MP4 Woes

Hi, Dave -- So sorry to hear of the troubles you are having, and thanks for the detailed description of the troubleshooting steps you have tried. I did a search, and I do not believe this is an Articulate-specific problem, and this web article I found may be of assistance. 

Please let me know if that helps or if issues persist, and we'll see what other options are available. :)

Dave, I'm seeing the same thing no matter what video format I import. I tried the suggested fixes in this thread but neither worked:

https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-presenter/some-controls-on-the-presentation-cannot-be-activated

I also tried the fix in the article Christie linked to above but it didn't work either.

If I delete the video from the repaired file, everything works again. And when I initially insert the video, I can preview it in Presenter and publish without issue. The problem only appears when I close PowerPoint and try to re-open the file.

I'm going to open a case.

Hi, Steve --

Sorry to hear the link provided above did not address the issue you and Dave are experiencing, but I thought it was worth a shot! If either of you would like to submit a support case with our Engineers for further exploration of the issue, please use this form and someone from that team will be in touch shortly via email. 

I will be on the lookout for your cases and plan to share relevant updates here in the thread for others who may encounter a similar occurrence. 

Сould be related to the Flash Player 19 update which automatically came with Windows 8.1 update pack?

https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=4062206

Perhaps we should vote for that issue to be fixed ASAP, since all our presentations with Flash objects are no longer functional

Yes, removing the MP4 and saving the PPT restores functionality for me as well.

I installed '13 on my backup machine to get this project rolling again ... and the same issue popped up.

Perhaps someone at tech support will try loading an MP4 in a test ...

I had this problem with Presenter 13 in PPT 2013. I submitted a ticket and it was related to the Flash Payer update in IE. I'll need to recreate any files that were made while the update was installed as uninstalling the player didn't make the existing errors go away. But after uninstalling I tried inserting a new mp4, saved and closed, and then opened it. I don't get the issue any longer. From Support:

We've confirmed this problem could occur if the video was inserted while Flash Player 19.0.0.185 is installed in Internet Explorer.

We've reported this issue to our Quality Assurance team. To workaround this, you would need to uninstall this version of Flash.

If you have Windows 7, please do the following:
1) Follow the steps here to un-install the latest version for Flash Player:
https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html
2) Then install this version for Internet Explorer: http://bit.ly/1KBlcQJ

If you have Windows 8 or later, please uninstall Windows update KB3087040

Thanks for sharing, Ann! Hope that workaround is of some assistance. :)

Thanks Ann. Uninstalling Flash Player 19 and re-installing Flash Player 18 solved the issue for me as well (I'm using Presenter 13 in PowerPoint 2010 on Windows 7). 

Delighted to hear it, Steve!

Just found that guys from iSpring also faced this Flash player problem:

They managed to develop a tool that repairs corrupted Flash objects in PPTX files:

http://www.ispringsolutions.com/blog/how-to-restore-a-powerpoint-file-corrupted-by-flash/

I have tried it with a couple of my broken presentations, and they were restored.

God Bless iSpring!!

Looking forward for Flash Player update from Adobe that fixes that bug

Hi all,

Per this other thread I wanted to share the update from Brian Batt:

Ann -- you rock!!

Thanks for the information and 'work around' ideas.  It is working 90% for me but I was also very concerned as I am making the last minute tweaks to 7 courses that are expected to all go live on October 1st.  You wonderful folks helped me save my bacon this time!

We still have a mess to clean up here but we will hit our deadlines/expectations so the clean up and "fixing" can happen next month!  The next round is on me!

Thanks for the update Paul and we'll keep you posted on any other information for this issues.

Hi all,

We've updated our documentation on this issue here, and please let us know if you  have any other questions or concerns. Once we have additional information to share we'll post here and update that article as well. 

Hi all,

We've release a tool that will help you with any Presenter course that have been corrupted based on the Flash player 19 bug. 

1. Download and extract this zip file on your computer.
2. Drag and drop your corrupt PowerPoint file onto the repair-ppt.exe file you downloaded.
3. Click OK on the restoration message. Your presentation is ready to be edited and published as before.

The repair utility will create a backup copy of the corrupt PowerPoint file in the same folder.

Tip: Wait to install Flash Player 19 until Adobe releases a new version that doesn't cause corruption.

If you need additional assistance please let us know by reaching out to our support team.