You receive a "This presentation cannot be edited because it contains a read-only embedded font" error message when you try to change or to save a presentation in PowerPoint 2002 SP3 or in PowerPoint 2003

You receive the following error message when you try to edit or save a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Service Pack 3 (SP3) or in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003:

This behavior occurs because the presentation contains an Embedded Read Only font. This makes the presentation restricted to read-only.

If you are using PowerPoint 2003, you can resolve this issue by installing Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2).

If you are not using PowerPoint 2003, or if you do not want to upgrade to PowerPoint 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2), you can resolve this behavior by opening the presentation in an earlier version of Microsoft PowerPoint and then resaving the presentation without embedding any fonts.

For versions of Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 that are earlier than Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Service Pack 3, follow these steps:

1. Open your presentation.
2. On the File menu, click Save as.
3. On the Tools menu, click Save options.
4. Click to clear the Embed TrueType fonts check box, and then click OK.
5. In the File Name box, type either the current name of the presentation or a new name, and then click Save.

For Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 and Microsoft PowerPoint 97, follow these steps:

1. Open your presentation.
2. On the File menu, click Save As.
3. Click to clear the Embed TrueType Fonts check box.
4. In the File Name box, type either the current name of the presentation or a new name, and then click Save.

You may continue using embedded fonts, but only use embedded fonts that do not have read-only embedding license restrictions. To download a tool that can be used to examine the embedding license properties of any installed font, visit the following Microsoft site:

Earlier versions of PowerPoint 2002 did not correctly prevent editing of presentations that contained embedded fonts whose embedding licensing restricted their use to print and preview only.