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      PowerPoint freezes or crashes when using Office Timeline

      Symptoms

      Sometimes, when trying to use certain Office Timeline commands in Office 365, PowerPoint for Office 365 freezes, crashes, or takes too long to apply your changes. To sort out the issue, please try the solutions below, in the order they are presented. 

      A) Update PowerPoint for Office 365

      Updating PowerPoint to the latest version should solve the problem in most cases. To do it:

      1. Go to File -> Account in PowerPoint.

      2. Under "Product Information", click on Update Options -> Update Now.update Office 365 (PowerPoint)

      Note: If the Update Options button is missing and you see an About button instead, it may be either because your company is using a Group Policy for Office updates or because you have a volume license install. In such cases, please contact your company's IT administrator.

      B) Reconfigure Exploit Protection for PowerPoint on Windows 10

      On Windows 10 version 1709 and higher, there's a new feature called Exploit Protection that, although useful, can cause compatibility issues with certain programs and plugins, including the Office Timeline Add-in. If updating PowerPoint didn't solve your issue and you're on Windows 10, please reconfigure Exploit Protection for PowerPoint as follows:

      1. Open the Exploit Protection settings – simply type "Exploit Protection" in the Windows search box and click on the result.

      2. In the window that opens, on the Program Settings tab, locate "powerpnt.exe" and click on Edit.edit-powerpoint-rules-export-protection-settings

      3. Here, scroll down to Validate API Invocation (CallerCheck) and make sure it is turned OFF. 

         turn-off-callercheck

      C) Disable other add-ins and keep only Office Timeline enabled

      Crashes and freezes may also occur because of conflicting add-ins. If the steps above didn't solve the issue, test whether other add-ins are causing the stability issues. To do so, please disable all other PowerPoint add-ins and keep only Office Timeline enabled by following these steps:

      1. Go to Options -> Add-ins.

      2. Select COM Add-ins from the Manage dropdown and click Go.

        manage-com-addins

      3. In the COM Add-Ins dialog box, uncheck all add-ins other than Office Timeline (you can re-enable them one at a time later) and click OK.disable-other-add-ins

      D) Ensure you have the latest version of VSTO installed

      An outdated version of VSTO will cause performance issues with Office Timeline, regardless of the PowerPoint version you have. To solve the problem:

      1. Uninstall the existing version of Office Timeline Online.

      2. Download and install the latest version of VSTO from Microsoft.

      3. Then download and install the latest version of Office Timeline.

      E) Run an online repair of Office 365

      1. Open Control Panel and go to Programs and Features.programs-and-features

      2. Locate Microsoft Office 365 in the list of programs, right-click on it, and choose Change. You should see two options, "Quick Repair" and "Online Repair".online-repair

      3. Choose Online Repair and let the setup do its work. Note that you may need to restart your computer after the repair process is complete.

      E) Upgrade to the 64-bit version of Office

      In case you're running the 32-bit version of PowerPoint, the root cause may be in the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable. To solve the issue, we recommend installing the 64-bit version of Office.

       

      If you've tried all the solutions above and you still experience crashes or freezes, please don't hesitate to contact our support team. We'll be happy to help!