1st File, new install, unsure technical name for issue.

[dr.toast]

Not even sure what the erroring data is. Trying to open a file a potential new employer has sent me.

Don't know what to search for as I am not sure what SHOULD be there. If any of you wonderful open source veterans have seen the like before, do please point me in the correct direction.

It is a .pptx file. Error present on multiple slides.

Apologies, did not realise it refused my screenshot as too large a file, here is a link to view my error.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=fvfb5k&s=9#.XHfeNYj7SUk

[RusselB]

Welcome to the Forums.
While OpenOffice works fairly well with the .???x file formats, it has been reported that [url=http://www.libreoffice.org]LibreOffice has a better compatibility.
Based on the screenshot, I'm suspecting that compatibility is the actual issue.
I'm going to suggest that you try LibreOffice. You can have LibreOffice and OpenOffice installed on the same system.

[John_Ha]

It's being seen as a formatting problem on the slide. Can you upload a one slide example file so it can be analysed. Use the Upload attachment tab below where you type (128 kB max); or use a file share site, Dropbox or Google Drive for a larger file.

[dr.toast]

It's being seen as a formatting problem on the slide. Can you upload a one slide example file so it can be analysed. Use the Upload attachment tab below where you type (128 kB max); or use a file share site, Dropbox or Google Drive for a larger file.

The original is set to read only so in order to send an example slide I have had to resave it as .ppt instead of .pptx

I will attach the slide below, and while I await further possible info I shall dabble with libre and see if that works for me.

[RoryOF]

The slide is not in OpenOffice's native format (.odt) and I think you will just have to accept that there is an incompatability in OO opening some slides in the foreign formats .pptx/.ppt.

[dr.toast]

Which is fair enough, just a bit of a pain when dealing with businesses that don't use more helpful and convenient programs

[RusselB]

You could try using Zamzar to convert the file into one that is in the OpenOffice native format.
I'm not sure what conversion options they will give you for converting from .ppt(x), but on the base page they do show PPT to PDF, and I have had them convert from PDF to ODT many times.

[John_Ha]

It would be much easier to diagnose the problem with the .pptx file because the .pptx file uses XML which can be read. The .ppt file is binary which appears as gibberish. If possible upload the .pptx file to a file share site or Google Drive or Dropbox etc.

Neither AOO nor LO open the file properly and there does appear to be corruption in the file. When I highlight the overwritten stuff and move it I get a brief sight of these rectangles suggesting some underlying structure in the selected material.

I can select the underlying rectangles and move them. They appear to be some sort of rectangle with text in them.

It may be a new feature of PowerPoint which neither AOO nor LO supports. See [Tutorial] Differences between Writer and MS Word files for a discussion.

Have you tried the free PowerPoint on line? See View a presentation without PowerPoint for a link.

A new way to view presentations

PowerPoint Online is a free alternative that provide some of the same benefits of PowerPoint Viewer and can display some newer features (such as the Morph feature and animations added to PowerPoint after version 2010).

If you have a Microsoft account (hotmail.com, outlook.com, live.com, msn.com) or an Office 365 work or school account, you can view and edit a presentation for free in a web browser by saving the file to OneDrive or Dropbox and using PowerPoint Online to open it.

As an aside it is complete arrogance for a company to send you a .pptx file assuming you have PowerPoint. If I remember correctly, PowerPoint can save presentations as an executable file which anyone can run without needing PowerPoint.