6/7/2014 7:00:46 PM

Hi everyone,

I've had an issue for a while, but only just got around to posting on here about it. I've had the issue since version 7, so not really version specific. Some other issues we were having playing videos were resolved when we upgraded to version 8 which was great, but this issue still lingers. It all started when we upgraded our computer and SSP to version 7 a year or two ago (from version 5.5!) We were happy that we would finally be able to integrate all our service elements (song words, Powerpoints, videos) into one piece of software. However we were faced with several persistent issues playing videos and displaying powerpoints, so eventually resorted to using seperate pieces of software again. Well along came SSP8, which managed to resolve all the issues we were having playing videos through SSP, great! But unfortunately issues still persist with Powerpoints. I'm really keen now to finally get these remaining issues resolved, so we can finally have the system functioning how we want it to.

So the issues:
I want to run powerpoint slideshows through SSP (I want to import them NOT convert them, so I can keep all the formatting). Well at first every time I tried displaying any powerpoints, SSP would crash. I finally figured out that if I changed a setting inside the powerpoint program itself (turned off presenter view), that resolved that issue. However, the persistent issue that remains is that after I've restarted SSP for any reason, SSP crashes when I try to run a powerpoint. Now what interests me (that I suspect is related), is that powerpoint comes up with a message when I close SSP the first time, that says that "powerpoint has stopped working", and it eventually opens the powerpoint program (like powerpoint recovered from a crash, even though the powerpoint program itself was never open). What I'm wondering is if maybe there may be some other setting inside the powerpoint program that I need to change (like I did with turning off presenter view)?

6/7/2014 10:24:39 PM

Which version of Powerpoint are you using?

Thanks.

6/8/2014 1:21:45 PM

Thanks for the reply! And sorry I should have mentioned; PowerPoint 2010

6/17/2014 2:35:27 AM

Oh, and Windows 8 if that matters...

6/18/2014 8:30:16 AM

Blair,

I will address your second part first...

The messages regarding the PPT error on closing SongShow Plus has been documented (KB TS163) and there are many other related PPT articles that you should read if you are using PPT on a regular basis.  Just do a search for "PPT" or "PowerPoint" in the support articles to find them.

This particular error behavior while not ideal is currently expected.  It happens after SSP closes and therefore does not affect the PPT operation while SSP is in use.  This is a byproduct of an operation that is supposed to close PPT when SongShow Plus closes but it does not work as desired with all versions of PPT thus the error.
Some have stated they get better behavior if they kill the PPT process as well but just closing the error and PPT should be sufficient.

That said, the crashing you mentioned is not expected even understanding the other caveats mentioned in the KB articles.  If you have crashing that is consistently reproducible then if you contact the support team for a remote they can take a look and try to discover the cause so it can be resolved.

My last point is a plug for the integrated slide builder.  If you use our builder then you can avoid these issue altogether.  If you have staff or volunteers that are creating the slideshows but do not have SongShow Plus, they can install a free Workstation copy of SongShow Plus that will allow them to do everything they need and then wrap it all up with Package To Go and bring it in to use on-site.

By far a better solution!
 

6/18/2014 1:19:27 PM

Greetings,

I agree that for ease of prep and use, using the built-in Slide Show Builder is better. So I agree with George's statement of "by far the better solution".

However, PPT is ubiquitous. Everyone in the universe has it. This is particularly true when we have guest speakers or musicians show up. We have never, in over 10 years since using SSP, had one hand us a SlideShow Builder program. Without exception, it's a PPT on a flash drive (or CD in earlier days). And, we will not be likely to find that most of the people in our congregation are willing to install a workstation license for the occasional use of a program which they will have to learn to use for only occasional need. They have PPT and are familiar already.

I believe that from a practical standpoint, only regular contributors to our design will be running workstations, and in fact we already have that in place. Our CE Pastor, who's been preaching lately, is a Mac man. He much prefers Keynote. (I personally think Keynote vaporizes PPT, although PPT is better in the newest version, in my opinion.) He builds his shows in Keynote, then exports to PPT, with some loss of fidelity. He has zero interest in learning SSB.  In youth ministry he uses his Mac laptop and Keynote.

Of the 3, I believe SSB is the hardest to work with to get formatting right. It would be great have a WYSIWYG  in SSB, to avoid the constant tweaking that is necessary particularly working with text. And, PPT 2013 is much improved, so I don't see a big move away from it anytime soon, for guest sermon, missions, and musician presentations.

That means we either need to humbly accept them, use them in SSP (so glad that it now works well), ctrl-alt-tab to PPT (as we did for years until SSP started running them well), or take the time to rebuild them in SSB which really is no option at all.

Life as we all wish and life as it is rarely match!

6/19/2014 3:21:31 AM

I agree with the wysiwyg comment. I don't have the patience to continually adjust the slide because it doesn't look as I expect.