Set as Default Version in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

Before we begin, let us make it clear that this tutorial is primarily for those people who have more than one version of PowerPoint installed on their Mac. Additionally, they are not happy about the version that launches when they open a PowerPoint file. Or they may find that PowerPoint files open in another program even if they have PowerPoint installed. If any of these situations sound familiar to you, then this tutorial is for you.

So first let us understand that yes, you really can have more than one version of PowerPoint, and indeed Microsoft Office installed on your systems, as can be clearly seen from this screenshot of the Finder window that you see in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Multiple versions of Microsoft Office

Follow these steps to set PowerPoint 2011 for Mac as your default version:

1. Locate any PowerPoint file in Finder, and select it as can be seen in Figure 2, below.
2. 
   Figure 2: PowerPoint file selected
2. Now, right-click (or ⌘+click) the selected file to bring up the contextual menu. Choose the Get Info option, as shown in Figure 2.
3. Within the resultant Get Info pane, locate the Open With section, as shown in Figure 3, below.
4. 
   Figure 3: Locate the Open With section
4. You will find a drop-down list in this section – click to see the options as shown in Figure 4, below.
5. 
   Figure 4: Drop-down options
5. You can choose to change the default application to any of the options listed in this drop-down list. If the application you want to use as the default is not listed, you can click the Other option that lets you navigate and choose another application from the Applications folder.