How to open old PowerPoint presentations in Protected View

To open old PowerPoint presentations in Protected View, follow these steps: Let’s check out these steps in detail to know more about the guide. To get started, you need to open the Microsoft PowerPoint app and click on the Options menu that is visible in the bottom-left corner. Then, switch to the Trust Center tab and click on the Trust Center Settings button. Next, you need to switch to the File Block Settings tab on the left side and ensure that the Open selected file types in Protceted View option is selected. If so, tick these two checkboxes:

PowerPoint 2007 and later Presentations, Shows, Templates, Themes, and Add-in FilesPowerPoint 97-2003 Presentations, Shows, Templates, and Add-in Files

Finally, click the OK button to save the change.

Make PowerPoint open OLD presentations in Protected View using Registry

To open old PowerPoint presentations in Protected View using Registry, follow these steps: To learn more about these steps, keep reading. First, search for regedit in the Taskbar search box, click on the individual search result, and click the Yes button in the UAC prompt to open the Registry Editor on your computer. Then, navigate to the following path: If you cannot find this path, you need to create it manually. For that, select the Microsoft key, right-click on empty space, select the Key option, and name it as office. Following that, keep repeating these steps until you get to the above-mentioned path. Next, right-click on powerpoint > New > Key and name it as security. Then, right-click on the security key, select New > Key and call it fileblock.

Once done, right-click on the fileblock key, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and set the name as openxmlfiles.

Double-click on it and set the Value data as 4.

Next, create another REG_DWORD value and name it as binaryfiles. Like the first REG_DWORD value, you need to set the Value data of this REG_DWORD value as 4 as well. Once done, close all windows and restart your computer.

Make old PowerPoint presentations open in Protected View using Group Policy

To open old PowerPoint presentations in Protected View using Group Policy, follow these steps: Let’s know more about these steps. First, search for gpedit in the Taskbar search box and click on the individual search result to open the Local Group Policy Editor. Then, navigate to the following path: Here you can find two settings:

PowerPoint 2007 and later presentations, shows, templates, themes, and add-in filesPowerPoint 97-2003 presentations, shows, templates, and add-in files

You need to double-click on these two settings and choose the Enabled option. Then, select the Open in Protected View option from the drop-down list.

Finally, click the OK button to save the change. Read: How to open OLD Excel spreadsheets in Protected View

How do I unlock a Protected View in PowerPoint?

To unlock Protected View in PowerPoint, you have two options. First, you can click on the Enable Editing option after opening the file. Second, you can right-click on the file and select the Properties option. Then, tick the Unlock checkbox.

Why is PowerPoint opening in Protected View?

PowerPoint opens files in Protected View when you have downloaded a file from the internet. Alternatively, if you have turned on the aforementioned settings, PowerPoint will open the old presentations in the Protected View. In such cases, you can click on the Enable Editing button to get rid of the restriction. Read: 

How to open always open PDF files in Protected View in WordHow to open OLD Word documents in Protected View.