Saving Powerpoint - Help!

[andy-hughes]

I haves spent the day working on a complex PowerPoint presentation, and now my laptop is refusing to save it!

It says 'An error occurred when saving the file'.

I have tried saving in different locations of the laptop - same message.

Is there any way of rescuing my work, or have I got to start all over again?

[JimF]

Open a blank presentation, copy and paste the contents into that.

[Buenchico]

Try opening a new blank document alongside the troublesome one. Then copy the content of your original document across to the new one and see if it can be saved normally.

[andy-hughes]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your response.

Tried that, it just says that the pictures cannot be displayed.

[Buenchico]

^^^ Oops! I'd not seen Jim's answer. (I'd been away from my computer for a while and omitted to refresh the page). At least we're 'singing from the same hymn sheet', anyway though!

[EdmundD]

Do you have Autosave activated?

File > Options > Save

[JimF]

Where did you get the pictures from? Are they on your laptop's local storage, or are they via hyperlinks? If the latter, it could be that they are no longer available for download.

[Ellipsis]

File->Save As

And make sure you try to save it somewhere that has plenty of free space. PowerPoint files can become very large.

[andy-hughes]

Jim - All images are from Google Images and I have saved loads of this type of presentation before, it's just glitched on this one.

[Buenchico]

^^^ Crossed posts!

If your presentation is complete, rather than being a work in progress, you could try saving it as a video file instead of as a PowerPoint presentation. (You could then use a media player, such as VLC, to play the video): https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/turn-your-presentation-into-a-video-c140551f-cb37-4818-b5d4-3e30815c3e83

[bobbinwales]

Try copying a page at time to see what ones causing a problem

[Buenchico]

Ellipsis's point about the file size might be relevant. Check that you're not trying to save the file to a location with insufficient space.

[EdmundD]

Is it just Powerpoint or do you get the same message with Word and/or Excel?

[andy-hughes]

I am trying to save it to an external hard drive, where an earlier version exists.

It asks if i want to change it, and i say yes, but nothing happens.

[JimF]

Try removing the images - can you save the presentation now?

If so, re-import them one by one, saving the file each time, until it either just works or you isolate the rogue image.

[andy-hughes]

Edmund - // Is it just Powerpoint or do you get the same message with Word and/or Excel?

Just Powerpoint.

[Buenchico]

It might also be worth checking that all of your downloaded files are in the same directory and then trying to save the PowerPoint presentation to the same directory.

[andy-hughes]

Jim - // Try removing the images - can you save the presentation now?

If so, re-import them one by one, saving the file each time, until it either just works or you isolate the rogue image. //

Sounds like a plan - I'll start with the last one and work back, and see what happens.

I'll be back ...

[bobbinwales]

There may be one just one problem image...maybe too big...so you need to do them one at a time to see

[Tuvok]

Google Images is a search result, it is NOT a stock of free images.

Always assume copyright on any image from the internet.

Try saving your presentation as a Powerpoint Show

[Ellipsis]

It sounds very much like you may not have enough disk space on that external drive.