General Program Options in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows

The General tab of the PowerPoint Options dialog box contains basic, yet some very important options related to the appearance and working of the PowerPoint interface. Changes to these options can result in a very different and more efficient workflow. The PowerPoint Options dialog box can be accessed as explained in our Options Tab in Backstage View in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows tutorial.

In this tutorial, we will explore the various options within the General tab of the PowerPoint Options dialog box in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows:

Launch PowerPoint and access the PowerPoint Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 1, below. Make sure that the General tab is selected, as shown in Figure 1.

PowerPoint Options dialog box
Figure 1: PowerPoint Options dialog box

The options within the General tab of the PowerPoint Options dialog box are explained below, as marked in Figure 1, above:

A. User Interface Options

Includes 3 options:

Show Mini Toolbar on selection

As the name suggests, selecting this check-box will provide easy access to the Mini Toolbar when you select text on your slide. To learn more about Mini Toolbar, explore our Mini Toolbar in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows tutorial.

Enable Live Preview

Selecting this check-box enables Live Preview of slide objects, as you hover over options within the Ribbon and elsewhere. To learn more about Live Preview, explore our Live Preview in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows tutorial.

ScreenTip style

Change the style of Screen tips using this option. Click to reveal a drop-down list with options, as shown in Figure 2, below.

ScreenTip style drop-down list
Figure 2: ScreenTip style drop-down list

Show feature descriptions in ScreenTips

This is the default option. The Screen tip shows the command name and a small description.

Don't show feature descriptions in ScreenTips

The Screen tip will show just the command name without any description.

Don't show ScreenTips

No ScreenTip is displayed.

B. Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office

This section includes options to change your User name and Initials. Do remember that the details you provide within this area will identify you in any comments or review edits you make in your presentation, especially when multiple authors edit the same presentation. In addition, there are two more options in this section:

Office Background

Provides you with various options to change the look of Office Background. Click to reveal a drop-down list, as shown in Figure 3, below:

Office Background drop-down list
Figure 3: Office Background drop-down list

Within this drop-down list, click on any option to apply. To learn more about these options, refer to our Office Background in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows tutorial.

Office Theme

This option is used to change the interface color of PowerPoint 2016 for Windows. Click the down-arrow to open a drop-down list, as shown in Figure 4, below:

Office Theme drop-down list
Figure 4: Office Theme drop-down list

Within this drop-down list, click on any option to apply. To learn more about this option, refer to our Changing Interface Color in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows tutorial.

C. Start up options

Options within this section are:

Choose the extensions

You may find that PowerPoint no longer launches when you double-click a PPTX file or even you open a PPTX file received as an email attachment. To correct this behavior, you can click the Default Programs button. This will provide you with info on how you can change your default apps. To be fair, PowerPoint may just show a message and do nothing else.

Tell me if Microsoft PowerPoint isn’t the default program for viewing and editing presentations

Shows a warning to this effect when you launch PowerPoint.

Show the Start screen when this application starts

Shows the Presentation Gallery when you launch PowerPoint. Unchecking this option will start PowerPoint with a new, blank presentation instead.

D. PowerPoint Designer

The Enable PowerPoint Design Ideas check-box, selected by default, allows PowerPoint Designer to generate a variety of ideas to make your slides look better, based on the content you add to your slide.

E. Real-time collaboration options

The single option within this section is:

When working with others, automatically save changes

Saves changes when you are co-authoring a file with someone else.

Change Across Microsoft Office

Any changes you make, as explained on this page, will influence all Microsoft Office programs installed including Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. These changes don’t restrict to just the PowerPoint interface.