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Technical support for Optimizer

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All about Optimizer index page

Updated
11/10/2011

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Troubleshooting Optimizer problems

PPTools Optimizer is discontinued

As of November 1, 2011, PPTools discontinued the PPTools Optimizer add-in for PowerPoint.

Please see the Optimizer home page for more information and other options.

The Optimizer site and the All About Optimizer pages will remain here to assist our existing Optimizer customers.

Installing Optimizer in PowerPoint 2007/2010

Both Office 2007 and PowerPoint 2010 include new and different security features that affect the way you'll install Optimizer. The information below will help you get Optimizer up and running quickly and easily. If you run into problems, see Tips & Troubleshooting below.

Before updating to Office 2007/2010

  1. If you already have Optimizer (and any other PPTools add-ins) installed, please UNINSTALL your PPTools add-ins before installing Office 2007 or 2010. Click Start, Control Panel and use Add/Remove Programs to remove All PPTools add-ins.
  2. Install Office 2007/2010.
  3. Start PowerPoint 2007/2010 and configure its security settings:
    • In PowerPoint 2007: click the Office button, then click PowerPoint Options at the bottom of the menu that appears. In PowerPoint 2010: choose File | Options
    • Click Trust Center on the left side of the PowerPoint Options dialog box.
    • Click the Trust Center Settings button on the right.
    • Click Addins on the left, then make sure ALL of the options on the right are UNchecked.
    • Click Macro Settings on the left, then select "Disable all macros with notification" on the right.
    • Click Message Bar on the left, then select "Show the Message Bar in all applications ..." on the right
    • PowerPoint 2010 only: Click File Block Settings on the left, then make sure that none of the options that includes "Add-in Files" is blocked (remove any checkmarks for these items).
    • Click OK
  4. Quit PowerPoint.
  5. Download the latest versions of your PPTools add-ins here and run the installer(s).
  6. Start PowerPoint.

If you've already updated to Office 2007 or 2010 ...

If you've already updated to Office 2007 or 2010 and now you're seeing messages about how Optimizer can't find its files when you start PowerPoint or Optimizer isn't working, follow these steps:

  1. Start PowerPoint and configure its security settings as explained above.
  2. Quit Poweroint.
  3. Download the latest versions of your PPTools add-ins here and run the installer(s).
  4. Start PowerPoint.

Installing Optimizer in Windows VISTA/Windows 7

Older versions of Optimizer install under Program Files (unless you select a different folder) and store configuration information in the same folder, so they need write-access to the folder. VISTA and Windows 7 don't normally allow this.

Newer PPTools installers install to a folder that Vista/Windows 7 allow, but if there are already existing PPTools add-ins in another folder, they'll install there instead.

If you have any existing PPTools add-ins in C:\Program Files\RnR\PPToolsV2, we recommend that you:

This will ensure that you have the latest versions of all your PPTools add-ins, installed in Vista/Windows 7-friendly locations on your computer.

PowerPoint 2007 Tips & Troubleshooting

If Optimizer doesn't work or appears to be disabled

See the security settings and other info below.

Toolbars, Menu items

PowerPoint 2007/2010 no longer have toolbars or menus. Instead, when you install add-ins that create toolbars and/or menu items in earlier versions of PowerPoint, they now appear on the Add-Ins tab.

This makes add-ins less convenient than in previous versions of PowerPoint. You now must first click the Add-Ins tab in order to use them. But read on ...

Make your add-ins more accessible

Though you can't change toolbars and menus in PowerPoint 2007, you now have the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT), which you can customize. To make your PPTools and other add-ins easy to get to, do this:

You now have two new buttons on the QAT. One exposes the toolbars and buttons your add-ins have installed, the other makes the add-ins' menu items available.

Make sure you have the latest version

Make sure you have the latest version of Optimizer. Download the installer here, save it to any convenient folder and double-click it. You won't need to re-enter any registration information.

Security Settings

Overly restrictive security settings can prevent Optimizer from loading.

PowerPoint 2007/2010 security settings

Go to the PowerPoint options dialog box:

Then in either PowerPoint 2007 or 2010:

After changing these settings, run the installer for Optimizer again.

User account permissions

If your user account has restricted privileges, you may not be able to install Optimizer. The Optimizer installer makes several registry entries to tell PowerPoint to load it at startup. Have someone log in with sufficient privileges and run the installer for you.

The installer needs to be able to write to 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\X\PowerPoint\AddIns\MASTTBAR
where X is the PowerPoint version number: 14.0 for 2010, 12.0 for 2007, 11.0 for 2003 and so on.

Older versions of PPTools installers installed add-ins to C:\Program Files\RnR\PPToolsV2 by default. This caused problems under Windows Vista/Windows 7, so our installers now install to a folder in your user area.

Does the problem recur?

  1. Quit PowerPoint and any other running programs then shut down your computer and turn the power off. Wait five minutes, then restart the computer
  2. Start PowerPoint, open the file you were working on, then see if you can make the problem happen again in Optimizer
  3. If the problem doesn't occur again, it may have been caused by some sort of temporary Windows or computer glitch. As long as it doesn't happen any more, you can consider the problem solved. No need to read further.

Is Optimizer not loading or not working at all?

PowerPoint 2002 and later sometimes disable add-ins like Optimizer for reasons that aren't always clear. To see if this is the case:

If you have PowerPoint 2002 or 2003:

  1. Choose Help, About Microsoft PowerPoint from the main menu bar.
  2. In the "About" dialog box click "Disabled Items".
  3. If Optimizer is on the list, click it, then click "Enable".
  4. Click "Close" to close the Disabled Items dialog box.
  5. Click "OK" to close the About Microsoft PowerPoint dialog box.
  6. Restart PowerPoint and see if that solves the problem.

If you have PowerPoint 2007 or 2010:

  1. Go to PowerPoint Options
  2. Click Add-Ins on the left
  3. On the right, next to "Manage:" choose "Disabled Items" then click "Go"
  4. If Optimizer is on the list, click it, then click "Enable".
  5. Click "Close" to close the Disabled Items dialog box.
  6. Click "OK" to close the PowerPoint Options dialog box.
  7. Restart PowerPoint.

Are other add-ins interfering with Optimizer?

Add-ins from other software developers may interfere with Optimizer and other add-ins (ours and others). Scansoft, WebEx, Camtasia and SnagIt and other software may be at fault.

Try running the installer for Optimizer again. Sometimes that can solve problems with add-in conflicts. If that doesn't help, try disabling or uninstalling other add-ins, particularly so-called COM add-ins. You can get a list of installed add-ins by running a diagnostics report (see below)

Create a Diagnostics Report

If none of the suggestions above helps, send us a diagnostics report. A diagnostics report gives us a tremendous amount of information we can use to troubleshoot the problem. Here's how to create one:

  1. Start PowerPoint.
  2. From the main PowerPoint menu bar, choose PPTools, Optimizer, Help or click the Help (?) button on the Optimizer toolbar. The About Optimizer screen appears.
  3. On the About Optimizer screen, put a checkmark next to "Enable verbose logging" then click OK.
  4. Open the file you were working on or do whatever else it takes to cause the problem to happen again. This will make sure that there's detailed information about the specific problem in the diagnostics report.
  5. Once the problem appears, open the About Optimizer screen again.
  6. On the About Optimizer screen, click "Diagnostics".
  7. PPTools will create a diagnostic report and open it in Notepad so you can examine it.
  8. At the top of the report it tells you where the report file (named DIAGS.TXT) is saved. Attach the file to an email and send it to us at the email address that appears in the report.
  9. We suggest leaving "Enable verbose logging" checked until we've solved the problem. Then you can turn it back off.
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