Set as Default Version in PowerPoint 365 for Mac

Before we begin, let us make it clear that this tutorial is primarily for those people who have more than one version of PowerPoint installed on their Mac. Additionally, they are not happy about the version that launches when they open a PowerPoint file. Or they may find that PowerPoint files open in another program even if they have PowerPoint installed. If any of these situations sound familiar to you, then this tutorial is for you.

So first, let us understand that yes, you really can have more than one version of PowerPoint, and indeed Microsoft Office installed on your systems. This can be clearly seen from this screenshot of the Applications window that you see in Figure 1 below, where you see both Microsoft Office 2011 and Microsoft Office 365 installed.

Figure 1: Multiple versions of Microsoft Office (and PowerPoint) installed on your computer

Follow these steps to set PowerPoint 365 for Mac as your default version:

1. Locate any PowerPoint file in Finder. Select and right-click (or Ctrl+click) the PowerPoint file to bring up the contextual menu as shown in Figure 2. From this menu, choose the Get Info option (refer to Figure 2 again).
2. 
   Figure 2: PowerPoint file selected
2. Within the resultant Get Info pane, locate the Open With section, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below.
3. 
   Figure 3: Locate the Open With section
3. You will find a drop-down list in this section. Click to see the options as shown in Figure 4, below.
4. 
   Figure 4: Drop-down options
4. In Figure 4 above, you can see a tick mark in front of Microsoft PowerPoint (default) (16.25) indicating that it is the default version of PowerPoint. If you want, you can choose to change the default application to any of the options listed in this drop-down list, just by clicking on it. If the application you want to use as the default is not listed, you can select the Always Open With | Other option, as shown in Figure 5, below. This option lets you navigate and choose another application from the Applications folder.
5. 
   Figure 5: Other option to change default application