How to Repair a Corrupt MS PowerPoint File

You want to make some last-minute changes to your PPT or opening the PPT to complete it, but suddenly what you see, the PPT is not working, and in some cases, it is not even opening. This can frustrate you as the PPT holds a lot of your efforts and you have spent a lot of time to build it. But before getting more irritated with this situation, try to repair this very corrupted PPT file.

There can be two cases whether you are able to open the ppt or the file is not opening. So for both cases, we have concluded the following methods that may help you repair your corrupted PPT file:

Tips to Repair PowerPoint file if you are able to open it:

So there is a single method that applies in two steps. So when you are able to open the , and it shows the error message, “PowerPoint found a problem with content …”, you need to follow the steps below:

1. Insert slides into a new presentation:

• When you open the file and see the message on a dialogue box, “Apply corrupt PowerPoint presentation as a template ... PowerPoint can attempt to repair the presentation”, click on the 'Repair button'. After clicking on the Repair button, close the presentation and reopen PowerPoint.

• Create a new PPT, keep it blank and save it.

• Click on the 'Home' menu next to the File menu on the menu-bar. From the ribbon under the Home button, click the 'New Slide' and a submenu will appear.

• Click on the 'Reuse Slide' option in the submenu. The Reuse Slide pane will appear on the right.

• On the Reuse Slide pane, click on 'Browse' under the 'Insert slide from' label. A new dialogue box will appear on the screen.

• Find the corrupt PPT file in the dialogue box and select it. You will see that all the slides from the file have been imported to the new presentation.

• Below the PPT slides, check the 'Keep source formatting'.

• Right-click on any of the slides and from the pop-up menu, that will show up, select the 'Insert All Slides' option.
    
  Also read Things to Avoid While Creating a Presentation

This way, you will be able to recover the content from your corrupt PPT.

2. Apply corrupt PowerPoint presentation as a template:

Now, though you have got the slides back, the presentation is still not the same but messed up. So, to recover the whole formatting, and the content, you will need to use the corrupt file as the template.

• Create a copy of your recovered presentation to create a backup.

• Now open one of the two copies and click on ‘Design’ in the file menu.

• In the appeared ribbon, click on the ‘Themes’ dropdown.
  

  
  

• Under all the available themes, you will find, ‘Browse for themes’ option, click on the option, and a dialogue box will appear.
  

• Here you need to select the corrupt ppt file and click on ‘Apply’.

This way, you will recover the theme, and the formatting, of the corrupt PPT file again.

Methods to follow in case the presentation can’t be opened:

Though you can try inserting the slides into a new PPT like in the very first step, even if the presentation is not opening. Other than that you need to follow any of the methods below:

1. Change the Location of the Presentation: Sometimes, the file is not corrupt, but the location where it is residing is. So you can recover the file by changing its location from a corrupt drive to another working drive.

e.g., If your presentation file is located in a USB drive, moving it to the hard drive of your desktop may work for you or the case can be the other way around.

2. Try Opening the Temporary File Version of the PPT: Most of the people won’t know about it, but while you open a PPT file for editing, PowerPoint creates a temporary copy of the same file, probably in the same folder. If it is not in the same folder, you can find it in the ‘Temporary Files’ folder. This is the file that you will use to recover your corrupt PPT.

The temporary version of the corrupt PPT will be with the name PPT ####., #### being some random number given to the file.

• Select the file and select Rename from the right-click menu.

• Change the extension of the file from .tmp to .ppt.

• Now in PowerPoint, from the File menu, select ‘Open’.

• Locate the file in the dialogue box, and select to open it.

This method will help you recover the file.

3. Open PowerPoint in the Safe Mode: There are possibilities that your PPT is facing a conflict due to any of the add-ins or extensions installed on your PC. So to figure out if the PPT is corrupt due to the said reasons, you can try to open it in the Safe Mode.

• Press the Ctrl and R keys together on the keyboard. The 'Run' window will appear on the screen, where you need to type powerpoint /safe.

• Click on the OK button.

• Now locate and try to open the corrupt file.

If the file opens well that means you have a buggy ad-in creating the conflict on the normal mode. To find that ad-in, you need to go to the File menu of PowerPoint and select Options. In the window displayed on the screen, select Add-ins. To make sure your files open properly in the normal mode as well, you will need to uninstall, reinstall, or update all, or a few of the listed ad-ins.

4. Recover PPT Using Software: Many software is available online, including Stellar Repair, that can help you recover and repair your PPT. Other than Stellar Repair, you can look for any other programs online and use it to recover the corrupt file.

So these are some of the methods that can help you get your presentation back to normal. Though not all the methods will be able to get the same design and layout of the presentation, still you will be able to get the content of the presentation and save yourself from putting extra effort to make a new PPT.