I have a PowerPoint (2003, but the version doesn't seem to matter)
file where anything I type in a title on a slide looks like the
"shadow" font effect is turned on. But when I view the slide master,
and look at the font specified, the shadow checkbox is not checked. If
I check it, the result is a 3-layer-like effect, e.g. a shadowed
shadow effect. I can change the font to a different font, and that new
font will exhibit this same effect, so it's not the font itself.

What is this double text effect, and how can I turn it on and off?

The sample PowerPoint presentation is located at
http://www.geocities.com/mkrodby/Test.ppt .

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Request for Question Clarification by aht-ga on 26 Nov 2004 23:52 PST

mrodby-ga:

I am posting this first as a Request for clarification because I
cannot be certain what caused this to happen, but I can definitely
tell you how to turn it off. If you are satisfied with this, then I
will post it as an Answer.

The culprit appears to be an error in the 3-D attribute for the text
field. If you toggle the 3-D setting for the title field on and off,
the strange shadow effect disappears. What is causing this error? Your
guess is as good as mine.

If you would be satisfied with this remedy as the Answer, just let me
know by replying to this Request for Clarification, and I will post a
more detailed procedure as an Answer.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by mrodby-ga on 29 Nov 2004 08:42 PST

aht - The information you gave led me to the answer very quickly (see
my comment below asynck's comment). So please post an answer, and I'll
accept yours. Thanks!

mrodby-ga:

I'm glad that you were able to get rid of the problem, but it actually
raises another question... you see, in attempting to determine the
cause of the problem, the first thing I tried was the object shadow
settings (the button on the Drawing toolbar). In my Powerpoint 2002
SP3, toggling the shadow effect did not fully remove the shadow.
Perhaps it was a screen artifact. However, toggling the 3-D mode did
cause the shadow to disappear, and also caused the screen to redraw
(perhaps this eliminated the possibility of any artifact).

In any case, as long as you are happy, I'm happy to have helped!

To summarize:

The answer is that the attributes of the text field needed to be
updated to remove the shadow attribute. This can be accomplished using
the shadow button on the Drawing toolbar. An alternate method is to
toggle the 3-D setting on the Drawing toolbar (turning it ON, then OFF
again).

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Very quick and thorough answer. Thanks!

I've taken a look at the slide and i've not been able to point a
finger at it but i know how you can "turn" it off in a crude manner(a
workaround). Click on format->slide design and choose the default
design template to turn the effect off. I'm afraid i do not know how
to explicitly turn it on, perhaps keeping a copy of this slide and
saving the design as a template would help. Good luck with your
presentation!

Regards,
CK

Aha. I did not realize that buttons on the drawing toolbar could
affect text. This turned out to be a drawing shadow effect (as opposed
to a font shadow effect). It can be turned on and off by pressing the
"Shadow Style" button on the drawing toolbar, then selecting No Shadow
or one of the available shadows. In my tests, only 5 of the 20 effects
shown are available for text. Turning the 3-D effect on apparently
cancels any drawing shadow style, and when you turn 3-D off, the
shadow style does not automatically come back on.

While your answer was not the whole answer, it led me to the answer
very quickly, so I think it would be fair to pay you the full amount.
This is my first Google Answers question, so I'm not sure whether or
not I can do that without you posting an answer. If I can, I will. If
not, please post an answer, and I'll accept it.

Thank you!

asynck-ga: Sorry, as I mentioned, this was my first Google Answers
question. I didn't realize that it looked like I was responding to
your comment rather than aht-ga's request for clarification. Thanks
for your suggestion, but aht-ga's information helped me find the real
culprit.