PPT97: Graphics Displayed as Red X in Presentation

ID: Q167886

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft PowerPoint 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

If you open a Microsoft PowerPoint 97 presentation, one or more of the graphics may appear as a red "X." This problem may also occur if you attempt to paste a graphic into the presentation.

CAUSE

Microsoft PowerPoint 97, Microsoft Word 97, and Microsoft Excel 97 all use a drawing and graphics engine called OfficeArt. When a program that uses OfficeArt cannot display a graphic for any reason, it replaces that picture with a red X.

WORKAROUND

NOTE: It may not be possible to recover a picture once it becomes a red X. If the techniques in this article do not recover the picture, you may have to reimport the picture from its original source.

If you open a presentation that contains a red X instead of the original graphic, follow these steps:

1. Close the file without saving it.

   If you save the file, the red X will be permanently stored in the
   file.

2. Close all other programs to free up as much memory as possible.

3. Restart your computer.

4. Open the file again.

If you try to paste a picture into PowerPoint, and it appears as a red X, follow these steps:

1. Delete the red X.

2. On the Edit menu, click Paste Special.

3. Click the second choice in the As list. Click OK.

   If a red X appears, repeat steps 1 through 3, but instead of
   selecting the second choice in the As list, select the third
   choice, and then click OK.

If neither of the previous options resolves the problem, try the following:

1. Double-click the X. The toolbars and menus may change to those of

   another program, and the X may be replaced with the actual picture.
   Click outside the picture to restore the toolbars and menus.

2. If step 1 fails, select the X and then click Ungroup on the Draw menu.

   Click Yes when you receive this message:

      This is an imported object, not a group. If you convert it to a
      Microsoft Office drawing, embedded data or linking information
      will be lost. Do you want to convert the object?

MORE INFORMATION

This problem has occurred in the following scenarios. Note that other reasons may exist for why OfficeArt cannot display the picture.

To display any type of graphic element, Windows uses a memory pool called Graphics Device Interface (GDI) resources or GDI memory. This is a fixed amount of memory; it is the same regardless of how much physical (RAM) memory your computer has. If you have many open windows, many programs running in the background, or many open files, you may be running out of GDI resources. If there is not enough GDI memory available to display all the pictures in your file, one or more of them may not be displayed properly.
The Office 97 programs can save files using one of two methods: Full saves and Fast saves. To choose which type of save you want to use, click Options on the Tools menu, click the Save tab, and then click to select the appropriate option. If a full save fails because you do not have enough disk space, and PowerPoint then attempts a Fast Save, OfficeArt may lose track of where the picture data is stored in the document.

NOTE: Many of the potential causes of this symptom are corrected in Microsoft PowerPoint 97, Service Release 1.

For more information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q172004
   TITLE     : New Features, Problems Fixed in PowerPoint 97 SR-1

   ARTICLE-ID: Q172476
   TITLE     : Contents of the Microsoft Office 97 SR-1 Patch Readme

   ARTICLE-ID: Q162349
   TITLE     : WD97: Picture Displayed as Red "X" in Document

Additional query words: 97 ppt97 word97 wd97 xl97 8.0 8.00 office97 off97 0ff8.0 ole inserted embedded linked image graphic red x

Keywords          : kbgraphic kbdta kbdraw 
Version           : windows:97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Hardware          : x86
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: May 19, 1999