Restoring Earlier Versions in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

When you are working on a PowerPoint presentation, the AutoSave option, if enabled, automatically saves your file at the specified time increments. This means you can replace your current file with an earlier version. Enabing this option can be very useful if you want to go back to the state of your slides an hour ago, or even two hours ago without having to use any Undo option.

To view and replace your current file with an earlier version, follow these steps using PowerPoint 2010 for Windows:

1. Launch PowerPoint. Access the File menu, and choose the Info option to get to Backstage view, as shown in Figure 1, below. The autosaved versions of your current file are listed under Versions, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1.
2. 
   Figure 1: List of autosaved presentations
3. If you cannot see any autosaved versions, that might be because you have not enabled the AutoSave option or you have selected a longer time interval for subsequent autosaved versions. All these options are explained in our AutoRecover and AutoSave Options in PowerPoint 2010 tutorial.
2. To revert back to one of these autosaved presentations, select any version from the list by clicking on it. In Figure 2, below, you can see the version with the timestamp of 2:38 PM, as shown highlighted in red, is selected.
3. 
   Figure 2: An old version of current presentation being selected

AutoSave is Reset on Closing

The autosaved versions of the current presentation are typically deleted when you close the file.

3. Doing so opens the selected presentation within PowerPoint. Once opened you'll notice a yellow strip just below the Ribbon and above the Slide Area, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below.
4. 
   Figure 3: Autosaved presentation with the yellow strip
4. Within the yellow strip, click the Restore button. Doing so brings up a message window, as shown in Figure 4, below.
5. 
   Figure 4: Microsoft PowerPoint message window
5. Click the OK button to overwrite your current document with the earlier autosaved version.