Do you need to share your presentations with others? If yes, it's a good idea to make sure that your presentations are set to be read-only
before you share them. To make your file read-only, you should look at the Mark as Final option in PowerPoint. Note that
this option is not as restrictive as password protecting
a PowerPoint presentation. The Mark as Final option 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 by the recipient of your file.
Note: Presentations that have been marked as final in PowerPoint 2016 will not be read-only if
they are opened in PowerPoint 2007 and prior versions.
Follow these steps to learn how to use the Mark as Final option in
PowerPoint 2016:
- 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 then work on a copy of the file.
- Access the File tab of the Ribbon to bring up
Backstage view, and make sure that the
Info Pane is open as shown in
Figure 1.

Figure 1: Info Pane
- Click the Protect Presentation button to bring up the drop-down menu you
see in Figure 2. Within the drop-down menu, select the Mark as Final option.

Figure 2: Mark as Final option
- This summons the message window that you see in Figure 3. Click the OK button to mark
the open presentation as Final. Remember that this marks and saves the open presentation as final, and no new copies are created.

Figure 3: Message window
- This will take you back to the Normal View, and another
message window appears simultaneously, as shown in Figure 4. You will be informed that this presentation has been marked
as "Final". All you need to do now is to click the OK button. If you don't want to see this message again,
remember to select the check-box that says "Don't show this message again".

Figure 4: Confirmation of marked as final
- In Normal View, you will see two indications that will
make it clear that the file has been marked as final:
There's a Mark as Final icon in the
Status Bar at the bottom left area (highlighted in red within Figure 5).
A yellow strip right above the Slide Area
(highlighted in blue within
Figure 5) indicates that this presentation discourages editing.

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
Insert tab of the Ribbon with editing options grayed out.

Figure 6: Options within Insert tab grayed out
Now, if you check within the Info pane, you'll see that the Protect Presentation area indicates the
active presentation as marked as final (the yellow box), as shown in Figure 7. Also note that the title bar of the
application that says Read-Only.

Figure 7: Protect Presentation area indicates the active presentation as marked as final
- If you want to remove the Mark as Final attribute, please explore our
Remove Mark as Final Option in PowerPoint 2016 tutorial.
See Also:
Mark as Final Option in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Mark as Final Option in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows
Mark as Final Option in PowerPoint 2007 for Windows