EZ-VOTE drawing bars in charts slowly

Modified on Fri, Nov 9, 2018 at 6:32 AM

Problem

Your presentation is going fine until you hit an EZ-VOTE question slide and when closing polling, you wait, and wait for the graph to generate.

While each computer's configuration will ultimately determine how fast or slow it will render the EZ-VOTE charts, there are things you can do to speed it up.

And it's not just about specs like CPU and RAM, but also about the type of security system you're using.

Also, if you have just upgraded your Office to a newer version, or it's a fresh install, it is possible that the default settings will be enforced.

Solution

Other than that, these could be the reasons why the charts/graphs are drawing (showing) slowly when polling is closed, or when they are generated on dynamic slides like a Comparison Slide:

1) Presenter View is turned on

2) Logging is causing performance issues

3) There's something wrong with your PPTX Template (Slide Master)

Turn off Presenter View

With the default settings, the Presenter View will be turned on.

EZ-VOTE automatically detects and turns it off, but if the "Use Presenter View" box is still checked (under Slide Show tab on the Office ribbon toolbar), you have to uncheck it manually:

Figure 1: Turning Presenter View off should resolve the issue.

Decrease or Turn Off Logging

Another reason why the drawing of charts can be slower is the amount of logging EZ-VOTE is doing on the computer. To decrease or disable the logging, navigate to EZ-VOTE (tab) --> Tools --> Settings --> Computer Defaults --> Other Settings --> Event Logging and try one of the options other than "Enhanced"

Figure 2: Turn off or decrease the amount of error logging.

Finally, the program may be slower than usual is that the template you're using, or its formatting is causing EZ-VOTE to work slowly.

There are two ways to resolve this:

1) Remove the template

2) Copy all your slides into a new presentation and then apply your old design to the new file

Remove the Template
When you have your file opened, go to Design tab on the PowerPoint ribbon.
You will see your current theme at the leftmost position in the Design Theme carousel.

Figure 3: Current PowerPoint theme is shown on the left side of the Design tab.

Hovering over the plain-looking "Office Theme" will give you a preview of what the change will look like.

Figure 4: Preview the changes before applying them by hovering over the desired PowerPoint Template.

Once you click on the new Design, apply it to all slides.
Test the speed of the EZ-VOTE software now.

Copy All Slides to a New Presentation

Highlight all of your slides in the current presentation. Best if you click on the left side, inside the 'thumbnail sorter' and then press CTRL + A (highlight All). Then, copy everything (CTRL + C, or Edit --> Copy, or right-click --> Copy)

Figure 5: highlight and copy all current slides.

Create a new "plain-vanilla" PowerPoint file (CTRL + N, or File --> New)

Figure 6: Create a new PowerPoint file via File menu.

When you have the Design view in front of you, paste what you've copied from the original presentation using the Paste drop-down and the "Use Destination Theme" option:

Figure 7: Paste all slides to the new presentation, choosing the "Use Destination Theme" option.

To apply your desired template and design, go back to the Design tab and click the drop-down button in the Themes section to reveal the whole menu.

Figure 8: Expand the Themes menu to show the "Browse for Themes" option.

Select Browse for Themes to look for your ORIGINAL template on your computer.

Figure 9: Find the original file, or POTX (Template) file and select it to be applied to your newly copied presentation.

Once you have applied the new (original) design, you may want to delete the very first slide, change the font colors, and make other small adjustments through EZ-VOTE --> Tools --> Settings menu.

Let us know if this article was helpful, or contact us at support@meridiaars.com if it wasn't.

Also try: Operating PowerPoint (EZ-VOTE) is slow.