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 PageSYMPTOMS 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
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
PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2002
APPLIES TO
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