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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

Article ID: 285497 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q285497

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.

Note 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:

400010

400011

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:

207377

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/207377/ )

How to troubleshoot damaged PowerPoint 2000 presentations

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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.

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Workaround

To work around this issue, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of PowerPoint that you are running:

PowerPoint 2010

In PowerPoint 2010, open the presentation, type the password, and then click OK.
Click the File tab, click the Info tab, click Protect Presentation, and then click Encrypt with Password.
In the Encrypt Document dialog box, delete all the text in the Password box, and then click OK.

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.

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