creating slides using powerpoint

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Simple Steps to Make a PowerPoint Presentation

Last Updated: April 28, 2024 Fact Checked

Creating a New PowerPoint

Creating the title slide, adding a new slide, adding content to slides, adding transitions, testing and saving your presentation.

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA . Darlene Antonelli is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. Darlene has experience teaching college courses, writing technology-related articles, and working hands-on in the technology field. She earned an MA in Writing from Rowan University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on online communities and the personalities curated in such communities. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 4,327,450 times. Learn more...

Do you want to have your data in a slide show? If you have Microsoft 365, you can use PowerPoint! PowerPoint is a program that's part of the Microsoft Office suite (which you have to pay for) and is available for both Windows and Mac computers. This wikiHow teaches you how to create your own Microsoft PowerPoint presentation on a computer.

How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation

• Open the PowerPoint app, select a template and theme, then like “Create.”
• Click the text box to add your title and subtitle to create your title slide.
• Click the “Insert” tab, then “New Slide” to add another slide.
• Choose the type of slide you want to add, then add text and pictures.
• Rearrange slides by dragging them up or down in the preview box.

Things You Should Know

• Templates make it easy to create vibrant presentations no matter your skill level.
• When adding photos, you can adjust their sizes by clicking and dragging in or out from their corners.
• You can add animated transitions between slides or to individual elements like bullet points and blocks of text.

• If you don't have a Microsoft Office 365 subscription, you can use the website instead of the desktop app. Go to https://powerpoint.office.com/ to use the website version.
• You can also use the mobile app to make presentations, though it's easier to do this on a computer, which has a larger screen, a mouse, and a keyboard.

• If you don't want to use a template, just click the Blank option in the upper-left side of the page and skip to the next part.

• Skip this step if your selected template has no themes available.

• If you're creating a PowerPoint presentation for which an elaborate title slide has been requested, ignore this step.

• You can change the font and size of text used from the Home tab that's in the orange ribbon at the top of the window.

• You can also just leave this box blank if you like.

• You can also click and drag in or out one of a text box's corners to shrink or enlarge the text box.

• On a Mac, you'll click the Home tab instead. [1] X Research source

• Clicking the white slide-shaped box above this option will result in a new text slide being inserted.

• Title Slide
• Title and Content
• Section Header
• Two Content
• Content with Caption
• Picture with Caption

• Naturally, the title slide should be the first slide in your presentation, meaning that it should be the top slide in the left-hand column.

• Skip this step and the next two steps if your selected slide uses a template that doesn't have text boxes in it.

• Text boxes in PowerPoint will automatically format the bulk of your text for you (e.g., adding bullet points) based on the context of the content itself.
• You can add notes that the Presentation will not include (but you'll still be able to see them on your screen) by clicking Notes at the bottom of the slide.

• You can change the font of the selected text by clicking the current font's name and then clicking your preferred font.
• If you want to change the size of the text, click the numbered drop-down box and then click a larger or smaller number based on whether you want to enlarge or shrink the text.
• You can also change the color, bolding, italicization, underlining, and so on from here.

• Photos in particular can be enlarged or shrunk by clicking and dragging out or in one of their corners.

• Remember to keep slides uncluttered and relatively free of distractions. It's best to keep the amount of text per slide to around 33 words or less. [2] X Research source

• Slide content will animate in the order in which you assign transitions. For example, if you animate a photo on the slide and then animate the title, the photo will appear before the title.
• Make your slideshow progress automatically by setting the speed of every transition to align with your speech as well as setting each slide to Advance . [3] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source

• If you need to exit the presentation, press Esc .

• Windows - Click File , click Save , double-click This PC , select a save location, enter a name for your presentation, and click Save .
• Mac - Click File , click Save As... , enter the presentation's name in the "Save As" field, select a save location by clicking the "Where" box and clicking a folder, and click Save .

Community Q&A

• If you save your PowerPoint presentation in .pps format instead of the default .ppt format, double-clicking your PowerPoint presentation file will prompt the presentation to open directly into the slideshow view. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 0
• If you don't have Microsoft Office, you can still use Apple's Keynote program or Google Slides to create a PowerPoint presentation. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Your PowerPoint presentation (or some features in it) may not open in significantly older versions of PowerPoint. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 2
• Great PowerPoint presentations avoid placing too much text on one slide. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=DBDCE00C929AA5D8!252&ithint=file%2cpptx&app=PowerPoint&authkey=!AH4O9NxcbehqzIg
• ↑ https://www.virtualsalt.com/powerpoint.htm
• ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/set-the-timing-and-speed-of-a-transition-c3c3c66f-4cca-4821-b8b9-7de0f3f6ead1#:~:text=To%20make%20the%20slide%20advance,effect%20on%20the%20slide%20finishes .

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How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation (Step-by-Step)

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Presentation Design
• January 22, 2024

In this beginner’s guide, you will learn step-by-step how to make a PowerPoint presentation from scratch.

While PowerPoint is designed to be intuitive and accessible, it can be overwhelming if you’ve never gotten any training on it before. As you progress through this guide, you’ll will learn how to move from blank slides to PowerPoint slides that look like these.

Table of Contents

Additionally, as you create your presentation, you’ll also learn tricks for working more efficiently in PowerPoint, including how to:

• Change the slide order
• Reset your layout
• Change the slide dimensions
• Use PowerPoint Designer
• Format text
• Format objects
• Play a presentation (slide show)

With this knowledge under your belt, you’ll be ready to start creating PowerPoint presentations. Moreover, you’ll have taken your skills from beginner to proficient in no time at all. I will also include links to more advanced PowerPoint topics.

Ready to start learning how to make a PowerPoint presentation?

Take your PPT skills to the next level

Start with a blank presentation.

Note: Before you open PowerPoint and start creating your presentation, make sure you’ve collected your thoughts. If you’re going to make your slides compelling, you need to spend some time brainstorming.

For help with this, see our article with tips for nailing your business presentation  here .

The first thing you’ll need to do is to open PowerPoint. When you do, you are shown the Start Menu , with the Home tab open.

This is where you can choose either a blank theme (1) or a pre-built theme (2). You can also choose to open an existing presentation (3).

For now, go ahead and click on the  Blank Presentation (1)  thumbnail.

Doing so launches a brand new and blank presentation for you to work with. Before you start adding content to your presentation, let’s first familiarize ourselves with the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint interface

Here is how the program is laid out:

• The Application Header
• The Ribbon (including the Ribbon tabs)
• The Quick Access Toolbar (either above or below the Ribbon)
• The Slides Pane (slide thumbnails)

The Slide Area

The notes pane.

• The Status Bar (including the View Buttons)

Each one of these areas has options for viewing certain parts of the PowerPoint environment and formatting your presentation.

Below are the important things to know about certain elements of the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint Ribbon

The Ribbon is contextual. That means that it will adapt to what you’re doing in the program.

For example, the Font, Paragraph and Drawing options are greyed out until you select something that has text in it, as in the example below (A).

Furthermore, if you start manipulating certain objects, the Ribbon will display additional tabs, as seen above (B), with more commands and features to help you work with those objects. The following objects have their own additional tabs in the Ribbon which are hidden until you select them:

• Online Pictures
• Screenshots
• Screen Recording

The Slides Pane

This is where you can preview and rearrange all the slides in your presentation.

Right-clicking on a slide  in the pane gives you additional options on the slide level that you won’t find on the Ribbon, such as  Duplicate Slide ,  Delete Slide , and  Hide Slide .

In addition, you can add sections to your presentation by  right-clicking anywhere in this Pane  and selecting  Add Section . Sections are extremely helpful in large presentations, as they allow you to organize your slides into chunks that you can then rearrange, print or display differently from other slides.

The Slide Area (A) is where you will build out your slides. Anything within the bounds of this area will be visible when you present or print your presentation.

Anything outside of this area (B) will be hidden from view. This means that you can place things here, such as instructions for each slide, without worrying about them being shown to your audience.

The  Notes Pane  is the space beneath the Slide Area where you can type in the speaker notes for each slide. It’s designed as a fast way to add and edit your slides’ talking points.

To expand your knowledge and learn more about adding, printing, and exporting your PowerPoint speaker notes, read our guide here .

Your speaker notes are visible when you print your slides using the Notes Pages option and when you use the Presenter View . To expand your knowledge and learn the ins and outs of using the Presenter View , read our guide here .

You can resize the  Notes Pane  by clicking on its edge and dragging it up or down (A). You can also minimize or reopen it by clicking on the Notes button in the Status Bar (B).

Note:  Not all text formatting displays in the Notes Pane, even though it will show up when printing your speaker notes. To learn more about printing PowerPoint with notes, read our guide here .

Now that you have a basic grasp of the PowerPoint interface at your disposal, it’s time to make your presentation.

Adding Content to Your PowerPoint Presentation

Notice that in the Slide Area , there are two rectangles with dotted outlines. These are called  Placeholders  and they’re set on the template in the Slide Master View .

To expand your knowledge and learn how to create a PowerPoint template of your own (which is no small task), read our guide here .

As the prompt text suggests, you can click into each placeholder and start typing text. These types of placeholder prompts are customizable too. That means that if you are using a company template, it might say something different, but the functionality is the same.

Note:  For the purposes of this example, I will create a presentation based on the content in the Starbucks 2018 Global Social Impact Report, which is available to the public on their website.

If you type in more text than there is room for, PowerPoint will automatically reduce its font size. You can stop this behavior by clicking on the  Autofit Options  icon to the left of the placeholder and selecting  Stop Fitting Text to this Placeholder .

Next, you can make formatting adjustments to your text by selecting the commands in the Font area and the  Paragraph area  of the  Home  tab of the Ribbon.

The Reset Command:  If you make any changes to your title and decide you want to go back to how it was originally, you can use the Reset button up in the Home tab .

Insert More Slides into Your Presentation

Now that you have your title slide filled in, it’s time to add more slides. To do that, simply go up to the  Home tab  and click on  New Slide . This inserts a new slide in your presentation right after the one you were on.

You can alternatively hit Ctrl+M on your keyboard to insert a new blank slide in PowerPoint. To learn more about this shortcut, see my guide on using Ctrl+M in PowerPoint .

Instead of clicking the New Slide command, you can also open the New Slide dropdown to see all the slide layouts in your PowerPoint template. Depending on who created your template, your layouts in this dropdown can be radically different.

If you insert a layout and later want to change it to a different layout, you can use the Layout dropdown instead of the New Slide dropdown.

After inserting a few different slide layouts, your presentation might look like the following picture. Don’t worry that it looks blank, next we will start adding content to your presentation.

If you want to follow along exactly with me, your five slides should be as follows:

• Title Slide
• Title and Content
• Section Header
• Two Content
• Picture with Caption

Adding Content to Your Slides

Now let’s go into each slide and start adding our content. You’ll notice some new types of placeholders.

On slide 2 we have a  Content Placeholder , which allows you to add any kind of content. That includes:

• A SmartArt graphic,
• A 3D object,
• A picture from the web,
• Or an icon.

To insert text, simply type it in or hit  Ctrl+C to Copy  and Ctrl+V to Paste  from elsewhere. To insert any of the other objects, click on the appropriate icon and follow the steps to insert it.

For my example, I’ll simply type in some text as you can see in the picture below.

Slides 3 and 4 only have text placeholders, so I’ll go ahead and add in my text into each one.

On slide 5 we have a Picture Placeholder . That means that the only elements that can go into it are:

• A picture from the web

To insert a picture into the picture placeholder, simply:

• Click on the  Picture  icon
• Find  a picture on your computer and select it
• Click on  Insert

Alternatively, if you already have a picture open somewhere else, you can select the placeholder and paste in (shortcut: Ctrl+V ) the picture. You can also drag the picture in from a file explorer window.

If you do not like the background of the picture you inserted onto your slide, you can remove the background here in PowerPoint. To see how to do this, read my guide here .

Placeholders aren’t the only way to add content to your slides. At any point, you can use the Insert tab to add elements to your slides.

You can use either the Title Only  or the  Blank  slide layout to create slides for content that’s different. For example, a three-layout content slide, or a single picture divider slide, as shown below.

In the first example above, I’ve inserted 6 text boxes, 3 icons, and 3 circles to create this layout. In the second example, I’ve inserted a full-sized picture and then 2 shapes and 2 text boxes.

The Reset Command:  Because these slides are built with shapes and text boxes (and not placeholders), hitting the  Reset button up in the  Home tab  won’t do anything.

That is a good thing if you don’t want your layouts to adjust. However, it does mean that it falls on you to make sure everything is aligned and positioned correctly.

For more on how to add and manipulate the different objects in PowerPoint, check out our step-by-step articles here:

• Using graphics in PowerPoint
• Inserting icons onto slides
• Adding pictures to your PowerPoint
• How to embed a video in PowerPoint
• How to add music to your presentation

Using Designer to generate more layouts ideas

If you have Office 365, your version of PowerPoint comes with a new feature called Designer (or Design Ideas). This is a feature that generates slide layout ideas for you. The coolest thing about this feature is that it uses the content you already have.

To use Designer , simply navigate to the  Design tab  in your Ribbon, and click on  Design Ideas .

NOTE: If the PowerPoint Designer is not working for you (it is grey out), see my troubleshooting guide for Designer .

Change the Overall Design (optional)

When you make a PowerPoint presentation, you’ll want to think about the overall design. Now that you have some content in your presentation, you can use the Design tab to change the look and feel of your slides.

For additional help thinking through the design of your presentation,  read my guide here .

A. Picking your PowerPoint slide size

If you have PowerPoint 2013 or later, when you create a blank document in PowerPoint, you automatically start with a widescreen layout with a 16:9 ratio. These dimensions are suitable for most presentations as they match the screens of most computers and projectors.

However, you do have the option to change the dimensions.

For example, your presentation might not be presented, but instead converted into a PDF or printed and distributed. In that case, you can easily switch to the standard dimensions with a 4:3 ratio by selecting from the dropdown (A).

You can also choose a custom slide size or change the slide orientation from landscape to portrait in the Custom Slide Size dialog box (B).

To learn all about the different PowerPoint slide sizes, and some of the issues you will face when changing the slide size of a non-blank presentation,  read my guide here .

 B. Selecting a PowerPoint theme

The next thing you can do is change the theme of your presentation to a pre-built one. For a detailed explanation of what a PowerPoint theme is, and how to best use it,  read my article here .

In the beginning of this tutorial, we started with a blank presentation, which uses the default Office theme as you can see in the picture below.

That gives you the most flexibility because it has a blank background and quite simple layouts that work for most presentations. However, it also means that it’s your responsibility to enhance the design.

If you’re comfortable with this, you can stay with the default theme or create your own custom theme ( read my guide here ). But if you would rather not have to think about design, then you can choose a pre-designed theme.

Microsoft provides 46 other pre-built themes, which include slide layouts, color variants and palettes, and fonts. Each one varies quite significantly, so make sure you look through them carefully.

To select a different theme, go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon, and click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Themes section .

For this tutorial, let’s select the  Frame  theme and then choose the third Variant in the theme. Doing so changes the layout, colors, and fonts of your presentation.

Note: The theme dropdown area is also where you can import or save custom themes. To see my favorite places to find professional PowerPoint templates and themes (and recommendations for why I like them), read my guide here .

C. How to change a slide background in PowerPoint

The next thing to decide is how you want your background to look for the entire presentation. In the  Variants area, you can see four background options.

For this example, we want our presentation to have a dark background, so let’s select Style 3. When you do so, you’ll notice that:

• The background color automatically changes across all slides
• The color of the text on most of the slides automatically changes to white so that it’s visible on the dark background
• The colors of the objects on slides #6 and #7 also adjust, in a way we may not want (we’ll likely have to make some manual adjustments to these slides)

Note: If you want to change the slide background for just that one slide, don’t left-click the style. Instead, right-click it and select Apply to Selected Slides .

After you change the background for your entire presentation, you can easily adjust the background for an individual slide.

Inside the Format Background pane, you can see you have the following options:

• Gradient fill
• Picture or texture fill
• Pattern fill
• Hide background

You can explore these options to find the PowerPoint background that best fits your presentation.

D. How to change your color palette in PowerPoint

Another thing you may want to adjust in your presentation, is the color scheme. In the picture below you can see the Theme Colors we are currently using for this presentation.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own color palette. By default, the Office theme includes the Office color palette. This affects the colors you are presented with when you format any element within your presentation (text, shapes, SmartArt, etc.).

The good news is that the colors here are easy to change. To switch color palettes, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab in the Ribbon
• In the Variants area, click on the  dropdown arrow  and select  Colors
• Select  the color palette (or theme colors) you want

You can choose among the pre-built color palettes from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

As you build your presentation, make sure you use the colors from your theme to format objects. That way, changing the color palette adjusts all the colors in your presentation automatically.

E. How to change your fonts in PowerPoint

Just as we changed the color palette, you can do the same for the fonts.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own font combination. By default, the Office theme includes the Office font pairing. This affects the fonts that are automatically assigned to all text in your presentation.

The good news is that the font pairings are easy to change. To switch your Theme Fonts, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Variants  area
• Select  Fonts
• Select  the font pairing you want

You can choose among the pre-built fonts from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

If you are working with PowerPoint presentations on both Mac and PC computers, make sure you choose a safe PowerPoint font. To see a list of the safest PowerPoint fonts, read our guide here .

If you receive a PowerPoint presentation and the wrong fonts were used, you can use the Replace Fonts dialog box to change the fonts across your entire presentation. For details, read our guide here .

Adding Animations & Transitions (optional)

The final step to make a PowerPoint presentation compelling, is to consider using animations and transitions. These are by no means necessary to a good presentation, but they may be helpful in your situation.

A. Adding PowerPoint animations

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust animations engine designed to power your creativity. That being said, it’s also easy to get started with basic animations.

Animations are movements that you can apply to individual objects on your slide.

To add a PowerPoint animation to an element of your slide, simply:

• Select the  element
• Go to the  Animations tab in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  animation  you want

You can add animations to multiple objects at one time by selecting them all first and then applying the animation.

B. How to preview a PowerPoint animation

There are three ways to preview a PowerPoint animation:

• Click on the Preview button in the Animations tab
• Click on the little star  next to the slide
• Play the slide in Slide Show Mode

To learn other ways to run your slide show, see our guide on presenting a PowerPoint slide show with shortcuts .

To adjust the settings of your animations, explore the options in the  Effect Options ,  Advanced Animation  and the  Timing  areas of the  Animation tab .

Note:  To see how to make objects appear and disappear in your slides by clicking a button,  read our guide here .

C. How to manage your animations in PowerPoint

The best way to manage lots of animations on your slide is with the Animation Pane . To open it, simply:

• Navigate to the  Animations tab
• Select the  Animation Pane

Inside the Animation Pane, you’ll see all of the different animations that have been applied to objects on your slide, with their numbers marked as pictured above.

Note: To see examples of PowerPoint animations that can use in PowerPoint, see our list of PowerPoint animation tutorials here .

D. How to add transitions to your PowerPoint presentation

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust transition engine so that you can dictate how your slides change from one to the other. It is also extremely easy to add transitions to your slides.

In PowerPoint, transitions are the movements (or effects) you see as you move between two slides.

To add a transition to a PowerPoint slide, simply:

• Select the  slide
• Go to the  Transitions tab in the Ribbon
• In the Transitions to This Slide area, click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  transition  you want

To adjust the settings of the transition, explore the options in the  Timing  area of the Transitions tab.

You can also add the same transition to multiple slides. To do that, select them in the  Slides Pane  and apply the transition.

E. How to preview a transition in PowerPoint

There are three ways to preview your PowerPoint transitions (just like your animations):

• Click on the Preview  button in the Transitions tab
• Click on the little star  beneath the slide number in the thumbnail view

Note:  In 2016, PowerPoint added a cool new transition, called Morph. It operates a bit differently from other transitions. For a detailed tutorial on how to use the cool Morph transition,  see our step-by-step article here .

Save Your PowerPoint Presentation

After you’ve built your presentation and made all the adjustments to your slides, you’ll want to save your presentation. YOu can do this several different ways.

To save a PowerPoint presentation using your Ribbon, simply:

• Navigate to the  File tab
•  Select  Save As  on the left
• Choose  where you want to save your presentation
• Name  your presentation and/or adjust your file type settings
• Click  Save

You can alternatively use the  Ctrl+S keyboard shortcut to save your presentation. I recommend using this shortcut frequently as you build your presentation to make sure you don’t lose any of your work.

This is the standard way to save a presentation. However, there may be a situation where you want to save your presentation as a different file type.

To learn how to save your presentation as a PDF, see our guide on converting PowerPoint to a PDF .

How to save your PowerPoint presentation as a template

Once you’ve created a presentation that you like, you may want to turn it into a template. The easiest – but not technically correct – way, is to simply create a copy of your current presentation and then change the content.

But be careful! A PowerPoint template is a special type of document and it has its own parameters and behaviors.

If you’re interested in learning about how to create your own PowerPoint template from scratch, see our guide on how to create a PowerPoint template .

Printing Your PowerPoint Presentation

After finishing your PowerPoint presentation, you may want to print it out on paper. Printing your slides is relatively easy.

To open the Print dialog box, you can either:

• Hit Ctrl+P on your keyboard
• Or go to the Ribbon and click on File and then Print

Inside the Print dialog box, you can choose from the various printing settings:

• Printer: Select a printer to use (or print to PDF or OneNote)
• Slides: Choose which slides you want to print
• Layout: Determine how many slides you want per page (this is where you can print the notes, outline, and handouts)
• Collated or uncollated (learn what collated printing means here )
• Color: Choose to print in color, grayscale or black & white

There are many more options for printing your PowerPoint presentations. Here are links to more in-depth articles:

• How to print multiple slides per page
• How to print your speaker notes in PowerPoint
• How to save PowerPoint as a picture presentation

So that’s how to create a PowerPoint presentation if you are brand new to it. We’ve also included a ton of links to helpful resources to boost your PowerPoint skills further.

When you are creating your presentation, it is critical to first focus on the content (what you are trying to say) before getting lost inserting and playing with elements. The clearer you are on what you want to present, the easier it will be to build it out in PowerPoint.

If you enjoyed this article, you can learn more about our PowerPoint training courses and other presentation resources by  visiting us here .

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Working With Slides in PowerPoint [A Complete Guide!]

By: Author Shrot Katewa

To create a powerful presentation – the kind that resonates with your audiences, you need to create great slides! But, all this work really starts with knowing how to work with slides in PowerPoint!

In this article, I will share with you all the basic details of working with slides such as adding, deleting, duplicating slides, and much more! Plus, in the end, I will also help you understand how you can design your slides to make your presentation visually appealing with great ease!

So, let’s get started!

1. How to Add or Insert a Slide in PowerPoint? 

Let’s start with the basics first. Adding or inserting a slide in your PowerPoint presentation is as easy as a click of a button.

To add a slide in PowerPoint, first, click on any slide in the slide navigation panel on the left part of your screen. Then, click on the “Home” tab, and select the “New Slide” option. A new slide will be added. Alternatively, you can also use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+M”.

To learn this part in further detail, make sure to check out my other article on how to add a slide in PowerPoint !

Nevertheless, the process is described below in detail –

Step-1: Place the cursor in your preferred sequence

The first step is to click on your preferred sequence in the “ Slide Navigation ” bar, which is the sidebar to the left of your screen showing thumbnails of all the slides in your PowerPoint presentation. There will be an orange line indicating the selected sequence.

Step-2: Click on the “New Slides” icon

In this step, all you have to do is first click on the “ Home” tab to click on the “ New Slides ” icon. It is the icon above the button that says, “ New Slides ”. The icon looks like a plus ‘+’ sign over a square with comparative tables on it. This will immediately add a slide in the sequence of the selected area in the “ Slide Navigation ” sidebar.

2. How to Create Slides in PowerPoint? 

Creating a new slide is very easy in PowerPoint. Open a new PowerPoint file and follow the two simple steps described below, to create a slide of your preferred layout in your PowerPoint presentation.

Step-1: Click on the “New Slides” button  

The first step of the process is to click on the “ New Slides ” button, which is below the icon that looks like a plus ‘+’ sign over a square as described in the previous step. This will open a drop-down menu.

Step-2: Select your preferred layout

In this step, simply select your preferred layout for the new slide. Once you click on the preferred layout, the new slide will be added to your PowerPoint presentation with the selected layout.

3. How to Copy Slides in PowerPoint? 

I covered this topic in complete detail in my other article on how to copy and paste in PowerPoint . You may want to check that out for more methods and secret tips!

But, in a nutshell, there are two ways in which you can copy a slide from your PowerPoint presentation. One way is to use the mouse and the other is to use the keyboard. The two methods are described below.

Method-1: Using the Mouse

You can use the mouse to copy the slide on your presentation.

Step 1 – Copy the Slide

“ Right-click ” on the slide that you want to copy, and it will open the drop-down menu. From the drop-down menu, click on the “ Copy ” option.

Once you’ve clicked on the “ Copy ” option, the slide will be temporarily saved in the clipboard of your computer.

Step 2 – Paste the Slide

Just how you managed to copy a slide, you can paste the slide as well. Navigate to the location where you want to paste the slide. Then, right-click on the slide, and from the dropdown, click on “ Paste “.

Method-2: Using the keyboard

You can also use the keyboard shortcut keys to copy the slides. Let’s take a look at how it’s done.

In this method, all you have to do is to select the slide that you want to copy and while the slide is selected, click on the two buttons “ Ctrl + C ” together on your keyboard.

Once you’ve copied the slide, you can paste it to a destination location. Simply use the “ Ctrl+V ” keyboard shortcut for the same.

4. How to Delete Slides in PowerPoint? 

Similar to copying a slide, there are two methods that you can use to delete a slide in your PowerPoint presentation. Both of these methods are described in the section below.

Method 1: Using the Mouse

In this method, you have to “ Right Click ” on the slide that you want to remove and then select the “ Delete Slide ” option from the drop-down menu.

After you click on the “ Delete Slide ” option, the selected slide will be removed from your PowerPoint presentation.

Method-2: Using the Keyboard

This method is simpler than using the dropdown menu. All you have to do is select the slide that you want to delete and then hit the “ Delete ” button or the “ Back Space ” button on the keyboard of your computer and the slide will be removed from your PowerPoint presentation immediately.

5. How to Group Slides in PowerPoint? 

Grouping slides together is a very effective way of keeping your PowerPoint presentation organized. To group slides with different purposes into a different collection of slides, you have to add sections to the “ Slide Navigation ” sidebar.

The whole process is described in 5 easy steps below.

Step-1: “Right-click” above the first slide of the group

The first step is to move your cursor right above the first slide of the group that you are trying to make and then “ Right-click ” on that area. This will open a drop-down menu.

Step-2: Select the “Add Section” option

In this second step, you have to click on the “ Add Section ” option from the drop-down menu. It is the last option in that drop-down menu. After clicking on it a pop-up window will appear on your screen.

Step-3: Rename the section

In the pop-up window, you opened in the last step, rename the group with an appropriate title, and hit the “ Rename ” button which is the button to the left of the two buttons at the bottom of the pop-up window.

This will add the starting point and the title of the group you are making.

Step-4: Make another section under the last slide of the group

After you have created the title section of the group, make another group under the last slide of your preferred group of slides. This will set the parameter for which slides are to be grouped together.

Step-5: Collapse the group

Click on the small arrow pointing to the right, just before the name of the group of slides. After you do so, you will see that the slides have been grouped together under the newly added section and the number in the bracket beside it indicates how many slides are in that group.

6. How to Hide Slides in PowerPoint? 

To hide a slide in your presentation your PowerPoint presentation, you have to use the “ Slide Sorter ” view and hide the slide from there. The whole process is described step-by-step below.

  Step-1: Select the “Slide Sorter” view

The first step of the process is to go to the “ View ” tab. In the “ View ” tab, click on the “ Slide Sorter ” view from the “ Presentation ” views of the tab. This will change the viewing mode of your PowerPoint presentation and you will be able to see all the slides in smaller thumbnails grouped together.

Step-2: “Right-click” on the slide

In this step, find the slide that you want to hide in the “ Slide Sorter ” view and then “ Right-click ” on it. This will open a drop-down menu.

Step-3: Select the “Hide Slide” option

After you have opened the drop-down menu, select the “ Hide Slide ” option. This will immediately hide the slide from your PowerPoint presentation. The thumbnail of the slide will be greyed out and the slide number will also be crossed, indicating that the slide is hidden.

7. How to Number Slides in PowerPoint? 

To number the sequence of the slides in your PowerPoint presentation, you have to go to the “ Slide Master ” view and checkmark the slide number from the “ Header and Footer ” option. The whole process is described in easy steps below.

Step-1: Open the “Slide Master” view

The first step is to go to the “ View ” tab which is the second to last tab of the ribbon. In the “ View ” tab, click on the “ Slide Master ” view in the “ Master Views ” section. This will change the PowerPoint view to the “ Slide Master ” view.

Step-2: Select the “Header & Footer” option

In this step, select the “ Master Slide ”. The “ Master Slide ” is the first slide in the “ Slide Master ” view and you will notice that it is the only slide that is a little bigger and to the right than the rest of the slides in the navigation bar.

After selecting the “ Master Slide ”, go to the “ Insert ” tab on the ribbon and select the “ Header & Footer ” option, which is located in the “ Text ” section of the tab. A pop-up window will appear on your screen.

Step-3: Tick mark the “Slide number” option

In this step, select the box of the “ Slide Number ” option and then hit the “ Apply to all ” button which is the second button of the 3 buttons at the bottom right corner of the pop-up window.

Step-4: Exit the Slide Master

Make sure that you exit the slide master. To do that, first, go back to the “ Slide Master ” tab. Then, from the ribbon, click on “ Close Slide Master “.

After that, the slide number of all the slides will be added to your PowerPoint presentation.

8. How to Link Slides in PowerPoint? 

To link different slides in your PowerPoint presentation to each other, you have to type in a text, that can be hyperlinked to the slide in your PowerPoint presentation.

Type in a text that you can click to go to the linked slide and then follow the process described in easy steps below.

Step-1: Select the “Link” option

To begin, “ Right-click ” on the word that will lead you to the linked slide. A drop-down menu will appear on your screen. From the drop-down menu, select the “ Link ” option. This will open a pop-up window.

Step-2: Select the “Place in this document” option

After you have opened the “ Insert Hyperlink ” pop-up window, select the “ Place in this document ” option in the sidebar. This will take you to another page in the pop-up window.

Step-3: Select the slide you want to link

On this page of the pop-up window, select the slide that you want to link the current slide to and then hit the “ Ok ” button at the bottom right corner of your screen.

This will add a link to the word in the slide and upon clicking on the word while holding the “ Ctrl ” key on your keyboard, you will be taken to the linked slide.

9. How to Design Slides in PowerPoint? 

Designing your slide to fit the theme of your message will make your presentations more engaging. There are two ways in which you can design the slides in your PowerPoint presentation. Both of the methods are explained in the following section.

9a. Using Design Ideas 

By using the “ Design Ideas ” tool in Microsoft PowerPoint, you can instantly and seamlessly design slides to make them more attractive and engaging.

To use the “ Design Ideas ” tool, you have to go to the “ Design ” tab and click on the “ Design Ideas ” feature which is located in the “ Designer ” section. It is the last option in the “ Design ” tab.

I’ve covered the “Design Ideas” tool in great detail in another article where I also provide you tips on how to use it to automatically design your slides in PowerPoint! So, make sure you check out the article on how to use design ideas in PowerPoint !

However, a quick glance will remind you that these templates provided by default in PowerPoint are quite old-fashioned. I will not recommend using the built-in themes and templates in PowerPoint if you want to make your presentation look professional!

9b. Using Presentation Templates 

Another method of designing a presentation is using templates.

Templates in PowerPoint are pre-designed sets of slide layouts that can be adapted to the content on your slide and make your presentation look visually appealing!

You can use the presentation templates provided by the PowerPoint software from the “ Design ” tab to instantly design the slide in your PowerPoint presentation.

Simply go to the design tab, expand the themes section and choose a theme. This will help your slides look different from the plain and simple presentation.

Instead, I would suggest choosing a platform like Envato that provides you with ton of different options that are very affordable! I personally use templates from Envato all the time. (in fact, the images that you see in this article are also from a template!)

I’ve listed some of my personal favorite templates for your presentations. Check them out in the next section!

10. Top 5 Templates for Amazing Presentations

Our recommended templates have been chosen to give you a set of all the necessary types of slide designs that you might need. These will be helpful not just to get you started, but also with multiple presentation that you may want to design later on as these templates are quite versatile.

Here is a list of our top 5 picks of templates to make your presentations amazing!

1. Startup X - Perfect Pitch Deck Template

Startup X – Perfect Pitch Deck Powerpoint Template includes all the necessary infographics, charts, icons and hundreds of slide templates that you can use to make your business pitch more elegant and professional.

2. Massive X Presentation Template

The Massive X Presentation Template v.5.5 Fully Animated includes 760 ready-to-use slide templates and more than 930 fonts and vectors. You can use this template for virtually all purposes, but it is best for business proposals, pitch decks, portfolios, agency presentations, marketing presentations, and more!

3. Business Proposal PowerPoint Template

The Business Proposal PowerPoint Template is fully focused on giving your business presentations an edge and making them look more professional. It uses attractive infographics, charts, and messages and its soft turquoise color makes it easier on the eyes.

4. Multipurpose Infographic PowerPoint Template

Multipurpose Infographics PowerPoint Template provides you with a bundle of more than 3000 designed slides with over 50 color variations to make the information in your PowerPoint presentation more engaging. 

These templates are great to represent the data in a particular fashion, and you will find it extremely useful for your presentations.

5. Clean PowerPoint Template

We chose the Clean PowerPoint Template mainly for its aesthetics. The template provides over 700 very simple yet beautifully designed slides with over 5 color variations that make your PowerPoint presentation look more professional.

If you are looking for a minialistic look, go for this template!

Credit to cookie_studio (on Freepik) for the featured image of this article (further edited)

How-To Geek

8 tips to make the best powerpoint presentations.

Want to make your PowerPoint presentations really shine? Here's how to impress and engage your audience.

Quick Links

Table of contents, start with a goal, less is more, consider your typeface, make bullet points count, limit the use of transitions, skip text where possible, think in color, take a look from the top down, bonus: start with templates.

Slideshows are an intuitive way to share complex ideas with an audience, although they're dull and frustrating when poorly executed. Here are some tips to make your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations sing while avoiding common pitfalls.

It all starts with identifying what we're trying to achieve with the presentation. Is it informative, a showcase of data in an easy-to-understand medium? Or is it more of a pitch, something meant to persuade and convince an audience and lead them to a particular outcome?

It's here where the majority of these presentations go wrong with the inability to identify the talking points that best support our goal. Always start with a goal in mind: to entertain, to inform, or to share data in a way that's easy to understand. Use facts, figures, and images to support your conclusion while keeping structure in mind (Where are we now and where are we going?).

I've found that it's helpful to start with the ending. Once I know how to end a presentation, I know how best to get to that point. I start by identifying the takeaway---that one nugget that I want to implant before thanking everyone for their time---and I work in reverse to figure out how best to get there.

Your mileage, of course, may vary. But it's always going to be a good idea to put in the time in the beginning stages so that you aren't reworking large portions of the presentation later. And that starts with a defined goal.

A slideshow isn't supposed to include everything. It's an introduction to a topic, one that we can elaborate on with speech. Anything unnecessary is a distraction. It makes the presentation less visually appealing and less interesting, and it makes you look bad as a presenter.

This goes for text as well as images. There's nothing worse, in fact, than a series of slides where the presenter just reads them as they appear. Your audience is capable of reading, and chances are they'll be done with the slide, and browsing Reddit, long before you finish. Avoid putting the literal text on the screen, and your audience will thank you.

Related: How to Burn Your PowerPoint to DVD

Right off the bat, we're just going to come out and say that Papyrus and Comic Sans should be banned from all PowerPoint presentations, permanently. Beyond that, it's worth considering the typeface you're using and what it's saying about you, the presenter, and the presentation itself.

Consider choosing readability over aesthetics, and avoid fancy fonts that could prove to be more of a distraction than anything else. A good presentation needs two fonts: a serif and sans-serif. Use one for the headlines and one for body text, lists, and the like. Keep it simple. Veranda, Helvetica, Arial, and even Times New Roman are safe choices. Stick with the classics and it's hard to botch this one too badly.

There reaches a point where bullet points become less of a visual aid and more of a visual examination.

Bullet points should support the speaker, not overwhelm his audience. The best slides have little or no text at all, in fact. As a presenter, it's our job to talk through complex issues, but that doesn't mean that we need to highlight every talking point.

Instead, think about how you can break up large lists into three or four bullet points. Carefully consider whether you need to use more bullet points, or if you can combine multiple topics into a single point instead. And if you can't, remember that there's no one limiting the number of slides you can have in a presentation. It's always possible to break a list of 12 points down into three pages of four points each.

Animation, when used correctly, is a good idea. It breaks up slow-moving parts of a presentation and adds action to elements that require it. But it should be used judiciously.

Adding a transition that wipes left to right between every slide or that animates each bullet point in a list, for example, starts to grow taxing on those forced to endure the presentation. Viewers get bored quickly, and animations that are meant to highlight specific elements quickly become taxing.

That's not to say that you can't use animations and transitions, just that you need to pick your spots. Aim for no more than a handful of these transitions for each presentation. And use them in spots where they'll add to the demonstration, not detract from it.

Sometimes images tell a better story than text can. And as a presenter, your goal is to describe points in detail without making users do a lot of reading. In these cases, a well-designed visual, like a chart, might better convey the information you're trying to share.

The right image adds visual appeal and serves to break up longer, text-heavy sections of the presentation---but only if you're using the right images. A single high-quality image can make all the difference between a success and a dud when you're driving a specific point home.

When considering text, don't think solely in terms of bullet points and paragraphs. Tables, for example, are often unnecessary. Ask yourself whether you could present the same data in a bar or line chart instead.

Color is interesting. It evokes certain feelings and adds visual appeal to your presentation as a whole. Studies show that color also improves interest, comprehension, and retention. It should be a careful consideration, not an afterthought.

You don't have to be a graphic designer to use color well in a presentation. What I do is look for palettes I like, and then find ways to use them in the presentation. There are a number of tools for this, like Adobe Color , Coolors , and ColorHunt , just to name a few. After finding a palette you enjoy, consider how it works with the presentation you're about to give. Pastels, for example, evoke feelings of freedom and light, so they probably aren't the best choice when you're presenting quarterly earnings that missed the mark.

It's also worth mentioning that you don't need to use every color in the palette. Often, you can get by with just two or three, though you should really think through how they all work together and how readable they'll be when layered. A simple rule of thumb here is that contrast is your friend. Dark colors work well on light backgrounds, and light colors work best on dark backgrounds.

Spend some time in the Slide Sorter before you finish your presentation. By clicking the four squares at the bottom left of the presentation, you can take a look at multiple slides at once and consider how each works together. Alternatively, you can click "View" on the ribbon and select "Slide Sorter."

Are you presenting too much text at once? Move an image in. Could a series of slides benefit from a chart or summary before you move on to another point?

It's here that we have the opportunity to view the presentation from beyond the single-slide viewpoint and think in terms of how each slide fits, or if it fits at all. From this view, you can rearrange slides, add additional ones, or delete them entirely if you find that they don't advance the presentation.

The difference between a good presentation and a bad one is really all about preparation and execution. Those that respect the process and plan carefully---not only the presentation as a whole, but each slide within it---are the ones who will succeed.

This brings me to my last (half) point: When in doubt, just buy a template and use it. You can find these all over the web, though Creative Market and GraphicRiver are probably the two most popular marketplaces for this kind of thing. Not all of us are blessed with the skills needed to design and deliver an effective presentation. And while a pre-made PowerPoint template isn't going to make you a better presenter, it will ease the anxiety of creating a visually appealing slide deck.

Home Blog Design Exploring the 12 Different Types of Slides in PowerPoint

Exploring the 12 Different Types of Slides in PowerPoint

Presentations are an important communication tool in professional and academic environments. Effective slide design is not merely about aesthetics; it’s about enhancing comprehension, engagement, and retention of information. Each type of slide serves a specific purpose and requires thoughtful consideration in its creation and application. This guide explores twelve common types of slides, explaining their purposes, typical usage scenarios, essential components, and strategies for maximum effectiveness.

Table of Contents

Title Slide

Picture slide, agenda slide, introduction slide, summary slide, thank you slide, quote slide, chart & diagram slide, table slide, animation & video slide, call-to-action slide, final words.

The title slide sets the tone and context for the presentation. It’s our main opportunity to make a strong first impression and establish the speaker’s credibility regarding aesthetics and professionalism.

As the core point in how to start a presentation , the title slide gives a clear indication of the topic, the presenter’s identity, and relevant contextual data. Let’s see which are the components of the title slide.

• Main Title: This is the focal point of the slide. It should be concise yet descriptive enough to clearly explain the presentation’s focus. The font size should be large enough to be readable from the back of the room.
• Subtitle: If necessary, provide additional clarification or a more detailed descriptor of the presentation’s scope.
• Presenter’s Name and Details: Includes full name, job title, and affiliation. Positioned for easy visibility but without overshadowing the main title.
• Date and Venue: These are important for context, especially if the presentation might be referenced later or is part of a larger conference or seminar.
• Design Elements: The layout should reflect corporate or personal branding, using logos, specific color schemes, and fonts. It should also be clean and not cluttered, maintaining a professional appearance.

The title slide should be crafted around a concept that is valid for different types of slides: less is more. Maintain a high contrast between the text and the background, but don’t overdo it; otherwise, you will affect the readability of your slides . If you’re using a background image, ensure it does not distract the audience’s attention from your speech. Alternatively, we can add a fade-in or morph effect for the text to create neat transitions and grab the audience’s attention without being distracting.

For more information, read our tutorial on how to add title slides in PowerPoint .

We call a picture slide to those who use strong visual imagery to aid in storytelling presentations , making concepts tangible, providing an emotional impact, or those who serve to illustrate case studies .

Picture slides are mainly used to illustrate complex concepts , but they are also an element that can add dynamism to a presentation, making the overall presentation less “boring” than just sticking to data and tables. The components of picture slides are:

• High-Quality Image: The image should dominate the slide and be directly relevant to the accompanying content. It should be sharp and have appropriate rights for use – meaning we cannot claim an image from a professional photographer as it is. Either work with royalty-free pictures or with your own images (or work your way around Midjourney to create AI-images).
• Minimal Text: If text is necessary, it should not compete with the image. Placement should be thoughtful, ensuring that the image remains the focus. In some particular scenarios, text can be the image, as we see in portraits made out of words.
• Caption: Optional, but can help provide context or cite the source of the image. Also, captions help people with auditory impairments to comprehend the reason why the image is being shown.

Aim to choose images that evoke the emotion you want to convey in your presentation. For an appropriate layout, you can use the rule of thirds for a balanced composition or half-and-half if you are presenting the image alongside relevant written data. Avoid oversaturated images or heavily dramatic black-and-white effects.

We’re all used to text slides. That being said, good design practices regarding text slides don’t consider having huge walls of text with the sole excuse of “delivering information.” Layouts matter. Presenters should stick to a column layout where the information is summarized and arranged using presentation aids to break up the written format monotony and ensure audience engagement .

Text slides can contain the following elements:

• Headline: Clearly states the topic or point of the slide. It should be written in a distinctive type format than the rest of the body text.
• Body Text: Should be organized in short, concise paragraphs. Limit the text to essential information to avoid overwhelming the audience. Take special care when selecting the font for the presentation to ensure legibility.
• Visual References: Icons or tiny graphics can help illustrate points and break up text, enhancing readability and retention.

Always pay attention to legibility. Although bullet points can be helpful in organizing information, some viewers may find them reiterative, like everything is important—hence the reason why we shouldn’t abuse them. You can emphasize words or important phrases with bold, italics, or color changes. Ensure that the text-to-whitespace balance is accurate to prevent crowded slides.

After delivering the title slide, a good practice is to disclose the structure of the topics to be presented. This is where agenda slides are incredibly handy. They help the audience manage their expectations from the presentation and also structure the presentation’s logical flow. As a tool, they are useful in lengthy business presentations or academic presentations in which presenters review the concepts in the format of presentation handouts (or directly by checking the slide deck if it’s facilitated by the event’s organizers).

Agenda slides are usually built out of these components:

• List of Topics: Clearly enumerated or bulleted, each representing a key section of the presentation. They can list or not the slide number in which they are shown.
• Timings: Optional, but it can be helpful to indicate how long each section is expected to last.
• Progress Indicator: Visual elements like checkmarks or arrows can show what has been covered and what remains to be done.

Using distinctive headings can keep the slide clean. If we use hyperlinks in PowerPoint for our agenda slide, we can mention them during the speech so there are no abrupt jumps between slides. 

The introduction slide is designed to provide a background or context for the topic presented, delivering the key concepts, theories, or frameworks required to understand the rest of the presentation.

The introduction slide is placed right after the agenda slide. After the concepts of the introduction slide are delivered, a smooth transition can direct the presentation’s flow toward the core concepts of the presentation. In terms of the introduction slide’s components, we can count:

• Key Concepts: Briefly introduce and define critical concepts or terms that will be recurrent throughout the presentation.
• Context Setting: Provide any necessary historical, social, or academic context that frames the topic appropriately.
• Objectives: Clearly outline what the presentation aims to achieve, helping to set the audience’s expectations about the takeaways.
• Engaging Visuals: Relevant images, icons, or brief animations can help highlight important elements and make the slide more engaging.

In general lines, the introduction slide should have visual elements but not be overwhelming for the audience. The visuals must not distract, and we cannot use bold color combinations that take the focus away from the message. Using diagrams can also help to present key concepts effectively.

At the final stages of a presentation, we can use the summary slide to review all the key points discussed throughout the presentation. It’s typically placed before the closing remarks, “thank you” slide, or Q&A session. Summary slides help recap the information presented, making it easier to process the key takeaways.

We can count these elements in a summary slide:

• Key Points: Summarize the main points covered in a clear, easy-to-read format.
• Visual Recap: Use simple graphics, charts, or callouts to represent significant data or conclusions visually.
• Concluding Remark: A sentence or two that encapsulates the overarching message or conclusion of the presentation.

Use consistent styling with the earlier slides for a cohesive aesthetic. You can apply levels of hierarchy to the concepts summarized through color or size variations in text.

When preparing for how to end a presentation , the thank you slide is a formal conclusion format. It is always the last slide available in the presentation, and it offers a moment to express gratitude to the audience for their attention, time, and participation. Let’s review which elements make a successful thank you slide:

• Thank You Note: A simple, clear expression of gratitude. It doesn’t require fancy graphics.
• Presenter’s Contact Information: Include an email address, phone number, or social media handles for further communication.
• Invitation for Questions: A prompt that encourages the audience to engage in discussion or ask questions about the presentation.

The transition between the thank you slide and the questions and answers session has to be smooth. Therefore, it’s vital to put an invitation to questions rather than just signaling the slide as the conclusion. A subtle background that follows the slide deck’s aesthetic is always a plus.

Quote slides integrate wisdom, authority, or inspiration from well-known or respected sources into your presentation. They can provide powerful support for your arguments or serve as a motivational element within your talk.

This type of PowerPoint slide is ideal for emphasizing a point, sparking reflection, or inspiring the audience. Use them to underscore the relevance of an idea or introduce a shift in the presentation’s focus.

The components of the quote slide are:

• The Quote: Clearly presented and attributed to the speaker or writer. The text should be legible with enough emphasis to stand out.
• Author’s Name and Credentials: Provide context for the quote by including the author’s name and, if relevant, their credentials or why they are an authority on the topic.
• Related Imagery or Background: An image or abstract design that complements the theme of the quote can enhance its impact.

Work with a quote PowerPoint template that effectively highlights the quote through a professional layout. For visibility, a strong contrast must be maintained between the text and the background; therefore, text boxes with backgrounds are commonly used. If using an image, select one that enhances rather than competes with the text.

Chart and diagram slides are essential for visually representing data, showing relationships, illustrating processes, and explaining complex systems. They transform numbers and abstract concepts into more digestible graphic formats that enhance audience understanding. We can choose between charts and graphs depending on the kind of data to represent, but diagrams often help to contextualize the raw data for simpler explanations.

Use these slides when discussing data trends, comparisons, workflow processes, or hierarchical structures. They are particularly helpful in business presentations, scientific discussions, and any scenario where visual simplification of complex data is beneficial.

The main components for any chart or diagram slide are:

• Chart or Diagram: Select the appropriate type (e.g., bar chart , pie chart , flowchart , organizational chart ) based on the data or process you are illustrating.
• Labels and Legends: Essential for clarity, they help the audience understand what each part of the chart or diagram represents.
• Titles and Subtitles: They clearly indicate what the graphic explains or highlights.
• Annotations or Callouts: Use these to emphasize key points or data within the chart or diagram.

Keep all text in graphs readable and clear. Animated effects can show a progression or illustrate relationships more dynamically. In terms of colors, use contrasting colors for data sets to aid in differentiation. 

For more information, check our collection of chart PowerPoint templates .

The other format for representing data in presentation slides is tables. Tables can structure data sets systematically and allow for the presentation of detailed data in a comparative and accessible format. For this reason, they are ideal for showing exact figures and relationships between items.

These slides are especially useful in financial, research, or technical presentations where precise data needs to be compared or detailed specifications have to be presented side by side. We can identify the following elements in table slides:

• Table: Clearly segmented into rows and columns. Headers should be distinct to guide the viewer through the data.
• Row and Column Labels: These should describe the data they contain succinctly and clearly.
• Highlighting: Use shading, bolding, or color-coding to emphasize important data points or trends within the table.
• Footnotes or Source Citations: If the data comes from external sources or requires additional explanation, include this information in a discreet but readable manner.

In design terms, tables should be kept as neat as possible. All text must be legible, with sufficient spacing and an appropriate font size (no less than 11 pt). Colors can be used to differentiate between data sets, but avoid using too many colors, as they can lead to confusion. 

For more information, check our collection of PowerPoint table templates .

Sometimes, images aren’t enough. Video presentations and vector image animations are powerful tools, as they can be planned to enhance storytelling. The average duration depends on the total presentation length, but they shouldn’t take more than 30% of the total allotted time (as otherwise, the attendees are just streaming video rather than viewing a presentation). 

When it comes to the components of this type of slide, we can find:

• Embedded Video or Animation: This should be high quality (720p minimum) and directly relevant to the presented content.
• Playback Controls: Clearly visible to allow easy control during the presentation.
• Brief Descriptions or Introductions: Provide context or prepare the audience for what they will see.

As a presenter, your job is to ensure the video or animation is seamlessly integrated into the presentation, both technically and from a design perspective. This means testing the playback functionality multiple times prior to the presentation.

Also, check our collection of animated PowerPoint templates .

We conclude this list with a slide to persuade the audience to take specific action following the presentation. Call-to-action slides, or CTA slides, encourage the viewers to take action, such as further conversation, purchasing an item or service, or participating in a project.

It is typically placed at the end of the presentation, following the summary and thank you slide, to motivate immediate action. Its components are:

• Clear Directive: The CTA itself should be straightforward and compelling, such as “Register Now,” “Join Us,” or “Visit Our Website.”
• Reasons to Act: Briefly reiterate the benefits or importance of taking the action, enhancing the persuasive appeal.
• Contact Information or Links: Provide all necessary links or contact details to make it easy for the audience to know how to act.

The CTA slide should feature a design that grabs attention. Use strong, action-oriented language and a large, readable text. 

As we’ve seen, harnessing the usage of these different types of slides helps us become better presenters, with our message being tailored to specific needs. Create your own slide decks by implementing the guidance listed in this article and customize the slides each time for a unique experience.

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How to Make a Slideshow on PowerPoint

Whether for work or private, use slideshows to get your message across

• Central Washington University

In This Article

Jump to a Section

Before You Begin

• Step-by-Step: Make a Slideshow on PowerPoint
• Play Music During the Slideshow
• Set up the Slideshow
• Add Timings to Each Slide
• Edit Timings on a Slide
• Create a Video Slideshow
• Save a Slideshow to a CD or Other Removeable Media

When you're ready to present your PowerPoint slides to others, look no further than PowerPoint's slideshow feature. Use this tool for all kinds of slides, but those containing photos work best for most viewers.

Instructions in this article apply to PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 , PowerPoint 2019, PowerPoint 2016, PowerPoint 2013, PowerPoint 2010, and PowerPoint for Mac.

Before you create slides for your slideshow presentation, decide how long to make the slideshow, how it should flow, and the pictures you’ll use.

• Length : A slideshow can be as long or as short as you need. The length of the slideshow should be appropriate for the topic and for your audience’s attention span.
• Outline : It’s always smart to start with an outline; it helps you visualize your slideshow. An outline can be as simple as the list of topics you want to cover.
• Pictures : Choose photos that are clear and tell a story.

With PowerPoint's Photo Album , select the pictures and PowerPoint creates the basic slideshow. Fill your slides with informative text and harmonizing background music, then turn your collection of slides into a self-running photo slideshow with music that can play as a video or be stored on a CD.

When you’re ready to make a photo slideshow with music, PowerPoint gets you up and running quickly. To get started, select Insert > Photo Album > New Photo Album .

Here’s how to add and format pictures for the slideshow using the Photo Album:

Add pictures

Select File/Disk and select the images you want in the picture slideshow.

Enhance photos

Place a checkmark next to the picture you want to enhance and change the orientation, contrast, and brightness. You’ll see the changes in the Preview window.

Add text boxes

To add a slide for text, select the image in the album list you want the text to follow and select New Text Box .

Rearrange slides

 Place a checkmark next to the picture you want to move and select the Move Up or Move Down arrows.

Choose a picture layout

 Select the Picture layout down arrow and choose how you want the pictures to appear in the slideshow.

Frame the pictures

 Select the Frame shape down arrow and choose a frame style. You’ll see a preview in the Album Layout area. This option will not be selectable if the picture layout Fit to slide is enabled.

Select Create when you’re finished.

Your photo slideshow is created in a new file. Add text to the slides and change the look of each slide.

How to Play Music During the Slideshow

Play music in the background during your slideshow to offer an audio counterpoint to all the visuals. The background music starts automatically with the slideshow and plays during all the slides.

To add background music to your presentation, select Insert > Audio > Audio on My PC , choose a music file, then select OK .

The audio icon appears in the middle of the current slide. To move it, drag it to a different place on the slide. When the audio icon is selected, the Playback tab appears. Select Play in Background and make changes to the audio file . Here are some suggestions.

• Preview the music : Select Play to hear what the music will sound like during your slideshow.
• Shorten the duration : Select Trim Audio to remove parts of the beginning and end of the music file.
• Adjust the volume : Select Volume to make the background music louder or softer.

How to Set up the Slideshow

Once your slides are finished, it’s time to set up the slideshow. Start by deciding whether to show the slideshow in a window or full screen.

To set up the slideshow, select Slide Show > Set Up Slide Show and choose one of the following:

• Browsed by an individual (window) : Run the slideshow automatically and inside a window. This option works best when you save the slideshow to a CD.
• Browsed at a kiosk (full screen) : Run the slideshow automatically and at full-screen size. This option works best when you convert the slideshow to a video.

Select OK when you’re finished.

How to Add Timings to Each Slide in the Slideshow

Now it’s time to decide how long each slide will appear in the slideshow. To begin, select Slide Show > Rehearse Timings . The slideshow displays in full screen with a Recording toolbar and a timer.

While timing your presentation, use the Recording toolbar to advance through the presentation.

Select Next (arrow pointing to the right) to go to the next slide when the desired timing has been reached.

Select Pause to start and stop the timing.

Select Repeat to restart recording the time for the selected slide.

When you’re finished and have set the time for the last slide, close the Recording toolbar.

Select Yes to keep the recorded slide timings.

How to Edit Timings on a Slide

If you need to increase or decrease the time for your slideshow, change how long slides appear during the slideshow.

To change the timing for a slide:

Select View > Slide Sorter .

Select Transitions .

Select a slide.

In the Advance Slide After text box, enter how long the slide should appear in the slideshow before proceeding to the next slide, then press Enter .

The new timing applies to the slide.

How to Create a PowerPoint Video Slideshow

The easiest way to distribute and play your slideshow is in video format. This way, anyone can view your slideshow no matter what computer or device they use.

To convert a slideshow into a video:

Save the file.

Select File > Export .

Select Create a Video .

To force a smaller file size, select the Full HD drop-down list and choose a lower quality.

Select Create Video .

Select the destination folder and give the video a descriptive file name.

Select Save . It may take a few minutes to process the file and create the video.

How to Save a Slideshow to a CD or Other Removeable Media

To create a presentation that can be watched on any computer and can be stored on a CD or other removable media:

Select Package Presentation for CD > Package for CD .

Type a name for the CD.

Select Copy to Folder or Copy to CD and follow the on-screen directions.

When you’re finished, select Close .

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Create your presentation

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AI presentation maker

When lack of inspiration or time constraints are something you’re worried about, it’s a good idea to seek help. Slidesgo comes to the rescue with its latest functionality—the AI presentation maker! With a few clicks, you’ll have wonderful slideshows that suit your own needs . And it’s totally free!

Generate presentations in minutes

We humans make the world move, but we need to sleep, rest and so on. What if there were someone available 24/7 for you? It’s time to get out of your comfort zone and ask the AI presentation maker to give you a hand. The possibilities are endless : you choose the topic, the tone and the style, and the AI will do the rest. Now we’re talking!

Customize your AI-generated presentation online

Alright, your robotic pal has generated a presentation for you. But, for the time being, AIs can’t read minds, so it’s likely that you’ll want to modify the slides. Please do! We didn’t forget about those time constraints you’re facing, so thanks to the editing tools provided by one of our sister projects —shoutouts to Wepik — you can make changes on the fly without resorting to other programs or software. Add text, choose your own colors, rearrange elements, it’s up to you! Oh, and since we are a big family, you’ll be able to access many resources from big names, that is, Freepik and Flaticon . That means having a lot of images and icons at your disposal!

How does it work?

Think of your topic.

First things first, you’ll be talking about something in particular, right? A business meeting, a new medical breakthrough, the weather, your favorite songs, a basketball game, a pink elephant you saw last Sunday—you name it. Just type it out and let the AI know what the topic is.

Choose your preferred style and tone

They say that variety is the spice of life. That’s why we let you choose between different design styles, including doodle, simple, abstract, geometric, and elegant . What about the tone? Several of them: fun, creative, casual, professional, and formal. Each one will give you something unique, so which way of impressing your audience will it be this time? Mix and match!

Make any desired changes

You’ve got freshly generated slides. Oh, you wish they were in a different color? That text box would look better if it were placed on the right side? Run the online editor and use the tools to have the slides exactly your way.

Download the final result for free

Yes, just as envisioned those slides deserve to be on your storage device at once! You can export the presentation in .pdf format and download it for free . Can’t wait to show it to your best friend because you think they will love it? Generate a shareable link!

What is an AI-generated presentation?

It’s exactly “what it says on the cover”. AIs, or artificial intelligences, are in constant evolution, and they are now able to generate presentations in a short time, based on inputs from the user. This technology allows you to get a satisfactory presentation much faster by doing a big chunk of the work.

Can I customize the presentation generated by the AI?

Of course! That’s the point! Slidesgo is all for customization since day one, so you’ll be able to make any changes to presentations generated by the AI. We humans are irreplaceable, after all! Thanks to the online editor, you can do whatever modifications you may need, without having to install any software. Colors, text, images, icons, placement, the final decision concerning all of the elements is up to you.

Can I add my own images?

Absolutely. That’s a basic function, and we made sure to have it available. Would it make sense to have a portfolio template generated by an AI without a single picture of your own work? In any case, we also offer the possibility of asking the AI to generate images for you via prompts. Additionally, you can also check out the integrated gallery of images from Freepik and use them. If making an impression is your goal, you’ll have an easy time!

Is this new functionality free? As in “free of charge”? Do you mean it?

Yes, it is, and we mean it. We even asked our buddies at Wepik, who are the ones hosting this AI presentation maker, and they told us “yup, it’s on the house”.

Are there more presentation designs available?

From time to time, we’ll be adding more designs. The cool thing is that you’ll have at your disposal a lot of content from Freepik and Flaticon when using the AI presentation maker. Oh, and just as a reminder, if you feel like you want to do things yourself and don’t want to rely on an AI, you’re on Slidesgo, the leading website when it comes to presentation templates. We have thousands of them, and counting!.

How can I download my presentation?

The easiest way is to click on “Download” to get your presentation in .pdf format. But there are other options! You can click on “Present” to enter the presenter view and start presenting right away! There’s also the “Share” option, which gives you a shareable link. This way, any friend, relative, colleague—anyone, really—will be able to access your presentation in a moment.

Discover more content

This is just the beginning! Slidesgo has thousands of customizable templates for Google Slides and PowerPoint. Our designers have created them with much care and love, and the variety of topics, themes and styles is, how to put it, immense! We also have a blog, in which we post articles for those who want to find inspiration or need to learn a bit more about Google Slides or PowerPoint. Do you have kids? We’ve got a section dedicated to printable coloring pages! Have a look around and make the most of our site!

How To Get Free Access To Microsoft PowerPoint

E very time you need to present an overview of a plan or a report to a whole room of people, chances are you turn to Microsoft PowerPoint. And who doesn't? It's popular for its wide array of features that make creating effective presentations a walk in the park. PowerPoint comes with a host of keyboard shortcuts for easy navigation, subtitles and video recordings for your audience's benefit, and a variety of transitions, animations, and designs for better engagement.

But with these nifty features comes a hefty price tag. At the moment, the personal plan — which includes other Office apps — is at $69.99 a year. This might be the most budget-friendly option, especially if you plan to use the other Microsoft Office apps, too. Unfortunately, you can't buy PowerPoint alone, but there are a few workarounds you can use to get access to PowerPoint at no cost to you at all.

Read more: The 20 Best Mac Apps That Will Improve Your Apple Experience

Method #1: Sign Up For A Free Microsoft Account On The Office Website

Microsoft offers a web-based version of PowerPoint completely free of charge to all users. Here's how you can access it:

• Visit the Microsoft 365 page .
• If you already have a free account with Microsoft, click Sign in. Otherwise, press "Sign up for the free version of Microsoft 365" to create a new account at no cost.
• On the Office home page, select PowerPoint from the side panel on the left.
• Click on "Blank presentation" to create your presentation from scratch, or pick your preferred free PowerPoint template from the options at the top (there's also a host of editable templates you can find on the Microsoft 365 Create site ).
• Create your presentation as normal. Your edits will be saved automatically to your Microsoft OneDrive as long as you're connected to the internet.

It's important to keep in mind, though, that while you're free to use this web version of PowerPoint to create your slides and edit templates, there are certain features it doesn't have that you can find on the paid version. For instance, you can access only a handful of font styles and stock elements like images, videos, icons, and stickers. Designer is also available for use on up to three presentations per month only (it's unlimited for premium subscribers). When presenting, you won't find the Present Live and Always Use Subtitles options present in the paid plans. The biggest caveat of the free version is that it won't get any newly released features, unlike its premium counterparts.

Method #2: Install Microsoft 365 (Office) To Your Windows

Don't fancy working on your presentation in a browser? If you have a Windows computer with the Office 365 apps pre-installed or downloaded from a previous Office 365 trial, you can use the Microsoft 365 (Office) app instead. Unlike the individual Microsoft apps that you need to buy from the Microsoft Store, this one is free to download and use. Here's how to get free PowerPoint on the Microsoft 365 (Office) app:

• Search for Microsoft 365 (Office) on the Microsoft Store app.
• Install and open it.
• Sign in with your Microsoft account. Alternatively, press "Create free account" if you don't have one yet.
• Click on Create on the left side panel.
• Select Presentation.
• In the PowerPoint window that opens, log in using your account.
• Press Accept on the "Free 5-day pass" section. This lets you use PowerPoint (and Word and Excel) for five days — free of charge and without having to input any payment information.
• Create your presentation as usual. As you're using the desktop version, you can access the full features of PowerPoint, including the ability to present in Teams, export the presentation as a video file, translate the slides' content to a different language, and even work offline.

The only downside of this method is the time limit. Once the five days are up, you can no longer open the PowerPoint desktop app. However, all your files will still be accessible to you. If you saved them to OneDrive, you can continue editing them on the web app. If you saved them to your computer, you can upload them to OneDrive and edit them from there.

Method #3: Download The Microsoft PowerPoint App On Your Android Or iOS Device

If you're always on the move and need the flexibility of creating and editing presentations on your Android or iOS device, you'll be glad to know that PowerPoint is free and available for offline use on your mobile phones. But — of course, there's a but — you can only access the free version if your device is under 10.1 inches. Anything bigger than that requires a premium subscription. If your phone fits the bill, then follow these steps to get free PowerPoint on your device:

• Install Microsoft PowerPoint from the App Store or Google Play Store .
• Log in using your existing Microsoft email or enter a new email address to create one if you don't already have an account.
• On the "Get Microsoft 365 Personal Plan" screen, press Skip For Now.
• If you're offered a free trial, select Try later (or enjoy the free 30-day trial if you're interested).
• To make a new presentation, tap the plus sign in the upper right corner.
• Change the "Create in" option from OneDrive - Personal to a folder on your device. This allows you to save the presentation to your local storage and make offline edits.
• Press "Set as default" to set your local folder as the default file storage location.
• Choose your template from the selection or use a blank presentation.
• Edit your presentation as needed.

Do note that PowerPoint mobile comes with some restrictions. There's no option to insert stock elements, change the slide size to a custom size, use the Designer feature, or display the presentation in Immersive Reader mode. However, you can use font styles considered premium on the web app.

Method #4: Use Your School Email Address

Office 365 Education is free for students and teachers, provided they have an email address from an eligible school. To check for your eligibility, here's what you need to do:

• Go to the Office 365 Education page .
• Type in your school email address in the empty text field.
• Press "Get Started."
• On the next screen, verify your eligibility. If you're eligible, you'll be asked to select whether you're a student or a teacher. If your school isn't recognized, however, you'll get a message telling you so.
• For those who are eligible, proceed with creating your Office 365 Education account. Make sure your school email can receive external mail, as Microsoft will send you a verification code for your account.
• Once you're done filling out the form, press "Start." This will open your Office 365 account page.

You can then start making your PowerPoint presentation using the web app. If your school's plan supports it, you can also install the Office 365 apps to your computer by clicking the "Install Office" button on your Office 365 account page and running the downloaded installation file. What sets the Office 365 Education account apart from the regular free account is that you have unlimited personal cloud storage and access to other Office apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Read the original article on SlashGear .

7 Best Free AI PPT Maker in 2024

If you are looking for the best free AI PPT maker, then you have come to the right place. In this article, you will find a list of some of the best AI PowerPoint generator tools that you can use and generate the required PPTs of your choice with ease. 

Since we were in school, most of us have been utilizing presenting software such as PowerPoint to create our presentations. The preparation of a compelling presentation, on the other hand, requires time from the stage of inspiration to the stage of production. As a result of the use of artificial intelligence in the process of presentation creation, this issue is no longer a concern.

Making use of slide decks and presentations is one of the most effective methods to disseminate information to individuals such as clients, colleagues, students, and friends. On the other hand, the process of designing and developing a professional presentation may take a considerable amount of time, and it is not particularly simple to begin a new presentation from scratch.

You are in luck because if you use an AI PowerPoint generator, you will be able to produce fresh slide decks in a matter of minutes. The purpose of such a free AI presentation maker is to assist users in using generative artificial intelligence in order to generate, design, and modify presentations. This allows users to concentrate on presenting their narrative rather than spending time preparing slides.

We are going to go over some of the greatest tools that you can use as the best free AI PPT maker in the next parts of this instructional tutorial. Inquire about them, should we?

AI PPT Maker: The Best Tools to Use in 2024

Below, you will find a list of the top 7 tools that you can use as the best free AI PPT maker. Before you proceed with any tool, we suggest that you go through its description, check out the tool, try it if required, and then make an informed decision. So, let’s get cracking and have a look at the first PPT maker AI tool in this list below.

1. Sendsteps

In the event that you favor a more personalized approach, Sendsteps is the best free AI PPT maker for you since it also provides you with a collection of various templates from which you can choose. These templates include icebreakers, quizzes, countdown format templates, and pitch decks. You will be able to ask your audience to be a part of quizzes that are made available online on Sendsteps after the slide creation process is complete.

In order to facilitate the creation of interactive presentation slides, Sendsteps provides expanded function capabilities. As is the case with other free AI presentation maker tools, you begin by entering the question and then selecting the customization choices, which include the language, duration, and tone.

Visit the Official Website

Also Read: Best Free AI Search Engine

2. Simplified AI

Simplified AI is the best free AI PPT maker. Why? Here’s why. It is possible that the designs that are created are too simple and limited in terms of variation. To get around this, however, there is a vast collection of templates, icons, graphics, photos, and even stickers and doodles that may be selected from in order to increase the visual variety of the slides. As is the case with the majority of the artificial intelligence PowerPoint generators, all that is required to get it started is for you to submit a question.

A pre-made template selection may also be used as a basis for the customization of the design, which is another choice for this AI PowerPoint generator. Simplified AI is capable of doing a wide variety of jobs for its customers. These duties include the creation of presentations and visual designs, as well as copywriting, video editing , and the maintenance of social media accounts.

3. Canva Doc-to-Deck

Canva is the best free AI PPT maker? How? The way it works is that you create a document in Canva and enter the material that you want to be included in the slides of your presentation. The tool will then turn the text into slides that are presentable in Canva for you, functioning in a manner that is almost identical to that of Slides AI.

Doc-to-Deck is a useful new artificial intelligence technology that was just added to Canva. This AI PPT maker for free enables users to turn the same in a smooth manner. One of the most well-known online design tools , Canva, provides users with a wide variety of templates, visuals, and design components that can be used to create designs for a variety of applications.

Also Read: Best Canva Alternatives for Graphic Design

4. Presentations

Presentations is the next best free AI PPT maker. The artificial intelligence is Clip-E, a creative AI companion inside the application. It is reminiscent of Clippy, the assistant that was used in Microsoft Office in the past. After choosing a starting point, you will have access to several customization choices. You have the ability to construct presentations in a variety of formats, such as class reports, research proposals, book reviews, and more

Before, Presentations offered a greater number of customization choices, which enabled customers to personalize the slides in accordance with their target audience, objectives, business traction, rivals, and other factors. It is Presentations. This AI Power Point generator gives customers the ability to make a presentation using text input, an outline, a PDF that has been imported, or a business template.

5. Decktopus

The artificial intelligence assistant that Decktopus, the best free AI PPT maker, offers extends beyond the production of content to give customers additional customizing possibilities. Users are provided with guided ideas throughout the whole process of slide creation via the magic buttons feature that is included in the Desktop.

These suggestions include advice on appropriate stock icons and pictures to utilize. Additionally, Decktopus provides other presenting tools, such as the ability to record audio and create forms, in order to provide a presentation experience that is intuitive and responsive.

Decktopus goes beyond the capabilities of standard AI-based PPT maker tools by providing the opportunity to customize presentation slides to meet the individual needs of the user. These requirements may include details such as the presentation time, target audience, goals, and themes.

Also Read: Best Free AI Headshot Generator

The toolbox that Gamma has is, without a doubt, far more comprehensive and vast when compared to that of any other best free AI PPT maker. Simply by choosing the plan, you already have access to a wide variety of design choices that can be adapted to your particular requirements. These possibilities range from the construction of a pyramid layout and circular statistics to the construction of a horizontal chronology and staircase layout.

In many ways, the user interface of Gamma is comparable to that of some other PPT maker online AI tools. Gamma, much like a few other AI PPT maker free tools, offers users modifiable layouts and templates, in addition to a variety of tools and blocks that include photographs, videos, charts, diagrams, and smart layouts. All of these elements may be manipulated by the user. Additionally, it combines without any problems with applications such as Figma, Airtable, and Miroboard. This, however, is where their similarities come to a stop.

The slides that are created by Time AI are completely editable, which is a feature that is quite useful for the best free AI PPT maker. Changing the theme, adjusting the font, adding shapes, tables, and charts, and incorporating multimedia from your own collection or the stock image selections offered by Tome are all possibilities that are available to you.

A simple text input is all that is required to produce visually appealing PowerPoint presentations using this free AI presentation maker, which is one of the most popular choices now available on the market. To use Tome, all you have to do is input the title or subject that you are interested in, and then wait for it to work its magic.

Also Read: Best Free AI Video Generator from Text

AI PowerPoint Generator: Final Thoughts

The best free AI PPT maker, powered by artificial intelligence, provides a novel option for simply making outstanding presentations. The use of these tools not only helps save time and effort but also guarantees that the outcomes will be of good quality.

Discover the advantages of using free AI-based PPT maker tools right now, and take your presentations to new heights with their powerful capabilities. Discover the possibilities with the AI Power Point generator, your go-to resource for creating presentations that are both free and inventive.

By using the power of artificial intelligence technology, users are able to rapidly and easily translate their ideas into slideshows that are entertaining. PPT maker online AI tools provide a diverse platform for improving presenting abilities, with features that are designed to cater to both novices and pros alike.

In the end, if you have any questions related to the best free AI PPT maker, use the comments sections below.

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How to use Google Slides, Google's free slideshow presentation maker

• Google Slides is Google's slideshow presentation program that allows real time collaboration.
• Google Slides is part of the Google Workspace suite, which also includes Google Docs and Gmail.
• Google Slides differs from Microsoft PowerPoint in its simplicity and collaboration options.

Google Slides is a presentation program that's part of Google Workspace, a group of productivity apps that also includes Gmail, Google Sheets, Goole Docs, Google Meet , and more. Workspace has more than 3 billion users worldwide. 

With Google Slides, users can create, present, and collaborate via online presentations from various devices. You can present during Google Meet calls directly from Slides and embed charts from Google Sheets. You can also add YouTube videos to Slides presentations. 

Google recently announced plans to add artificial intelligence features like its Gemini AI tool to its Workspace programs, which include Slides. Users will be able to use Gemini to create images or written content for slides, or even reference other files in their Drives or emails in their Gmail accounts.

What is Google Slides? 

Google Slides is a cloud-based presentation program that's part of the Google Workspace. Google Slides can be used to create and deliver presentations online. 

Several different themes are available in Slides for designing presentations. Users can customize Slides presentations in a variety of colors and styles. You can add photos, videos from YouTube, charts from Google Sheets , and information from many other sources. Different members of a team can contribute and collaborate on the presentation in real time. 

There's no specific limit on how many slides you can add to your Google Slides presentation, but there is a 100 MB file size limit.

How to download Google Slides 

To access Google Slides, visit slides.google.com . 

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You can also open Slides while Gmail or Google Chrome is open by clicking on the Google Apps icon in the upper-right corner (shown as three rows of dots) and selecting Slides. 

Another option is to download the Google Slides app for your Apple or Android device. Search for Google Slides in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

What templates are available? 

Dozens of Google Slides templates are available, depending on your needs. For instance, there are general presentation templates, photography portfolios, pitch decks, case studies, science fair projects, and more. 

To browse the templates available, open Google Slides. Then, click Template Gallery in the upper-right corner. Scroll through the options, choose the one that meets your needs, and start creating a presentation. 

What's the difference between Google Slides and PowerPoint? 

Both Google Slides and PowerPoint are presentation programs. Google Slides is a program within Google Workspace, and PowerPoint is a Microsoft program. PowerPoint is an offline program, while Slides is online which allows for real time collaboration.

The programs share many features that allow for presentation creation and delivery, but PowerPoint may offer more advanced design features. 

You can convert Google Slides into PowerPoint presentations, and vice versa. From the top menu in Slides, click File, Download, and choose Microsoft PowerPoint. 

How to learn to use Google Slides 

Through Google Workspace, you can access several quick-start guides, cheat sheets, and troubleshooting resources to help you learn to use Google Slides. There are also many YouTube videos with tutorials for using Slides.

On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.

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