LaTeX syntax no longer works in PowerPoint equation editor—how to fix it?

Question

I am using PowerPoint for Mac 16.13.1 to type some equations on slides using the Insert -> Equation feature.

It used to be possible to use some limited LaTeX syntax when typing equation, e.g. \int, \sqrt or \rightarrow would all work as in LaTeX. Now they no longer work in PowerPoint (they still do in Word 16.13.1).

How can I bring this feature back? Is there a setting for it? Typing equations by clicking with the mouse is unusably slow.

If there is no setting, which version broke this functionality?

Answer 1

After a lot of trying things out and searching the internet, I found two 'solutions'.

1. Delete the folders

   ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.PowerPoint

   and

   ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office

   You need to log back into your Office applications afterwards though, and furthermore this will remove your outlook profile folder, so you might want to copy 'UBF8T346G9.Office/outlook' to another location instead of deleting it with the other stuff, and move it back after restarting Office.

   Also make sure to disable 'send usage statistics' in your Office applications after deleting the folders, if you're not comfortable with sending those. For me, it is enabled by default. I got this solution from here.

   OR

2. Delete and reinstall the whole Office suite.

Now it's crucial that the functionality can break again. For me this happens when I disable 'capitalize first letter in sentence' in the autocorrect menu. I have to decide between either having my equations working, or being able to have lower case letters at the beginning of my sentences by default. We should probably still all contact Microsoft about this, because otherwise they will never fix it.