Changing default PowerPoint presentation

Changing default document for Word (i.e., the one, that is opened each time you start Word) is an easy task. You just have to open %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Templates folder and save any document as Word Template under Normal.dot file name in this location. Changing default PowerPoint isn’t that easy, because file names and file paths are different. I keep forgetting about this, so I wrote this article as my personal memo.

In every scenario %APPDATA% will be changed to actual folder on your Windows installation and Templates may be named differently, if you have non-English Windows.

First of all, you have to determine, where to save default template. Location differs on different versions of Windows and Office. For Windows 7 and PowerPoint 2007 or 2010 it is:

• document type:
  • PowerPoint Template (*.potx) for non-macro templates,
  • PowerPoint Macro Enabled Template (*.potm) for macro-enabled templates,
• file name:
  • Blank.potx for non-macro templates,
  • Blank.potm for macro-enabled templates,
• folder: the same as mentioned above (%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Templates, with above remarks).

For other versions of system and/or Office, refer to this neat document.

Open your favourite or selected presentation, click File > Save as, select proper file type and you should be already redirected to correct folder. Save file there under above mentioned name.

Restart your PowerPoint to see the changes.

If you’re using macro-enabled template, you should add %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Templates folder to your trusted locations, to avoid being nagged about macros disabled each time you start PowerPoint. This procedure is described in this article.