Urgent issue with powerpoint

Paolo Girardelli 0 Reputation points
2026-10-24T14:17:12.5066667+00:00

I am an academic and use Ppt for Mac with a University contract in Türkiye. I am currently in Italy, preparing a lecture I must deliver Monday morning. Suddenly, my PPT file froze, I cannot add or change anything in it. I cannot ask support from my university because it is Saturday, and tomorrow evening or Monday morning at the latest I need my PPT presentation ready. It is a catastrophe, and it is unbelievable that something like this should happen suddenly. All my attempts to upgrade the ppt failed; I am panicking, and the issue should be solved immediately.

Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For education | MacOS
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  1. Helen Luu 3,645 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-10-24T15:13:48.5666667+00:00

    Hello @Paolo Girardelli

    Since this is a user-to-user community forum, I can provide guidance and troubleshooting suggestions based on my experience as a user and the information you have shared. 

    From your description, I understand that PowerPoint is freezing and preventing you from editing, updating, or continuing to work on your presentation. While troubleshooting the PowerPoint desktop application, I recommend uploading your presentation to OneDrive and temporarily working with it in PowerPoint for the web. This can also help determine whether the issue is limited to the PowerPoint desktop application.

    In the meantime, please try the following troubleshooting steps:

    1 - Clear the PowerPoint cache

    Clearing the Office document cache can help when cached files are contributing to problems opening or working with documents.

    • Open PowerPoint and select File > Options > Save.
    • Scroll down and select Delete cached files.
    • Select OK, close PowerPoint completely, and then reopen it.
    • Open the affected presentation again and check whether the issue continues.

    2 - Open PowerPoint in Safe Mode

    Safe Mode can help determine whether an add-in or customization is interfering with PowerPoint.

    • Right-select the Start button and select Run.
    • Enter powerpnt /safe and select OK.
    • Open the affected presentation and try editing it again.

    If PowerPoint works normally in Safe Mode, an installed add-in could be contributing to the issue.

    3 - Repair Microsoft 365 or Office

    If the issue continues, you can also repair your Office installation:

    • Open Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
    • Find Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Office, select the three dots and choose Modify
    • Start with Quick Repair (If the issue persists afterward, you can try Online Repair, which performs a more extensive repair of the Office installation)

    After completing the troubleshooting steps, please check whether you can edit and update the presentation normally in the PowerPoint desktop application.

    If the problem continues, please let me know whether the issue occurs with only this particular presentation or with every PowerPoint file. It would also be helpful if you could share your PowerPoint version and let me know whether you receive any error message when PowerPoint freezes.

    I hope these suggestions help you resolve the issue and allow you to continue working on your presentation normally.

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