5 Ways to Fix PowerPoint is Not Responding Error

Summary:

A frozen PowerPoint can turn your important office presentation into a disaster. PowerPoint not responding or not working is a common error that has the potential to put all your efforts in preparing the presentation into vain.

Find out the best workarounds mentioned in the below article that can help you fix most of the PowerPoint problems including PPT freezing, hanging and not opening.

We all know, PowerPoint plays an important role to create well defined presentations. What if you have created a presentation and failed to present it because your PowerPoint (file) is not responding or freezes? If you are thinking about what made your PowerPoint not to work, here are the reasons that lead to the error.

What could be the possible reasons for PowerPoint to stop working?

Reasons for PowerPoint is not responding, Hangs or Freezes are

1.     Outdated Microsoft Office or Windows can make your PowerPoint hang or freeze
2.     Third party add-ins blocking your PowerPoint presentation
3.     Corruption in MS Office programs
4.     Antivirus conflicting with the application

Above mentioned are some of the few reasons that cause the error PowerPoint not responding. When you encounter any problem with the PowerPoint application, it is recommended to restart the application and see if it’s working fine.

What if your PPT file is not working even after restarting the application? Or you are unable to open the PPT file?

Why can’t I open the PPT file?

When PowerPoint stops responding, you will encounter an error PowerPoint cannot open this file. When it comes to a particular file, if you are having trouble accessing any particular PowerPoint file, then it is the file that is to be blamed not the application. Yes it can be due to any corruption or damage caused to the PowerPoint file.

PPT/PPTX files can get corrupted due to many reasons, but most commonly it’s caused by virus or changing the extension from one format to another.

You can easily fix the corruption in PPT/PPTX files with the help of a PowerPoint Repair Tool. SFWare PowerPoint File Repair software is one of the most recommended software by the professionals to fix the PPT file problems.

If you are wondering why you should go for the software despite having manual methods, here is the answer…

The manual methods explained in the article are for repairing the PowerPoint application and do not work on any particular damaged or corrupt PPT files.

Manual methods will help you in fixing the MS errors but it won't be helpful in recovering lost contents of the PPT files.

In such times, all you need is a trusted PowerPoint file repair software that fixes the PowerPoint file errors and recovers your presentation without causing any damage to your file.

SFWare PowerPoint File Repair software is designed with an advanced algorithm to fix the corruption in the PowerPoint files. The software not only fixes the corrupted PPT files, but also recovers the slides of all the files present on PPT with text, formatting, images, animations, sounds, tables, hyperlinks etc. Therefore, it extracts the complete objects of the corrupted file. The software is compatible on all Windows platforms including the latest Windows 10.

How to Fix a PowerPoint File That Is Not Responding?

To fix the PowerPoint file not responding error, download SFWare PowerPoint File Repair software and launch the application and follow the below mentioned steps:

1. Now, click on the Browse button to select the PowerPoint presentation file that is not responding or stopped working. Click on the Repair button.
   
2. After the completion of scanning, you can Preview the repaired file.
   
3. Finally, save the repaired PowerPoint file on your preferred location.
   

Well, this fixes the problem with the PowerPoint file that is not responding and helps in repairing the corrupt PowerPoint file.

Now let’s move on to fix the PowerPoint application error –PowerPoint is freezing, hanging or not responding.

What to do if PowerPoint is not responding, hanging or freezing?

Follow the below mentioned methods to fix the issues that cause PPT not responding.

Method 1: Install the latest updates

Installing any important and significant updates could make your computer or PowerPoint application less vulnerable to these errors. All you have to do is set the Windows update to automatically get downloaded and installed.

To Update the MS Office

1. Create a new Microsoft PowerPoint file and open it. This method can be used to create a Word/Excel file too.
2. From the menu bar select the File option and then click on Account.
3. Go to Product Information section and click Update Options under it
4. Click on Update Now from the drop-down list.

To Update the Windows OS

1. Press Start + I on the keyboard, go to Change PC setting
2. Select Update & Recovery.
3. Keep Windows Update selected in the left pane.
4. Click on the Check Now button in the right pane.
5. Wait and follow the instructions to finish updating the OS.

If installing the new updates did not solve your problem of PPT not responding, follow the next method.

Method 2: Disable the Add-ins

Even though Add-ins are used to enhance the user experience, at times it can create conflicts with the PowerPoint. Follow the steps mentioned below to disable the Add-ins that are creating trouble on PPT.

1. Click on Start → Run → Type PowerPoint /safe → OK.

Note: If PowerPoint doesn’t launch, click Start → point to All Programs → Microsoft Office.

2. Open a PowerPoint and select File menu → Options → click Add-Ins.
3. Choose COM Add-ins → click on the Go
4. Uncheck all boxes on by one in the list and click OK. ( Verify whether PowerPoint is working fine after disabling each Add-ins)
5. Restart your PowerPoint program. (Make sure you restart PowerPoint each time you disable an Add-in.)

Method 3: Update the antivirus

Always make sure your Antivirus software is updated. Most of the time, application gets crashed and stops responding due to virus infection to the programs.

If your Antivirus is creating a conflict with the PowerPoint application, disable them by following the previous method 2.

If none of the above mentioned methods worked for you, then it can be a problem with the MS office package. Try to fix the PowerPoint not responding or not opening problems by repairing the whole MS office package.

Method 4: Repair the Microsoft Office Programs

Repairing the Office program can easily fix the issues like PowerPoint hanging, freezing and not responding.

1.  Exit all the Microsoft programs that you were using.
2.  Open the Control Panel, go to Add or Remove Programs / Programs and Features ( depends on the Windows version you use)
3.  From the list of installed programs, select Microsoft office. Right-click on the Microsoft Office and then click Repair

Conclusion:

Try all the methods mentioned above to fix the problem with PowerPoint and you should be able to fix PowerPoint not responding issues. If you still encounter any problems such as PowerPoint not responding, can’t open and stop working error with any particular file, you can run SFWare PowerPoint file repair software to make sure you would not lose your important file.

If you were able to fix the problem successfully with the help of the article, please do share your thoughts in the comment section below.