PPT2000: Graphics Displayed as Red X in Presentation

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2000

SYMPTOMS

If you open a Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 presentation, one or more of the graphics may appear as a red "X." This problem may also occur if you attempt to paste a graphic into the presentation.

CAUSE

Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, Microsoft Word 2000, and Microsoft Excel 2000 all use a drawing and graphics engine called OfficeArt. When a program that uses OfficeArt cannot display a graphic for any reason, it replaces that picture with a red X.

WORKAROUND

NOTE: It may not be possible to recover a picture after it becomes a red X. If the techniques in this article do not recover the picture, you may have to reimport the picture from its original source.

If you open a presentation that contains a red X instead of the original graphic:

1. Close the file without saving it.
   
   If you save the file, the red X will be permanently stored in the file.



2. Restart your computer.



3. Close all other programs to free up as much memory as possible.



4. Open the file again.

1. Use your current display driver, but lower the resolution and/or color depth. If your driver is set for High Color or True Color, try changing it to 256-color. Additionally, you may want to modify the hardware acceleration setting:
   
   1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
   
   
   
   2. Double-click the System icon.
   
   
   
   3. Click the Performance tab.
   
   
   
   4. Under Advanced Settings, click Graphics.
   
   
   
   5. Move the slider to the left to reduce the hardware acceleration.
   
   
   
   6. When you are asked if you want to restart your computer, click Yes.
   
   
   
   The hardware acceleration changes take effect when you restart your computer.



2. If your video driver did not ship with Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows NT, you might want to check to see if your video adapter emulates one of the drivers that does ship with Windows 95/98 or Windows NT. Try running your computer using the emulated video driver. If nothing else, most video drivers can use the Windows 95/98-Windows NT VGA display driver.



3. If you cannot use one of the video drivers that ships with Windows 95 or Windows NT, contact the manufacturer of your computer or video adapter to see if there is an updated video driver available.

1. Delete the red X.



2. On the Edit menu, click Paste Special.



3. Click the second choice in the As list. Click OK.
   
   If a red X appears, repeat steps 1 through 3, but instead of selecting the second choice in the As list, select the third choice, and then click OK.

1. Double-click the X. The toolbars and menus may change to those of another program, and the X may be replaced with the actual picture. Click outside the picture to restore the PowerPoint toolbars and menus.



2. If step 1 fails, select the X and then click Ungroup on the Draw menu. Click Yes when you receive this message:

   This is an imported object, not a group. If you convert it to a Microsoft Office drawing, embedded data or linking information will be lost. Do you want to convert the object?

MORE INFORMATION

This problem has occurred in the following scenarios. Note that other reasons may exist for why OfficeArt cannot display the picture.

• To display any type of graphic element, Windows uses a memory pool called Graphics Device Interface (GDI) resources or GDI memory. This is a fixed amount of memory; it is the same regardless of how much physical (RAM) memory your computer has. If you have many open windows, many programs running in the background, or many open files, you may be running out of GDI resources. If there is not enough GDI memory available to display all the pictures in your file, one or more of them may not be displayed properly.



• The Office 2000 programs can save files using one of two methods: Full saves and Fast saves. To choose which type of save you want to use, click Options on the Tools menu, click the Save tab, and then click to select the appropriate option. If a full save fails because you do not have enough disk space, and PowerPoint then attempts a Fast Save, OfficeArt may lose track of where the picture data is stored in the document.

Additional query words: ppt97 word97 wd97 xl97 8.0 8.00 office97 off97 0ff8.0 ole inserted embedded linked image graphic red x

Keywords : kbgraphic kbdta kbdraw
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto