Red X on slide thumbnails in Master View

Anonymous
2013-06-19T15:47:32+00:00

In PowerPoint 2013, in the presentation I'm creating, the thumbnails view doesn't show the thumbnails, but instead displays a large red X on every slide. The slides look fine in the slide view itself.

Diagnosis and recommendations welcome.

Mini screen shot here

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-01-29T21:23:08+00:00

    Problem exists with PowerPoint 2013 on 32 or 64 bit.  Windows 7, 8 or 8.1.  Since this has been happening for quite a while I frequently save edits to my PowerPoint decks. When the issue decides to occur, I have noticed that the file becomes corrupted to a certain extent (I have to recreate it from bits and pieces) and some slides have the red X or some are missing pieces that were initially part of the slide.  Additionally the file size is now much smaller, for example a 2,662 KB file becomes 600 KB. 

    My destination is usually a cloud folder such as SkyDrive or Dropbox and I have not been able to confirm if this happens saving to a local disk only.

    Has anyone seen any further feedback on the problem?

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-26T03:32:13+00:00

    I have been trying to use PPT 2013 for about a year - cannot trust that it won't destroy a presentation with red Xs while preparing or presenting.  I actually carry another laptop with PPT 2010 loaded on it for group sessions - am amazed that this error persists after so many months.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-20T08:27:34+00:00

    I'm using the 64 bit version now and all problems are gone. My main PPTX has 1700 slides and works like a charm.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-12-20T07:51:46+00:00

    I have 64-bit version but keep having this problem. The solution? Use Libreoffice. Same file, red x - disappears. Why doesn't Microsoft fix this whereas clearly MANY users are having this problem? Hey - it's Microsoft! :)

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-11-25T07:26:40+00:00

    I can now report that my problem only appears when using a 32-bit version of Powerpoint with this file. Using a 64-bit version of Powerpoint has not yet displayed the problem.

    Maybe this can help others in troubleshooting and finding workarounds...

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