PowerPoint 2016 Notes Page Automatically Resizing

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I have a series of PowerPoint files for which I’ve added formatted Facilitator Notes using Notes Pages (and the Notes Master to set up the initial formatting). These files have been “in process” for 1.5 years and I am now finalizing them. Suddenly, the default page size for the Notes Pages is changing to a different size–it looks like Legal Portrait size. The text is still on the Notes Pages, thank goodness.

I found a post on a different explaining how to use the PowerPoint file’s XML capability to reset the Notes Pages size, and this works. (Renaming the file extension from PPTX to ZIP, fixing the dimensions in the appropriate XML file, and then renaming the file back to PPTX.) However, I then have to return to the “fixed” PowerPoint file, fix the size and placement of the placeholders on the Notes Master, and reapply that master to each Notes Page–one at a time–for everything to look as it is supposed to. It takes a long time to get everything back in shape!

What on earth can cause the Notes Page to just suddenly change dimensions? I looked at my Windows Updates and don’t see any recent Office 2016 updates. I also tried turning off all PowerPoint add-ins (I have two). That doesn’t seem to help. This just started happening within the past few weeks.

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It sounds like this is a long-standing bug rather than a recent update, and possibly caused by editing in PowerPoint Online. You may have seen and be using the solutions from these pages:

Notes pages are odd-sized

OOXML Hacking: Notes Page Repair

But there are also a couple of free utilities which may be able to provide automatic fixes:

Edit XML PowerPoint Notes Corruption

ReApply the Notes Master

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Thanks so much for the reply. I’ve never worked with my files online; I did learn that this could be a cause, but it doesn’t apply in this case. Which makes it all the more odd!

I will check out the links and tools you provided.

Thanks again! I truly appreciate the guidance.

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I figured out what was causing the notes pages to resize (at least in my case). It’s a very bizarre thing.

I use (and love) SnagIt. In some of my training materials, I need to add thumbnail images of  slides for instructors. It is much faster to print the entire slide deck to the SnagIt printer rather than screen-capture individual slides. (If you print a slide deck to the SnagIt printer, you get a paged file of slide images that you can easily copy and paste into a Word doc.)

Anyway, I was changing the Paper Size in the SnagIt printer properties to legal landscape size before printing the PowerPoint slides. (At this size it is easier to crop and resize them for the exact dimensions I needed.) Somehow, SnagIt decided to change the Notes Pages to legal/portrait size.

If I reprinted the slides to the SnagIt printer and select Letter page size in the Printer properties, all was returned to Normal on my Notes Page images.

It seems that SnagIt was tampering with the Notes Pages page size when I was printing slides. If I saved the file after printing to the SnagIt printer, this Notes Pages page size was retained.

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If you are on a Mac these things will not help much and the fix is easy. Go to this vid to see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyAPMw5lKS4&t=2s

or do this.
Here is the way to fix this if it happens to you so keep this somewhere because dropbox will do this too.

1. Check the size of the presentation that is corrupt and make sure you remember the size. (Design tab – Slide size – Page setup)
2. In sorter view select all the slides and copy them to the clipboard command C on a mac
3. Create a new presentation and make sure it is blank
4. Check the slide page size by going under the design tab and pick the right slide size. (Design tab – Slide size – Page setup
5. Go to the sorter and paste slides from corrupt presentation AND one blank slide from the new blank PPT
6. Change your View to the Notes Page view in the new PPT (It will still look wrong)
7. Go to slide master for the Notes Page master and click on and off portrait view to landscape under “Notes page Orientation” back and forth this will reset the note page master. Close and it should be fine make sure your last click is back to portrait view.  and it is fixed!

Edit to remove HTML. Please use the “Text” tab in the entry box when you copy/paste.

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Thanks- this worked fine.

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