Smith College TechNotes blog

After upgrading to OS X 10.4.11 (the latest version of Tiger), many people with Intel Core Duo processors are encountering a problem with PowerPoint. Files will open and can be edited, but slideshow mode causes the program to crash.

Power PC Macs (iBooks and PowerBooks), OS X 10.4.10 and lower, OS X Leopard, and silver iMacs are not affected.

There is no fix yet from Apple or Microsoft, but here is a work-around: if you are giving a presentation on a computer that you think could be affected by this problem, convert your presentation to a PDF. This way, you can use Adobe Acrobat to view the slides if PowerPoint is crashing.

Mac OS X Convert to PDF:

1. Open the file.
2. Select Print from the File menu.
3. Click on the PDF button and choose “Save as PDF.”
4. Choose a name and location for your file then click Save. (If you get the following warning: You cannot save this document with extension “.ppt” at the end of the name. The required extension is “.pdf”, select “Use .pdf”)

Windows Convert to PDF: read Compatibility Issues with PowerPoint 2007 and Mac OSX

When it’s time to give your presentation, if you do need to use the PDF version of your slides, open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat then select Full Screen Mode from the View menu. To advance a slide, click the mouse or use the space bar. To exit the slideshow, hit the escape key.