what size font should a powerpoint presentation be

Choosing the Best Font for PowerPoint: 10 Tips & Examples

There’s a fine art to creating a great PowerPont presentation that wows. With so many tricks and features in this little bit of software, it’s more likely to see a bad presentation than a good one (and you don’t want to be that person!)

While there are a lot of factors that contribute to the overall design , choosing a suitable font for PowerPoint is near the top of the list. The audience needs to be able to read the words on the screen with ease, to ensure that your presentation is as effective as possible.

So how do you do it? Where do you start when choosing a font for PowerPoint? We have 10 tips for you with a few examples of PowerPoint slides (and templates) that will impress your audience.

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1. Stick to Fairly Standard Fonts

One of the most fun parts of a design project is getting to sift through fonts and make selections that fit your project. When it comes to PowerPoint, that selection should be pretty limited.

To make the most of your presentation, stick to a standard font to ensure that your presentation will look the same everywhere – and on every computer – you present. If you don’t use a standard font, chances are when you pop the presentation in a new machine, you’ll end up with a jumbled mess of lettering. PowerPoint will try to replace all the fonts it does not recognize with something else.

This can cause readability concerns and even make the presentation look like it’s error-filled (with words that are in odd locations or even missing).

10 standard fonts to try:

2. Incorporate Plenty of Contrast

White and black text is easiest to read. But no type is readable without plenty of contrast between the background and text itself.

Regardless of what font you select, without adequate contrast, readability will be a concern. Opt for light type on a dark background or a light background with dark text.

Consider the environment here as well. Do you plan to show the presentation on a computer monitor or big presentation screen? How these conditions render can impact how much contrast your color choices actually have.

3. Use a Serif and a Sans Serif

Most presentations use two fonts.

• Header font for headlines on each slide.
• Copy or bullet font for supporting text.

You don’t have to use the same font in each location. It’s actually preferred to select two different fonts for these areas of the presentation. For even more impact pair two different fonts, such as a serif and sans serif, so that the font change creates an extra level of contrast and visual interest.

4. Avoid All Caps

When picking a font, stay away from fonts that only include capital letter sets. All caps in presentations have the same effect as all caps in an email. It feels like you are yelling at the audience.

All caps can also be difficult to read if there are more than a couple of words on the screen. Use all caps as sparingly as possible.

5. Stay Away From Scripts and Italics

While scripts, handwriting and novelty typefaces might be pretty, they are often difficult to read. Avoid them in PowerPoint presentations. (There’s usually not enough contrast or size to help them maintain readability from a distance.)

The same is true of italics. Anything you do to a font to add emphasis should make it easier to read. While italics can be a great option online or in print applications, presentations come with a different set of rules. The biggest contributing factor is that text often has to be read from a distance – think about audience members in the back of the room – and any slanting can make that more difficult.

6. Make It Big Enough

One of the biggest issues with fonts in slideshows is often size. How big should the text in a PowerPoint presentation be?

While a lot of that depends on the font you decide to use, there are some guidelines. (These sizes work wonderfully with the 10 fonts options in top No. 1. As well.)

• Minimum font size for main copy and bullets: 18 points
• Preferred font size for main copy and bullets: 24 points
• Preferred font size for headers or titles: 36 to 44 points

Make sure to think about the size of the screen and room as well when planning font sizes. With a smaller screen in a larger space, everything will look smaller than it is. The opposite is true of an oversized screen in a small room. Think Outside the Slide has a great font cheat sheets for a number of different screen sizes.

7. Turn Off Animations

Don’t let all those PowerPoint tricks suck you in. Moving text, zooming words, letters that fly in from the side of the screen – they are all difficult to read. And really distracting.

If you want to use an effect, “Appear” is acceptable. But there’s no need to dazzle the audience with crazy font tricks. All this really does is distract people from what you are really trying to say.

The same mantra that we use with all other design projects applies here as well – KISS or Keep It Simple, Stupid.

8. Plan for Sharing

While many users work with PowerPoint regularly, chances are that you’ll be asked to share your presentation slides for others. This includes posting with tools such as SlideShare, emailing the PowerPoint (or putting it in a drop folder) or sharing via Google Slides.

When it comes to fonts, Google Slides is the most complicating factor because it has a different suite of standard fonts than PC or Mac operating systems. Make sure to test the presentation in this environment if you plan to share and use a Google standard font or make sure to include the font you plan to use in the customization options.

9. Think About the Notes, Too

The part of PowerPoint presentations that is often neglected is the notes section. If you plan to distribute a presentation file to the audience (digitally or via printouts), the font selection for accompanying notes is important.

Use the same typeface as for the main slideshow with related corresponding headers and body and bulleted text. The big difference here is size. Body copy/bulleted information should fall in the range of 9 to 12 points and headers should be 18 to 20 points. This is a comfortable reading size for most documents. (These sizes also help ensure clear printing on standard office machines.)

10. Use Fonts Consistently

You don’t need a huge font library to create great PowerPoint presentations. Having a couple of go-to fonts that you use consistently is enough.

Make sure to use fonts consistently within a document as well. Create a PowerPoint template file so that when you use different levels of bulleting and headers, the sizes, color variations, and fonts change automatically. (Web designers, this is just like using H1 through H6 tags.)

A clear consistent use of fonts makes your presentation about how it looks and how easy (or tough) it may be to read and more about the content therein. (And that’s what it should be about.)

If you don’t feel comfortable making your own PowerPoint presentation template, you can download one to get started. These options might have a more refined look than some of the software defaults (and all of the examples in this article come from these collections).

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Presentation font size: Dos and don’ts

• Categories: PowerPoint design , Google Slides
• Comments: 1

It’s no secret that at BrightCarbon we generally recommend keeping text on slides to a minimum . The main reason you need to avoid lots of text in presentations is because it’s virtually impossible to read and listen to someone speaking at the same time. In a presentation, you want to allow the audience to listen to the presenter while looking at an appropriate visual or diagram with minimal words, so that it all comes together seamlessly. Whereas, with documents like reports – while you can create them in PowerPoint – they aren’t presentations; there won’t be anyone talking over them. So you can (and possibly should) have a lot more text.

So, when you are using text in a presentation or document, how do you decide what size it should be? We’ve found there’s no hard-and-fast rule for how big or small text on slides should be. Each presentation has its own unique requirements – it all depends on what you’re using the slides for, what you’re hoping to achieve with them, and how your audience will be viewing them. Accessibility considerations also come into play, as well as readability across different typefaces and devices.

Determining appropriate text size

One way to decide on the right size for your text is to consider the height of each line of text in proportion to the total height of the slide . For example, in a sales or training presentation, the height of the title (per line) should take up approximately 4% of the slide’s total height; headers around 3%; and copy text around 2%.

This principle can be applied to text appearing in other types of presentation, too. For example, in a keynote presentation, the height of the text should take up around 6.5% of the slide’s total height. And in a document or report, aim for the height of the title text to take up around 4% of the slide’s total height; headers around 3%; and copy text around 1.5%.

When deciding on the right font size for a face-to-face presentation, it’s also worth considering how close audience members should be seated to the screen in order to be able to read the text easily. Check out presentation expert Dave Paradi’s table on comfortable viewing distances for text in presentation visuals [1] for more on this.

Our text size recommendations

We called upon our team of designers to determine what size they would make the text in a set of example slides. To create the slides, we used PowerPoint’s default widescreen slide size (19.05cm x 33.86cm, or 7.5”13.33”), and Arial – one of the most commonly used fonts.

The examples covered three different use-cases where text is sometimes used:

• A sales or training presentation. Small amounts of text can be used to point out key features and emphasise value and benefits.
• A keynote presentation. You want the audience to focus on the presenter during a keynote presentation, so the amount of text on each slide should be kept to a minimum. This means any text you do use can be much larger.
• A document or report. Text can generally be slightly smaller in stand-alone, static documents like reports, as readers will jump around the page to find the information they’re looking for.

Based on our team’s responses, we’d make the following recommendations:

Use-case 1: Presentation font size for a sales or training presentation

Top tip : As a general rule, aim to keep the number of different font sizes you use across your presentation to a minimum – ideally, no more than three different sizes per slide. And try to use font sizes consistently. For example, if you’ve used 20pt for headers on one slide, make sure headers on other slides are the same size.

Use-case 2:  Presentation font size for a  keynote presentation

Top tip : If you’re also using text labels or callouts in a keynote presentation, then make sure the font is slightly smaller than the rest of your text – ideally no smaller than 28pt.

Use-case 3: Font size for a document or report

Top tip : It’s also worth using visual hierarchies to help readers navigate documents like these – check out our blog post for tips on how to do this.

Hopefully, our recommendations help you to decide what size text on your slides should be. Remember, every presentation is different and will have its own individual requirements – for guidance on your particular use-case, get in touch and we’ll be happy to look over your slides. And if you want more help with upping your sales presentations’ font game, have a read of our article packed with typography tips and tricks!

[1] PARADI, D. 2008. Comfortable Viewing Distance for Text on Presentation Visuals [online]. Available from: https://thinkoutsidetheslide.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ViewingDistanceTable16x9.pdf [Accessed 14 November 2022].

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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Presentations > Choosing the Right Font For Your PowerPoint Presentation

Choosing the Right Font For Your PowerPoint Presentation

Whether it’s for a professional conference or middle school book report, it’s important to know the best font to use for your PowerPoint presentation . Believe it or not, fonts are a big part of the overall design of your presentation —and they can make a world of difference! Some convey a lighthearted message, while others can show authority, and so on.

In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at:

• The different styles of fonts
• The 5 most popular fonts
• How to embed fonts, and more.

What are the different styles of fonts? Before we get too deep into each font and what looks best, let’s examine font styles and how they’re classified.

• Sans-serif fonts. Most serif fonts are easy to identify because of the tiny flags or projections on the ends of the characters. Serifs make distinguishing a lowercase L from a capital I in print easy.
• Serif fonts. Sans-serif fonts are commonly used in digital media because serifs can make letters difficult to see if an image or screen is low-resolution.
• Script fonts. Script fonts are also known as handwritten fonts because of the looping letters that make them look like cursive or calligraphy. Most people find it difficult to read more than a few sentences in a script font, so they’re best limited to a few words or a single phrase.
• Monospaced fonts. Even when writing by hand, you’ll notice that not all letters take up the same amount of space. Monospaced fonts buck this trend by allotting the same amount of space laterally for all letters, similar to a typewriter.
• Display fonts. Display fonts can also be known as fantasy or decorative fonts. These aren’t typically used for anything besides signage, banners, logos, or other text that’s isolated. Using display fonts for multiple sentences or a full paragraph isn’t a good practice because they can be hard to read or off-putting after a while.

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What are the 5 most popular fonts in presentations and why? A common theme you’ll notice when looking at the best fonts for PowerPoint is that they’re traditionally sans-serif fonts. Why? Well, this style is much easier to read from a distance and won’t feel cramped if letters are bolded. Additionally, the minimalistic style of sans-serif fonts isn’t distracting from the material or the speaker. Let’s look at five fonts that fit the best practices for a winning presentation .

Note: You’ll notice a serif font on this list, but we’ll address it when we get there.

• Roboto. Roboto is a sans-serif font that’s relatively basic, with sharp edges and rounded loops, counters, and bowls (the rounded parts of letters) without going overly bold or too thin. You can be safe using Roboto for just about any presentation.
• Verdana. Despite the font size you choose, not all fonts display the same. Verdana is a larger sans-serif font that can make it easier to display information without taking your font up an extra size.
• Helvetica. A point of differentiation between Helvetica and other sans-serif fonts is the weight toward the top of the letters. The top of every lowercase letter and the midpoint of every capital letter go to a thick midline’s upper edge. For instance, the top of every lowercase letter reaches the same horizontal point as the top of the crossbar on an H. This unique feature makes the Helvetica type look larger and bolder than it really is, which makes it great for headings and titles.
• Tahoma. Tahoma is different from the previous sans-serif fonts in that it is thinner than the others. While Tahoma might not have the same impact for a heading or title as Helvetica, it’s perfect for body text and fitting into smaller spaces without crowding.
• Palatino Linotype. Serif fonts have long been considered a no-no with digital publications, but with the advent of high-resolution computer monitors, tablets, smartphones, and TVs, they’re fine. What’s more, the serifs on Palatino Linotype aren’t incredibly prominent, so they make for a subtle nod to old-style fonts without over-embellishing.

How do you embed fonts in PowerPoint ? If you’re sharing your presentation with a friend, classmate, or colleague, you could be at risk of the fonts you used transferring properly to their device. For example, if you have a font you love using and installed it onto your computer, they might not have the same font. So, if you send your presentation to them, there could be formatting errors as their device defaults to a different font. Keep this from happening by embedding your font in PowerPoint using these easy steps:

• Click the “File” tab.
• Move down to the lower-lefthand corner of the window and click “Options.”
• Click “Save” on the left side of the screen.
• Scroll down to the section titled “Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation:”
• Click the box next to “Embed fonts in the file.”
• If you or someone else will be using the presentation on a different device, then select the first option, “Embed only the characters used in the presentation (best for reducing file size).” If you or someone else will be editing the presentation on a different device, then select the second option, “Embed all characters (best for editing by other people).”
• Click “OK.”

There you have it! Choosing the best font for PowerPoint doesn’t have to be difficult. The most important part is making sure that the font is easy to read, and sans-serif fonts are usually a good way to go. By the way, it’s always a good idea to get a second set of eyes on your presentation before your big speech—and be sure to practice it a few times to iron out the kinks !

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How to Choose the Best Font for PowerPoint Presentations

Saikat Basu

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An image on a slide may speak a thousand words, but you do need text to explain the finer details. And that’s where choosing the best font for PowerPoint presentations becomes a critical exercise. In short, if you want to make a flawless PowerPoint presentation , you must pay attention to your fonts.

The interesting thing about fonts is that each has a personality. It’s like the three-piece suit that will be out of place at a barbeque but is perfect for an evening at the Savoy.

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Why is choosing the right fonts so critical?

Slides aren’t like the pages of a book. They are billboards on the highway. 

When you run through your slides, they will linger for just a few seconds. The words on the slides have to capture interest, send the right message, and support the visuals in those few seconds.

Fonts influence your audience by setting the tone and atmosphere of the presentation. The right choice of fonts or font pairings can make your text stand out by separating it from other elements around it. Typefaces are also brand symbols that help the audience relate to it through the presentation.

Before you get into the deep end, let’s learn the distinction between two major font types.

What are serif and sans serif fonts?

Times New Roman is the classic example of a serif font. The letters have tiny extensions that appear to connect them together in words as one letter leads to the next. 

Newspapers and magazines use serif fonts for body text as they are easier to read. Serif fonts have distinct line heights that make them more legible in dense copy.

They lose this clarity if you pack them together in the body. That’s why designers recommend sans serif fonts for titles, headings, and captions in your slides.

The critical font pair: title vs body text

All Microsoft PowerPoint presentations by default start with two fonts — one font for the headings and one for the body text. This font pairing decides the entire look of the presentation. The theme plays an important role in the font choices and even blank presentations give you a theme to build upon.

The first question you may have to answer is how big your fonts should be? The simple answer is that it depends. Factors like screen size and room size dictate the limits of font size. Font sizes can hinge upon you emailing the presentation or delivering it live on stage or on a PC screen in a remote meeting. 

Also, all fonts have an optimum size for legibility. Arial is clear at 12pts while Times New Roman is readable at 10pts. 

Most presentation experts recommend these size ranges. The thumb rule — a larger font size with less text on screen is always good.

The default slide in PowerPoint starts with 60pts for section headers and 24pts for body font.

• Header Font: Between 26 and 42 point
• Body Font: Between 18 and 24 point

You can use the same font for both, but that can limit the visual impact of your slide.

10 tips for choosing the best font for PowerPoint presentations

Never sacrifice readability for style. With that motto in mind, follow these Microsoft PowerPoint tips to choose the best fonts for your business presentation or any other.

1. Choose two fonts

Three fonts can be a crowd. Choose two fonts wisely and use size, contrast, and color to combine them for visual interest. Font pairing is a critical part of PowerPoint presentations and you will have to spend a lot of time on this decision. The second font shouldn’t be too unlike or too similar to the primary typeface where you miss the distinction.

Tip: There are many font pairing tools available on the web. But play the TypeConnection typography game if you want to get better at it yourself.

2. Choose standard fonts

You want your presentation to look the same on all devices. Choose from standard fonts and you won’t have to rescue your slides from turning into a mishmash on another screen. You can be more imaginative if you are presenting to children or at Comic Con, but standard fonts are the safest bet always.

Tip: Here’s a complete list of fonts available on Windows 10 .

3. Avoid script fonts and decorative text

Script fonts like Lucida Calligraphy or Gothic fonts like Century are always difficult to read. You can use them if the topic of the talk demands it.

4. Create visual interest with serif and sans serif fonts

As we emphasized earlier, serif and sans serif fonts have their own advantages and disadvantages. You can pair them and tap into their strengths.

5. Select color and create contrast

Go for font colors that are a part of your brand. Using color swatches and precise Hexadecimal or RGB values ensures colors stay consistent across slides. 

Also, you might have to check your slide for accessibility for all as someone in the audience can be color blind and may not be able to decipher red or green.

Tip: There are many color palette generators available on the web for free. Try Coolors .

6. Have contrasting text and background colors

Fonts must stand out against the background. The higher the contrast between the two, the better the readability across the room will be. Use the color wheel to pick the background and the font colors. Opposite colors on the color wheel clash with each other and have the maximum contrast. For instance, orange on blue.

Always use the same background on each slide. Text against white backgrounds is not legible in a larger room. For the best results, opt for dark slides with light-colored text.

Tip: Go through a gallery of well-designed PowerPoint templates or use PowerPoint Designer as a shortcut to grasp the interplay of contrast.

7. Less is more with caps and italics

Don’t capitalize all the letters in the body text as it is difficult to read. Selectively use caps for acronyms and for emphasis. Similarly, choose italics sparingly for quotes or highlighting the names of books, authors, and journal titles, etc. 

You can make a creative choice by using italic text sparingly for impact or you can also substitute them with subtle formatting to the standard fonts.

Tip: Caps and italics may be able to work with specific fonts, but you may need access to those fonts. You can use Picsart's text editor to play around with text that may suit your presentation better.

8. Limit the use of animated fonts

Animated fonts can be distracting. Avoid animating your text or use it only if it serves a functional purpose. Ask yourself if it adds clarity to your data or is just a cute effect.

9. Keep an eye on font tracking and kerning

Learn these two typography terms and you will have an easier time placing your words on the slide. Kerning adjusts the spacing between two adjacent letters in a font. Tracking adjusts the space between all letters together. Both influence the readability of text.

For instance, you can avoid using narrow or condensed typefaces. Instead, pick a thicker font and tweak it with tracking and kerning within PowerPoint. 

For more on changing the spaces between text, read this Microsoft support article .

Tip: Play the KernType typography game to get familiar with the basics of the two principles.

10. Make interesting shape effects

It doesn’t always have to be just about fonts and simple colors. The Shape Effects panel on PowerPoint gives you a lot of control over the finished appearance of text on the slide. 

For instance, you can adjust the transparency of the letters. You can also “texturize” the words by using pictures to fill the words instead of a solid fill color. 

• Select the word and right click. 
• From the context menu, click on Format Text Effects.
• The Format Shape panel is displayed on the right. 
• Select Text Options > Text Fill & Outline.
• Choose Picture or texture fill. 

You can now use an image or any texture to decorate your words. Picture or texture fills are a creative way to use standard fonts but still make them stand apart on your slides. Of course, never overdo it. 

Tip: Shape effects go well with thicker fonts.

15 of the most versatile fonts you can use in PowerPoint

These fonts (and a few more) are versatile because they are standard fonts and are available on both Windows and macOS. You don’t have to go after fancy typefaces just yet. Focus on your layout. Use the design pointers from the above list and give your slides an attractive makeover.

• Franklin Gothic
• Times New Roman
• Palatino       

Think of typography in PowerPoint as design

Practice with your eye. Play one font against the other for interesting unions. Typography isn’t just for selecting fonts and using them to occupy your slide with words. It is an essential design element in any place where visual communication matters. You can design your presentations faster once you work out how fonts work together and learn a bit about color theory. 

Want to learn more about how good design comes together? Start with some of the basic and advanced PowerPoint techniques .

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Saikat is a writer who hunts for the latest tricks in Microsoft Office and web apps. He doesn't want to get off the learning curve, so a camera and a harmonica claim an equal share of his free time.

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The 33 Best Fonts for PowerPoint Presentations

• BY Bogdan Sandu
• 7 February 2024

Picture this: You’ve crafted the most compelling PowerPoint, your content’s pure gold. But wait, does your font scream snooze fest or radiate confidence?  That’s where I step in .

Slide design  isn’t just about pretty visuals; it’s the fine print too. Think about it, the  legibility ,  typography , and  sans-serif charm  that could make or break your presentation. We’re diving into a world where  Arial  isn’t the alpha, and  Calibri  has companions.

By the end of this deep-dive, you’ll be armed with  examples of the best fonts for PowerPoint presentations . Fonts that won’t just hold your audience’s gaze but glue it to the screen.

From  PowerPoint font styles  to mastering the  visual hierarchy in slides , I’ve got your back. We’re talking  readability , professionalism, and those oh-so-subtle nuances of  typeface selection .

Ready to transform your text from  meh  to  magnificent ? Let’s turn that tide with typeface.

Top Fonts for PowerPoint Presentations

Serif fonts.

Serif fonts are the old souls of typography. They’re classic, elegant, and have a touch of sophistication. Think of them like a fine wine – they just make everything look more refined.

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How to choose the best fonts for PowerPoint Presentations

• November 10, 2023

PowerPoint is one of the most popular and versatile tools for creating and delivering presentations. Whether you are pitching an idea, teaching a lesson, or sharing information, you want your slides to be clear, consistent, and compelling. But beyond the storyline, one of the key elements that can make or break your presentation is the choice of fonts.

Fonts are more than just letters and symbols - fonts can help convey meaning, mood, and personality. They can also affect the readability and legibility of your text, which is crucial for keeping your audience engaged and informed.

In this blog post, we look at the different styles of fonts, recommendations of the best fonts for PowerPoint presenting vs printed reports and we share some hints and tips on how to choose the best font for PowerPoint presentations based on your audience and delivery method.

What are the types of fonts?

Before we dive into the specific fonts that work well for PowerPoint, its helpful to have an overview of some basic terminology and categories of fonts. Fonts can be classified into two main groups: serif and sans serif. Here's a quick explanation of each style:

• Serif fonts  have small strokes or lines at the end of each character, such as Times New Roman, Georgia, or Garamond. They are often associated with tradition, elegance, and formality.
• Sans serif fonts  do not have these strokes or lines, such as Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana. They are often associated with modernity, simplicity, and clarity. They are also more readable on-screen than serif fonts, which can look blurry or pixelated.

There are also other types of fonts, such as script, decorative, or monospaced fonts, but they are usually not recommended for PowerPoint presentations because they can be hard to read (or distracting!).

What are the factors to consider when choosing the best font for presentations?

When choosing a font for PowerPoint presentations, it's important to consider the following factors:

• Readability : How easy is it to read the text on your slides? You want to choose a font that is clear and crisp, especially if you have a lot of text or small font size. You should also avoid using too many different fonts or styles in your presentation, as this can create visual clutter and confusion. Consider as part of this the intended delivery format - for example, will you be presenting the slides in an auditorium or emailing/ printing a deck for individuals to read through on their screen or on paper?
• Design : How well does the font match the theme and tone of your presentation? You want to choose a font that reflects your intended message and brand (or personality, for individual presentations). For example, if you are presenting a creative or playful topic, you might want to use a font that has some flair or fun. However for presenting a serious or professional topic, you might want to use a font that has some weight or authority.
• Style : How do you want to emphasize or differentiate certain parts of your text? You can use different font styles, such as bold, italic, underline, or color, to highlight important words or phrases in your presentation. However, you should use these styles sparingly and consistently, as too much variation can reduce the impact and coherence of your text.

What are some examples of good fonts for PowerPoint presentations?

Based on these factors, here are some examples of good fonts for PowerPoint presentations in 2023. 

• Sans serif fonts : These are fonts that do not have small strokes or lines at the end of each character, such as Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana. They are often associated with modernity, simplicity, and clarity. They are also more readable on-screen than serif fonts, which can look blurry or pixelated.
• Simple and clean fonts : These are fonts that have a clear and crisp design, without too much embellishment or decoration. They are also versatile and adaptable, as they can suit different themes and tones. Some examples are Verdana, Roboto, Fira Sans, and Montserrat.
• Fonts that match the font size : These are fonts that look good at both big and small sizes, without losing their quality or legibility. They are also not too thin or too thick, as this can affect the readability of your text. Some examples are Tahoma, Segoe UI, Georgia, and Bentham.

Suggested Fonts available in standard PowerPoint versions from 2007 onwards

There is an almost unlimited number of fonts available for download on the internet, that you could choose to use for your presentations. To keep things easier, we have focused on a list of fonts that are all available in standard PowerPoint.

Some of the simple and clean fonts great for presentations and available in standard PowerPoint:

• Calibri : Calibri is a sans serif font that has a modern and elegant look. It is the default font for PowerPoint since 2007 and it is very readable and versatile.
• Helvetica : Helvetica is another sans serif font that has a clean and sleek look. Helvetica is one of the most popular fonts in the world and it is very clear and adaptable.
• Garamond : Garamond is a serif font that has a vintage and classy look. It is very legible and stylish, as it has a distinctive contrast between thick and thin strokes.
• Gill Sans : Gill Sans is a sans serif font that has a friendly and playful look. It's very readable and expressive, as it has a lot of character and charm.

You can view and compare the fonts in this screenshot:

PowerPoint 2023 Font update including Aptos

In July 2023, Microsoft introduced Aptos as the new default font for PowerPoint. Aptos is a sans serif font that has a modern look. If you are a Microsoft 365 user, you will have access to Aptos from mid 2023. Users on older versions of Office will continue to have the fonts listed above. Aptos replaces Calibri as the default font for PowerPoint (but Calibri and the other fonts listed above continue to also be available in PowerPoint!).

Along with the Aptos introduction, Microsoft commissioned the design of an additional 5 fonts which have been added to PowerPoint, Excel and Word:

• Aptos : a sans serif font that has a modern look, which is being rolled out as the new default Office font for Microsoft 365 users
• Bierstadt : a sans serif font, designed to be more angular and precise than Arial with high readability in mind.
• Grandview : a sans serif font which has been specifically designed as a high legibility font for use in body text, on any device.
• Seaford : a sans serif font inspired by old-style serif text typefaces. While Bierstadt is more angular, Seaford is more organic.
• Skeena : a sans serif font inspired by traditional serif text typefaces. There is intentional contrast between the thick and thin in the strokes. Designed for body text in long documents and presentations.
• Tenorite : a sans serif font, Tenorite was designed to be an easily readable font at small sizes onscreen, with larger punctuation.

Suggested Presentation Fonts to download for PowerPoint

If you don't like the look of any of the fonts available in PowerPoint, you can also download additional fonts. Note that you will need to also embed any non standard fonts in a presentation if you are distributing it to others (refer to the next section for how to do this).

The following fonts are Sans Serif and Serif fonts which are modern and easy to read. They are not available in standard PowerPoint, however you can easily download them online and install them for PowerPoint.

• Lato : Lato is a sans serif font that has a modern and elegant look. It is very readable and versatile, as it comes in different weights and styles. Lato is recommended for both headers and body text in your presentation.
• Roboto : Roboto is another sans serif font that has a clean and sleek look. It is also very readable and adaptable, as it has many variants and styles. Roboto is recommended for both headers and body text in your presentation.
• Bentham : Bentham is a serif font that has a vintage and classy look. It is very legible and stylish, as it has a distinctive contrast between thick and thin strokes. You can use Bentham for headers or sub-headers in your presentation.
• Fira Sans : Fira Sans is a sans serif font that has a geometric and futuristic look. It is very clear and dynamic, as it has a wide range of weights and styles. You can use Fira Sans for headers or sub-headers in your presentation.
• Montserrat : Montserrat is a sans serif font that has a friendly and playful look. It is very readable and expressive, as it has a lot of character and charm. You can use Montserrat for headers or sub-headers in your presentation.

How to embed non standard fonts in PowerPoint presentations

As noted in the section above, if you choose to download a non standard PowerPoint font for your presentation, you need to embed the font in your presentation, if you plan to share the presentation electronically with others. To do this:

• With your presentation open, from the PowerPoint Ribbon, click the File  tab and then click  Options 
• From the left menu select the  Save  tab.
• The second last menu option is Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation . Check the Embed fonts in the file  check box. We recommend also checking the Embed all characters (best for editing by other people) if you are intending for your presentation to be edited by others.

How to apply fonts to your PowerPoint presentation?

Once you have chosen the fonts that you want to use for your PowerPoint presentation, you need to apply them to your slides. Here are some steps to follow:

• Select the text that you want to change : You can select a single word, a sentence, a paragraph, or the entire slide. You can also select multiple slides at once by holding the Ctrl key and clicking on the slides in the left pane.
• Open the Font dialog box : You can open the Font dialog box by clicking on the Home tab, then clicking on the small arrow in the bottom right corner of the Font group. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + D on your keyboard.
• Choose the font that you want to use : You can choose the font from the drop-down list in the Font dialog box. You can also choose the font size, style, color, and effects from the same dialog box. You can preview how the font looks like in the Sample box at the bottom.
• Click OK : Once you are happy with your font choice, click OK to apply it to your selected text.

You can also use themes and templates to apply fonts to your PowerPoint presentation. Themes and templates are pre-designed sets of colors, fonts, and layouts that you can apply to your presentation with one click. You can choose from the built-in themes and templates in PowerPoint, or you can create your own or download from online sources.

To apply a theme or template to your PowerPoint presentation, follow these steps:

• Open the Design tab : You can open the Design tab by clicking on it in the ribbon at the top of your screen.
• Choose a theme or template : You can choose a theme or template from the gallery in the Design tab. You can also click on the Browse for Themes button at the bottom of the gallery to find more themes or templates on your computer or online.
• Click on the theme or template that you want to use : Once you click on a theme or template, it will be applied to your entire presentation. You can see how it changes the colors, fonts, and layouts of your slides.

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Blog > How to find the best font for your PowerPoint presentation

How to find the best font for your PowerPoint presentation

07.26.21   •  #powerpoint #tips.

An important point for PowerPoint presentations is to choose a suitable font that is easy to read but at the same time shouldn't be boring. Are you still looking for a good font for your presentation? We have listed a few tips for you here.

Serif or Sans Serif font?

Serif fonts are fonts that have fine lines at the end of the letters, such as the Times New Roman font. They are especially used in print.

Fonts without serifs appear more modern and are easier to read, which is why it makes sense to use a sans serif font for the texts. The resolution of these fonts is also better on the beamer, which is why they are mostly used for presentations.

However, you should always pay attention to the topic you are giving your presentation on. Above all, you should bear in mind that serif fonts tend to look older, while sans-serif fonts look modern. Think about what you want to communicate with your presentation and then choose a suitable font.

Which fonts look good together?

To avoid your presentation looking messy or confusing, do not combine more than 2 fonts. It is best to use a different font for headings than for bullet points.

When combining different fonts, make sure that the two fonts are not too similar and that they differ from each other. The contrast between them should also not be too great, otherwise the whole thing will look inharmonious. It makes sense to combine a serif font with a sans serif font.

Another possibility is to combine fonts from the same font family. The contrast is usually created by different stroke widths and the text looks harmonious.

What is a good font size for PowerPoint presentations?

When choosing the font size, it is best to consider where the presentation will be given and how far away the audience is. The font should be large enough to be easily read from the very back.

Headings should be somewhere between 40pt and 50pt. The individual bullet points should not be smaller than 20pt and can be up to about 32pt.

To make the presentation easy to read, it is important to have a high contrast between the background and the font. It is best to always use a light font on a dark background or vice versa. The best contrast is between black and white.

Best fonts for PowerPoint

So finding the best font for you depends on many factors. But we have listed a few fonts here that do well in presentations.

This is a rather new font and therefore optimised for the screen. Its particularly wide spaces make it easy to read.

Like Verdana, Segoe UI is particularly easy to read on the screen. Its narrower character spacing also makes it very suitable for headlines.

Corbel appears very organized, clear and serious. It has also been optimised for presentations and is still easy to read even at greater distances.

Palatino is a rather unusual font that stands out from all the default fonts. It looks very elegant and is easy to read.

This is one of the oldest fonts and is more of a font style that includes fonts such as Garamond ITC and Adobe Garamond.

Tahoma is a very legible and clear font that is especially popular for presentations.

Century Gothic

Century Gothic has a geometric style and is particularly suitable for headlines and small amounts of text.

Script, italic and decorative fonts tend to read slowly and interrupt the flow of reading. It is better to avoid such fonts in your presentations.

Download fonts for PowerPoint

Would you like to use a font that has perhaps not been seen that often? Then you can also search for a nice font for your PowerPoint presentation on Google Fonts and download it for free.

When you have found a suitable font, select it and click on Download. Then open the ".ttf file" and click on Install. You can now use the font in your PowerPoint presentation.

Embed fonts in PowerPoint

If you now use one of the fonts you have downloaded, there is only one problem you need to be aware of.

You may be giving the presentation on another computer that does not have the font installed. Your selected font will then simply be replaced by a standard font so that at least the text can still be read.

What you can do about this and how to embed fonts in PowerPoint can be read here.

What is the best font for PowerPoint?

Some fonts that will look good in your presentation are: Verdana, Segoe UI, Corbel und Tahoma. But finding the right font for your PowerPoint depends on many factors. We have written down some tips for you to find the best font.

What is the best font size for PowerPoint?

The font should be large enough to be easy to read even at greater distances. Headings should be somewhere between 40pt and 50pt in size. Bullet points should not be smaller than 20pt and can be up to about 32pt.

Which fonts look good together in presentations?

Do not combine more than 2 fonts in your presentation. Use one for headings and one for the bullet points. If you combine different fonts make sure that they are not too similar but also that the contrast between them is not too great. A good combination for example is Cambria and Calibri.

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About the author.

Helena Reitinger

Helena supports the SlideLizard team in marketing and design. She loves to express her creativity in texts and graphics.

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Presentations

14 Fonts That Make Your PowerPoint Presentations Stand Out

Presentation fonts, more generally known as typography , are one of the most neglected areas of presentation design .

That’s because when presentation fonts are used appropriately and correctly, they blend so well with the overall design that your audience doesn’t even notice it. Yet, when your font usage is lacking, this sticks out like a sore thumb. 

Over 30 million PowerPoint presentations are made daily. Therefore, when it comes to creating your own slide decks, you need to take every advantage you can get to make it stand out. Among other design choices, choosing the best fonts for presentations can provide a huge impact with minimal effort.

In fact, it’s one of the reasons why Steve Jobs was able to turn Apple into the brand it is today. His expertise in branding and design was fueled by the Calligraphy classes that he attended in his early years. This allowed him to find the best font family that accentuated his company’s brand and identity.

So no matter the subject of your PowerPoint presentation, the best font or font family will help you create a lasting impression and convey a powerful message. To help you shine through your next slideshow, here’s our cultivated list of the best fonts for presentations.

If you want to create a PowerPoint presentation but don’t have access to PowerPoint itself, you can use Piktochart’s presentation maker to create a presentation or slide deck and export it as a .ppt file.

Best Fonts for Presentations and PowerPoint

Before we proceed, you should know some basics of typography, especially the difference between Serif, Sans Serif, Script, and Decorative types of fonts. 

Serif Fonts

These are classic fonts recognizable by an additional foot (or tail) where each letter ends. Well-known Serif fonts include:

• Times New Roman
• Century 

Sans Serif Fonts

Differing from the Serif font style, Sans Serif fonts do not have a tail. The most popular Sans Serif font used in presentations is Arial, but other commonly employed renditions of Sans Serif typeface include:

• Century Gothic
• Lucida Sans

Script and Decorative Fonts

These are the fonts that emulate handwriting—not typed with a keyboard or typewriter. Script typefaces and decorative or custom fonts for PowerPoint vary immensely and can be created by a graphic designer to ensure these custom fonts are bespoke to your company/brand.

With these font fundamentals explained, you can also keep up-to-date with the popularity of such fonts using Google’s free font analytics tool here . Let’s now go ahead with our list of the best presentation fonts for your PowerPoint slides. 

• Libre-Baskerville

Keep in mind that you don’t have to stick with only a single font for your slides. You could choose two of the best fonts for your presentation, one for your headings and another for the copy in the body of the slides.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the 14 best presentation fonts.

1. Helvetica

Helvetica is a basic Sans Serif font with a loyal user base. Originally created in 1957 , Helvetica comes from the Latin word for ‘Switzerland’ where it was born. When you use Helvetica, the top-half part of the text is bigger than in other Sans Serif fonts. For this reason, letters and numbers have a balanced proportionality between the top and bottom segments. As a result, this standard font makes it easier to identify characters from a distance.

As a result of being one of the easiest typecases to read compared to different presentation fonts, Helvetica is great for communicating major points as titles and subheadings in a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.

For these reasons, Helvetica is a popular choice for anyone creating posters .

If you are presenting live to a large group of people, Helvetica is your new go-to font! The classic Sans Serif font is tried and tested and ensures the legibility of your slide deck, even for the audience members sitting at the very back. Though it looks good in any form, you can make Helvetica shine even more in a bold font style or all caps. 

Futura is one of the popular Sans Serif fonts and is based on geometric shapes. Its features are based on uncomplicated shapes like circles, triangles, and rectangles. In other words , it mimics clean and precise proportions instead of replicating organic script or handwriting. Futura is a great default font for presentations because of its excellent readability, elegance, and lively personality. 

As one of many standard fonts designed to invoke a sense of efficiency and progress, Futura is best employed when you want to project a modern look and feel in your presentation. Futura is a versatile option ideal for use in both titles and body content, accounting for why it has remained immensely popular since 1927. 

3. Rockwell

The Rockwell font has strong yet warm characters that make it suitable for a variety of presentation types, regardless of whether it’s used in headings or the body text. However, best practice dictates that this standard font should be used in headers and subheadings based on its geometric style. Rockwell is a Geometric Slab Serif , otherwise known as a slab serif font alternative. It is formed almost completely of straight lines, flawless circles, and sharp angles. This Roman font features a tall x-height and even stroke width that provides its strong presence with a somewhat blocky feel.

Monoline and geometric, Rockwell is a beautiful font that can display any text in a way that looks impactful and important. Whether you want to set a mood or announce a critical update or event, you can’t go wrong with this robust font.

Verdana is easily a great choice as one of the top PowerPoint presentation fonts. Its tall lowercase letters and wide spaces contribute significantly towards boosting slide readability even when the text case or font size is small. That’s why Verdana is best for references, citations, footnotes, disclaimers, and so on. Additionally, it can also be used as a body font to extrapolate on slide headings to nail down your key points.

Besides that, it is one of the most widely available fonts, compatible with both Mac and Windows systems. This makes this modern Sans Serif font a safe bet for when you are not certain where and how will you be delivering your presentation. 

Raleway is a modern and lightweight Sans Serif font. Its italicized version has shoulders and bowls in some letters that are a bit off-centered. What this means is that the markings excluding the stem are intentionally lower or higher as compared to other fonts. 

This gives Raleway a slightly artistic look and feels without impacting its readability (and without falling into the custom or decorative fonts category). In fact, many professionals think the swashes and markings actually enhance the font’s readability and legibility. Moreover, Raleway also has a bold version which is heavily used in presentations and slide decks. 

The bottom line is that Raleway is a versatile typeface that can be used in a variety of presentations, either in the body copy or in titles and subheadings. When the titles are capitalized or formatted as bold, captivating your audience becomes a breeze. 

6. Montserrat

Montserrat is one of our favorite PowerPoint fonts for presentation titles and subheadings. The modern serif font is bold, professional, and visually appealing for when you want your headers and titles to really capture the audience’s attention.

Every time you move to the next slide, the viewers will see the headings and instantly understand its core message.  

Another major quality of the Montserrat font is its adaptability and versatility. Even a small change, such as switching up the weight, gives you an entirely different-looking typeface. So you get enough flexibility to be able to use the font in all types of PowerPoint presentations.

Montserrat pairs nicely with a wide range of other fonts. For example, using it with a thin Sans Serif in body paragraphs creates a beautiful contrast in your PowerPoint slides. For this reason, it is usually the first modern Serif font choice of those creating a business plan or marketing presentation in MS PowerPoint. 

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Roboto is a simple sans-serif font that is a good fit for PowerPoint presentations in a wide range of industries. Well-designed and professional, Roboto works especially well when used for body text, making your paragraphs easy to read.

Roboto combines beautifully with several other fonts. When you’re using Roboto for body text, you can have headings and titles that use a script font such as Pacifico, a serif font such as Garamond, or a Sans Serif font such as Gill Sans. 

Bentham is a radiant serif font perfectly suited for headings and subtitles in your PowerPoint slides. It gives your presentation a traditional appearance, and its letter spacing makes your content really easy to read.

You can use this font in uppercase, lowercase, or title case, depending on how it blends with the rest of your slide. For best results, we recommend combining Bentham with a Sans Serif font in your body content. For example, you can use a font such as Open Sans or Futura for the rest of your slide content.

9. Libre-Baskerville

Libre-Baskerville is a free serif Google font. You can pair this classic font with several other fonts to make a PowerPoint presentation with a traditional design. 

One of its best features is that it works equally well in both headings and body copy. It’s clear and easily readable, no matter how you use it. And when used for headings, it works really well in uppercase form. 

Tahoma is one of the fonts that offer the best level of clarity for PowerPoint slides. It has easily distinguishable characters like Verdana, but with the exception of tight spacing to give a more formal appearance.

Designed particularly for screens, Tahoma looks readable on a variety of screen sizes and multiple devices. In fact, this significant aspect is what makes Tahoma stand out from other fonts in the Sans Serif family. 

11. Poppins

Poppins falls within the Sans Serif font category but is a different font of its own uniqueness. The solid vertical terminals make it look strong and authoritative. That’s why it’s great for catchy titles and subheadings, as well as for the body paragraphs. Poppins is a geometric typeface issued by Indian Type Foundry in 2014. It was released as open-source and is available in many font sizes for free on Google Fonts.

When you want something that feels casual and professional in equal measure, pick Poppins should be in the running for the best PowerPoint fonts. 

12. Gill Sans 

Gill Sans is another classic presentation font for when you’re looking to build rapport with your audience. Gill Sans is a friendly and warm Sans Serif font similar to Helvetica. At the same time, it looks strong and professional. 

It’s designed to be easy to read even when used in small sizes or viewed from afar. For this reason, it’s a superior match for headers, and one of the best PowerPoint fonts, especially when combined with body text using Times New Roman or Georgia (not to mention several other fonts you can pair it with for successful results). This is the right font for combing different fonts within a presentation.

13. Palatino

Palatino can be classified as one of the oldest fonts inspired by calligraphic works of the 1940s. This old-style serif typeface was designed by Hermann Zapf and originally released in 1948 by the Linotype foundry. It features smooth lines and spacious counters, giving it an air of elegance and class. 

Palatino was designed to be used for headlines in print media and advertising that need to be viewable from a distance. This attribute makes Palatino a great font suitable for today’s PowerPoint presentations.   

Palatino is also a viable choice for your presentation’s body text. It’s a little different from fonts typically used for body paragraphs. So it can make your presentation content stand out from those using conventional fonts. 

14. Georgia

Georgia typeface has a modern design that few fonts can match for its graceful look. It’s similar to Times New Roman but with slightly larger characters. Even in small font size, Georgia exudes a sense of friendliness; a sense of intimacy many would claim has been eroded from Times New Roman through its overuse. This versatile font was designed by Matthew Carter , who has successfully composed such a typeface family which incorporates high legibility with personality and charisma. Its strokes form Serif characters with ample spacing, making it easily readable even in small sizes and low-resolution screens. 

Another benefit of using this modern font is its enhanced visibility, even when it’s used in the background of your PowerPoint slides. Moreover, the tall lowercase letters contribute to a classic appearance great for any PowerPoint presentation.  

Final Step: Choosing Your Best Font for Presentations

Choosing the right PowerPoint fonts for your future presentations is more of a creative exercise than a scientific one. Unless you need to abide by strict branding guidelines and company policies, there are no rules for the ‘best font’ set in stone. Plus, presentation fonts depend entirely on the environment or audience it is intended for, the nature and format of the project, and the topic of your PowerPoint presentation. 

However, there are certain basic principles rooted in typography that can help you narrow down the evergrowing list of available PowerPoint presentation fonts and choose PowerPoint fonts that will resonate with and have a powerful impact on your target audience.

As discussed in this article, these include font factors such as compatibility with most systems, clarity from a distance, letter spacing, and so on. Luckily for you, our carefully researched and compiled list of best fonts for presentations above was created with these core fundamentals already in mind, saving you time and hassle.

As long as you adopt these best practices for standard fonts without overcomplicating your key message and takeaways, you’ll soon be on your way to designing a brilliant slide deck using a quality PowerPoint font or font family! From all of us here at Piktochart, good luck with your new and improved presentation slides that will surely shine!

Hitesh Sahni is an editor, consultant, and founder of http://smemark.com/ , an upscale content marketing studio helping brands accelerate growth with superior and scalable SEO, PPC, and copywriting services.

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The Best 24 Fonts for Modern PowerPoint Presentations [+Guide]

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Presentations are pieces of art. From slide structure to animations, every single detail matters. In this blog post, we will show you the 24 best PowerPoint fonts for all uses. Of course, like everything in design – you might like some and frown at others.

What we can guarantee you is that using this collection of top fonts for PowerPoint will always be a safe bet when you’re in doubt.

Article Overview: 1. How to import a font into your presentation? 2. Great Fonts to Use for your PowerPoint Presentations 3. Great System fonts for PowerPoint Presentations 4. How to design text in PowerPoint?

1. How to import a font into your presentation?

If you don’t know how to import fonts into PowerPoint, it’s important to learn how to do it.

Step 1. Download your fonts

The first step is to select your desired font and download it.

Step 2. Extract the font

Once you’ve downloaded the font, it’s most probably compressed. You need to extract it before installation. If it comes directly as a .otf or .ttf format, there’s no need to unzip.

Step 3. Install the font

Install the font. The process is similar to installing any software, just press “Next” until you see the option “Finish”. If your fonts have been successfully installed, they should appear in the Font library in Windows. To access it, go to your computer, Local Disk (C:)->Windows-> Fonts .

Step 4. Open PowerPoint

Once you open your PowerPoint, the new font should appear among the others.

2. Great Fonts to Use for your PowerPoint Presentations

Fonts are a great way to show some branding skills but also a significant part of your presentation. Of course, we cannot select the best PowerPoint fonts or the best fonts in general, it’s a too subjective matter. But we will try to show you some of the most versatile ones that you will not make a mistake with. Let’s start!

Lato is a very common font that is used in digital forms since it was created for this purpose. It is a sans-serif font that is flexible. One of the most useful things about it is that you can choose between 5 different options for font thickness, giving it extra value when creating PowerPoint presentations.

Recommended title size:  20px

Optimum size for legibility:  18px

Perfect for:  headers and body text

You can combine it with: Roboto, Montserrat, Merriweather

2. Open Sans

Open Sans is another great font that can fit PowerPoint presentations perfectly. Since there is some line spacing, it can be easily readable. If you have large paragraphs that you cannot break down in bullets, it’s your perfect choice. It’s a standard PowerPoint font, so you’ll most probably have it in your font library.

Recommended title size: 28px

Optimum size for legibility:  16px

Perfect for:  body text

You can combine it with: Georgia, Lucida Grande, Publico

Candara is not your everyday font. While you cannot use it in Linux or the web, as it’s proprietary,  it’s accessible in PowerPoint, and what makes it interesting are the curved diagonals, and it’s the curves that give it more “personality”.

Recommended title size: 20px

Optimum size for legibility: 16px

Perfect for: body text

You can combine it with: Calibri, Cambria, Corbel

Specifically designed for Windows 95, Tahoma is a very formal font that can fit business presentations perfectly. It is a very clear and distinctive font which can help avoid confusion, thus it makes it great for formal presentations that need clarity.

Optimum size for legibility: 18px

Perfect for: title headers and body text

You can combine it with:  Georgia, Helvetica Neue, Arial

5. Montserrat

Montserrat is an extremely popular font, as it can be utilized everywhere – from website texts to presentations. Due to its high practicality, you can find it almost anywhere. Well, we need to warn you that you won’t get many “originality” points but you’ll also be “safe” when using it.

Recommended title size: 30px

You can combine it with: Open Sans, Lora, Carla

Whitney is an amazing font that will make your presentation stand out. There are two options – Whitney Condensed and Whitney Narrow. To be honest, Whitney can be used for both headers and body texts (check Discord), but we find it a bit overwhelming for PowerPoint paragraphs.

Recommended title size: 22px

Optimum size for legibility: 15px

Perfect for: title headers

You can combine it with:  Sentinel, Mercury, Gotham

7. Proxima Nova

Proxima Nova is one of the most versatile fonts out there with not 2 but 7 variants! That makes it a viable choice for many purposes and it’s part of the Adobe Fonts collection. The popularity spike is not without a reason, and Proxima Nova certainly won’t disappoint as it is one of the better fonts for PowerPoint.

Recommended title size: 26px

Perfect for: headers and body text

You can combine it with:  Adobe Garamond, Futura, Helvetica Neue

Oswald is a very decent sans-serif typeface and has 3 different versions – light, normal, and bold. It’s an interesting combination of some modern elements combined with classic gothic style, thus it’s perfect for your presentations.

Recommended title size: 18px

You can combine it with: Merriweather, Arial, Roboto

Europa is an amazing font from the Adobe Font Family. It’s a modern geometric sans-serif font that goes well with other fonts from the Adobe family but it can be used in a combination with non-Adobe fonts. It’s up to you.

Recommended title size: 32px

Optimum size for legibility: 20px

Perfect for: headers

You can combine it with:  Adobe Garamond, Chaparral, Kepler

Roboto is one of the most versatile fonts for the web, as it comes with 6 variations. Described as a grotesque sans-serif, it is the default font of Google Maps. Being easy to read makes it great for body texts where scanning is pivotal. While it’s great for small texts, it doesn’t perform that well for titles.

Recommended title size: 38px

Optimum size for legibility: 22px

You can combine it with: Roboto-Slab, Oswald, Abel

Adelle is a slab serif font that is part of the Adobe Family. It’s multipurpose and could work be well utilized and magazines. Its personality and great visibility make it a viable choice on our PowerPoint fonts list. While it can be used for body text too, we prefer to recommend it for headers.

Recommended title size: 36px

You can combine it with: Freight Sans Pro, Proxima Nova, Lucida Grande

14. Lobster

Lobster is a great choice if you want to create some funky text. It’s a great font for posters and headers but ensure you don’t use it much for body text, as it has very poor legibility if written in small letters.

Recommended title size: 58px

Optimum size for legibility: not recommended

You can combine it with: Lato, Open Sans, Muli

Futura is almost a century old but still converts well today! It’s one of the most versatile fonts for PowerPoint in case you download it. Who would suppose a 95-year-old font would still be relevant these days? And you will win points for creativity.

Optimum size for legibility: 17px

You can combine it with: Proxima Nova, New Caledonia, Trade Gothic

Canela is a hybrid font, as it can neither be called serif, nor sans-serif. It’s a very graceful typeface and we find it amazing for title texts. We also loved how it performs in the body from an artistic standpoint. However, we cannot rate it as very suitable for long paragraphs. Still, it can be used in bullets quite well.

You can combine it with: Caslon, Futura, Maison Neue

Aleo is an modern slab serif typeface designed as a “companion” to other popular fonts, like Lato. It has a sleek design but that doesn’t sacrifice readability which matters the most. As it has great clarity, it can be used both as a title text and in the body.

Recommended title size: 25px

Optimum size for legibility: 19px

You can combine it with: Lato, Arimo, Halis Grotesque

18. Poppins

Poppins is a playful sans-serif font that can be used as a main PowerPoint font without any issue. Thanks to its versatility, this PowerPoint font can be used both for title headers and body text, although we prefer the latter.

Recommended title size: 24px

Perfect for: header, body text

You can combine it with: Raleway, Work Sans, New Caledonia

Eras font has 4 weight options in PowerPoint and is absolutely stunning. It won’t be a mistake if we use it as a synonym to “elegance”. It’s slightly italic, thus making it perfect for long paragraphs and web content.

You can combine it with: Garamond, Futura, Helvetica Neue

Lora is a great font that is offered for free by Google. It is a formal font that doesn’t turn its back on art, and as a result, it can be utilized greatly in PowerPoint both as a header and in the body, and it can work perfectly in print, too.

You can combine it with: Lato, Avenir, Montserrat

3. Great System fonts for PowerPoint Presentations

System fonts are a classic choice for PowerPoint presentations as they are a pretty safe bet – you can access them on all types of devices and operating systems. While some of them might not be as beautiful as the previous ones on our list, they will serve you well!

21. Georgia

Georgia is a classic serif font that doesn’t impress with outstanding looks but what makes it a viable choice for PowerPoint presentations is its versatility – you can use it on any type of presentation, as a header or in the body. It’s popular, so you won’t make a mistake using it.

You can combine it with:

22. Times New Roman

Times New Roman was “The Thing” back in time. It was used as a default font for many web browsers and software, thus it was overwhelming. Recently, this serif font has lost its “halo” and is less common but you will never get it wrong if you bring it back to life.

Optimum size for legibility: 12px

You can combine it with: Arial, Gotham, Helvetica Neue

Arial is another well-known name in the web font industry. You can also check this neo-grotesque sans-serif font used in PowerPoint presentations quite often, as it offers a lot of versatility.

You can combine it with: Oswald, Verdana, Georgia

24. Helvetica Neue

Helvetica Neue is the successor of Helvetica which improved legibility and made it more modern. It is one of the most formal fonts that you can use in PowerPoint (and at all). This sans-serif font has 23 different variations in PowerPoint 2022 that you can choose from.

You can combine it with:  Open Sans, Proxima Nova, Adelle

4. How to design text in PowerPoint?

There are certain standards that should be met, in order for your PowerPoint fonts to appear correctly. Let’s see how to order your texts.

1. Make sure the font size is readable

Do you wonder why some websites have HUGE fonts? It’s to ensure their content will be easily scannable. While you don’t have to use a 60px font size for your letters, you should consider making your text more readable.

Pro tip : A simple and straightforward way to achieve this is to try and remove large paragraphs, and replace them with single sentences and bullet points.

2. Make a contrast between the text and background

There is an adopted standard of a minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio between text and background for content to be scannable, and 3:1 for large text. There are people who have bad eyesight, and others are color blind.

3. Use white space

White space (or negative space) is crucial for your slide design. It is used to separate different parts of the text, making content more readable. It’s crucial to remember that you should leave some “air” after finishing a main point in the slide.

4. Find the right text balance

One of the best PowerPoint presentation practices is to write between 6-8 lines and use no more than 30-35 words. Also, you should try to balance the text evenly – you cannot write 4 lines, then follow them with 3 lines, and then 1. Typically, writing 2-3 lines per paragraph is considered a good move, then followed by white space.

Final words

Structuring your PowerPoint text is not an easy feat. You need to pick the right PowerPoint fonts, as well as follow some basic instructions to make your slide text more scannable for your audience.

If this article has helped you, why don’t you have a look at some other font-related content from GraphicMama:

• 40 Trendy Free Fonts for Commercial Use Today
• Top 20 Free Fonts: Trendy & Evergreen
• 44 of The Best Free Handwriting Fonts to Try in 2022

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What are the Best Fonts for Presentation Slides

The fonts you use in your PowerPoint slides do play a role in making your presentations successful. The typeface should be readable and font size should be large enough so that people seated at the back have no problem reading the text.

Here’s some useful advice from presentation gurus on selecting the right fonts (font family + size) for your PowerPoint (or Keynote) presentations:

Guy Kawasaki : Guy says that your PowerPoint presentation slides should contain no font smaller than thirty points or just find out the age of the oldest person in your audience and divide it by two . That’s your optimal font size.

“Force yourself to use no font smaller than thirty points. I guarantee it will make your presentations better because it requires you to find the most salient points and to know how to explain them well.”

Seth Godin : Seth recommends picking up a font other than Arial for presentations because it is too common and overused.

“Headline fonts ought to be decorative but not ornate. Ornate looks cool on a font menu, but rarely pays off in heavy use… The right font becomes your handwriting.”

[Update] You can find some impressive typefaces at Google Web Fonts and they are free .

Scott Hanselman :  Scott, a great presenter and geek, recommends Lucida Console font, 14 to 18pt in bold for PowerPoint presentations.

“This [Lucida Console] is the most readable, mono-spaced font out there .  Courier of any flavor or Arial (or any other proportionally spaced font) is NOT appropriate for code demonstrations, period, full stop. ”

Garr Reynolds : The world’s best know presentation expert says that san-serif fonts are generally best for PowerPoint presentations, but try to avoid the ubiquitous Helvetica .

“Use the same font set throughout your entire slide presentation, and use no more than two complementary fonts (e.g., Arial and Arial Bold). Serif font are said to be easier to read at small point sizes, but for on screen presentations the serifs tend to get lost due to the relatively low resolution of projectors.”

If you are looking for specific font recommendations, check the following slide deck – it recommends Lobster Two, Bebas Neue, Glode, Korolev and Cantarell.

[slideshare id=9659045&doc=slidesthatrockpdf-111012082418-phpapp02]

Also see: PowerPoint Presentations: Avoid Last Minute Surprises

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Correct Font Size for PowerPoint Presentations

Presentations are a great tool to impart knowledge and communicate your message to many people at the same time. Not being able to easily read text can annoy people very quickly. Presentations may think that a font size or color looks fine on their computer screen. But what often looks great on your screen might not look the same when shown on a projector screen. Here is some time tested advice on how you should use fonts in your presentation.

What Is The Best Color for Fonts in a Presentation?

Make sure that the font is in contrast with its background. If the color of the font and the color of the background is too similar, then even a large font will be difficult to read. You might want to avoid Red-Green, Orange-Blue, and Red-Blue color combinations. Instead, try using White or Yellow text on a Dark Background.

Learn to optimize your presentation for people with common forms of color blindness  here .

What Is The Best Font to Use in a Presentation?

Common are the best fonts for PowerPoint e.g. Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, etc. They are simple, universally accepted, and they won’t be problematic when you share your presentation with other people using email.

Only use a fancy third-party font when the presentation computer will have that font installed on it, and if you’re willing to make another version of the presentation for emails.

What Is The Best Size for Fonts in a Presentation?

The size of fonts to use in a presentation depends on the visual acuity of the audience. Perfect vision is 20/20. According to Dave Paradi , font size should be 36 to 44 points for titles, and 24 to 32 points for normal text. That is if we assume that most people in the audience will have a 20/40 visual equity. This is a very conservative number, and it should work for pretty much anyone.

Topics Best color font for PowerPoint presentations Best font size for PowerPoint presentations best fonts for PowerPoint Best fonts for PowerPoint presentations Using new fonts in PowerPoint

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Ahmad is a technology blogger and a Computational Physicist. He breaks down the science of delivering presentations, and shows how to make use of a presentation in business, productivity, and much more

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Font sizes: Design for the last row!

How large should texts in presentations be so that they can also be read in the back rows here is the answer.

For the correct PowerPoint font size, Guy Kawasaki’s rule of thumb is: “The smallest font size you should use is the age of the oldest viewer divided by two. Therefore, it is better not to use references and footnotes in the presentation, both belong in the handouts and are no longer recognizable from row 2 anyway. From our experience, font sizes below 14 points are not suitable for a presentation that is held. For headlines you should use at least 26 points when creating your slide master .

You should also avoid too small font sizes for charts and diagrams. Especially if you are presenting to a larger audience.

PowerPoint font size for reading presentations:

If you create a PowerPoint presentation to be sent by e-mail and then read on the monitor or printed (reading presentation = all information is on the slides), then slightly different rules apply: at least 10-12 points for continuous text and 16 points for headlines.

Line spacing is also important!

For the line spacing (ZAB) you should set approx. 120%-130% of the font size. If the line spacing corresponds to the point size of the font, the text is uncomfortable to read. The line spacing (ZAB) is too BIG if it is >150% of the font size.

Very long lines are harder to read and should be softly wrapped with SHIFT + ENTER! Maximum 40 to 60 characters per line.

The size of the slides also plays an important role: the smaller the slide, the larger the font size.

16:9 widescreen film 33,87 x 14,29 cm and 4:3 film 25,4 x 19,05 cm

Hold presentation Heading: approx. 26. point // Continuous text: 14 – 16 point.

Reading presentation Heading: from 16 points // Continuous text: 10 – 12 points.

16:9 wide screen slide in the format 25,4 x 19,05 cm (old 16:9 format)

Hold presentation Heading: approx. 33 points // Continuous text: 18 – 21 points.

Reading presentation Heading: from 21 points // Continuous text: 13 – 13 points.

The optimal line spacing (ZAB): Rule of thumb: factor approx. 120%-130% of the font size. Alternatively, select “Simple” in PowerPoint line spacing.

We optimize your presentations!

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How to Change Font Size in PowerPoint? [A Complete Guide!]

By: Author Shrot Katewa

Using the correct font size in your PowerPoint presentation is critical in making it legible! After all, you don’t want your audience squinting at the screen when you are presenting at an auditorium or even when reading it over an email. Thus, it is important to know how to change the font size in PowerPoint.

To change font size in PowerPoint, first, select the text. Then, click on the “Font Size Dropdown” option from the “Font” group on the “Home” tab in PowerPoint. Choose font size 16 or 18 for desktop presentations, and size 30 if your presentation will be seen on a big screen in an auditorium.

In this article, we shall understand how to change the font size in PowerPoint and what font size should you use. Plus, we will also learn how to change the font size of text across all slides within PowerPoint in one go. That, and much more!

So, let’s get started!

1. How to Change the Font Size in PowerPoint?

In Microsoft PowerPoint, you can add text to content placeholders on a slide or to an inserted text box. Once you select the text box or the placeholder, you can change the size of the text.

Besides, you can also change the font size of the slide layouts and the master slide that affects the entire presentation. You can do so by using the “Font” group in the “Home” tab in PowerPoint .

1a. Method 1 – Using the Font Size Dropdown

To change the font size, you have to first click on the text box in the slide. Then click on the “Font Size” box in the “Font” group of the “Home” menu.

You can click on your preferred font size from the dropdown list. You can also enter the font size directly in the “Font Size” box using your keyboard.

1b. Method 2 – Using the Increase or Decrease Font Size Buttons

You can also change the font size in PowerPoint slides by using the “Increase Font Size” and the “Decrease Font Size” buttons located at the right of the “Font Size” box.

“Increase Font Size”

The “Increase Font Size” icon looks like the letter A with an upward arrow. Clicking on the button will increase the font size by 2 points.

Alternatively, you can press the “Ctrl+Shift+>” keys on your keyboard. You can repeatedly click on the button until the text reaches the preferred font size.

“Decrease Font Size”

The “Decrease Font Size” icon looks like the letter A with a downward arrow. The font size of the selected text will decrease by 2 points when you click on the icon.

Alternatively, you can press the “Ctrl+Shift+<” keys on your keyboard. You can repeat the process until the text decreases to your preferred font size.

2. How to Change the Font Size on All Slides in PowerPoint?

Changing the font size on a single slide is what you most need. However, sometimes, you also need to change the size of fonts across the complete presentation. In such a scenario, changing the font size on each slide can become really monotonous and time-consuming.

In order to change the font size on all slides in PowerPoint, you will need to use the “Slide Master” in PowerPoint .

Here are the steps that you need to follow in order to change the fonts on all slides of your presentation.

Step-1: Click on the “Slide Master” option

The first step is to open the “Slide Master” view. To do so, click on the “View” tab in the ribbon menu located at the top of the screen.

Then click on the “Slide Master” option in the “Master Views” group of the “View” menu.

Step-2: Click on the master slide

In the “Slide Master” view, click on the master slide. It is the top slide in the slide layout pane located on the left side of the screen.

In the master slide, highlight a bullet level or the entire text to change its font size.

Step-3: Click on the “Font Size” box

Now you have to click on the “Home” tab in the menu ribbon. In the “Font” group of the “Home” menu, click on the “Font Size” box to type in your preferred font size.

You can also select a font size from the dropdown list.

Step-4: Click on the “Close Master View” option

Now all you have to do is click on the “Slide Master” tab in the menu ribbon of the “Slide Master” view.

Then click on the “Close Master View” button to automatically save the changed font size for all texts in the presentation and return to the normal view.

3. How to Change the Default Font Size in PowerPoint?

Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to change the default font size for a presentation. This will affect all the texts in the open presentation file.

3a. Change Default Font Size of All Text in PowerPoint

In PowerPoint, you can add text to either a text box or a placeholder. To change the default font size of all the texts, you have to change the default font size of the placeholder and the text box separately.

To change the default font size of all the placeholders in a presentation, you have to access the “Slide Master” view. Refer to section 2 for the detailed steps of the process.

To change the default font size of all textboxes in the presentation, refer to the steps mentioned in the subsequent section 4.

3b. Change Font Size of Selected Text in PowerPoint

To change the font size of a selected text in PowerPoint, you have to first click on the “Home” tab in the menu ribbon. Then click on the “Font Size” box to select the preferred font size from the dropdown menu, or type in the number inside the box.

You can alternatively press the “Ctrl+Shift+>” keys on your keyboard to increase the font size and the “Ctrl+Shift+<” keys to decrease the font size.

4. How to Change Default Font Size of Text Box in PowerPoint?

In Microsoft PowerPoint, the default font size is 18 points for all text boxes. To change this default font size of the text box, follow the 2 quick steps.

Step-1: Click on the “Font Size” box

The first step is to click on any text box in the presentation. Then click on the “Font Size” box in the “Font” group of the “Home” tab. You can now select a font size from the dropdown list or type in the preferred font size inside the “Font Size” box.

Consider making any other changes to the text or formatting the text as per your requirement before moving on to the next step.

Step-2: Click on the “Set as Default Text Box” option

Now all you have to do is “Right-click” on the text box with the changed font size. In the right-click menu, click on the “Set as Default Text Box” option.

Now all new textboxes will have the changed font size as default.

One thing to note here is that the font size of the text in any existing text boxes will not change in your presentation. However, the changes will be visible the next time you add a text box on your slides in PowerPoint.

5. How to Change Font Size Automatically in a Text Box?

Microsoft PowerPoint offers the “Shrink text on overflow” feature using the autofit text options that automatically decreases the size of the text with the size of the text box. However, there is no feature to automatically increase the font size with the text box.

To enable the “Shrink text on overflow” feature, follow the 3 easy steps mentioned below

Step-1: Click on the “Format Shape” option

The first step is to “Right Click” on the text box. Then click on the “Format Shape” option from the right-click menu. This will open the “Format Shape” options in PowerPoint on the right side of the screen.

Step-2: Click on the “Text Options” tab

In the “Format Shape” sidebar, click on the “Text Options” tab. Under the “Text Options” tab, click on the “Text Box” option which is the last icon and looks like the letter A in a paragraph.

Step-3: Click on the “Shrink text on overflow” option

Now all you have to do is click on the “Shrink text on overflow” option in the “Format Shape” sidebar to enable the feature.

5a. How to Prevent Font Size From Changing Automatically?

You can also stop the font size from changing automatically with the size of the text box. All you have to do is click on the “Do not Autofit” option in the “Format Shape” sidebar on the right side of the screen.

6. How to Change Font Size of Notes in PowerPoint?

The notes in Microsoft PowerPoint can be used as speaker notes, or even printed out for your audience. Using the “Notes Master” in PowerPoint , you can change the font size of the notes.

Here’s a quick overview of what you need to do –

Step-1: Click on the “Notes Master” option

The first step is to click on the “View” tab to open the “View Options in PowerPoint” . Then click on the “Notes Master” option in the “Master Views” group of the “View” menu.

Step-2: Click on the “Home” tab

In the “Notes Master” screen, you have to now select the entire text or a bullet level in the placeholder to change its font size. Then click on the “Home” tab in the menu ribbon located at the top of the screen.

In the “Font” group of the “Home” tab, click on the “Font Size” box. Then select a font size option from the dropdown menu or type a font size in the box (as shown in the image in step 2).

You can also click on the “Increase Font Size” button next to the “Font Size” box to increase the font size. Click on the “Decrease Font Size” button to decrease the font size of the notes.

Step-4: Click on the “Close Master View” button

The final step is to click on the “Notes Master” tab in the ribbon menu located at the top of the screen.

Then click on the “Close Master View” button which is the last option in the “Notes Master” tab to save the changed font size for the presentation notes.

7. How to Change Font Size of Footer in PowerPoint?

In Microsoft PowerPoint, the footer present at the bottom of all slides in a presentation is editable in the master slide.

You can change the font size or even edit the footer in PowerPoint using the “Slide Master” view. Here’s what you need to do –

In the menu ribbon located at the top of the screen, you have to first click on the “View” tab. Then click on the “Slide Master” option in the “Master Views” group of the “View” menu. This will open the “Slide Master” view.

Step-2: Click on the footer

In the “Slide Master” view, click on the master slide which is the top slide in the slide layout pane on the left side of the screen.

Now you have to highlight the text in the footer section located at the bottom of the master slide.

The next step is to click on the “Home” tab in the menu ribbon. In the “Font” group of the “Home” menu, click on the “Font Size” box.

You can now select a font size for the footer from the dropdown menu or type in your preferred number in the “Font Size” box (as shown in the image in step 2).

Finally, you have to click on the “Slide Master” tab in the menu ribbon of the “Slide Master” view. In the “Slide Master” tab, click on the “Close Master View” button to save changes to the font size of the footer and return to normal view.

8. Change Font Size of Data Label of a Chart in PowerPoint?

Sometimes, you also want to change the font size of data labels on a chart in PowerPoint. Well, you can do that too. You can change the font size of each label separately or for the entire chart at once. Here’s how –

8a. Change Font Size of a Single Label

To change the font size of a single label in a PowerPoint chart, click on the label to select it separately. Then click on the “Font Size” box in the “Font” group of the “Home” menu to enter your preferred font size.

You can alternatively click on the “Increase Font Size” icon or the “Decrease Font Size” icon next to the “Font Size” box repeatedly until the label reaches your preferred font size.

8b. Change Font Size of All Labels

To change the font size of all the labels in a chart at once, click on an empty space inside the chart. This will select the entire chart on a slide.

Now all you have to do is enter your preferred font size in the “Font Size” box in the “Font” group of the “Home” tab in the menu ribbon. You can also select a font size from the dropdown list under the “Font Size” box.

9. What is the Minimum Possible Font Size in PowerPoint?

In Microsoft PowerPoint, the lowest possible font size is 1 point. You can click on the “Font Size” box in the “Font” section of the “Home” menu, and enter any number between 1 to 3600. However, the least possible font size available in the dropdown list under the “Font Size” box is 8 points.

10. Can’t Change Font Size in PowerPoint? Here’s What to Do!

If you cannot change the font size of a text box in PowerPoint, it is likely that the text box is inserted into the master slide or the slide layout.

In the “Slide Master” view, any inserted object except the placeholders is not editable in the normal view.

To be able to change the font size, you have to open the specific slide layout in the slide master view, select the text box, and change the font size of the text.

Step-1: Click on the “View” tab

The first step is to click on the “View” tab in the menu ribbon located at the top of the screen. In the “View” menu, click on the “Slide Master” option.

Step-2: Click on the text box

In the slide layout pane of the “Slide Master” view, click on the slide layout containing the uneditable text box. Then highlight the text inside the text box.

The next step is to click on the “Home” tab in the menu ribbon of the “Slide Master” view. In the “Font” group of the “Home” menu, click on the “Font Size” box. Now all you have to do is type in your preferred font size for the text.

Finally, you can click on the “Slide Master” tab in the menu ribbon. In the “Slide Master” menu, click on the “Close Master View” option to save the changes to the font size of the text box.

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

What Font Size Should You Use for Your PowerPoint?

Unfortunately, there isn't a simple answer to this common question. The best choice for font size should depend on the size and ratio of the monitor you are presenting with and its distance from the viewer. There are many factors that impact readability. Focus, attention, and visual acuity are all elements that either aid in or detract from sending the desired message. This is the inquiry plaguing many presenters.

While the answer can vary from project to project, here are some thoughts from DeckRobot to guide you.

The Formula

A quick search of the Internet will tell you that the minimum size is from 18 to 36 pt. Admit it - that's quite a range!#nbsp; Figuring that out is more complicated. Dave Paradi created a formula for font size based on the standard for US road signs, which allows for average eyesight to see what’s written. Here are the tables that he created based on this purpose.

4:3 ratio screen distance for viewing font size

16:9 ratio screen distance for viewing font size

But let's be real. How often do we know these variables or have the time to measure them? Without knowing the exact size and ratio of the screen or the layout of the court/mediation location you easily can mess up your presentation with the wrong size choice.

Always consider your audience. Try to visit the place where you will be presenting beforehand. Check the space in which you will be presenting your deck. If presenting in person, how deep is the room, and how far back might the farthest person be? Will your screen be viewed on a computer or a smartphone potentially? Take the time to view your presentation from the farthest seats. While 20/20 vision is perfect, not everyone in your audience will be able to see what’s written on your slides. A good place to start is crafting your slides so that anyone can see each word clearly.

The Contrast

If you want your audience to be able to see what you have on the slide, there needs to be a lot of contrast between the text color and the background color. Dark background with light text is the best option. Some prefer a light background and dark letters, which will also work well - which you choose will depend on personal preference. Don’t think that just because the text looks fine on your computer screen that it will look fine when projected. Most projectors make colors duller than they appear on a screen, and you should check how your colors look when projected to make sure there is still enough contrast.

Visuals VS Text

The latest survey confirms that audiences are more fed up than ever with the overload of text on slides (see the latest survey results here ). Instead of using slides that only contain text, use visuals such as graphs, diagrams, photos and media clips to engage the audience.

More Advice

What should you be thinking of after you select the correct font size for your slides?

What font-face should you use? Read our article about “8 Best Fonts to Use for PowerPoint Presentations in 2021”

Make sure that the message of your presentation is clear for your audience.

Why you should select visuals instead of slides full of text or spreadsheets? Read our article about “Why Presentation Visuals Are So Important”

Simply stated, if you are wondering if the text size is too small—it probably is. But more importantly, keep the text on each slide to a minimum! Find a way to balance the weight of the other visual elements of your slide to increase the text size. Better yet, find a way to visually show what you are talking about instead of relying on text.

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Powerpoint guidelines for presenters.

ARL is strongly committed to providing access to its web content to people with print disabilities. To help us meet our commitment, please follow this checklist when creating PowerPoint slides to be shown at our meetings and subsequently posted on our website.

• Each slide should have a unique title.
• All slides should use a minimum font size of 24 points.
• The document should utilize recommended fonts, e.g., Palatino, Georgia,  Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, and Helvetica.
• If color is used to emphasize the importance of selected text or convey other meaning, an alternate method (such as bold text) should also be used.
• Avoid using flickering, flashing, and animated text.
• All URLs should contain the correct hyperlinks and display the fully qualified URLs (e.g., https://www.arl.org/ not www.arl.org ).
• All active links should resolve to the correct destinations.
• All slide graphics that convey information should have alternative text associated with them. (Right-click the graphic, click “Format object,” click the “Alt Text” pane and enter a brief description of the graphic.)
• Fill in the Document Properties of Author, Title, Subject, Keywords, and Language under the “Summary” and “Custom” tabs. (On a Mac, see File > Properties; on a PC, see File >Info.)

If you would like more information about making PowerPoint presentations fully accessible, please view ARL’s detailed checklist .