VBA Turn off Auto Compression

You may try to change the DWORD value in the registry to perform this operation and check if it helps:

Important: Ensure to back up the registry before changing the keys from the registry. Refer the link given below to back up the registry:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Back-up-the-registry

·         Close all the Office applications.

·         Click on Start< All Programs< Accessories< Run.

·         In the Run window type regedit.

·         In the registry window go to the location mentioned below

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\PowerPoint\Options.

·         Create a new Dword value named AutomaticPictureCompressionDefault.

·         Make sure that the value of the new Dword is 0.

·         Close registry editor and check if it works fine.

To write a VBA code to perform this operation you may also post your query in the forum mentioned below for better suggestion:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/customize?page=1&tab=no&mod=NoReplies

>> 2. Changing the reg setting does not "Tick (or untick) the box" straight away - it sets it to ticked when PPT opens but the registry setting is overwritten by any value saved in the file being opened. This may include the default potx file (I think)

Allow me to riffuscate upon that theme a bit.

Each presentation has its own Compress/Don't Compress setting independent of the registry and independent of all other presentations. 

New presentations, by default, are set to Compress.

The registry modification sets the default for NEW presentations to Don't Compress, but any presentations that have been created with compression enabled stay that way until you open them and turn compression back off (which will of course only affect what happens to images inserted from then on, not to images that have already been compressed).

The registry setting itself is not overwritten; it's just that the registry setting has no effect on already-created presentation files. 

Which is along the lines of what I figure you meant.    More or less.  No?  Yes?

It's that "override the registry setting" that stops me.

The way it seems to me is:

PPT looks at the registry setting when you create a new presentation.

If the registry setting overrides PPT's defaults, then PPT ticks the "Don't compress me" setting for the new file.

If you open an *existing* file, PPT doesn't look at the registry, it looks at the file's own Compress/Don't Compress setting.

So it's more a case of "The registry setting overrides PPTs default behavior for new files and has no effect on existing files."

We're saying the same thing, just flailing about trying to figure out the best/least confusing way of putting it. 

With any luck, we're as entertaining to bystanders as, say, mud-wrestling.  And nowhere near as messy.