What is causing the “PowerPoint found a problem with content” issue?
We investigated this particular issue by looking at various user reports and the repair strategies that were successfully used to resolve this problem. Based on our investigations, it seems like there are multiple potential culprits that might end up triggering this particular error message: If you’re currently struggling to resolve this error message, we have prepared a collection of potential repair strategies that other users in a similar situation have successfully used to resolve the same error message. Down below, you’ll find a collection of methods that are confirmed to work by at least several affected users. To remain as efficient as possible, we advise you to follow the methods in the order that they are presented since they are ordered by efficiency and simplicity. One of them is bound to resolve the issue regardless of which scenario is applicable to your situation.
Method 1: Disabling Protected Views
As it turns out, the most common culprit that will cause the “PowerPoint found a problem with content” error are several Trust Center settings that will make the program reject Outlook Attachments or files located in potentially unsafe locations or files originating from the Internet. So if you received the presentation via email or you’ve downloaded it over the internet, chances are you will receive this error message before you take the necessary steps to disable protected views. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this: If the issue is still occurring, or you’re looking for a method that won’t leave your system vulnerable to exploits, move down to the next method below.
Method 2: Adding the location of the file to the trust list
If the PowerPoint file was obtained externally (via email, direct download or retrieved via USB stick), chances are PowerPoint will not let you open it if it’s stored in a location that is not considered secure. If this scenario is applicable to your current situation, you will be able to unblock access to the file by adding the document location to your PowerPoint trusted list. Although this procedure is preferable to Method 1 (where all Protected Views settings are effectively disabled), it can still turn out to become a breach in your security if ill-intentioned malware finds their way into the same folder. Here’s a quick guide on adding a folder to the trusted PowerPoint locations: If the “PowerPoint found a problem with content” error is still occurring, move down to the next method below.
Method 3: Moving the file out from the synchronized folder
If you’re trying to open a file located inside the Dropbox folder or OneDrive folder, you will need to move the file into a folder that isn’t affected by synchronization or other backup software. Several affected users have reported that the issue was resolved after they moved the file from the synchronized folder to a regular directory. Here’s a quick guide on how to do this: If you’re still encountering the “PowerPoint found a problem with content” error, move down to the next method below.
Method 4: Unblocking the File
If the file you’re encountering the issue on was downloaded from the internet, chances are your operating system decided to block your file from being modified. Several affected users have reported that the “PowerPoint found a problem with content” issue stopped occurring after they unblocked the file. Here’s a quick guide on unblocking the file:
Method 5: Deleting Folder in Mac
In some cases, certain files might get corrupted which gets in the way of launching the content. Therefore, in this step, we will be deleting a particular folder in Mac to fix this problem. In order to do that:
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