Re: Office 2004, 2007, 2003 Powerpoint Chart Hell

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Thanks, Jim.

We were actually reduced to giving the clients an Excel document with all of
the data used to build each chart. That way they can generate their own if
they don¹t like ours. Ours are all right as long as they don¹t try to edit
them. Then they turn into monstrosities.

The truth is that the PowerPoint went back and forth between us and the
clients (yes several different players on both sides) and was translated at
different times from Office 2003 to Office 2007 to Office 2004.... As if
that alone weren¹t bad enough, I¹m sure people had different font setups and
possibly screen resolution issues.

We have (I have) just set firm policy that we will never again exchange a
master file with a client. We keep one intact that stays on one machine and
is edited in response to notes, not over-written.

It¹s a pain of course, since accepting and rejecting revisions is the only
sane approach to collaboration. But it¹s worth it to ensure this never
happens again.


Best,


- Bill


On 2/11/08 7:01 PM, in article
C3D67639.29265%goldkey74@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Jim Gordon MVP"
<goldkey74@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Bill,

Sorry that the OpenOffice suggestion didn¹t work out. Sometimes running a
file through various translators can purge it of idiosyncrasies. Not always,
though.

About the best I can suggest to you is to send feedback to Microsoft that
their current offerings are just not acceptable. Explain in specific detail
the problems you are experiencing.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/suggestions.mspx?product=excel

It would seem a virtualization product such as Parallels is the only way to go
for your situation.

-Jim


Quoting from "Bill Weylock" <bill@xxxxxxxxxx>, in article
C3D4B146.52523%bill@xxxxxxxxxx, on [DATE:

Jim -


Yep, that made it all worse! :)

I had hopes, but certainly no easy fix with OpenOffice.

Sure does make MS look good though. :)

Thanks!


Best,


- Bill


On 2/9/08 12:19 PM, in article
C3D374F0.2905A%goldkey74@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Jim Gordon MVP"
<goldkey74@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Bill,

Here¹s something from MacTopia:

If you open a document that contains charts that were created in a previous
version of Office, and then you save the document in an XML-based file
format, some of the charts might not convert to the new chart format. You
cannot edit the unconverted charts the next time you open the saved file. To
convert the other charts in the document, drag each chart to a new location,
and then drag the chart back to its original location. When selected,
converted charts show a thick blue border, and unconverted charts show a
thin black border.

The chart engine is the same for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It¹s part of
the ³Office Core.² The core drawing engine was re-vamped for 2007/2008 and
font handling was changed, too. A lot of people really like the changes, but
I am not among them.

Another option to try is open the files in Sun Microsystem¹s OpenOffce (free
from http://www.openoffice.org) and see how they behave there.

-Jim




Quoting from "Bill Weylock" <bill@xxxxxxxxxx>, in article
C3D32165.5216A%bill@xxxxxxxxxx, on [DATE:

Jim -


Thanks so much for answering. This one is really giving us fits and is
damaging a client relationship that we have worked really hard to nurture
(successfully up to now).

The fact is that we really don¹t know what to do apart from starting over,
and we can¹t really afford the time and energy because of other business.

There are several different kinds of charts involved. Most are straight bar
charts, and the problem (to my eye) seems to be font compatibility as much
as anything. When I click on the chart in either 2008 or 2007 (I no longer
have 2003/4), the fonts immediately look as if they are proportionally
spaced but with no kerning... T¹s and l¹s clump together.. That sort of
thing. The bottom one or two bars will also disappear under the bottom
border of the graphics window.

I would love to try applying custom formats. Would you recommend trying to
get them back into Excel to do that or attempting it within PowerPoint. I¹m
hoping the latter.

Thanks again.


Best,


- Bill


On 2/8/08 4:55 PM, in article
C3D26417.28FBC%goldkey74@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Jim Gordon MVP"
<goldkey74@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Bill,

The 2003/2004 chart scenario is well established and as you note is mostly
trouble-free. The entire chart drawing engine was changed for Office
2007, as was font handling. I¹d be pointing my finger at 2007 touching the
files and causing problems, not 2004.

Do you have any custom chart formats saved? Have you tried applying a
custom format to the troublesome charts?

-Jim


Quoting from "Bill Weylock" <bill@xxxxxxxxxx>, in article
C3D1FE2C.520DF%bill@xxxxxxxxxx, on [DATE:

I¹m hoping someone has a bright idea for us.

We do marketing research and usually generate reports in PowerPoint. I
usually do my work in 2004 and everyone else works in 2003/PC. There
usually are no serious problems, but sometimes there are differences in
chart alignment. I am usually blamed for anything that goes wrong. Often
I go so far as to transfer the file to 2003 myself (have a notebook PC)
and save in Windows.

On a recent and very large quantitative project we worked with a client
who collaborated with us on the report. At first they loved the look of
2007 charts, but later decided that they needed everything in 2003
formats.

Somewhere along the line (very possibly because the Mac was involved)
charts inserted into PowerPoint from Excel became very ill-mannered. They
look all right until you click one. As soon as you do, fonts bunch up.
Quite a few of them immediately expand to a truly horrendous size ­
easily 5 or 6 times the size of the slide itself.

I know this is vague and all, but does this ring a bell with anyone? Is
it my fault somehow for using a Mac on the deck even though most work was
done in either 2003 or 2007?

Is there a way to stabilize charts once they begin to behave like this?

Do we have to recreate the entire (145 slides) report?

Help?

Thanks!



Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2





Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2





Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2





Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2



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