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Updated
1/12/2009

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Troubleshooting StarterSet problems

Installing StarterSet 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 StarterSet. The information below will help you get StarterSet up and running quickly and easily. If you run into problems, see Tips & Troubleshooting below.

Installing into Office 2007

  1. If you already have StarterSet (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.
  2. Install Office 2007.
  3. 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
  4. Quit PowerPoint 2007
  5. Download the latest versions of your PPTools add-ins here and run the installer(s).
  6. 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:
  1. 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
  2. Quit PowerPoint 2007
  3. Download the latest versions of your PPTools add-ins here and run the installer(s).
  4. Start PowerPoint 2007 and reset the security settings to a comfortable zone for you.

Installing StarterSet in Windows VISTA

Normally StarterSet 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 StarterSet 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:

Tips & Troubleshooting

If StarterSet doesn't work or appears to be disabled

Toolbars, Menu items

PowerPoint 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:

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 StarterSet. The StarterSet 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.

StarterSet 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 StarterSet 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 StarterSet is installed (C:\Program Files\RnR\PPToolsV2), choose any convenient folder where you do have read/write privileges and reinstall StarterSet there.

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 StarterSet
  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.
  4. If restarting doesn't help, make sure you have the latest version of StarterSet. Download the installer here, save it to any convenient folder and double-click it. Let it install StarterSet 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 StarterSet not loading or not working at all?

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

  1. Choose Help, About Microsoft PowerPoint from the main menu bar.
  2. In the "About" dialog box click "Disabled Items".
  3. If StarterSet 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.

Are other add-ins interfering with StarterSet?

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

Try running the installer for StarterSet 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, StarterSet, Help or click the Help (?) button on the StarterSet toolbar. The About StarterSet screen appears.
  3. On the About StarterSet 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 StarterSet screen again.
  6. On the About StarterSet 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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