General    Animations, annotations, and the audio editor don’t work as expected in non-English Windows environment

If you are experiencing unexpected issues with your animations, annotations, the audio editor, or others, the issues may be related to your Regional Language Settings in a non-English Windows environment.  Alternatively, if you do have an English installation of Windows, your Regional Language Settings could still be incorrect in rare instances.

The issue concerns the decimal point which in English and in many other countries is represented by a period (.).  However, the decimal point is represented by a comma (,) in most European countries including France, Germany, Spain and the Scandinavian countries as well as countries such as Russia, Indonesia or Brazil to name but a few.

Issues which are affected include:

• Audio Editor (saving and editing timings and volume levels)
• Syncing animations
• Adding annotations
• Grow and Shrink animations
• Publishing for LMS
• Publishing and no text appears in your PowerPoint slides in the published version

To resolve these issues please follow the instructions below, depending on your version of Microsoft Windows:

Windows 7

[Click here for video tutorial]

1. Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Region and Language.
2. Select the Formats tab.
3. Click the Additional settings button.
4. Set the Decimal symbol to a period (.) if it is not already.
5. Click the OK button to close the Customize Format dialog.
6. Click the OK button to close the Region and Language dialog.

Windows Vista

1. Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Regional and Language Options.
2. Select the Formats tab.
3. Click the Customize this format button.
4. Set the Decimal symbol to a period (.) if it is not already.
5. Click the OK button to close the Customize Regional Options dialog.
6. Click the OK button to close the Regional and Language Options dialog.

Windows XP

[Click here for video tutorial]

1. Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options > Regional and Language Options.
2. Select the Regional Options tab.
3. Click the Customize button.
4. Set the Decimal symbol to a period (.) if it is not already.
5. Click the OK button to close the Customize Regional Options dialog.
6. Click the OK button to close the Regional and Language Options dialog.

Windows 2000

1. Navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Regional Options.
2. Select the General tab.
3. Select the Numbers tab.
4. Set the Decimal symbol to a period (.) if it is not already.
5. Click the OK button to close the Regional Options dialog.

NOTE: This involves changing the regional settings of Windows. While we are not aware of this causing issues with other software, we advise you to test your applications after making this change.