Save Presentations in Read-Only Mode Using Python

Apply Read-Only Mode

In PowerPoint 2019, Microsoft introduced the Always Open Read-Only setting as one of the options users can use to protect their presentations. You may want to use this Read-Only setting to protect a presentation when

• You want to prevent accidental edits and keep the content of your presentation safe.
• You want to alert people that the presentation you provided is the final version.

After you select the Always Open Read-Only option for a presentation, when users open the presentation, they see the Read-Only recommendation and may see a message in this form: To prevent accidental changes, the author has set this file to open as read-only.

The Read-Only recommendation is a simple yet effective deterrent that discourages editing because users have to perform a task to remove it before they are allowed to edit a presentation. If you do not want users to make changes to a presentation and want to tell them about this in a polite way, then the Read-Only recommendation may a good option for you.

If a presentation with the Read-Only protection gets opened in an older Microsoft PowerPoint application—which does not support the recently introduced function—the Read-Only recommendation gets ignored (the presentation is opened normally).

Aspose.Slides for Python via .NET allows you to set a presentation to Read-Only, which means users (after they open the presentation) see the Read-Only recommendation. This sample code shows you how to set a presentation to Read-Only in Python using Aspose.Slides:

import aspose.slides as slides

with slides.Presentation() as pres:
    pres.protection_manager.read_only_recommended = True
    pres.save("ReadOnlyPresentation.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Note: The Read-Only recommendation is simply meant to discourage editing or stop users from making accidental changes to a PowerPoint presentation. If a motivated person—who knows what they are doing—decides to edit your presentation, they can easily remove the Read-Only setting. If you seriously need to prevent unauthorized editing, you are better off using more stringent protections that involve encryptions and passwords.

FAQ

How is ‘Read-Only recommended’ different from full password protection?

‘Read-Only recommended’ only displays a suggestion to open the file in read-only mode and is easy to bypass. Password protection actually restricts opening or editing and is appropriate when you need real security controls.

Can ‘Read-Only recommended’ be combined with watermarks to further discourage edits?

Yes. The recommendation can be paired with watermarks as a visual deterrent; they are separate mechanisms and work well together.

Can a macro or external tool still modify the file when the recommendation is enabled?

Yes. The recommendation does not block programmatic changes. To prevent automated edits, use passwords and encryption.

How does ‘Read-Only recommended’ relate to the flags ‘is_encrypted’ and ‘is_write_protected’?

They are different signals. ‘Read-Only recommended’ is a soft, optional prompt; is_write_protected and is_encrypted indicate actual write or read restrictions that depend on passwords or encryption.