Troubleshooting problems with Merge

Merge has a few basic requirements that you must adhere to in preparing your data and PPT merge template files.

If you run into problems, please check the following very carefully. We're always happy to assist, but checking for these common problems before contacting us will let get you going right away most of the time.

Use unique placeholders/data field names and make sure they match

The most common problem we see is failure to make placeholders unique in both the template PPT file and the data file and to make sure that the placeholders/field names match exactly.

This can result in Merge appearing to hang while doing merges, not merging any data, or complaining that there are no fields in your slides to merge data into.

The fix is quite simple. Always put colons on each side of your merge fields, both in the PPT template and in the first row of the data file. In fact, versions of Merge released since early 2009 insist on colons around your field names. It won't merge data without them.

For example, if you want to merge Name, Rank, SerialNumber, then the PPT file text should look like:

My name is :Name: and I'm a :Rank:.  My number is :SerialNumber:

and your data file might look like:

:Name:   :Rank:   :SerialNumber:
Bob        Private  1234
Carol      Captain 5678

While you can use other characters instead of colons, colons work best because they're narrow and don't upset your text layouts in PowerPoint, and because when you enter them in Excel, Excel doesn't interpret them as special formula characters.

It's a good idea to keep capitalization the same between your data file and the PPT file too.

No mixed formatting in placeholders

Merge placeholders can have any text formatting you like, and it can be different from the text around them and different from one another, BUT formatting within one placeholder should be consistent.

Don't make part of the placeholder bold and the rest regular or change color, font or any other formatting in the middle of the word.

This is ok:

My name is :Name: and I'm a :Rank:.

But this is not:

My name is :Name: and I'm a :Rank:.  My number is :SerialNumber:

There are two problems with the second example.

"is :Name:" is easy to see. Part of the merge placeholder :Name: is bold and part isn't. That won't work.

"I'm a :Rank:" is a little trickier. You have to look closely to see that "Rank:" is italic but the colon before it isn't. And that won't work either.

Watch out for hidden data

When you merge data from Excel, Merge sees ALL the data, including data in hidden columns and rows. Sometimes field names at the top of hidden columns can cause problems as described above.

If that didn't help, let us. Help, that is.

When you're trying out Merge for the first time, there's a lot to learn. It can be hard to understand all the tricks and rules. If your merge doesn't work exactly right after making the adjustments described above, don't drive yourself crazy trying to figure out why.

Even if you're just trying out the free demo, we'll be happy to help you get it working right.

Create a simple one or two slide example PowerPoint and a data file that demonstrates the problem. Send it to us (you'll find the support email link below). Keep the combination of the two files down to a megabyte of data or so to avoid email problems.

Explain what you're trying to accomplish and describe what's going wrong in the body of your email, attach the sample files and send them along to us.

Here's some more general information in case you're having problems getting Merge installed in the first place:

Installing Merge in PowerPoint 2007 and/or Windows VISTA

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

Installing into Office 2007

If you already have Merge (and any other PPTools add-ins) installed, please UNINSTALL your PPTools add-ins before installing Office 2007. Click Start, Control Panel and use Add/Remove Programs to remove All PPTools add-ins.
Install Office 2007.
Start PowerPoint 2007 and choose the following security settings:

Click the Office Button then click PowerPoint options at the bottom of the pop-up menu
In leftmost pane of the PowerPoint Options dialog box that appears, click "Trust Center"
Click "Trust Center Settings"
In the leftmost pane of the Trust Center dialog box that appears, click "Add-ins"
Under "Add-ins" on the right, UNCHECK all three options.
In the leftmost pane of the Trust Center dialog box, click "Macro Settings"
Under "Macro Settings" on the right, click "Enable all macros". Be sure to change this back to a higher security setting (we recommend "Disable all macros with notification") after you finish installing PPTools.
Click OK

Quit PowerPoint 2007
Download the latest versions of your PPTools add-ins here and run the installer(s).
Start PowerPoint 2007 and reset the security settings to a comfortable zone for you.

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

If you've already updated to Office 2007 before seeing this and now you're seeing messages about how your PPTools add-in can't find its files when you start PowerPoint or your add-ins don't seem to be working, follow these steps:

Start PowerPoint 2007 and choose the following security settings:

Click the Office Button then click PowerPoint options at the bottom of the pop-up menu
In leftmost pane of the PowerPoint Options dialog box that appears, click "Trust Center"
Click "Trust Center Settings"
In the leftmost pane of the Trust Center dialog box that appears, click "Add-ins"
Under "Add-ins" on the right, UNCHECK all three options.
In the leftmost pane of the Trust Center dialog box, click "Macro Settings"
Under "Macro Settings" on the right, click "Enable all macros". Be sure to change this back to a higher security setting (we recommend "Disable all macros with notification") after you finish installing PPTools.
Click OK

Quit PowerPoint 2007
Download the latest versions of your PPTools add-ins here and run the installer(s).
Start PowerPoint 2007 and reset the security settings to a comfortable zone for you.

Installing Merge in Windows VISTA

Normally Merge installs itself under Program Files (unless you select a different folder) and stores configuration information in the same folder, so it needs write-access to the folder. VISTA doesn't normally allow this.

The simplest solution:

Install Merge to a different folder, one that you have read/write access to. When installing the add-in, you can choose any folder you like, You could choose a folder within My Documents, for example.

If you're installing additional PPTools add-ins, the installer will default to the folder where your first PPTools add-in is installed. Always install all PPTools add-ins to the same folder.

If you've already installed several of our add-ins and then learned that there are problems, use Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs to remove them, then reinstall to a folder where you have read/write privileges.

Plan B

If you've already installed PPTools to the default folder, you may be able to solve the problem a different way. There are quite a few steps and it may or may not work, depending on your user privileges; that's why we recommend the method above instead. It's also likely to be faster. But the choice is yours, so here we go:

Double-click My Computer
Open the Program Files folder
Right-click the RnR folder and choose Properties from the pop-up menu
On the General tab under Attributes, remove the check-mark and any highlighting next to "Read-only"
On the Security tab, under "Group or user names" click "Users (your username)" then click Edit
In the resulting Permissions dialog box, click Users again, then put a checkmark next to "Full control" under "Allow". The other boxes under "Allow", other than Special Permissions, should automatically become checkmarked as well.
Click Apply.
Click OK
If asked "Do you want to apply this change to this folder only, or do you want to aply it to all subfolders and files as well?", choose "Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files"

PowerPoint 2007 Tips & Troubleshooting

If Merge doesn't work or appears to be disabled

Click the Office Button then click PowerPoint options at the bottom of the pop-up menu
In the leftmost pane of the PowerPoint Options dialog box that appears, click "Add-Ins"
At the bottom of the Add-ins pane that appears on the right, next to "Manage:", choose "Disabled Items: then click "Go .."
If any PPTools items appear on the Disabled Items menu, click them then click "Enable".
Click Close to return to the PowerPoint Options dialog box.
Click OK to close the PowerPoint Options dialog box.
If the newly enabled add-in doesn't work immediately, re-start PowerPoint and try it again.

Toolbars, Menu items

PowerPoint 2007 no longer has toolbars or menus. Instead, it has an "Add-Ins" tab on the ribbon. 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:

At the right of the QAT, you'll see a small downward pointing arrowhead. Click it to open the "Customize Quick Access Toolbar" menu.
On the Customize QAT menu, click "More Commands" to open the "Customize the Quick Access Toolbar" dialog box.
Underneath "Choose commands from:" pick "Add-Ins Tab"
On the list of commands that appears below, double-click "Custom Toolbars" and "Menu Commands". As you double-click each of these, it appears in the list on the right,
Make certain that under "Customize Quick Access Toolbar" it says "For all documents (default)".
Click OK

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.

Installation and Basic Issues

If your user account has restricted privileges, you may not be able to install Merge. The Merge 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.

Merge needs to be able to read and write to files in its own folder. Ensure that you have read/write privileges to the folder where Merge is installed and to any other folders where you're having it save files, if any.

If your IT staff can't grant read/write privileges to the default folder where Merge is installed (C:\Program Files\RnR\PPToolsV2), choose any convenient folder where you do have read/write privileges and reinstall Merge there.

Does the problem recur?

Quit PowerPoint and any other running programs then shut down your computer and turn the power off. Wait five minutes, then restart the computer
Start PowerPoint, open the file you were working on, then see if you can make the problem happen again in Merge
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.
If restarting doesn't help, make sure you have the latest version of Merge. Download the installer here, save it to any convenient folder and double-click it. Let it install Merge to the same folder as you originally installed to (it will suggest this as the default). You won't need to re-enter any registration information.

Is Merge not loading or not working at all?

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

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

Are other add-ins interfering with Merge?

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

Try running the installer for Merge 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:

Start PowerPoint.
From the main PowerPoint menu bar, choose PPTools, Merge, Help or click the Help (?) button on the Merge toolbar. The About Merge screen appears.
On the About Merge screen, put a checkmark next to "Enable verbose logging" then click OK.
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.
Once the problem appears, open the About Merge screen again.
On the About Merge screen, click "Diagnostics".
PPTools will create a diagnostic report and open it in Notepad so you can examine it.
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.
We suggest leaving "Enable verbose logging" checked until we've solved the problem. Then you can turn it back off.

[Previous] [Home] [Next]

Menu:

Latest news:

Links: