PPT97: Cannot Open PowerPoint 97 Files in 32-Bit Viewer

• Microsoft PowerPoint 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to open a Microsoft PowerPoint 97 presentation in the 32- bit PowerPoint Viewer that comes with Microsoft Office 97 or Microsoft PowerPoint 97, you receive the following error message:

   Sorry this type of file cannot be opened by PowerPoint Viewer.

CAUSE

The PowerPoint Viewer does not recognize the PowerPoint 97 file format. The viewer that ships with Microsoft PowerPoint 97 or Microsoft Office 97 is included for backward compatibility for PowerPoint 7.0 files.

RESOLUTION

Save your presentation using either the PowerPoint 7.0 or PowerPoint 95 & 97 Presentation file type. The viewer recognizes and displays presentations in either of these formats.

NOTE: When you save a PowerPoint 97 presentation that contains features that are not available in PowerPoint 7.0, the features are not converted.

You can also obtain Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 97. This viewer supports all PowerPoint 97 features, excluding macros.

For information about how to obtain PowerPoint Viewer 97, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q170801
   TITLE     : PPT97: How to Obtain PowerPoint Viewer 97

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 97.

MORE INFORMATION

To use the PowerPoint viewer, copy the Ppview32.exe file from the Office folder on the PowerPoint 97 or Office 97 compact disc to your hard disk or run the file from the compact disc.