PowerPoint 2007: Mark as Final
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / 7
Date Created: September 2nd 2010
Last Updated: September 2nd 2010
Excerpt/Capsule: Learn how to apply Mark as Final to a presentation in PowerPoint 2007.
Once you create a presentation, you may need to share it. PowerPoint 2007 provides the Mark as Final option that makes your file read-only. For a PowerPoint 2010 specific article on Mark as Final, go here. I need to add that this is just a deterrent and nothing as restrictive as password protecting a PowerPoint presentation. Mark as Final tries to prevent users from typing, editing commands, and proofing -- all editing options are disabled or turned off. However, do remember that Mark as Final is not a security feature and it can be easily reversed.
Note: Presentations that have been marked as final in PowerPoint 2007 or 2010 will not be read-only if they are opened in previous versions of PowerPoint (2003 and earlier). In addition, do remember that Mark as Final is one of the new features that not only works with the PPTX file format, but also with the older PPT file format (see our article on PowerPoint File Formats).
Follow these steps to use the Mark as Final option in PowerPoint 2007:
- Open an existing presentation. If you want to apply Mark as Final to
a copy of the presentation, it is a good idea to choose the Save
As command
and work on a copy of the file.
- Click on the Office
Button to bring up the resultant menu, as shown in Figure
1.
Figure 1: Office Button menu options
- From the menu, choose Prepare | Mark as Final (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Mark as Final
- This summons the message window that you see in Figure
3. Click OK
to mark the open presentation as final. Remember that this saves the
same presentation that you have open.
Figure 3: Mark as Final
- This brings up another message window (see Figure
4) that informs you
that this presentation has marked as final. All you need to do now is click
OK. If you don't want to see this message again, remember to check the option
that says "Don't show this message again".
Figure 4: Confirmation of marked as final
- Back in Normal view, you will see there's a Mark as Final icon in the status bar at the bottom left corner
(highlighted in red in Figure 5).
Figure 5: Presentation marked as final
- To further confirm the Mark as Final state, click any of the tabs of the
Ribbon, and you'll find that almost all options are grayed out. This means
you can no longer edit the presentation. Figure 6 shows the Home tab of
the Ribbon with all options grayed out.
Figure 6: Home tab