Powerpoint works in SafeMode only

Robert,

MS Office isn't an Apple product, I suspect you install of Office for Mac is corrupt. It probably should be completely uninstalled per Microsoft's instructions and then reinstalled. If that does not work then I'd navigate to Office for Mac Product Forums and post there. That is where official support for MS Office for Mac is done.

Good luck,

Roger

If something works in safe mode, but not in normal "unsafe" mode, that means you installed some third-party software that's incompatible or defective. There are so many possibilities that it would be pointless for me to guess what it might be. It's something that loads automatically at startup or login, most likely in either the local Library folder or the Library folder in your home directory.

As a starting point, enable guest logins in the Accounts preference pane, and log in as Guest (no password needed.) Launch PowerPoint and test. If you can reproduce the problem in the guest account, then it's system-wide and not localized to your home folder. If PowerPoint works as expected in the guest account, then something in your home folder is causing the problem.

Well, using this post I found that operating in guest mode fixed the problem. But I'm not sure I understand what was done to fix the problem as in working around the home folder. Robert...can you be more specific for one who isn't all that familiar with this? I haven't done the safe boot option yet.

Diane1349

This thread is over two years old... what worked back then may not work now.

If you're having problems with PowerPoint, make certain that you've the latest version (14.3.6). If you've no trouble in using PP with a guest account, that likely means that you've some third-party software installed in your account causing PP to crash.

Download and run EtreCheck and paste the results in a reply here. Run it when you're logged into your regular account.

Clinton

Thank you! Here are the results...

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2

1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores

8 GB RAM

Video Information:

NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 256 MB

Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB

System Software:

Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63) - Uptime: 0 days 2:50:43

Disk Information:

Hitachi HTS545032B9SA02 disk0 : (320.07 GB)

disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 319.21 GB (282.78 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-898

USB Information:

Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Logitech USB Receiver

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

FireWire Information:

Thunderbolt Information:

Kernel Extensions:

com.sophos.kext.sav (8.0.14)

Problem System Launch Daemons:

[not loaded] ftp-proxy.plist

Problem System Launch Agents:

Launch Daemons:

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

[loaded] com.sophos.autoupdate.plist

[loaded] com.sophos.intercheck.plist

[loaded] com.sophos.notification.plist

Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.sophos.uiserver.plist

User Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae.plist

[loaded] com.memeo.Memeod.plist

User Login Items:

iTunesHelper

EvernoteHelper

GoFlex Home Agent

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player

Java

Internet Plug-ins:

AdobePDFViewer.plugin

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin

Flash Player.plugin

FlashPlayer-10.6.plugin

JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin.plugin

QuickTime Plugin.plugin

SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

User Internet Plug-ins:

WebEx64.plugin

Bad Fonts:

None

Top Processes by CPU:

8% WebProcess

2% WindowServer

2% Safari

1% EtreCheck

1% InterCheck

0% fontd

0% ps

0% mDNSResponder

0% SophosUIServer

0% diskmanagementd

Top Processes by Memory:

326 MB WebProcess

221 MB Safari

205 MB InterCheck

106 MB mds

57 MB PluginProcess

49 MB WindowServer

33 MB Dock

25 MB Brother_MFC_7420

25 MB SystemUIServer

25 MB mdworker

Virtual Memory Statistics

3.15 GB Free RAM

1.88 GB Active RAM

2.03 GB Inactive RAM

962 MB Wired RAM

428 MB Page-ins

0 B Page-outs

I don't see anything there that should cause problems with PowerPoint... if I were you, I would note the specifics of the problems that you're having and head on over to the MS Office for Mac forums -> http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac. Not only will you find PP power users there but, frequently, MS employees jump in and answer questions.

Good luck,

Clinton

Thanks for looking at that. Will do as you suggest and if all else fails head on in to the Genius Bar.

Having the same problem with Microsoft Office not starting up on Mac OS El Capitan. I was also able to start the apps under safe boot as well. The solution for me was removing a bunch of fonts from /Library/Fonts, then restarting the OS. As a designer I have a lot of fonts installed. Not sure if this was a particular font issue or the amount of fonts being loaded that was the culprit. I will add fonts back in as needed and see what happens.

Anyway in response to your question, all fonts aside from system fonts are disabled during a safe boot so try removing fonts if removing startup items doesn't work.