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Level 1

93 points

I can no longer export a keynote to PPT

I can no longer export to PPT. When I try to open the file on PPT mac, I get the message "There was an error accessing <path to file>". On window it says 'the file is not complete.

Somebody else's machine here at work is doing the same thing. What is going on? This used to work fine last year. Something been updated that I don't know about? y2011 bug??

MacBook Pro 17", Mac OS X (10.6.1), 2.93Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 512Gb SSD Drive

Posted on Jan 5, 2011 6:49 PM

26 replies

Mar 31, 2011 2:13 AM in response to Andrew N

Just found an alternative way to reliably fix this problem...

I "upgraded" to Office Mac: 2011 and found I had exactly the same problem. I usually present from KeyNotes but distribute in PPT format to share slides with others (pdf isn't really an option). The way I solved it was.

Reinstall Office Mac:2008 - you can choose to Customise and only select Powerpoint if you wish (I have to run Entourage as well as we aren;t on Exchange 2010 yet but thats another story)

Next export you Keynotes presentation on Powerpoint format as normal

Open your exported ppt with the 2008 version of Powerpoint and Save it (as a ppt)

You should now find that Powerpoint 2011 will now open it without any problems.

Rubbish I know but it seems to work well for me at least. FWIW I see this firmly as a Microsoft Office Mac: 2011 issue

Best of luck

Apr 19, 2011 6:33 AM in response to covhill

covhill MANY THANKS! Your post gave me the solution.

My user was exporting out of Keynote '09 v5.0.5 and trying to open in PowerPoint 2008 v12.2.9 and it was giving:

"There was an error accessing <path to file>"

when we tried the exported file on other lesser versions of PowerPoint it opened fine (eg: v12.2.5)

so all I did was open and save and took that revised file back to the effected machine and then v12.2.9 opens fine!

MANY thanks

The Nig

Level 1

0 points

Apr 19, 2011 5:58 PM in response to stkaz

Yes stkaz you were spot on. My master slides had an image that I can only presume was CMYK. Replacing it with a pdf was all it took and it all now works again.

Keynote 5.0.5 to PP 14.1

Thanks this saved me alot of grief.

NIgel

AdrianF1

Level 1

0 points

May 26, 2011 11:22 AM in response to stkaz

Thanks! The ungrouping fixed my problem. Thanks for taking the time to post and help!!

May 28, 2011 8:17 AM in response to stkaz

Thanks a lot stkaz for sharing your tests !!

Ungrouping all the Keynote slide allowed me to open the PPT export without any trouble.

Powerpoint version: 14.1

Keynote version: 5.0.5

Aug 16, 2011 3:42 PM in response to Andrew N

Confirming Potential Solution:

I was receiving error that PPT was unable to locate file after exporting from Keynote.

Solution:
Downloaded OpenOffice.org

Open the exported Keynote presentation (.ppt) format

Saved presentation as (.ppt) format from OpenOffice

Powerpoint could then open the file.

Hope it helps

Davcos12

Level 1

0 points

Sep 5, 2011 11:00 AM in response to stkaz

Thanks stkaz, ungrouping fixed my preonlem in exporting to ppt.

wendy26

Level 1

0 points

Jan 21, 2012 9:00 PM in response to victorfromscottsdale

This saved me a ton of time. Thx!

Oct 23, 2012 7:31 AM in response to Andrew N

I don't have MS Office and these solutions seem to involve owning both iWork and Office. Exports to Office formats used to work but now don't show Track Changes in Pages, mess up Numbers formatting and cause freezes for Office users. Collaboration is becoming quite impossible. Is Apple ever going to do a real update to iWork? It's been three years since anything significant and its exports are just not compatible with Office anymore. Love to find out what others are moving to.

Oct 23, 2012 9:35 AM in response to JaneGarthson

JaneGarthson wrote:

I don't have MS Office and these solutions seem to involve owning both iWork and Office.

As mentioned earlier, download and use the free Open Office or Libra Office instead of MS Office. Opening and saving in those free applications works for most users.

Oct 23, 2012 9:53 AM in response to Gary Scotland

Neither will import decently from iWork so I have to recreate my templates from scratch if I switch to Open Office or Libre Office. Open Office will open documents creating in iWork and saved as Office but loses formats and functionality. Libre Office will not even open Keynote docs saved as .ppt, although it will open docs created in PowerPoint.

I was seeking a different solution before completely giving up on iWork, because I certainly can't be going back and forth given their incompatibility. It looks as if Apple wants to drive everyone away from its office products forever, sigh.

Has anyone here actually tested Libre Office with collaborators in complex documents? By complex I mean reports with automatically generated Tables of Contents and indices, for example. Can you see and accept or reject each other's changes?

I can no longer export a keynote to PPT