Disable PowerPoint Designer in PowerPoint 365 for Windows

While PowerPoint Designer is an amazing feature, it's true that it can be somewhat bothersome at times, especially when you are in a hurry or know what you exactly need. When you want some breathing space, you can, fortunately, instruct PowerPoint Designer to not show up. How do you ask PowerPoint Designer to be unobtrusive? There are a few ways to make this happen, and we shall explore these options within this tutorial.

First of all, the various Design Ideas Task Panes that show up as part of PowerPoint Designer can be prevented from showing up in PowerPoint 365 for Windows. For example, if you no longer want to see the Design Ideas Task Pane when you create a blank, new presentation, you can click the option stop this pane that says, Stop showing ideas for new presentations, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Stop showing ideas for new presentations

Do note though that choosing this option will only prevent the Design Ideas Task Pane from showing up when you create a new, blank presentation. In all other scenarios, such as when you add a picture or work with slide layouts, the Design Ideas Task Pane will continue to pop up. If you want to disable the Design Ideas Task Pane entirely, or even if you want to control whether the Design Ideas Task Pane shows again when creating a new, blank presentation, you will have to visit the PowerPoint Options dialog box. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Access the File menu and choose Options, highlighted in green within Figure 2, below.
2. 
   Figure 2: Options within File menu
3. Also, if you are a keyboard aficionado, you can quickly press the Alt + F keys together, and then press T.


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2. Doing so opens the PowerPoint Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 3, below. Make sure you choose the General option within the sidebar. Scroll down to the PowerPoint Designer section, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3.
3. 
   Figure 3: PowerPoint Designer section in PowerPoint Options
3. You will find two checkboxes here.
1. Automatically show me design ideas: This is checked by default as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 3, above. If you uncheck this option, PowerPoint Designer no longer shows you the Design Ideas Task Pane on its own. However, you can still access the Design Ideas Task Pane by bringing up the Design tab of the Ribbon, and clicking the Design Ideas button, shown highlighted in red within Figure 4, below.
2. 
   Figure 4: Open the Design Ideas Task Pane
2. Automatically show me suggestions when I create a new presentation: This option is also checked by default but is turned off now (highlighted in green within Figure 3), because we chose the Stop showing ideas for new presentations, earlier (see Figure 1). Checking this option again will reinstate the default behavior.
4. Once you select or deselect these checkboxes, click the OK button to apply these changes, or press the Cancel button to abandon any changes.