Keynote conversion: Powerpoint found a problem with content....

Question

Hi all,
MS office is killing me and I'd appreciate any pointers and comments
Here's the situation:
1. Keynote file (multi-revised over the years) exported to powerpoint file XYZ in New-MBP
2. New-MBP opens XYZ and gets "found a problem with content in..."
3. Click on "repair", open up XYZ, and get bunch of blank pages
4. Same XYZ file copied to Old-MBP(freshly installed, now my home media server, not many apps installed).
5. Same version of Office 2011 installed in Old-MBP, opened the file just fine!
(so the problem is not NewMBP Keynote)
6. Created a test account in New-MBP
7. Attempted to open XYZ with Powerpoint
8. Same "found a problem with content in..."
9. Click on "repair", open up XYZ, and get bunch of blank pages
(so the problem is not user/privileges, but the NewMBP system-wide issue?)
10. In New MBP, created a brand new Keynote file, did some light work
11. Exported new keynote file to powerpoint file RRR
12. In New-MBP, RRR opened under Powerpoint 2011 just fine!
(so the problem might be the original multi-modified Keynote file?)
(But its powerpoint file XYZ opened in Old-MBP just fine!)
I've uninstalled and reinstalled Office 2011, with SP1, still cannot open XYZ properly.
I've copied all Office 2011 files from Old-MBP to New MBP, still cannot open XYZ properly.
I"ve googled the problem and tried anything I could find, still cannot open XYZ properly. (deleting presenter notes... etc)
My current conclusion: some kind of software system conflicts in the New-MBP.
Anyone with any ideas?
Thanks a lot in advance.
Will

Answer 1

Hi Will,
Met the same issues and spent hours to find the problem. And guess what ? I found it :-)
For some reason, groups are not supported by Powerpoint converted files.
This is why every slide that contains group is not converted.
The workaround is to ungroup all the groups in your keynote file (alt+cmd+shift+G) and you'll see your slides being converted again.
I'm not sure where the issue is coming from. I would tend to think it should be resolve by the Apple Keynote team.
Not sure whether it has been escalated so far.
There might be some other small issues. One or two slides were not properly converted although they were not containing group, but this should fix most of them.
Have fun degrouping your slides