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      Timeline data disappears when trying to edit my visual

      Symptoms

      When attempting to edit a timeline using Office Timeline’s controls, the graphic seems to break, and timeline items disappear.

      timeline-objects-disappearing-when-editing-styling-office-timeline

      Overview

      This situation may occur when one or more of the timeline’s objects were locked using the Lock option available in Microsoft 365. If, when attempting to render or edit your timeline, Office Timeline detects a timeline object that was locked in PowerPoint, the process crashes because the tool is unable to access locked objects. This can result in timeline items being hidden from your slide (typically, the missing data is just hidden - it’s not lost or deleted).

      Solution

      • Microsoft 365 users

      Starting with Version 7.02.00 of Office Timeline, we’ve implemented a fix for Microsoft 365 users. The fix automatically unlocks any locked timeline objects, which prevents the timeline from breaking and allows editing without any issues.

      1. Download and install the latest version of Office Timeline  and open your “broken” timeline slide. (Office Timeline will automatically unlock all locked timeline objects to allow proper editing).
      2. To make your hidden timeline items visible again, go to Edit Data on the Office Timeline ribbon and unhide them all by clicking the eye icon.unhide-hidden-items-shape-lock-issue-office-timeline

      In case you are unable to update Office Timeline at the moment, simply unhiding the hidden items using Edit Data can still fix your timeline and allow you to make changes without any issues. If that doesn’t work, try manually unlocking the locked objects:

      1. Undo (Ctrl + Z) the edits on your slide until you reach the “unbroken” version of your timeline.
      2. Then, right click the locked items on your timeline and select Unlock from the menu that pops up. If you don’t know which objects are locked, select them all (Ctrl+A) and right-click to unlock everything.

      • Earlier versions of PowerPoint

      Because the Lock/Unlock feature was introduced in Microsoft 365, earlier versions of PowerPoint do not have it. Therefore, the fix we’ve implemented in Office Timeline can’t unlock timeline objects on earlier versions PowerPoint, since there’s no “Unlock” option we can access.

      1. In this situation, opening Edit Data and unhiding all items that were hidden because of the Lock option may be able to fix your timeline.
      2. If that doesn’t work, we recommend you upgrade to Microsoft 365. Alternatively, try opening the timeline on a machine that has Microsoft 365 and unlocking any locked timeline objects before retrying to edit the timeline in an older version of PowerPoint.

      If you need further assistance, don’t hesitate to contact us at support@officetimeline.com – we’ll be glad to help.