keynote won't record slideshow

Hello -


I am having a problem with Keynote 6.6.1 on my main Mac (which is running the latest version of El Capitan): it will not record a slideshow. When I click the record button, the green bar at the top stays green. The app freezes, and I have to force quit the app. I know that there is not a problem with the slideshow itself, because I have been saving the Keynote presentations in iCloud and recording the slideshow on my laptop. I'd welcome any help that the community can offer, as it's an inconvenience to have to go back and forth.


Thanks in advance.


Michael Campbell

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), Time Capsule

Posted on Dec 6, 2015 6:04 AM

Reply
13 replies

Dec 6, 2015 7:36 AM in response to Michael Campbell8

El Capitan has many problems with Keynote 6.6.1 while Yosemite shows little issue. Using the latest software version is not always the best idea.

Ensure you edit a Keynote file that is saved on your Mac, don't attempt to edit a file on iCloud

When re-recording, you must clear a previous recording first: Inspector > Document Audio > Clear



When I click the record button, the green bar at the top stays green.

You do know that you advance to the next slide by using the spacebar or right arrow?

Dec 6, 2015 12:34 PM in response to Gary Scotland

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Gary. Neither of your solutions solved the issue. The problem begins BEFORE any recording starts. I press the red dot at the lower left hand corner. In the hundreds of Keynote presentations that I've recorded over the years, the green band across the top turns red and recording begins. Recently, however, when I press the red dot to record, the app freezes. The clock continues to progress, but nothing else works. I have the presentation set to start immediately after transition. That's never been a problem before. My laptop has not been updated to 10.11.1, and I am going to leave it like that until I find a solution. Any other possible fixes are certainly welcome.


Again, thanks for your time.

Dec 7, 2015 2:27 AM in response to Michael Campbell8

the green band across the top turns red and recording begins.

there is a conflict with other settings.


Change the following settings to:


1 -

  • select all the slides in the Navigator by clicking on a slide, then select all (command A)
  • the Navigator is the Panel on the left side of the canvas
  • click on a slide in the Navigator
  • Inspector > Animation > in the Start animation dropdown menu, select On Click


2 -

Inspector > Document > Document in the Presentation Type dropdown menu, select: On Click


3 -

Inspector > Document > Audio then click the clear button

Dec 7, 2015 9:56 AM in response to Gary Scotland

Gary - thanks again for replying.


I did step 1... For step 2 "on click" does not seem to be an option. All I show are "Normal", "Links Only", and "Self-Playing".


And again, I have made dozens of movies from a single slide with animations, a selection of slides, and an entire group of slides without a hitch. There seems to be some kind of bug in this version of Keynote.


I reinstalled the OS not long ago, and I am wondering whether I am missing some kind of file. Do you have a suggestion for uninstalling and reinstalling Keynote?


Thanks,


Michael

Dec 8, 2015 2:10 AM in response to Michael Campbell8

For step 2 "on click" does not seem to be an option

Sorry typing error, I meant to say for point 2:


Inspector > Document > Document > in the Presentation Type dropdown menu, select: Normal

All three conditions have to be in place for a recorded slideshow to take place.


I have made dozens of movies from a single slide with animations, a selection of slides, and an entire group of slides without a hitch.

Your original post was about a recoded slideshow, is creating a Quicktime the actual problem or is this a separate issue?


There seems to be some kind of bug in this version of Keynote

I don't think so, recorded slideshow works correctly on all our systems. Can you try the three point procedure in a new test presentation with just three slides?

Dec 8, 2015 5:48 AM in response to Gary Scotland

Thanks once again for taking the time to reply. I very much appreciate your willingness to help. The problem is almost certainly something missing in the copy of Keynote that I have on my Mac mini. When I say "make movies", I am recording a slideshow, then exporting it to QuickTime. Per your instructions, I just made a three-slide presentation on my laptop, which is running the same version of OS 10.11 as the mini. I recorded the slideshow without a hitch. So I moved the file to my desktop on the mini, opened it and tried to record. Nada.


Gary, what happens is this: when I click "record", Keynote freezes. I can't do anything with it other than Force Quit. There's something not right with the copy of Keynote that I have on my computer. So I would welcome advice about uninstalling the one that's on my computer and downloading a fresh copy of the app. So you know, I just uninstalled Keynote via the Launchpad and reinstalled it from the App Store. That didn't solve the problem, I regret to say.


Michael

Dec 8, 2015 8:03 AM in response to Michael Campbell8

I recorded the slideshow without a hitch. So I moved the file to my desktop on the mini, opened it and tried to record. Nada.

After you transferred to the second Mac, did you "clear" the saved recoding before going into Record Slideshow?

Inspector > Document > Audio: click the clear button

This is my repair and re-install procedure for Keynote, perform all the steps in the order listed:


  1. Remove Keynote version 6.X, you must use an application removal tool for this procedure to work: Appcleaner is free,
  2. Empty the trash (Finder > Empty Trash)
  3. Shut Down the Mac (Apple menu > Shut Down)
  4. Wait 10 seconds, then press the power button
  5. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold down the Shift key
  6. release the Shift key when you see the grey Apple screen, start up will take a few minutes longer than usual as the Mac is performing a software repair
  7. after the repair and the Mac is fully booted, restart the Mac normally, (Apple > Restart)
  8. Install Keynote from the Mac App Store

Dec 9, 2015 2:53 PM in response to Gary Scotland

Gary — I'm sorry to have taken your time. I found the source of the problem and the solution. I'd recently bought Audioengione 2+ speakers for my desktop. It turns out that having them plugged into the computer caused the problem. I unplugged them and the test slideshow recorded without a hitch.


Again, thanks for your time and interest. I should have known/will know for the future that the first thing one tests is any external hardware....


Michael

Dec 14, 2015 10:36 AM in response to Gary Scotland

I am using Keynote 6.6.1 on Macbook Pro with OS X 10.11.2 and trying to record a slide show. It hangs on the first slide with green bar at top - goes no further. I can click on the “Exit the slideshow” button and it stops. I have a music sound track, it is “self playing” with “Automatically play on open” checked. It plays OK but will not record.


I read the “thread” started by Michael Campbell8 on 12/6/2015 and none of that seems to apply. I don’t have to “force quit.” The only things plugged in are a Thunderbolt monitor and 3 external drives that have been “ejected” when trying to record.


Any help would be appreciated. Maybe I should re-install Keynote as suggested by Gary Scotland?

Dec 15, 2015 2:00 AM in response to vhendrix

Any existing timing added to slide transitions interfere when creating a recorded slide show.




  1. unplug the thunderbolt monitor
  2. clear all existing slide timing: select all the slides in the Navigator panel, then: Inspector > Animation > change the start transition dropdown menuto "on click"
  3. click the clear button to remove the existing recorded slideshow in: Inspector > Document > Audio >

Aug 30, 2016 2:44 PM in response to Gary Scotland

Gary, that was nine months ago. Have the Apple programmers resolved this problem?


Here's how this inadequacy between Keynote and Quicktime affects my in my work:


I have a self-playing slideshow, 7 slides, each slide itself has up to twelve builds, finely timed to build in and build out while a song plays, at the end of which the slide automatically transitions to the next slide, a new song starts, the builds come and go until the end of that song - same again and again, all the way through.


On my MacBook Pro (Keynote 6.6.2 (2571) - OS X El Capitan 10.11.6) the slideshow automatically plays when opened and self-plays through with perfect timings to the very end.


As I export it to Quicktime, the builds advance much more slowly, so much so that a song ends and the builds of that slide still build in and out over silence - for many many seconds, before a new slide appears with the new song and its builds appear - again too slowly.


I cannot set everything to "on click" as you suggested nine months ago, I would need a script, a producer and a stopwatch to try to come close to what the timings must be.


Both Keynote and Quicktime are well-established Apple programs, can't we expect that the programmers will talk to each other and get this done? Is there hope?


Thanks.

Sep 2, 2016 8:12 AM in response to curry-wurst

Gary, that was nine months ago. Have the Apple programmers resolved this problem?

There is nothing in the discussion that points to errors with the application, see the following explanation.


I have a self-playing slideshow, 7 slides, each slide itself has up to twelve builds, finely timed to build in and build out while a song plays, at the end of which the slide automatically transitions to the next slide, a new song starts, the builds come and go until the end of that song - same again and again, all the way through.

What your describing is not a Self Playing presentation. If you have set different durations for each build, that is not a Self Playing presentation (Inspector > Document > Document: Self Playing)

Self playing presentations set all builds in the presentation to the same duration.

User uploaded file


I cannot set everything to "on click" as you suggested nine months ago, I would need a script, a producer and a stopwatch to try to come close to what the timings must be.

Using on click would be the wrong thing to do in your situation, that answer was for a different set of circumstances.


I also cannot get the "Record Slideshow" under the Play menu to work. At all. It looks like it wants to being playing, but with green bar - Wsxape gets me back to edit mode (no lock-up), but no way to "record". Still no fix?

No fix needed: from what you say, Keynote is set to self playing when trying to use record slideshow, therefore set Keynote to Normal (Inspector > Document > Document) in the Presentation Type dropdown menu select; Normal, then use record slideshow.


Both Keynote and Quicktime are well-established Apple programs, can't we expect that the programmers will talk to each other and get this done? Is there hope?

I have no difficulty in creating exactly the type of presentation as you describe, there are no issues within Keynote that prevent exporting to Keynote. From the information you have given, you are using the wrong settings to export to Quicktime:


Instead, change the the presentation Normal (Inspector > Document > Document) in the Presentation Type dropdown menu select; Normal, then export to Quicktime.

User uploaded file


Try this and report back.

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keynote won't record slideshow

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