Ink tools graying out randomly

[andyjames]

I'm setting up PowerPoint as an interface for the interactive whiteboards in a school. (For those who don't know, with interactive whiteboards you project a display onto a whiteboard, then "draw" on it with electronic pens.)



I created a custom toolbar called "Whiteboard," then populated it with tools to use on the whiteboard. The teacher creates a PPT at the whiteboard and uses the tools to mark up pages.

I worked at one workstation and got everything just as I wanted it. The toolbar includes "pen" and "stroke eraser" and shapes and etc. It works beautifully!

However, when I try the setup on other workstations, the "pen" and "eraser" tools are grayed out. I'm using the same OS (Windows 7) and Office 2010 in both cases. But on one workstation I can use the pen and eraser when creating slides; in the other, I cannot.

What is the logic here? I gather that the pen and eraser are intended for "Slide Show" mode. But I promise I can use them, in the one case, without being in Slide Show mode, just creating a document.

Any help is greatly appreciated.