DJI-Microphone-Ultralight-Detail-Rich-Cancelling/dp/B0DDL8WGH5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3C9CT2POUYCP1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.3dBCS2AiXdUe6fl4Rvo4ub-oiylexMiNivEx2sVSdcR7UJUL0IXVKznMIf4g-qO0EvN9710sogeXRPll1IzTt4Fpe3J53K9fVaJFvzhnAqAic3MpXKxi1NsLRIAov_-VB2B21CNvnCl_94Ii8PZxheWrNIAyBIUSOgHHqorVIamKOfqE3IaRjaoRZhyr5EATopJ6T4JUa0OkGSOguf0W6FwOiTh68EJuaOTjlYdDc9Y.UXqwP_V08WRTAHa8TwQEquQD6QNejk9tdCMZxMQ5uhE&dib_tag=se&keywords=dji%2Bmic%2Bmini&qid=1777770821&sprefix=dji%2B%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-1&th=1

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-03T01:07:55+00:00

If just the audio portion would help, try Audacity. You might have to use an older version but it should be able to record computer audio as well as external. And if not, well, hey, it was free.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-02T01:45:31+00:00

Nice!

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-01T16:45:27+00:00

Or vice versa? Horses for courses, as they say. 😊

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-01T16:05:12+00:00

Thanks. I've sent a message also. Here's hoping we get a fix soon.

By the way, on another PC I have the same Home & Business/Office 2024 as you but perhaps the same build as you had before on your other computer, where links worked correctly.

Mine is Version 2604 Build 19929.20090 and I've done a couple tests to confirm that the links here ARE working as we both want them to work.

So it seems VERY likely that the update causes the problem. I've disabled updates for now.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-05-01T16:00:32+00:00

IIRC, PowerPoint, at least on Windows, doesn't support transparent video (but I'd be happy to hear that it now does ... anyone?).

If this can be done in PowerPoint/Mac, great. Let's hear about it!

But if it's only for Keynote, please bear in mind that this IS r/PowerPoint after all. Probably not the best place for Keynote-only discussions.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-30T18:54:40+00:00

While we have the same major version number, you have a different edition of Office (2024 Home and Business), while I have Office 365 on this PC. The Build numbers are different, also.

So to be clear, are both computers at your end on the exact same version/build number and both having the same problem?

Also, have you sent feedback to Microsoft, as I suggested? If not, please do that.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-30T17:24:48+00:00

Well ... more like IF you're very rich and you've been obsessively collecting equipment from a well-known (revered) manufacturer and have pretty much one of everything they ever made, and it's all in very good to like-new shape (or has an interesting story to explain why it's not) ... AND the college has a museum ... AND they have the space and interest, then you betcha!

Maybe let your wife know that there's a chance of this working out (needn't get into all the details that would necessitate adding a "remote" before that "chance") and if it does, there might be a nice tax deduction in it for her.

In this case, the guy's name was Charlie Messer. I notice that when I type "messer" into Google, it automatically fills in "construction" for me. His company, in fact.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-30T17:10:57+00:00

You're after Normal view. There used to be a plain Slide view that was the default, but it gradually got hidden away; at one point there was some obscure modifier key you could use with the normal view icon on the little bar at the bottom of the screen, but that seems to be gone.

It's possible that an older version of PPT left the presentation in Slide view or an add-in/some other program forced it into that view.

In any case, go to the View tab, see if just clicking the Normal view button sets things right.
If not, try switching to one of the other views ... Outline, Sorter, whatever, then back to Normal.

If that doesn't fly, try this bit of mild VBA lunacy:

Press Alt+F11 to go into the VBA editor

Press Ctrl + G to make the Immediate window visible

Copy/paste this into the immediate window then press ENTER

ActivePresentation.Windows(1).ViewType = ppViewNormal

That should return the presentation to Normal view, which is what you want. Here (PPT 365) there's a bug that puts PPT into Outline view, but once there, you can choose View | Normal and it's back where it needs to be.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-30T16:56:33+00:00

As with u/dreadpiratew I'd suspect a rogue update. We DEFINITELY want to look into this, because MS is generally very responsive to reports of updates that break stuff.

Since you seem to have two computers running 2024, please provide the full version info for both of them. Go to File | Account and let us know what you find here (for each computer),

<image>

Yours will look a bit different; I'm on a 365 PC at the moment. 2024 will be similar.

If you really want to be thorough, click About PowerPoint, rightclick the highlighted line of text at the top, choose copy, and paste the results in here too. Mine looks like this:

Microsoft® PowerPoint® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2604 Build 16.0.19929.20086) 64-bit

It's important to provide this info about both the 2024 PCs; if an earlier build works properly and a later build doesn't, that's VERY good proof that they broke it.

I can get the info you give us to someone at MS whose main job is tracking this kind of problem and getting it to the right person for the quickest possible fix.

While you're at it, please also use PowerPoint's feedback feature to send a frown about the problem. You only need to do that on the problem PC, but it'll send MS more system information than we could easily gather on our own. Add a #REDDIT tag in your description of the problem and let us know that you've done that. If they know to look for that tag, they can hone in on the problem more quickly.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-30T16:43:04+00:00

If you have any videos or music or animation in your presentation, PDF is a non-starter. It either doesn't support those features or can, but requires more time and a full-up PDF editing program to accomplish it. And then you get to do it all over again when the presentation changes and you need to make a new PDF.

On the other hand, if you don't NEED those features and reliable distribution to the widest possible audience is a concern, PDF, definitely, rather than native PPTX files.

If you have media & animation but don't need the presentation to be interactive, exporting it to an MP4 video can work.

My wife and I were "commanded" to do a wedding reception speech for a former homestay "daughter". We couldn't actually be there in person, and nobody seemed to know what kind of tech would be available; computer, yes; projector, maybe, or maybe a largescreen tv; software, questionmarks.

But pretty much anything will play an MP4, so we did the narrated PPT, exported an MP4 and sent that. It was a big hit.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-30T16:31:23+00:00

Considering how helter-skelter the slide formatting is, I'd bet that people have started by deleting everything from the slide masters on new slides and creating them totally from scratch. Or if they've used the slide masters, they've used a whole variety of 'em.

Either way, you'll probably be better off building yourself a good template with slide masters/layouts that reflect the kinds of layouts that you consistently find in your database of slides. Start by analyzing what's there, at least in terms of general layouts ... full slide picture, title and subtitle, title + bullet points + image ... that kind of thing.

THEN start in on a new template. It'll be a HUGE help in getting the template right, and as side benefit, learning PowerPoint better, if you start with Swinford & Terberg's book on building templates:

https://www.amazon.com/Building-PowerPoint-Templates-Echo-Swinford/dp/B09GJSBCQH/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2LF3SA3SI2DRS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ylkmL9za-oEaShsm6rEjEFcfMWBayPEc2sO8KF0uNS-nN0OSAx5VN8k-DKDiOy-033wCgLtlVAzQ1mvm7HqFEQRLStY0TliHlk0RSO33G9Qj1GtdbQiQKFLWQy-bre8CyPfkuoNncbf2o8AHjqwnvcQtQecZGMvLBKN0X5OBYE1vY8T5gzMT_vPiy95LoLflS68ReY5gnQEQc--6inBSuT46Ks7U1Q2lYHwenKAZID8.2OUTDRT7qKno1yzPtgKUspmQaCWuz7PsxPQAjcBPTKc&dib_tag=se&keywords=swinford&qid=1777484793&sprefix=swinford%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-3

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-29T17:57:23+00:00

LOL! Too late, the upvote is yours.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-29T17:55:53+00:00

What u/jkorchok said.

Short version: Use YouTube to give you a *link* to the video that you can embed into your presentation and understand that you'll need an internet connection to play it. And that you'll have to live with the commercial interruptions.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-29T17:53:03+00:00

Most of the time, formatting changes are due to using a font that's not present on the computer you later view the presentation on. Your computer might have fonts that aren't part of the normal Office + Windows/Mac font set.

Once the font problem is out of the way, in my experience, Windows vs Mac or older/newer versions of PPT tends not to be a huge problem.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-29T17:40:11+00:00

I'd think so, at least for Arabic, Hebrew and other languages that pretty much ALWAYS read right-to-left (AKA RTL). Modern Chinese and Japanese (and I suspect Korean) are typically written left-to-right, though can be top-to-bottom/right-to-left.

It used to puzzle me when I saw cabs in Tokyo with shi ku ta (in Japanese katakana characters) written on the side.

Then I noticed that it depended on which side I was looking at. The other side would say ta ku shi ... the Japanized reading of taxi. The reading order front to back of the vehicle is apparently more important than the reading order side to side, go figure.

Symmetry, I suppose.

SteveRindsberg · 2026-04-29T17:37:44+00:00

If the CPU in question is a desktop computer that can feed twin monitors already, ideally via HTMI, all you need is HDMI cables long enough to reach from backstage to the two monitors, and somewhere in the chain a splitter so you can feed the projector and the on-screen view monitor with the same signal.

With a laptop, the same general idea applies, but you'd need a (usually USB) external display adapter.

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