Dealing with Error Messages and Prompts

Problems might arise with a presentation while you develop, edit, print, or save it. This chapter gives you some ideas of what to expect and how to handle these problems if and when they occur.

Many PowerPoint problems announce themselves in the form of an error message that appears when you try to issue a command or perform some task. Others are more subtle: The command you want to use is dimmed, or the graphic you want to rotate won't. Although it is frustrating when an error message appears, it does give you information about the nature and cause of the problem. Take advantage of this information and react to it logically and cautiously. Read the error message carefully and write down when it happened and what you were doing.

Your first choice when dealing with any technical problem should be to consult this book's index to see whether you can find a resolution. You should also consult PowerPoint's online help (press F1 to open the Help task pane). If you can't find an answer, or the suggested solution doesn't work, here are some other ideas:

• Try again ” As best as you can, repeat the steps that resulted in the error message. If the process works with no problem, you might be out of the woods and can continue working. If the error appears again, try the other ideas listed here.

• Get technical support ” If you work for a company that provides technical support, this is your best source of information after you've unsuccessfully tried to resolve the problem yourself. If you don't have access to an internal support staff, see what's available for online or phone support from Microsoft Product Support Services.

• Research Microsoft's support site ” You will find Microsoft Product Support Services at http://support.microsoft.com/directory/. This site offers a knowledge base, FAQs, and other options for telephone and online support.

NOTE

If you need to show someone exactly what displays on your screen, use Print Screen. This key, located above your Insert key on a standard keyboard, might appear as PrtScn or Print Screen. Pressing this key takes a snapshot of your screen and places the image on your Clipboard. You can then paste the image into an email message (to send to your company's technical staff) or Word document for printing. The image contains the exact message that appeared. Because the image shows what was going on in the background, the technical staff sees the error message in context.