Problems converting Keynote to Powerpoint after Jan update

Facing the same issue.
Powerpoint files appear blank on MSOffice or give a corruption message.

Can anyone at Apple support help with this ?

I also have this problem, seems to have started recently. Running Keynote '09 v. 5.05, export to Powerpoint cannot be opened by Powerpoint (Office Mac 2008). Please don't tell me I have to upgrade to Office 2011 to get this functionality back, I'm still recovering from the Office '08 upgrade two years ago!

I have the same problem. What I was trying to do was exporting from Keynote '09 (5.0.5?) to Powerpoint 2011 and I get two error messages. One that there was a problem with the content of the file (pictures or whatever) and the other that I might have created this converted document from a prerelease version of Powerpoint...?

How I fixed it. I opened the converted document in Office 2007 on Windows and resaved it.

Reopened it in Powerpoint 2011, voila ! It works.

Seems there's something with Apple's way of converting the file to PPT...

I can confirm what patbee is seeing. When opening the converted Keynote file in an older version of PowerPoint, saving it from there, and it opens fine in PowerPoint 2011. Once I found that out, I decided to do a little more digging and came across a possible culprit. It looks like items that are grouped on the slide contribute to not being able to open the file in PowerPoint 2011. I had a few slides with grouped objects (one with grouped shapes, and another with grouped images), so I ungrouped them and had no issues. That may be an easier solution for people that don't have an older version of PowerPoint lying around.

I have the same issue, and removed all image reflections, all transitions, leaving just images and text. There were no export errors but it still would not open.

It will open in OpenOffice and Office 2008.

Very, very irritating and clearly related to the Microsoft update.

A

I think I can help, assuming it's the same problem I ran into. My specific combination was Keynote '09 & Powerpoint 2011 (and 2010 on the Windows side). The problem is grouped objects. If you have any grouped objects on either the slide or the Master then when Powerpoint tries to open the exported presentation it complains & prompts you to Repair it. This will sometimes work & just create a blank slide for the problem ones, but most of the time it won't work & Powerpoint then stops with a "Powerpoint cannot open ... because part of the file is missing" error. The solution is to go through your slides, Select All & Ungroup until you've Ungrouped everything.

The additional item that needs to be mentioned that it seems like one of Keynote's defaults is to group things together when exporting if it's an unsupported feature in Powerpoint. This happens with Picture Frames, some lines and I'm sure other things. This means you need to pay attention to the export log to make sure Keynote didn't group things on you in the process of exporting to Powerpoint.

I hope this helps,

Chris

Message was edited by: cjmilne

Same issues... Help!!

Had the same issue and decided to upgrade to Office 11. I don't think MS will fix this soon and the other alternative I'd found was to get back to the original version of Office 08 that is very slow.
Even though it is frustrating to upgrade just because MS did not do a proper job I must admit the new Office is faster.

Yup, this is happening to me as well. This is incredibly frustrating, I work in a company that is mostly Windows, so Powerpoint rules here, but clearly I would rather use Keynote. It's kind of amazing this was not tested by QA...

SOrry to say but I may have not well understood. What do you mean by groupped objects ?. I am unable to export in a powerpoint format from keynote and I have the latest sofwares (2011; keynote 9).
I do not believe I have gourpped objects but I may misundertand

Bonjour. I've found a kind of workaround until Apple or Microsoft settles the problem.
1) I exported the Keynote file (version 5.0.5) to PowerPoint (version 14.0.2)
2) I then opened the PPT file in NeoOffice and save it again in a PPT format.
3) Re-opened the "new" PPT file without problem in MS PowerPoint.

Hope this helps.

P.S. I was probably to lazy to go through all the slides to ungroup objects like other suggested.

I'm having similar issues converting Keynote presentations to Powerpoint 2008. I'm using current Keynote (5.0.5) and fairly complex files with multiple groupings and builds. Files that converted fine late last year no longer open with PowerPoint version 12.2.8 (from 12/14/10 update). I've confirmed that the most recent Office update is the culprit as reinstalling Office 2008 'solves' the problem, but it returns upon running the updater to 12.2.8.

Workarounds I've found...
1. The files actually seem fine as Windows PowerPoint opens them. And after saving (on Windows), they will open in Mac PowerPoint 2008.
2. Any Office 2008 version prior to the 12.2.8 update on 12/14/10 will continue to open the converted file. Save it with a new name and transfer back to original Mac and 'updated' PowerPoint will cease complaining and dutifully open the file.

I agree the problem appears to be with grouping of objects. But, ungrouping and removing the builds is not a viable option.

Hi all,

MS office is killing me and I'd appreciate any pointers and comments
Here's the situation:

1. Keynote file (multi-revised over the years) exported to powerpoint file XYZ in New-MBP
2. New-MBP opens XYZ and gets "found a problem with content in..."
3. Click on "repair", open up XYZ, and get bunch of blank pages

4. Same XYZ file copied to Old-MBP(freshly installed, now my home media server, not many apps installed).
5. Same version of Office 2011 installed in Old-MBP, opened the file just fine!
(so the problem is not NewMBP Keynote)

6. Created a test account in New-MBP
7. Attempted to open XYZ with Powerpoint
8. Same "found a problem with content in..."
9. Click on "repair", open up XYZ, and get bunch of blank pages
(so the problem is not user/privileges, but the NewMBP system-wide issue?)

10. In New MBP, created a brand new Keynote file, did some light work
11. Exported new keynote file to powerpoint file RRR
12. In New-MBP, RRR opened under Powerpoint 2011 just fine!
(so the problem might be the original multi-modified Keynote file?)
(But its powerpoint file XYZ opened in Old-MBP just fine!)

I've uninstalled and reinstalled Office 2011, with SP1, still cannot open XYZ properly.
I've copied all Office 2011 files from Old-MBP to New MBP, still cannot open XYZ properly.
I"ve googled the problem and tried anything I could find, still cannot open XYZ properly. (deleting presenter notes... etc)

My current conclusion: some kind of software system conflicts in the New-MBP.

Anyone with any ideas?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Will