Paul
I don't know if that would affect the handouts, but it's worth investigating. This option is intended to suppress the printing of frames and print only the attached notes. I take it that's not happening, which confuses me. (Then again, I'm only halfway through my first cup of coffee, so I'm easily confused at the moment.)
As my other post says this certainly seems to be the root of the problem. The problem is that as I don't know what I'm doing code in the preamble evolves as people advise additions and omissions to resolve particular problems - eventually I forget how and why it all works.
What is printed out from that preamble is a small strip along the top of the page that includes an outline of where you are in the presentation and a thumbnail of the slide. The rest of the page is devoted to notes.
Thanks. Graham
