Message: Some controls on this presentation can't be activated. They might not be registered on this computer.

Problem

You open a presentation and see an error message like:

Some controls on this presentation can't be activated. They might not be registered on this computer.

Microsoft Office includes several Active-X Controls (also called OLE Controls) that users can add to slides. These are called:

• Label
• Text Box
• Spin Button
• Command Button
• Image
• Scroll Bar
• Check Box
• Option Button
• Combo Box
• List Box
• Toggle Button

When these are used in presentations, they generally work on any PC that has a copy of PowerPoint (though not in the free PowerPoint viewer).

It's also possible to add other Active-X controls that happen to be installed on their computers. These won't work on other computers unless they happen to be installed there too. If not, the computer user will see the message above.

To prevent the message, try any of the following:

• Remove the problem control(s) from any slides where they appear. Of course this will mean losing any features that the controls provide.
• Arrange to install the control(s) on any computer where the presentation will be opened. This will be up to whoever created the presenation, and it may not be legal or even possible.

Or simply ignore the message, accept that the controls will not work on your computer and view the presentation as best you can.

Here's a little VBA that'll help locate the problem controls, tell you what slide they're on, they name of the shape containing the control and the "Program ID" of the control, which can give you some idea what type of control it is and possibly where it came from.

Sub ActiveXMarksTheSpot()

Dim oSh as Shape
Dim oSl as Slide

For Each oSl in ActivePresentation.Slides
For Each oSh in oSl.Shapes

If oSh.Type = msoOLEControlObject Then

MsgBox "Slide#: " & oSl.SlideIndex & VBCrLf _
    & "Shape: " & oSh.Name & VBCrLf )
    & oSh.OLEFormat.ProgID 

End If
Next   ' Shape
Next  ' Slide
End Sub

See How do I use VBA code in PowerPoint? to learn how to use this example code.

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