When you use the Compatibility Checker, you might see messages that determine potential losses of functionality when you save a PowerPoint presentation as a PowerPoint 97-2003 file (.ppt). This document contains messages that the Compatibility Checker generates. Use the information under each message to see what causes the message to appear and suggestions about what action to take.
To learn how to use the Compatibility Checker, see Use compatibility mode to work with different versions of PowerPoint.
There are two kinds of Compatibility Checker messages:
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In the more common case, you will lose edit functionality only when you open the file in an earlier version of PowerPoint. For example, if you save a presentation with a SmartArt graphic to an earlier version of PowerPoint format, and then open that file in some earlier versions of PowerPoint, the SmartArt graphic is changed to a picture. However, if you open the file again in a newer version of PowerPoint without making any edits to that SmartArt graphic picture, you can continue to edit your SmartArt graphic. These kinds of messages have “in earlier versions of PowerPoint” in them.
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In the second case, you will permanently lose functionality. For example, if you have modified the placeholder text on a custom layout, that placeholder text will be permanently lost.
You cannot edit some content from later versions of PowerPoint in earlier versions of PowerPoint. For example, shapes and text with new effects are converted to pictures (bitmaps) in some earlier versions of PowerPoint to make sure that they look the same in a presentation. As a result, you cannot change the line width, fill color, or other aspects of the shapes and text. Also, after the text is turned into a bitmap, any animations on that text does not display during the presentation.
Tip: If you want to modify a SmartArt graphic, a shape, or other objects in your presentation, save a copy of your PowerPoint presentation, and then save the copy as a PowerPoint 97-2003 file (.ppt). By doing so, you can make changes to your original presentation if your SmartArt graphics, shapes, or other objects are converted to pictures when you save the presentation in the file format of an earlier version.
Media clips that are embedded or upgraded in PowerPoint 2010 or newer versions are converted to an image that you cannot edit in earlier versions of PowerPoint.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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A media clip that was inserted or upgraded in the presentation. |
Re-insert the media clip and use Link to File instead of embedding. |
To maintain the visual appearance of your shape, some effects are converted to images that are used as the fill for the shape. You can still edit any text because the text appears on top of these images.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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A shape with one or more of the following effects: shadow (inner), glow, bevel, soft edges, or gradient fill. |
To maintain the visual appearance of your shape, the shape and any text in that shape is converted to an image that you cannot edit in earlier versions of PowerPoint.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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Text with one or more of the following effects: reflection, shadow (inner), glow, transform, 3-D rotation, text outlines, or fills (gradient, picture, and texture). |
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Strikethrough or double strikethrough text, columns of text, text indented levels 6 - 9, or vertical text. |
Remove these by using the buttons in either the Font group or Paragraph group on the Home tab. |
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A shape with a reflection effect. |
To maintain the visual appearance of your grouped shapes, your grouped shapes are converted to an image that you cannot edit in earlier versions of PowerPoint.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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Grouped shapes with one or more of the following effects applied to all shapes: reflection, glow, 3-D rotation, or fills (gradient, picture, and texture). |
To maintain the visual appearance of your SmartArt graphic, your SmartArt graphic is converted to an image that you cannot edit in earlier versions of PowerPoint.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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A SmartArt graphic. |
SmartArt graphics are converted to a single object that cannot be edited in versions of PowerPoint earlier than Office PowerPoint 2007. However, you can Ungroup the SmartArt graphic, which can then be modified by using earlier versions of PowerPoint. Note that after you convert the SmartArt graphic to individual shapes, functionality on the SmartArt Tools tabs is no longer available. |
To maintain the visual appearance of the table, your table is converted to an image that you cannot edit in an earlier version of PowerPoint.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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A table with WordArt in the cells. |
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A table with one or more of the following effects: reflection, cell bevel, shadow, or fills (gradient, picture, and texture). |
When you add an effect to a shape that causes the converted image to be larger than 30 megabytes (MB), this message appears.
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The message appears because your shape contains |
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A shape with one or more of the following effects: reflection, glow, bevel, soft edges, 3-D rotation, or fills (gradient, picture, and texture). |
To maintain the visual appearance of your grouped shapes, your grouped shapes are converted to an image that you cannot edit in earlier versions of PowerPoint and any effects are removed.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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Grouped shapes with one or more of the following effects applied to all shapes: reflection, glow, bevel, soft edges, 3-D rotation, or fills (gradient, picture, and texture). |
You might receive this message if your presentation contains a customized Quick Access Toolbar, custom user interface parts that are not supported in versions of PowerPoint earlier than Office PowerPoint 2007, or both. These custom features will not be available in earlier versions of PowerPoint.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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One or more buttons added to the Quick Access Toolbar specific to this presentation. A customized interface. |
Because the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface in Office PowerPoint 2007 and PowerPoint 2010 is very different from the menus and toolbars in earlier versions of PowerPoint, any customizations that were made in Office PowerPoint 2007 or PowerPoint 2010 are not available in earlier versions of PowerPoint. In earlier versions of PowerPoint, you can add similar custom commands to toolbars and menus. |
In Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and later, the worksheet size is 16,384 columns by 1,048,576 rows. However, the worksheet size of earlier versions of Excel is only 256 columns by 65,536 rows. Data in cells outside of this column and row limit is lost in earlier versions of Excel. Formula references to data in this region will return a #REF! error.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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A chart that was created from data in cells outside of the row and column limit of the selected file format. |
In the Excel Compatibility Checker, click Find to locate the cells and ranges that fall outside of the row and column limits, select them, and then put them within the column and row limits or on another sheet by using the Cut and Paste commands. |
When you save a presentation that contains a custom layout with one or more ActiveX controls as a PowerPoint 97-2003 presentation (.ppt), this message appears.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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One or more ActiveX controls that were added to a custom layout. |
If your presentation does not include code, click Continue. The code is then removed from the presentation. If your presentation includes code and you want to keep it, click Cancel. |
Notes:
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You cannot save code associated with ActiveX controls on custom layouts to file formats earlier than PowerPoint 2007.
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To avoid lost or corrupt code, save the file as a presentation (.pptx) file.
When you save a presentation that contains a custom layout with customized prompt text, this message appears.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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A custom layout with customized prompt text. |
When saving as an earlier version, PowerPoint automatically changes the prompt text to the default placeholder text or to a text box. Change the placeholder to a text box and type the custom prompt into the text box. |
When you add an animation effect to a placeholder on a custom layout, this message appears.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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An animation effect added to a placeholder on a custom layout. |
When saving as an earlier version, PowerPoint automatically changes the placeholder to the default placeholder without animation. Change the placeholder to a text box or shape and apply the animation to it. |
When you apply certain animation effects to shapes, and then save your presentation in the file format of an earlier version of PowerPoint, your animations might not be seen. This is because the animation is connected to text or a shape that was turned into a picture.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
Solutio n to try |
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An animation effect applied to a shape that will become uneditable (for example, SmartArt graphics). |
When saving as an earlier version, PowerPoint automatically changes the placeholder to the default placeholder without animation. Change the object into an animated picture by doing the following:
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When you save a presentation that contains an uninitialized ActiveX control, this message appears. An uninitialized ActiveX control is a control that has not been enabled. For more information about how to enable ActiveX controls, see Enable or disable ActiveX settings in Office files.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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An uninitialized ActiveX control. |
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You may receive this warning if a sensitivity label is applied to classify the data in your document. You can see the label in the Status bar or by going to Home > Sensitivity.
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The message appears because your presentation contains |
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One or more sensitivity labels applied to your presentation. |
Re-apply the label after saving the document using the Azure Information Protection Client. Any content marks applied to the document like Header/Footer/Watermark changes will remain. |
Related Topics
Open a presentation created in a different version of PowerPoint
