Article ID: 922847 - Last Review: May 23, 2012 - Revision: 15.0

You receive an error message when you try to open a file type that was blocked by your registry policy settings in PowerPoint 2010 or in PowerPoint 2007 or in PowerPoint 2003

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SYMPTOMS

When you try to open a presentation that was saved in a Microsoft PowerPoint format, the presentation does not open. Additionally, you receive the following error message:

You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting.

If you receive a similar error message when you try to save a file, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

945799 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945799/ ) Error message when you try to save a file in PowerPoint 2007 or in PowerPoint 2003: "You are attempting to save a file that is blocked by your registry policy setting"

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CAUSE

This issue may occur if an administrator has restricted the types of presentations that you can open in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010, in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 or in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003. An administrator can set a registry key to restrict this functionality.

For PowerPoint 2010, the registry key can be set in the 2010 Office System Administrative Templates. For more information, see the "PowerPoint 2010" subsection of the "More Information" section.

For PowerPoint 2007, the registry key can be set in the 2007 Office System Administrative Templates. For more information, see the "PowerPoint 2007" subsection of the "More Information" section.

For PowerPoint 2003, update 933669 enables an administrator to block the ability to save or to open files in PowerPoint 2003. For more information, see the "PowerPoint 2003" subsection of the "More Information" section.

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RESOLUTION

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To open files that are blocked by the registry, you can disable the restriction on opening presentations that were blocked by the registry settings of PowerPoint. To do this, click to expand the section according to which version of PowerPoint you are using.

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Powerpoint 2010

Click here to view or hide detailed information

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PowerPoint 2007 & PowerPoint 2003

Click here to view or hide detailed information

To disable the restriction, follow these steps:

Exit PowerPoint.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys, as appropriate for your version of PowerPoint:

PowerPoint 2007: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\PowerPoint\Security\FileOpenBlock
PowerPoint 2003: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\PowerPoint\Security\FileOpenBlock
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\PowerPoint\Security\FileOpenBlock
After you select the subkey that is specified in step 3, locate the DWORD value. The "More Information" section describes the different DWORD value that is based on version of PowerPoint.

For example, if the opening of the .mht file type is restricted, locate the "HtmlFiles" DWORD value in the registry for the FileOpenBlock subkey. When you change the value data of "HtmlFiles" from 1 to 0, you can open the .mht files.
Right-click the DWORD value that you want, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 0 (type 1 to re-enable the restriction), and then click OK.
On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.

Note If you trust the file that you want to open, you can move the file to a trusted location to override the registry policy settings. For more information about how to create, to remove, or to change a trusted location for files, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Create, remove, or change a trusted location for your files

In PowerPoint 2003, there are no trusted locations. You can create an exempt location to override the registry policy settings. To create an exempt location, follow these steps:

Exit PowerPoint 2003.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key.
Type OICEExemptions for the name for the key.
On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click String Value.
Type a string name, and then press ENTER. For example, type ExemptDirectory.
Right-click the string name that you typed in step 7, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type the path of the directory that contains the file, and then click OK. For example, if your document is in the C:\My Documents folder, type C:\My Documents in the Value data box.

Note You must create the folder. Any subfolders are not automatically exempted. For any additional folders that you would like to make exempt, repeat steps 6 to 9 by creating string values such as "ExemptDirectory1" and "ExemptDirectory2."
On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.

Note You can also contact the system administrator to change the registry settings by changing the policies.

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MORE INFORMATION

How to restrict files in Microsoft Excel

An administrator can restrict the kinds of files that you can open or save in PowerPoint 2003. This ability was not provided in Office 2003 when it was originally released.

To restrict the kinds of files that can be opened or saved in PowerPoint 2003, install update 933669. For more information about update 933669, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

933669 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933669/ ) Description of the update for PowerPoint 2003: May 8, 2007

To restrict the kinds of files that you can open or save in PowerPoint 2003, an administrator can use one of the following methods:

Use the updated Office 2003 Administrative Templates to configure the registry on the client computer.
Modify the registry by adding a registy key setting on the client computer. To download the Office 2003 Service Pack 3 Administrative Template (ADM), OPAs, and Explain Text Update, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Office 2003 Service Pack 3 Administrative Template (ADM), OPAs, and Explain Text Update

The following table contains the DWORD names that an administrator can add to the registry to restrict certain file types by using the FileOpenBlock subkey. Additionally, the table contains the corresponding file types that are restricted.

Collapse this tableExpand this table

DWORD value	File types that are restricted
BinaryFiles	.ppt, .pot, .pps, .ppa
HtmlFiles	.mht, .mhtml, .html, .htm
Outlines	.rtf, .txt, .doc, .wpd, .docx, .docm, .wps
Converters	This policy will prevent the opening of PowerPoint presentations that are opened by using third-party converters or the Office Compatibility Pack.
FilesBeforePowerPoint97	This policy will prevent the opening of files older than PowerPoint 97 that have file types such as .ppt, .pot, .pps, and .ppa.

To enable the FileOpenBlock subkey settings, follow these steps:

Exit PowerPoint 2003.
Install update 933669 if it is not installed.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\PowerPoint\Security\FileOpenBlock
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\PowerPoint\Security\FileOpenBlock
If the FileOpenBlock subkey does not exist, follow these steps to create it:
1. Click to select the Security subkey.
2. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key.
3. Type FileOpenBlock, and then press ENTER.
Point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
Type the DWORD value that you want to restrict, and then press ENTER. For example, type BinaryFiles.
Right-click the DWORD value that you typed in step 6, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.