The Inside Microsoft Office newsletter just arrived with an item that struck a chord with me. I have been accused of being a PowerPoint Ranger occasionally. This can be bad in the military since you become a reference for everyone's PowerPoint problems. I have to spend way too much time in this program myself to help fix everyone else's problems. Anyway, the newsletter has a great lead item:
How to prevent PowerPoint file corruption
PowerPoint MVP Echo Swinford tells you how to avoid risking corruption of your Microsoft Office PowerPoint files, including tips on making backups and zipping files before e-mailing them.
One caution about the zip file method. Some mail gateways are sometimes set to strip zip files to prevent virus infections. You may need to ask before you send.
If someone is having PowerPoint problems, ask them how old the file is. I have run across some bizarre behavior with files that had been created in PowerPoint 97 or even imported from earlier programs. So much evolution between versions led to strange corruptions. It was easier to start with a new file.