Microsoft Knowledge Base Article
This article contents is Microsoft Copyrighted material.
©2005-©2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Terms
of Use |
Trademarks
Article ID: 285497 - Last Review: May 30, 2007 - Revision: 4.5
You receive a "PowerPoint can't open the type of file" error message when you open a PowerPoint presentation in a version that is earlier than PowerPoint 2002
This article was previously published under Q285497
On This Page
SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to open a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation (that was created in Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
or in a later version of PowerPoint) in an earlier version of PowerPoint, the file is not opened as expected. Additionally, you may receive an error
message that resembles one of the following error messages:
PowerPoint can't open
the type of file represented by path/filename.
PowerPoint can't read path/filename.
The following actions only apply to Office 2007 products.
To determine the unique number that is associated with the message that you receive, press CTRL+SHIFT+I. One of the following numbers appears in the lower-right corner of this message:
Note If you are sure that the presentation was not created or edited in
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003, or PowerPoint 2002, your presentation is likely to be damaged. In this case, this
article does not apply to your situation.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
207377Â
(http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=207377/
)
How to troubleshoot damaged PowerPoint 2000 presentations
CAUSE
This behavior occurs when you attempt to open
password-protected PowerPoint 2007, PowerPoint 2003, or PowerPoint 2002 presentations in any earlier version of PowerPoint
or in the PowerPoint Viewer.
PowerPoint 2002 was the first version of
PowerPoint for Microsoft Windows to implement password protection for
presentations. Because earlier versions of PowerPoint do not have this
capability, they are unable to open any password-protected presentations.
WORKAROUND
To work around this issue, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of PowerPoint that you are running:
PowerPoint 2007
- In PowerPoint 2007, open the presentation, type the password, and then click OK.
- Click the Microsoft Office Button, point to Prepare, and then click Encrypt Document.
- In the Encrypt Document dialog box, delete all the text in the Password box, and then click OK.
PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2002
- In PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2002, open the presentation, type the
password, and then click OK.
- On the Tools menu, click Options.
- On the Security tab, delete all the text in the Password to open
box, and then click OK.
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
- Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
- Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Standard Edition
- Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 Standard Edition
- Microsoft PowerPoint 97 Viewer
- Microsoft PowerPoint 2001 for Mac
- Microsoft PowerPoint 98 for Macintosh
- Microsoft PowerPoint 97 Standard Edition
| kbofficealertid kbopenfile kbtshoot kberrmsg kbpending kbprb KB285497 |
Community Feedback System
Very often, it takes hours to solve a problem. Very often, you've looked high
and low, and have tried a lot of solutions. When you finally found it, chances
are, it was because someone else helped you. Here's your chance to give back.
Use our community feedback tool to let others know what worked for you and what
didn't.
Please also understand that the community feedback system is not warranted to be
correct, it's simply a system that we've built to let people try and help each
other. If something in a feedback response doesn't make sense to you, or you're
not comfortable making changes that the feedback talks about (like registry
edits), please consult a professional.
Thank you for using kbAlertz.com Feedback System.
-- Scott Cate
(Optional) Name
(Optional)
Public URL Or Email
Comments
No
HTML -- Text Only Please