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    A PowerPoint Update Broke Slide Copying. Here's How We Fixed It Fast
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    A PowerPoint Update Broke Slide Copying. Here's How We Fixed It Fast

    presentaid TeamJuly 3, 20265 min read

    When Slides Suddenly Stopped Copying

    If a PowerPoint macro or add-in stopped working for your team this week, the cause is almost certainly not your setup. A recent Microsoft PowerPoint update changed how PowerPoint handles read-only presentations, and it broke a mechanism that a huge part of the business world depends on every day: copying slides or shapes out of a presentation that was opened in read-only mode.

    We ran into this ourselves, investigated it, and confirmed directly with Microsoft support that it is a known bug with a fix in progress. Here is what happened, who it affects, and how quickly we resolved it for presentaid users.

    What Microsoft Changed

    The issue arrives with Current Channel build 2606 (PowerPoint Build 20131.20090), released 25 June 2026. On that build, any attempt to programmatically copy a slide or a shape from a presentation opened in read-only mode fails with an error similar to:

    "Invalid request. Presentation cannot be modified."

    The behaviour can be reproduced in plain PowerPoint with no add-in involved, which confirms this is a Microsoft 365 platform bug rather than a fault in any single tool. The previous release, 2605 (PowerPoint Build 20026.20182, released 16 June 2026), is not affected.

    You can check your own build in PowerPoint under File > Account > About PowerPoint.

    Why This Matters

    Opening a source deck in read-only mode is a deliberate safety measure. It lets a tool pull content from a shared presentation or a template library without any risk of accidentally changing the original file. Countless add-ins, VBA macros, and internal tools rely on exactly this pattern, especially at investment banks, consultancies, and corporate teams that pull content from central template libraries all day.

    When the read-only copy mechanism breaks, those workflows stop. In presentaid specifically, this affected library inserts that place slides and shapes into your deck. Other library content, such as images and text, kept working normally. Where your libraries are stored (SharePoint, OneDrive, or elsewhere) made no difference to whether you were affected.

    How We Responded

    This is where a dedicated software partner makes the difference. A platform-level change like this is outside our control, but the response time is not.

    • We detected the failure quickly and reproduced it in native PowerPoint to isolate the root cause.
    • We confirmed with Microsoft support that it is a known bug and that a permanent fix is on the way.
    • We shipped a hotfix workaround that restores the affected functionality while Microsoft prepares the underlying fix.

    Customers on automatic updates receive the workaround first (a restart is required). If you update manually, install the latest presentaid version to get it. The disruption window for our users was measured in hours, not days or weeks of waiting on a third party.

    What IT Administrators Can Do

    If you manage Microsoft 365 for your organisation and want a broader safeguard beyond individual tools, you have two interim options:

    1. Roll back to the previous build. Returning affected machines to Current Channel 2605 restores the original behaviour. Microsoft documents the process in its guide on how to revert to an earlier version of Office.
    2. Pause Microsoft 365 updates. Machines still on 2605 or earlier are unaffected. Deferring updates keeps them on a known-good build until Microsoft releases the fix.

    Both options are temporary. Once Microsoft ships the corrected build, normal updates can resume.

    The Bigger Picture

    This incident is a clear example of how one platform-level update can quietly ripple through hundreds of business-critical tools that most people never think about. Slide automation, reporting macros, and template libraries all sit on top of the same PowerPoint foundation, and when that foundation shifts, everything built on it can move with it.

    The lesson is not that updates are dangerous. It is that the software you rely on should be backed by a team that monitors for these changes, diagnoses them fast, and ships a fix before the disruption reaches your deadlines. That is exactly the standard we hold ourselves to.

    If your slide automation broke recently, this is very likely the reason. Update to the latest version of presentaid to get the workaround, and see the Libraries feature for how our library workflows are built. If you have questions or need help, contact our team.