How to Delete a Registry Entry to Reconfigure Office PowerPoint

The Windows Registry editor can be used to reconfigure Microsoft Office PowerPoint's settings. Use the Registry editor for cases when there are a lot of settings in PowerPoint you don't like or when you don't know what settings to change in PowerPoint to get it back to its defaults. Using the Registry editor to reconfigure PowerPoint is a more straightforward solution than manually changing each setting, because all you need to do is delete a single Registry entry.


Close PowerPoint and any other Microsoft Office programs.


Press "Windows key-R" on your keyboard and type "regedit" into the Run tool. Click "OK" to open the Registry Editor.


Use the left pane to navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER," "Software," "Microsoft," "Office." If you have Microsoft Office 2010, open the "14.0" subfolder. If you have Office 2007, open the "12.0" subfolder.


Right-click the "PowerPoint" directory inside the subfolder and select "Export." This will create a backup of the PowerPoint registry key that can be imported if you have problems after you delete it.


Type a name for the backup, such as "PowerPoint Registry Key Backup," and click "Save."


Right-click the PowerPoint directory again and select "Delete."


Click "Yes" to confirm the deletion. Close the Registry Editor.


Open Microsoft PowerPoint. PowerPoint creates a fresh registry key and the settings return to their defaults.