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PPS files are PowerPoint presentations and you'll need a compatible viewer to view them. You may also need to create or repair the PPS file association.

Since installing Windows XP SP2, I have been unable to open .pps files. Short of downloading Open Office which carries a .pps access, is there any other way of regaining this access?

PPS files are created by Microsoft Office PowerPoint. PPS files are a common distribution form for PowerPoint presentations and slide shows.

Since you indicated that SP2 broke this, I'll assume that this was working at some point.

The first question is, do you have PowerPoint? If so, running Microsoft Office's Setup and selecting Repair should do it. If you have the PowerPoint viewer installed, then it may also have a repair option on its Setup. Either can be accessed through Control Panel, Add/Remove programs.

If you have neither of those, you can certainly download Microsoft's free PowerPoint Viewer.

And finally, if you have PowerPoint or its viewer installed, you may only need to re-assign the "pps" association. This article: How do I make something other than "Picture and FAX Viewer" the default for viewing pictures? discusses the steps to associate a ".jpg" file with a graphics program. Use the same steps to associate ".pps" with PowerPoint or with the PowerPoint Viewer.

Article C2244 - December 22, 2004

Leo Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed. After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.

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Recent Comments
57 Comments

I can`t open several Emails it wont let me is blocked by WINDOWS INSTALLER. Many was send and use PPS I click on it it open up for a vew seconds right after it is blocked, it piss me off.

I would try reinstalling Office, or using its Repair function in the installer.
Leo
11-Feb-2011

Posted by: Elly Berg at February 11, 2011 2:28 PM

Is there any way of opening .pps on an iMac with Mac OS X 10.6.3?
I just opened a .pps file with Keynote, I have OS X 10.6.4, hope this helps

Posted by: Joe and Karen at July 20, 2011 5:20 PM

Got in a computer geek and I could get .pps for a while, then whatever the link was he created disappeared and I'm back to square one. Have no-idea how to reinstall Office. Help!

Posted by: Susan at August 25, 2011 9:22 AM

How to use PPS to send many pictures?

Posted by: Daniel Young at October 27, 2011 1:04 PM

@Daniel
You can create a PPS in Power Point or Libre Office, insert the pictures and sent it to whomever you like.

Posted by: Mark J at October 27, 2011 2:51 PM
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