Why does powerpoint go to different page when I don’t touch the mac

ms office

On my Mac (specs below) MS Powerpoint (specs below) behaves very strange:
It goes to a different page (page-up or page-down) on its own.

Even when my Mac is not connected to power source (so no static electricity), and even when I do not touch the computer in any way.
And there are no bluetooth mice or other devices connected.

It does this in edit mode, and annoyingly also in presentation mode.

I have no idea if this is a powerpoint or a Mac issue. This strange behavior happens only in powerpoint. It does not happen in keynote, or other MS Office apps. I have no idea even where to look for possible causes of this problem, let alone solutions.

EDIT: Additional info after useful comments:

  • Behavior happens in edit mode as well as presentation mode.
  • Happens in different presentations (created in powerpoint on Mac).
  • The presentations have no transitions, animations or timings.
  • Behavior happens sometimes, so it is hard to check. I can go for days without problems, then all of a sudden (this afternoon) in the middle of presenting for a group, powerpoint becomes recalcitrant and randomly does autonomous page-up or page-down in the middle of my story. And a couple of hours later, no problem (different wifi-network, maybe that has something to do with it..)

What could be the cause? Where to look for source of problems or solutions to this strange (but very annoying) issue?

PS: Mac = MB Pro 2017 – without touchbar – running 10.14 Mojave (but issue was already happening in High Sierra)
Powerpoint = MS Powerpoint for Mac version 16.17 (180909)

Best Answer

At the school where I work, those who have the oddest problems sometimes can't remember when they last restarted their MacBooks; have many apps open perpetually with some apps having many documents open within, etc. Purists scoff at the need to restart macOS, but I think it is the first, best step to resolving odd behavior.

In addition, if you do use a BT device at your desk, (or where you do most of your work,) and leave it behind, disable BT when you are presenting elsewhere.

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