Live Preview helps you see the change in your document, spreadsheet, or presentation even before applying it. If it is disabled in Office apps, you can follow this guide to enable or disable Live Preview in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint using the in-built Settings, Local Group Policy Editor, and Registry Editor.
Before getting started, you must know two things:
- We have shown the steps for Microsoft Excel here. However, you can follow the same steps for other Office apps, such as Word and PowerPoint. For your convenience, we have mentioned the Registry, and Group Policy paths for other apps.
- If you want to use the GPEDIT method, you must download the administrative templates for Office.
How to enable or disable Live Preview in Word, Excel, PowerPoint
To enable or disable Live Preview in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, follow these steps:
- Open Microsoft Excel on your computer.
- Go to File > Options.
- Find the Enable Live Preview option.
- Tick the checkbox to enable.
- Remove the tick from the checkbox to disable.
- Click the OK button.
To learn more about these steps, continue reading.
First, you need to open Microsoft Excel on your computer. However, if you want to enable or disable it in Word or PowerPoint, you need to open the corresponding app. Then, click on the File menu and select Options visible in the bottom-left corner.
In the General tab, find the Enable Live Preview option. Tick the respective checkbox to enable live preview and remove the tick from the checkbox to disable live preview.
Click the OK button to save the change.
How to enable or disable Live Preview in Word, Excel, PowerPoint using Group Policy
To enable or disable Live Preview in Word, Excel, PowerPoint using Group Policy, follow these steps:
- Press Win+R to open the Run dialog.
- Type gpedit.msc and press the Enter button.
- Navigate to Excel Options > General in User Configuration.
- Double-click on the Enable Live Preview setting.
- Select the Enabled option to enable.
- Select the Disabled option to disable.
- Click the OK button.
Let’s check out these steps in detail.
To get started, you need to open the Local Group Policy Editor. For that, press Win+R, type gpedit.msc, and hit the Enter button. Once the Group Policy is opened, navigate to the following path:
For Excel:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Excel 2016 > Excel Options > General
For Word:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Word 2016 > Word Options > General
For PowerPoint:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 > PowerPoint Options > General
Here you can find a setting called Enable Live Preview. You need to double-click on this setting and choose the Enabled option to enable Live Preview and the Disabled option to disable Live Preview.
Click the OK button to save the change. If the app was running when you made the change, you need to restart it.
How to turn on or off Live Preview in Word, Excel, PowerPoint using Registry
To turn on or off Live Preview in Word, Excel, PowerPoint using Registry, follow these steps:
- Search for regedit > click the individual search result.
- Click the Yes button.
- Navigate to office > 16.0 in HKCU.
- Right-click on 0 > New > Keyand name it as excel/word/powerpoint.
- Right-click on excel/word/powerpoint > New > Keyand name it as options.
- Right-click on options > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Set the name as livepreview.
- Double-click on it to set the Value data.
- Enter 1 to enable and 0 to disable.
- Click the OK button and close all windows.
- Restart your PC.
Let’s delve into these steps in detail.
To get started, search for regedit in the Taskbar search box, click on the individual search result and click the Yes button to open the Registry Editor.
Then, navigate to this path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0
Right-click on 16.0 > New > Key and name it as word, excel or powerpoint.
Then, right-click on that key, select New > Key and name it as options.
Following that, right-click on options > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and call it livepreview.
By default, the Value data is 0. If you want to disable Live Preview, keep it that way. If you want to enable Live Preview, double-click on this REG_DWORD value and set the Value data as 1.
Click the OK button, close all windows, and restart your computer.
How do I turn on live preview in Excel?
To turn on live preview in Excel, you need to follow any of the aforementioned guides. It is possible to turn on or off live preview in any Office app using the in-built Options panel, Local Group Policy Editor, and Registry Editor. You can go to File > Options > General. Then, tick the Enable Live Preview checkbox to turn on live preview in Excel.
How do I turn on live preview in Word?
To turn on live preview in Word, you can take the help of the Local Group Policy Editor. For that, open the GPEDIT, and navigate to this path: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Word 2016 > Word Options > General. Then, double-click on the Enable Live Preview setting and choose the Enabled option. Click the OK button to save the change.
That’s all! Hope this guide helped.
