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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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Save a presentation as a movie file or MP4

To run your presentation on computers that don't have PowerPoint installed, you can save your presentation as a video file.

MOV files can be played in any application that supports QuickTime movies. The MP4 format is an international standard, so it's supported more broadly, especially on hardware devices.

Save in a video format

Select File > Export .

(Don't use Save As , because it doesn't offer video options.)

Open the File Format list and select the video format that you want ( MP4 or MOV ).

If the MP4 and MOV options aren't in your version of PowerPoint, see Requirements below for more information.

Select the video Quality you want: Presentation Quality , Internet Quality , or Low Quality . The higher the video quality, the larger the file size.

If you have recorded timings and want to use them in the video you create from your presentation, make sure the box next to Use Recorded Timings and Narrations is checked. You can also choose to set the amount of time the video will spend on each slide if you don't have a set timing.

When you've made all your selections, choose Export .

Note:  When you export your presentation as a video, any narrated audio that was recorded in Slide Show will play, but other embedded media files won't play.

After you've saved your presentation as a video, you can share it just as you would any other video, by using applications or devices that can open and play videos.

Requirements for saving in a video format

Limitations on presentations saved as movies.

When a presentation plays as a movie, each slide appears for a uniform amount of time unless you set individual timings, or record the slide show to establish timing for the entire presentation. For more information about setting slide timings, see Rehearse and set slide timings .

Several transitions play differently in a movie than they do in a presentation. Animation effects don't play in a movie at all.

Animate text and objects

Add, edit, or remove transitions

Record a slide show

Rehearse and set slide timings

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Save presentations

Save an opened presentation with the same name.

To save the opened presentation with the same name in the opened location, do one of the following:

• On the File tab, click Save .
• Press Ctrl+S .

Save the opened presentation with a different name in the local PC

On the File tab, click Save As to open the Save As pane:

• On the left side of the Save As pane, select the This PC option.
• If needed, change the location by clicking the More options... option to open the Save As dialog box,
• Type the name of your document and click the Save button.

Save the opened presentation in a different location

To save the presentation in any other location, do the following:

   1.   On the File tab, click Save As , then on the Save As pane, click the Browse button:

   2.   In the Save As dialog box, choose the location you need:

Optionally, you can change the name of the file and the file format.

Save a presentation in a different format

PowerPoint allows saving a presentation in different formats. To save a presentation in another format, do one of the following:

Some of the most popular:

• PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx) - the default format, can open only in PowerPoint 2007 and higher or on an earlier version with a compatibility pack installed. See more about Compatibility mode .
• PowerPoint Macro-Enabled Presentation (*.pptm) - the format open in PowerPoint 2007 and higher that supports the storage of VBA or macro code.
• PowerPoint 97-2003 (*.ppt) - format supported by PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002 (XP) and 2003. See more about Compatibility mode .
• PDF (*.pdf) - see more about how to save a presentation in PDF format .
• PowerPoint Template (*.potx) is a template file compatible with PowerPoint 2007 and higher.
• PowerPoint 97-2003 Template (*.pot) - a template file supported by PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002 (XP) and 2003.
• Office Theme (*.thmx) - see more about Office Themes .
• PowerPoint Show (*.ppsx) - see more about how to save a presentation as Presentation Show .
• MPEG-4 Video (*.mp4) - A video version of the presentation using MPEG-4 format.
• Windows Media Video (*.wmv) - A video version of the presentation using WMV format.
• Graphics formats (*.gif, *.jpg, *.png, *.tif, *.bmp) - see more about how to save a presentation as pictures .
• Strict Open XML Presentation (*.pptx) - a variant of XML that fully supports the Open XML standard.
• OpenDocument Presentation (*.odp) - a presentation that conforms to the new OpenDocument standard for exchanging data between applications.

Automatically save presentations

Saving a document periodically as you work is crucial to prevent information loss. Making PowerPoint save automatically will reduce the chance of losing data in case of a power failure or other interruption.

   1.   On the File tab, click Options :

   2.   In the PowerPoint Options dialog box, on the Save tab, under Save presentations :

• Click the Save AutoRecover information every checkbox,

By default, the location is C:\Users\<user_name>\ AppData\ Roaming\ Microsoft\ PowerPoint , where <user_name> is your logged Windows name.

   3.   Click OK to close the dialog box.

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The compatibility mode in PowerPoint

Save PowerPoint presentations as PDF Files

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Saving Presentations in PowerPoint Microsoft 365

• 15 videos | 1h 10m 43s
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WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

In this course.

• Playable 1.  Saving your presentation in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 5m 48s A key function in PowerPoint is the save function. This enables you to save your progress on a document and return to it later. The first time that you save a document, you will be required to insert the file's location on your computer, its name and also its format. Once you have saved your document, you can decide whether you want to continue to overwrite your existing save file every time you make a change or whether you create an entirely new save file. FREE ACCESS
• Playable 2.  Backing up & recovering your presentation in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 4m 45s See how to back up your PowerPoint presentation from a synced OneDrive account so that you'll always have another copy of your presentation saved. You can also access your presentation that was closed before being saved via your PowerPoint file settings. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 3.  Saving your presentation as a PDF in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 5m 18s A PDF file can generally be read by any computer. It is therefore a very good format for sharing presentations. In PowerPoint, you can export your file as a PDF. It is also possible to adjust how the file opens in the user's PDF reader, which slides are included, and even whether you include your presentation notes or not. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 4.  Exporting your presentation in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 5m 39s If you want to share your presentation with a user who does not have PowerPoint, you may have to convert your document. The program features a wide variety of formats that can be used to store your presentation. You can even export individual slides as images. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 5.  Creating a video presentation in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 5m 59s Do you want your slide show to run automatically? In PowerPoint, you can create a video version of the presentation you are working on. Before exporting your file as a video, you will need to prepare your slide show's timings and narration elements. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 6.  Creating a presentation package in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 4m 46s PowerPoint's package tool allows you to export all the elements that you will need to deliver your presentation. This is particularly useful if you are intending to give your presentation using another computer or device. Once you have exported your package, you can transfer it to a USB key or burn it to a CD. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 7.  Using your PowerPoint Microsoft 365 presentation in Word 3m 38s Create a handout version of your presentation in Microsoft Word. With the Word version of the document, you can view thumbnail images of each side along with space to take notes or type in additional information next to each image. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 8.  Checking for compatibility issues in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 3m 42s PowerPoint can check for any compatibility issues that might be present in your document and help you correct them. This can help you to make sure that your file will be accessible and useable in older versions of the program. This is important as there are certain tools and features - such as WordArt effects - that are not supported fully or will experience fidelity losses in older versions of PowerPoint. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 9.  Editing your presentation properties in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 4m 20s Your PowerPoint presentation contains additional information relating to the document. These properties, which cover data on the document author, its modification dates, and a host of other categories, are not stored in any slide. It is therefore important to know how to access this information and modify it. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 10.  Adjusting the print page layout in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 5m 25s Before printing your presentation, you may need to adjust the page layout to include all the information in your desired format. See how to access and configure your print page layout in PowerPoint. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 11.  Printing your presentation in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 3m 15s Once you are ready, you can print out the presentation that you have created in PowerPoint. This can be very useful if you want a hard copy of your document or if you want to annotate it by hand. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 12.  Creating an accessible presentation in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 4m 57s Before sharing your document, it is a good idea to make sure that is accessible. This involves using PowerPoint to check for any items or settings that might make the presentation difficult to read or use for certain individuals. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 13.  Checking for personal information in your presentation in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 4m 9s If you are intending to share your presentation with other users, you should check for any personal or confidential information that might have been added. The PowerPoint document inspector can find comments, notes, and even off-slide objects. Once you have identified any elements that could be considered confidential or personal, PowerPoint can help you remove them. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 14.  Protecting your presentation in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 4m 38s In PowerPoint, you can protect your presentation by adding password encryption. And if you want to discourage any additional editing, you can mark your presentation as finished. FREE ACCESS
• Locked 15.  Comparing two presentations in PowerPoint Microsoft 365 4m 22s If you have multiple versions of a presentation, you can use the PowerPoint compare function to visualize exactly how your two files differ. You can cycle through each change that has been made and choose to accept it or reject it. FREE ACCESS

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Creating and Saving a New Presentation

Locked lesson.

• Lesson resources Resources
• Quick reference Reference

About this lesson

Let's create our first new presentation using a blank template. We'll learn how to save presentations locally and to the cloud, and understand how this determines how the presentation is saved going forward.

Exercise files

Download the ‘before’ and ‘after’ PowerPoint presentations from the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.

Quick reference

A fundemental skill in PowerPoint is knowing how to create a new blank presentation and save it to a folder. Blank presentations by default contain one slide with no placeholders, text or other graphical elements. It provides a blank canvas from which to design a slide deck. 

All presentations should be saved to a local folder, a network drive or into cloud storage. This ensures that any changes we make are saved and the liklihood of losing work is reduced. Presentations saved to the cloud automatically save and synchronize as you work. As a general rule, most presentations we create are saved with the default .pptx file extension. 

When to use

We will need to create and save a new blank presentation when we want to design a slide deck from scratch.

Instructions

Create a new blank presentation.

New blank presentations can be created in a few ways: from the File menu, using a keyboard shortcut or from the Quick Access Toolbar. 

From the File Menu

• Click the File tab. 
• Click New . 
• Choose Blank Presentation . 

Using a Keyboard Shortcut

• Press CTRL+N . 

From the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)

• Click the New button on the Quick Access Toolbar. 

Design Ideas

When we create a new presentation, the Design Ideas pane will show on the right-hand side. The Design Ideas feature examines the contents of the selected slide and offers a variety of design choices based on the layout and content.  

To apply a design to a slide, simply select one from the list and click to apply. 

Switch between Presentations

If you are working on more than one presentation at any time, its beneficial to know how to switch between them efficiently. PowerPoint will only display one presentation at a time in the window. 

• Click the View tab. 
• In the Window group, click Switch Windows .
• Choose the presentation to switch to from the list. 

Save a Presentation

Presentations can be saved to a local folder on our PC, a network drive, an external storage device or in the cloud.

Save a Presentation to Cloud Storage

Presentations saved into a cloud storage application like OneDrive are automatically saved and synchronised as we work. This means we only need to save the presentation once at the beginning and any changes made from that point on are automatically saved. 

• Click Save As . 
• Click Browse and choose a folder. 
• Choose a meaningful name for the presentation and type it into the File name field. 
• Verify the Save as type is set to PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx). 
• Click Save . 

Once saved, check the AutoSave slider is toggled on in the Quick Access Toolbar to ensure any changes made are automatically saved and synchronised to the cloud.

Save a Presentation to a local folder on our PC

Presentations saved to a local folder do not automatically save as we work. This means we need to ensure that we save at regular intervals. 

• Click Save .

Remember to save your work at regular intervals. Click the Save icon on the Quick Access Toolbar, or select Save from the File menu. Alternatively, we can use the keyboard shortcut, CTRL+S . 

Close a Presentation

A common mistake people make when working in PowerPoint is closing down the application when they meant to close down the current presentation. If we click the X in the top right-hand corner of the PowerPoint window, the application and all open presentations will close. 

To close just the current presentation but leave PowerPoint open, click the File tab and Close . 

Hints & tips

• To make saving into OneDrive easier from within PowerPoint, click the File tab, Save A s and then Add a place . Select your OneDrive account (if you have one). 
• The Design Ideas pane will pop open automatically when we create a new presentation. We can suppress this through PowerPoint Options. Click the File tab, Options and select the General page. Scroll down to the PowerPoint Designer section and remove the tick from the Automatically show me design ideas box.   
• 00:04 Now we're a bit more familiar with the PowerPoint interface.
• 00:07 It's time for us to delve into the subject of creating and saving presentations.
• 00:12 Now currently on the screen I have opened my first presentation.
• 00:16 If you recall, this was just a blank presentation that I saved into a folder.
• 00:21 And I want to start out just by reiterating a really important point when
• 00:25 it comes to closing down presentations.
• 00:28 Something I see people doing all the time is jumping up to the cross in the top
• 00:32 right-hand corner, and clicking it in order to close down the presentation.
• 00:38 But what you'll find is that if you do click on this cross,
• 00:41 it's going to close down all of PowerPoint.
• 00:43 So that is any presentations that you have open as well as the entire application.
• 00:49 No, it might be that that is exactly what you want to do.
• 00:51 And in that case, it's absolutely fine to click on that cross.
• 00:55 However, if you just want to close down the presentation that you currently have
• 01:00 on the screen, you need to go about this in a slightly different way.
• 01:04 So I'm going to close this down, I'm going to jump up to File, and
• 01:08 you'll see halfway down at the bottom here, I have a closed option.
• 01:13 When I click that, it's just going to close down that open presentation, but
• 01:17 it's still going to leave PowerPoint open.
• 01:19 So I can then go in, open up something else, or create a new presentation.
• 01:24 Which moves us nicely on to our next subject,
• 01:27 and that is creating a new presentation from scratch.
• 01:31 Now there are a few different ways that you can do this.
• 01:34 If we jump back into that file tab and go down to new,
• 01:38 this shows us all of the different ways that we can create new slide decks.
• 01:44 And the two options that you really have are you can create a new blank
• 01:48 presentation from scratch, or
• 01:50 you can create a new presentation based off of a template.
• 01:54 We're going to talk a lot more about what these templates are, how you access them,
• 01:58 and how they work in the next lesson.
• 02:01 For now, I simply want to focus on creating a new blank presentation.
• 02:06 So what I could do here is just click on Blank presentation.
• 02:11 It's going to open in PowerPoint, and
• 02:13 it's also going to pop open that design ideas pane.
• 02:17 As I mentioned previously, design ideas is there to allow
• 02:20 you to quickly add some pizzazz to your presentation.
• 02:24 So for example, if I scroll through these design ideas,
• 02:27 I might find one that I like and select it.
• 02:30 And with just one click, I've been able to style up that title page very effectively.
• 02:36 Now the design ideas that you see in here changed depending on the slide layout that
• 02:41 you're using.
• 02:42 Now, I know that terminology isn't too familiar to you at the moment, but
• 02:46 it will be when we get on to the topic of slide layouts.
• 02:49 But just be aware that what you see in the design ideas pane changes depending on
• 02:54 the layout of your slide.
• 02:56 Now I'm going to close down this pane simply by clicking on the cross.
• 02:59 Now that isn't the only way that I can create a new presentation in PowerPoint.
• 03:05 An even quicker way of doing this is to use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl N.
• 03:11 And you'll see as soon as I do that it pops open another new blank presentation.
• 03:16 And again, I get that design ideas pane,
• 03:19 I can select something from that menu if I want to.
• 03:22 So currently, I have two blank presentations open that I haven't saved.
• 03:27 And because when PowerPoint opens presentations,
• 03:30 they open directly on top of each other.
• 03:32 If you want to quickly switch back to your previous presentation,
• 03:36 a good way of doing this is to jump up to the View tab,
• 03:39 and you'll see that you have a switch windows option.
• 03:43 That's going to list out all of the PowerPoint presentations that
• 03:46 you currently have open, and allow you to toggle or switch between them.
• 03:51 So super nice and simple.
• 03:54 So now I have these new presentations, I'm probably going to want to save them so
• 03:58 I don't lose anything.
• 03:59 So there are a few different ways that I can save.
• 04:02 However, if this is a new presentation you've created,
• 04:05 the first thing you are going to want to do is select Save As.
• 04:10 So let's jump up to File, I'm going to go down to Save As in the left-hand menu, and
• 04:14 then I need to choose a location where I want to save this file.
• 04:18 Now I could choose to browse my local drives and find a folder.
• 04:22 However, if it is a folder that I've accessed recently,
• 04:26 I'm more than likely going to find it in my recent files list.
• 04:30 And I can see here that earlier today,
• 04:32 I save something into the Course Files folder.
• 04:35 And this is the folder that I want to save this file into.
• 04:39 So I can simply click, and it jumps me to the correct folder.
• 04:43 Let's click in the title bar and add the name of this presentation.
• 04:50 I'm saving it as a regular PowerPoint file.
• 04:52 So the file extension is .pptx, and all I need to do is click on the Save button.
• 04:58 Now as soon as I do that, if you take a look at my quick access toolbar,
• 05:02 you can see I have an option that says AutoSave which is toggled to on.
• 05:07 And if you'red using PowerPoint for Microsoft 365,
• 05:10 you will find this option on your Quick Access Toolbar.
• 05:14 And I would recommend that you have this toggle to on because what it means is that
• 05:18 it's going to save automatically for you at regular intervals.
• 05:22 So this really negates the need for you having to keep clicking on the Save icon
• 05:27 in order to save any changes as you go along.
• 05:30 And this AutoSave option is set to save every time you do anything to your
• 05:34 PowerPoint presentation.
• 05:36 And the good thing about that is that if PowerPoint was to crash unexpectedly,
• 05:41 it means that when you reopen this file,
• 05:43 pretty much everything you've done to date is going to be saved.
• 05:47 Now, I will say that if you're not using PowerPoint for Microsoft 365,
• 05:52 you might not see this AutoSave toggle.
• 05:54 And in that instance,
• 05:55 I would recommend that you save your presentations on a regular basis.
• 06:00 And you can either do that by clicking on the Save button which you have by default
• 06:04 on your Quick Access Toolbar, or pressing the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl S.
• 06:09 So all that's left for me to do here, is close down this file, so file Close.
• 06:15 I'm also going to close down this presentation which I didn't actually save.
• 06:19 And I'm going to say don't save.
• 06:22 And now if I want to go back in and reopen that first presentation,
• 06:26 if I go down to open, you should see that sitting right at the top of my list.
• 06:31 Because it was the last presentation that I accessed.
• 06:34 So I think that is more than enough information for
• 06:37 you to wrap your head around.
• 06:38 It's time for you to grab a drink, and join me over in the next lesson.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

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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 4,324,298 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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PowerPoint 2016  - Saving Presentations

Powerpoint 2016  -, saving presentations, powerpoint 2016 saving presentations.

PowerPoint 2016: Saving Presentations

Lesson 4: saving presentations.

/en/powerpoint2016/creating-and-opening-presentations/content/

Introduction

Whenever you create a new presentation in PowerPoint, you'll need to know how to save in order to access and edit it later. As with previous versions of PowerPoint, you can save files to your computer . If you prefer, you can also save files to the cloud using OneDrive . You can even export and share presentations directly from PowerPoint.

Watch the video below to learn more about saving and sharing PowerPoint presentations.

Save and Save As

PowerPoint offers two ways to save a file: Save and Save As . These options work in similar ways, with a few important differences.

• Save : When you create or edit a presentation, you'll use the Save command to save your changes. You'll use this command most of the time. When you save a file, you'll only need to choose a file name and location the first time. After that, you can just click the Save command to save it with the same name and location.
• Save As : You'll use this command to create a copy of a presentation while keeping the original. When you use Save As, you'll need to choose a different name and/or location for the copied version.

About OneDrive

Most features in Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint, are geared toward saving and sharing documents online . This is done with OneDrive , which is an online storage space for your documents and files. If you want to use OneDrive, make sure you’re signed in to PowerPoint with your Microsoft account. Review our lesson on Understanding OneDrive to learn more.

To save a presentation:

It's important to save your presentation whenever you start a new project or make changes to an existing one. Saving early and often can prevent your work from being lost. You'll also need to pay close attention to where you save the presentation so it will be easy to find later.

• If you're saving the file for the first time, the Save As pane will appear in Backstage view .

• The Save As dialog box will appear. Select the location where you want to save the presentation.

• The presentation will be saved . You can click the Save command again to save your changes as you modify the presentation.

You can also access the Save command by pressing Ctrl+S on your keyboard.

Using Save As to make a copy

If you want to save a different version of a presentation while keeping the original, you can create a copy . For example, if you have a file named Client Presentation you could save it as Client Presentation 2 so you'll be able to edit the new file and still refer back to the original version.

To do this, you'll click the Save As command in Backstage view. Just like when saving a file for the first time, you'll need to choose where to save the file and give it a new file name .

To change the default save location:

If you don't want to use OneDrive , you may be frustrated that OneDrive is selected as the default location when saving. If you find this inconvenient, you can change the default save location so This PC is selected by default.

Using AutoRecover

PowerPoint automatically saves your presentations to a temporary folder while you are working on them. If you forget to save your changes or if PowerPoint crashes, you can restore the file using AutoRecover .

To use AutoRecover:

• Open PowerPoint. If autosaved versions of a file are found, the Document Recovery pane will appear.

By default, PowerPoint autosaves every 10 minutes. If you are editing a presentation for less than 10 minutes, PowerPoint may not create an autosaved version.

If you don't see the file you need, you can browse all autosaved files from Backstage view . Just select the File tab, click Manage Presentation , then choose Recover Unsaved Presentations .

Exporting presentations

By default, PowerPoint presentations are saved in the .pptx file type. However, there may be times when you need to use another file type , such as a PDF or PowerPoint 97-2003 presentation . It's easy to export your presentation from PowerPoint in a variety of file types.

• PDF: Saves the presentation as a PDF document instead of a PowerPoint file
• Video: Saves the presentation as a video
• Package for CD: Saves the presentation in a folder along with the Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer, a special slide show player anyone can download
• Handouts: Prints a handout version of your slides
• Other file type: Saves in other file types, including PNG and PowerPoint 97-2003

To export a presentation:

In our example, we'll save the presentation as a PowerPoint 97-2003 file.

• Click the File tab to access Backstage view .

You can also use the Save as type drop-down menu in the Save As dialog box to save presentations in a variety of file types. Be careful to choose a file type others will be able to open.

Sharing presentations

PowerPoint makes it easy to share and collaborate on presentations using OneDrive . In the past, if you wanted to share a file with someone you could send it as an email attachment. While convenient, this system also creates multiple versions of the same file, which can be difficult to organize.

When you share a presentation from PowerPoint, you're actually giving others access to the exact same file . This lets you and the people you share with edit the same presentation without having to keep track of multiple versions.

In order to share a presentation, it must first be saved to your OneDrive .

To share a presentation:

• The Share pane will appear.

Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about different ways to share a presentation.

Share Options

This pane will change depending on the sharing method you select. You'll be able to choose various options to control how you share your presentation.

Share with People

From here, you'll be able to invite others to view or edit a presentation. We recommend using this option because it gives you the greatest level of control and privacy when sharing a presentation.

From here, you can share your presentation directly through Microsoft Outlook .

Present Online

From here, you can share your presentation online as a live presentation . PowerPoint will generate a link that others can open in their web browser.

Publish Slides

From here, you can use PowerPoint to post entries directly to your blog if you use one of the supported blogging sites, such as SharePoint Blog, WordPress, and Blogger.

• Open our practice presentation .
• Use Save As to create a copy of the presentation. Name the new copy Saving Challenge Practice . You can save it to a folder on your computer or to your OneDrive .
• Export the presentation as a PDF file.

/en/powerpoint2016/slide-basics/content/

How-To Geek

How to save a microsoft powerpoint slide as an image.

Want to use a PowePoint slide in different mediums? Save it as an image! Here's how.

If there is a particular slide in your presentation that you feel would be useful in other mediums, you can save that slide as an image and use it accordingly. Here's how to save a Microsoft PowerPoint slide as an image.

First, open PowerPoint and, in the thumbnail pane, select the slide that you'd like to save as an image by clicking it. A box will appear around the slide once it's been selected.

Next, click the "File" tab.

In the left-hand pane, select "Save As."

To the right of the screen, you'll see two text boxes. In the top text box, enter the file name.

The lower text box is where you'll select the file type. Click the down arrow to the right of the text box.

A drop-down menu will appear displaying several different file types that you can save the presentation (or slide) as. These are the image file types that you can choose from to save your slide as:

• Animated GIF Format (*.gif)
• JPEG File Interchange Format (*.jpg)
• PNG Portable Network Graphics Format (*.png)
• TIFF Tag Image File Format (*.tif)
• Scalable Vector Graphics Format (*.svg)

Click the image file type that you'd like to convert the PowerPoint slide to. Next, select the "Save" button.

A dialog box will appear asking whether you want to export all slides as an image or just the one you've selected. Click "Just This One."

The slide will now be saved as an image.

Aside from saving slides as images in Microsoft PowerPoint, you can also save objects within a slide as an image . Use this method if you just need specific parts of the slide to be saved as an image and want to keep the file size of the image smaller.

Related: How to Save Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations as PDF Files

How to Save a Slide in PowerPoint Individually? [Quick Tip!]

By: Author Shrot Katewa

There are times when we want to either just print or share just a single slide from our PowerPoint presentation. It might seem a bit difficult to do so initially, but the process is actually quite simple!

To save a slide in PowerPoint, select the slide from the slide preview panel on the left part of your screen. Press “Ctrl+C” to copy it. Now, click on the “File” tab, and open a “Blank PowerPoint Presentation”. Press “Ctrl+V” to paste the slide. Press “Ctrl+S” to save the single slide presentation.

In this article, I will share with you how you can save just one slide from an existing PowerPoint presentation.

Plus, I will also show you how to save a single slide as an image so that you can avoid the changes in the color and the look of the slide when you move it to a new presentation.

So, without further adieu, let’s get started!

1. How to Save a Single Slide in PowerPoint?

There are actually two different ways in which you can save a single slide in PowerPoint. The first method is where you copy the slide into a new presentation and save it separately. Another method is where you can save a single slide as an image!

Let’s take a look at both the methods below –

Method 1 – Save a Single Slide Using a New Presentation

If you want to extract and save a single slide from an existing PowerPoint presentation, the best thing for you to do is to copy the slide and paste it into a blank PowerPoint presentation.

Related Read – Check out my other article on How to Copy and Paste in PowerPoint that provides you with tips to help retain the design and formatting of your original slide.

Then, save the Powerpoint presentation that contains the single slide that you just pasted in it.

This method allows you retain editing capabilities to the single slide that you move into a new presentation.

Here are the steps that you need to follow –

Step 1 – Copy the Slide

The first step is to copy the slide that you want to save as a presentation. To do that, first, select the slide from the “ Slide Thumbnail View ” on the left part of your PowerPoint window by clicking on it.

Then, “right-click” on the slide. From the options that are displayed in the menu, click on “ Copy “.

You can also use the keyboard shortcut “ Ctrl+C ” to copy the slide once it has been selected.

Step 2 – Open a Blank Presentation

The next step is to move this slide into a new presentation. For that, first, we will need to open a blank presentation.

To open a blank presentation in PowerPoint, click on the “ File ” tab on the top. You will be taken to the backend view.

From the backend view, simply click on the “ New ” option on the left, and then select the “ Blank Presentation ” option.

This will open a new blank PowerPoint presentation.

You can also press “ Ctrl+N ” to open a new PowerPoint presentation and avoid all the above steps.

Step 3 – Paste the Copied Slide

Once the new presentation is open, simply click on the first slide in the new presentation, and paste the slide that you have copied from the original presentation.

You can “ right-click ” on the first slide, and from the options that appear, click on “ Paste “.

Alternatively, you can also simply click on the first blank slide in the new presentation and press “ Ctrl+V ” to paste the copied slide.

Step 4 – Choose the “Keep Source Formatting” option

Once you’ve pasted the slide from the original presentation into a new blank presentation, you will notice that sometimes the formatting of the slide (meaning the color and font) doesn’t get carried over.

This can be annoying as you really don’t want to spend time recreating the slide!

To solve this problem, click on the small “clipboard” icon underneath the slide that you just pasted in the new presentation. A dropdown menu will appear.

Simply, choose the “ Keep Source Formatting ” option from the dropdown.

This option will basically retain the way text, image and other elements were formatted in the original presentation.

Step 5 – Delete Additional Slides

Now, all you are left to do is delete any additional slides that may be present in the new presentation.

To delete the slides from the presentation, select it by clicking on it. Then, right-click and choose the “ Delete Slides ” option.

You should be left with only a single slide that you copied from the original presentation.

Step 6 – Save the Presentation

The last step of the process is the make sure that you save the presentation.

To save a PowerPoint presentation, click on the “ File ” tab. Then, from the backend view, click on “ Save “.

You can also use the keyboard shortcut “ Ctrl+S ” to save a PowerPoint presentation.

You will be prompted with a new window asking you to choose a destination to save the file. Navigate to the specific folder where you want to save the file. Then, click “ Save “.

Method 2 – Save a Single Slide as an Image

If you are in a hurry and don’t really care about being able to edit the slide once it has been moved separately, then perhaps you should use this method.

Saving an individual slide as an image in Microsoft PowerPoint is quite an easy process.

It requires 4 easy steps as follows:

Step-1: “Right-click” on the slide

The first step is to go to the slide you want to save as an image and “Right Click” anywhere on the slide. This will open a drop-down menu.

Step-2: Select the “Save as Picture…” option

From the drop-down menu, click on the “Save as Picture…” option. This will open a new window.

In this window, you can select the folder you want to save the slide as a picture in. You can also rename the image by typing in the “File name” box.

Step-3: Select your preferred image format

Below the “File name” box, click on the “Save as type” option. This will open a dropdown menu containing all the standard image format options. Click on your preferred format to select it.

I would recommend using the “ JPEG ” file format especially if you only plan to email this to a client or a team member.

If you plan to project it on a screen or print this slide on a huge paper, you would perhaps be better off going with the “PNG” file format.

Step-4: Click on the “Save” button

After naming your slide and selecting the image format, click on the “Save” button at the bottom of the new window. This will save the selected single slide as an image.

How to Save One Slide in PowerPoint as a Picture on Mac?

You can follow a similar process to the one mentioned in the previous section even on Mac. However, you can also use the export function and save just one slide as a picture in PowerPoint on Mac.

Here’s how to save just one slide as a Picture in PowerPoint on Mac –

Step-1: Select your preferred slide

First, click on the specific slide you want to save as a picture. Be sure to select the entire slide rather than a single element in the slide.

Step-2: Click on the “Export” option

In the “Primary Menu” bar at the top of your screen, click on the “File” option, which will open a dropdown menu. From the dropdown menu, select the “Export” option.

Step-3: Click on the “File Format” box

Clicking on the “Export” option will open a pop-up menu. At the bottom of the pop-up menu, click on the “File Format” box. This will open a dropdown menu containing various file formats.

Step-4: Select the preferred file format

In the dropdown menu under the “File Format” box, there are three image formats which are “JPEG” , “TIFF” and “PNG.”   Select your preferred image format.

My recommendation would be to choose the “JPEG” file format as that doesn’t significantly increase the size of the image and also maintains a decent quality for most purposes.

Step-5: Click on the “Save Current Slide Only” option

Once you select your desired file format, you will see two new options appear below the “File Format” box. Among the two options, click on “Save Current Slide Only.”

Step-6: Click on the “Export” button

To complete the process, click on the “Export” button which is located at the bottom of the pop-up window. Thus, the selected individual slide will be saved as a picture on your computer.

2. How to Save a Single Slide in PowerPoint as a PDF?

Another option is to save a single slide in PowerPoint as a PDF file. This is great especially when you want to send the slide to a client. Sending a file in a PDF format looks more professional.

Here’s what you need to do to save a single slide in PowerPoint as a PDF –

Step-1: Select the Slide

The first step is to select the slide that you want to save as a PDF file.

Step-2: Click on the “File” Tab and choose “Print”

At the top left corner of your screen, click on the “File” menu to open it. In the “File” menu, select the “Print” option from the sidebar at the right side of your screen.

Step-3: Select the “Microsoft Print to PDF” option

Once the “Print” option is open, click on “Printer” and select the “Microsoft Print to PDF” option from the dropdown menu.

Step-4: Click on the “Custom Range” button

Now, under the “Settings” section, click on the top-most option which says “Print All Slides.” From the dropdown menu, click on the “Custom Range” button.

After that, click on the “Slides” box and type in the slide number of the slides that you want to save as PDF.

Step-5: Click on the “Print” button

Now, click on the “Print” button to open a pop-up window. Type in the name of the PDF in the “File name” box and click on the “Save” button to save the selected slide as a PDF.

3. How to Save All Slides in PowerPoint as a Picture?

In Microsoft PowerPoint, you can save either an individual slide or an entire presentation as image files. Check out my other article where I’ve gone in-depth on how to save a PowerPoint as a picture . Make sure you check out the article for all the visual references and tips.

I’m also highlighting the process below but if you need to see the process with visual aids, check out the article linked above.

Step-1: Open the “File” menu

At the top-left corner of your PowerPoint window, you will find the “File” tab, which is the first option in the ribbon. Click on the “File” option to open a variety of options.

Step-2: Click on the “Save As” option

With the “File” menu opened, click on the “Save As” option from the sidebar located at the left side of your screen and select the folder where you want to save the pictures in.

To save the slides as pictures in a new folder, click on the “New Folder” button and type in the folder name.

Step-3: Click on “Save As Type”

The “Save As Type” drop-down menu is located in the text box that says “PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx).”

Click on the text box to open a dropdown menu. Scroll down the menu and select your desired image format from “JPEG File Interchange Format (*.jpg)” , “PNG Portable Network Graphics Format (*.png)” , “TIFF Tag Image File Format (*.tif)” or “Scalable Vector Graphics Format (*.svg).”

After selecting your preferred image file format, click on the “Save” button beside the “Save As Type” box. This will open a new dialogue box.

Step-5: Click on the “All Sides” button

Now, all you have to do is click on the “All Slides” button from the dialogue box to save all the slides of your presentation as image files.

Please Note – Each slide will be saved as a separate image arranged serially by slide number in your selected folder when you save a complete PowerPoint presentation as an image.

4. How to Print a Single Slide in PowerPoint?

In Microsoft PowerPoint, the process of printing an individual slide is similar to the process of saving the slide as a PDF file. Open the “Print” option from the “File” tab and then follow the 3 basic steps:

Step-1: Select the “Add Printer…” option

In the “Print” menu, click on the “Printer” box. From the dropdown menu, select the “Add Printer…” option.

This will prompt you to connect your printer to the computer. If your printer is already connected to your computer, click on it to select it.

Step-2: Select your preferred slide

Next, click on the “Settings” button and select the “Custom Range” option from the drop-down menu. In the “Slides” box below, type in the slide number of your preferred slide.

Step-3: Click on the “Print” button

Now, all you have to do is click on the “Print” button for your printer to print the single PowerPoint slide you have selected.

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

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 .

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