Microsoft PowerPoint is an incredible presentation program, which is used by presenters across the globe. But, PowerPoint presentations are quite vulnerable to corruption and consequent data loss. A presentation can become corrupt in many scenarios including abrupt system shutdown, application malfunction, power surges or spikes etc. To overcome such problems, Microsoft has come up with an add-in which clones the active presentation and performs PowerPoint recovery when you suspect corruption.

The cloning process is similar to inserting slides from a file or using a copy and past operation in Slide Sorter view. This add-in can be used to create a corruption-free copy of a presentation which you suspect may be damaged. In this article, we would learn how to install and use this highly useful add-in.

You must download this Cloning add-in, available as a self-extracting archive, from the Microsoft Download Center. After downloading the Cloneme.exe file, you must execute the following steps:

  • Double-click the Cloneme.exe files, the following file is extracted to the folder of your choice: CloneMe.ppa. It has been recommended by the Microsoft to place this file in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office folder.
  • Start Microsoft PowerPoint, if you see the startup dialog box, click Cancel
  • On the Tools menu, click Add-Ins
  • Click Add new
  • Select the CloneMe.ppa file and click OK
  • You can use the the add-in by clicking Clone Presentation on the Tools menu

But, make sure the presentation you want to clone must be open for you to clone it. If the file is severely corrupt or damaged and you are not able to open it, this add-in cannot be used.

In such situations, you can troubleshoot damaged presentations and perform PPT recovery by observing the following steps:

  • Drag the presentation to the Power program file
  • Double-click the PowerPoint presentation in Windows Explorer
  • Attempt to insert slides into a blank presentation
  • Try to open the temporary file version of the presentation
  • Try to open the presentation in PowerPoint viewer
  • Move the file to another computer
  • And, if nothing works you must opt for a third-party PowerPoint recovery software.

Such tools repair corrupt presentations and recover valuable data by employing improved scanning algorithms.

Stellar Phoenix PowerPoint Recovery is a user-friendly program which repairs all PowerPoint files – .ppt and .pptx – files instantly. Compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000, this PPT recovery utility also recovers severely damaged files in a RAW format i.e. without any formatting.