[MS Office - 2010] PowerPoint 2010 SP1 Bug

[Michael]

Hello all,

I'm running PowerPoint 2010 SP1 and the build number reads: (14.0.6111.5000) SP1 MSO (14.0.6112.5000).

Navigate to the Insert tab > Clipart. Now put your cursor in the 'Search for:' field at the top right.

The cursor appears to keep switching to the active slide for no reason. I've replicated this at several sites.

Has anyone else seen this? TIA.

[AngryTechnician]

I can't replicate this with the same build number. If I put the cursor into the empty Search for: box, it stays there. What OS are you on? We are on Windows 7 here.

I have noticed that if I Alt+Tab away from PowerPoint and Alt+Tab back, the cursor returns to where I left it on the slide (instead of being in the Search for: box), but it doesn't do it spontaneously.

[Michael]

I'm running on Windows 7 SP1 x86 and I can re-create this issue at two different sites on different hardware.

[Michael]

It's very odd as when I run Word 2010 SP1 or Publisher 2010 SP1 and perform the same task (on the same machine) - Insert tab > Clipart, the cursor stays in the 'Search for:' field at the top right.

This is only happening in PowerPoint 2010.

[Michael]

I've managed to identify a conflict between PowerPoint 2010 SP1 and Smart Notebook 10.8.364, available from www.smarttech.com

To resolve the problem (temporary workaround), open up Task Manager and kill a process called SmartBoardService.exe. Open up PowerPoint 2010, navigate to the Insert tab > Clipart. Now put your cursor in the 'Search for:' field at the top right and it should stay there.

Clearly the problem is with Smart Notebook 10.8 rather than PowerPoint 2010 SP1, but it would be interesting to know what exactly the SmartBoardService.exe is doing and why it only affects PowerPoint and not other Microsoft Office applications.

[Michael]

After contacting Smart, apparently they're aware of the problem and working on a fix. The problem is to do with a feature called Ink Aware which is enabled by default in Smart Notebook 10.8.

To manually resolve the problem, right click the Smart Notebook 10.8 icon in the notification area (bottom right) and select Control Panel

Click Configure SMART Tools

Click Ink Aware Program Settings

Untick:
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation
Microsoft PowerPoint Presenter View then click OK.

The only problem with this is it must be done per user, so I created my own GPP:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SMART Technologies\SMART Board Drivers\Aware\Applications\PowerPoint]
"Application Enabled"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SMART Technologies\SMART Board Drivers\Aware\Applications\PowerPoint Presentation]
"Application Enabled"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SMART Technologies\SMART Board Drivers\Aware\Applications\PowerPoint Presenter View]
"Application Enabled"=dword:00000000

Link your newly created GPO and it will untick the three boxes for you. This allows the SmartBoardService.exe process to continue running, but also allow users to add clipart in PowerPoint 2010 problem free! I hope this helps someone else!

[network41]

Brilliant solved a real headache, any news on a fix from SMART yet

[Michael]

No official fix, just apply the fixes I specified above. The alternative is Smart Notebook 11, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[network41]

Michael
Many thanks, will go with your fix