online presentation on powerpoint

Reinvent productivity with Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Copilot in PowerPoint

Turn your inspiration into stunning presentations. Get it now when you add Copilot Pro or Copilot for Microsoft 365 to your Microsoft 365 subscription. ​

Turn your inspiration into stunning presentations

Turn a spark of inspiration into personalized presentations with Copilot in PowerPoint. Copilot will turn existing Word documents into presentations, create new presentations from simple prompts or outlines, or find the best places for impactful imagery—and will help you leave audiences dazzled with skillful storytelling.

Designing slides has never been easier

Create well-designed, impactful slides with the help of Designer and Ideas in PowerPoint.

3D isn't just for the movies

Now you can easily insert 3D objects and embedded animations directly into PowerPoint decks from your own files or a library of content.

Interact naturally using voice, touch, and ink

Easily ink onto a slide, then convert handwritten notes into text and make hand-drawn shapes perfect in seconds.

Nail your next presentation

With Presenter Coach, practice your speech and get recommendations on pacing, word choice, and more through the power of AI.

Be on the same page

Always know where you are in the editing process. With the while you were away feature, track recent changes made by others in your decks.

Task management with PowerPoint and Microsoft 365

Tell your story with captivating presentations.

Originally starting from Free now starting from Free

Sharing and real-time collaboration

PowerPoint for the web

Basic templates, fonts, icons, and stickers

Dictation and voice commands

Works on web, iOS, and Android™

5 GB of cloud storage

Microsoft 365 Personal

Originally starting from $6.99 now starting from $6.99

$6.99 $6.99

(Annual subscription–auto renews) 1

PowerPoint for the web and PowerPoint desktop app for offline use

Premium templates, fonts, icons, and stickers with thousands of options to choose from

Dictation, voice commands, and transcription

Advanced spelling and grammar, in-app learning tips, use in 20+ languages, and more

1 TB (1000 GB) of cloud storage

Premium desktop, web, and mobile apps

Advanced security

Ad-free experience

Works on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android™

Copilot Pro available as an add-on. *

Microsoft 365 Family

Originally starting from $9.99 now starting from $9.99

$9.99 $9.99

One to six people

Up to 6 TB of cloud storage, 1 TB (1000 GB) per person 

Premium desktop, web, and mobile apps 

Advanced security 

Microsoft Powerpoint

One person 

Microsoft 365 Apps for business

Originally starting from $8.25 now starting from $8.25

$8.25 $8.25

Available for up to 300 employes

Desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook

1 TB of cloud storage per user

Anytime phone and web support

Microsoft 365 Business Standard

Originally starting from $12.50 now starting from $12.50

$12.50 $12.50

Everything in Microsoft 365 Apps for business, plus:

Web, and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook

Custom business email ([email protected])

Chat, call, and video conference with Microsoft Teams

10+ additional apps for your business needs (Bookings, Planner, Microsoft Forms, and others)

Automatic spam and malware filtering

Webinars with attendee registration and reporting

New: Collaborative workspaces to co-create using Microsoft Loop

New: Video editing and design tools with Clipchamp

Copilot for Microsoft 365 available as an add-on. **

Add Copilot to your Microsoft plan

Achieve more than ever using AI integrated with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 apps.

Get the PowerPoint mobile app

Ready to create great presentations with Microsoft 365?

See more from microsoft powerpoint.

Collaborate on shared projects

Get commonly used Office features and real-time co-authoring capabilities through your browser.

Jumpstart your design

Show your style and professionalism with templates, plus save time. Browse PowerPoint templates in over 40 categories.

Connect with experts

See what’s new and get classic tips and editors' tricks to help you create, edit, and polish presentations like a pro.

Read about slide presentations

6 slide presentation software tips to impress, host large-scale virtual presentations, how to make a slide show, what’s new in powerpoint.

• [1] Once your paid subscription begins, cancelation policies vary based on your status as a new customer, product, and domain selections on Microsoft.  Learn more.  Cancel your Microsoft 365 subscription any time by going to the Microsoft 365 admin center. When a subscription is canceled, all associated data will be deleted.  Learn more about data retention, deletion, and destruction in Microsoft 365 . Microsoft PowerPoint with a Microsoft 365 subscription is the latest version of PowerPoint. Previous versions include PowerPoint 2016,  PowerPoint 2013 ,  PowerPoint 2010 ,  PowerPoint 2007 , and PowerPoint 2003. iTunes, iPhone, and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Android is a trademark of Google Inc.
• [*] Copilot Pro benefits are currently available on web, Windows, and macOS and iPadOS. A Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription is required to access Copilot in select apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook. Excel features are currently in preview in English only. Microsoft 365 Personal or Family and Copilot Pro are not available in the same transaction and must be purchased in two separate transactions.
• [**] Copilot for Microsoft 365 may not be available for all markets and languages. To purchase, enterprise customers must have a license for Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 or Office 365 E3 or E5, and business customers must have a license for Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Business Premium.

Follow Microsoft 365

Cloud Storage

Custom Business Email

Video and voice conferencing

Shared Calendars

Word Processing

Spreadsheets

Presentation Builder

Survey builder

Google Workspace

An integrated suit of secure, cloud-native collaboration and productivity apps powered by Google AI.

Tell impactful stories, with Google Slides

Create, present, and collaborate on online presentations in real-time and from any device.

• For my personal use
• For work or my business

Jeffery Clark

T h i s   c h a r t   h e l p s   b r i d g i n g   t h e   s t o r y !

E s t i m a t e d   b u d g e t

Make beautiful presentations, together

Stay in sync in your slides, with easy sharing and real-time editing. Use comments and assign action items to build your ideas together.

Present slideshows with confidence

With easy-to-use presenter view, speaker notes, and live captions, Slides makes presenting your ideas a breeze. You can even present to Google Meet video calls directly from Slides.

Seamlessly connect to your other Google apps

Slides is thoughtfully connected to other Google apps you love, saving you time. Embed charts from Google Sheets or reply to comments directly from Gmail. You can even search the web and Google Drive for relevant content and images directly from Slides.

Extend collaboration and intelligence to PowerPoint files

Easily edit Microsoft PowerPoint presentations online without converting them, and layer on Slides’ enhanced collaborative and assistive features like comments, action items, and Smart Compose.

Work on fresh content

With Slides, everyone’s working on the latest version of a presentation. And with edits automatically saved in version history, it’s easy to track or undo changes.

Make slides faster, with built-in intelligence

Assistive features like Smart Compose and autocorrect help you build slides faster with fewer errors.

Stay productive, even offline

You can access, create, and edit Slides even without an internet connection, helping you stay productive from anywhere.

Security, compliance, and privacy

Secure by default

We use industry-leading security measures to keep your data safe, including advanced malware protections. Slides is also cloud-native, eliminating the need for local files and minimizing risk to your devices.

Encryption in transit and at rest

All files uploaded to Google Drive or created in Slides are encrypted in transit and at rest.

Compliance to support regulatory requirements

Our products, including Slides, regularly undergo independent verification of their security, privacy, and compliance controls .

Private by design

Slides adheres to the same robust privacy commitments and data protections as the rest of Google Cloud’s enterprise services .

You control your data.

We never use your slides content for ad purposes., we never sell your personal information to third parties., find the plan that’s right for you, google slides is a part of google workspace.

Every plan includes

Collaborate from anywhere, on any device

Access, create, and edit your presentations wherever you are — from any mobile device, tablet, or computer — even when offline.

Get a head start with templates

Choose from a variety of presentations, reports, and other professionally-designed templates to kick things off quickly..

Photo Album

Book Report

Visit the Slides Template Gallery for more.

Ready to get started?

How to Create a Presentation with PowerPoint Online

An online version of PowerPoint was introduced in 2010, a few years after the Google Docs release, which came out as early as 2007. Over the years, the product, along with other Microsoft Office apps, underwent major changes, making it more user-friendly and feature-rich for end users.

Given the rise of inter-device connectivity and cloud support, tools like Microsoft 365, particularly its Word, Excel, and PowerPoint web-based counterparts, have considerably increased their capabilities, matching the performance of desktop versions. In this article, we will talk about PowerPoint Online, also called PowerPoint for Web, and how it can help presenters craft presentations and access them on the go wherever they log in. 

Table of Contents

What is PowerPoint Online

Advantages of powerpoint online, getting started with powerpoint for the web, how to create a powerpoint online presentation, collaboration and sharing, saving and exporting, tips for creating high-quality slides in powerpoint online, troubleshooting common issues in powerpoint online.

• Conclus i on

PowerPoint for the Web, which was previously called PowerPoint Online, is a web-based version of PowerPoint that enables creating, viewing, editing, and sharing PowerPoint presentations online. Unlike Google Slides, PowerPoint for the Web provides better native support for PowerPoint files. It makes it possible to seamlessly work with PowerPoint files and features through a web-based browser, with OneDrive support to share and store your data. PowerPoint for the web is free to use but has limited features. However, if you are a Microsoft 365 subscriber, you can get better features when using the web-based version of PowerPoint.

PowerPoint for the web provides the same benefits as the desktop version of PowerPoint, with the added advantage of accessing these features anywhere using an Internet browser. Below is a list of advantages of using PowerPoint Online.

Easy Accessibility

You can access PowerPoint features anywhere using an Internet-connected browser without installing the PowerPoint app on your device. Furthermore, you can also upload and access files from your device anytime, anywhere, via the web.

Support for Native PowerPoint Features

Be it online collaboration, cloud storage, or access to version history, you can get native PowerPoint features via a web-based version of PowerPoint without the need to worry about compatibility issues. Furthermore, unlike Google Slides or other web-based variants of PowerPoint, PowerPoint for the web helps access native PowerPoint features without causing compatibility issues such as incorrect display of certain themes or support for various animations available in the offline version.

OneDrive Integration

The integration of PowerPoint for the web with OneDrive allows instantly storing, sharing, and accessing different versions of a file using the cloud storage support of OneDrive.

Easy Sharing

The OneDrive integration enables the online version of PowerPoint to be used for instantly sharing presentations online using a link with a specific access level (view only or editing privileges).

Online Collaboration

While PowerPoint’s offline version also provides collaboration features, using PowerPoint for the web can provide a smoother experience when looking for real-time changes to a PowerPoint file.

Version History

PowerPoint files saved with the web version come with a version history, where you can access older file versions to restore according to need. This feature is also available for the offline version, which you must turn on upload to OneDrive. In other words, version history is only supported for PowerPoint files that are saved online.

Cross-Platform Compatibility

Since you only need a web browser and a Microsoft account to access PowerPoint Online, there are no issues with having a compatible device to use the app. This means you can access PowerPoint Online using any device that can run a modern Internet browser.

Accessibility Features

PowerPoint for the web is among the few platforms that provide accessibility features for persons with disabilities, such as image ALT text and support for screen readers.

PowerPoint for the web is regularly updated, providing access to the latest features for end users.

To get started, go to Office.com  or powerpoint.office.com and select the PowerPoint icon to access PowerPoint for the web. You will require a Microsoft account to log in.

Once logged in, you can create a new PowerPoint presentation or upload one from your device. All you need for accessing the web version of PowerPoint is a modern Internet browser and a device that can support it. This web-based version of PowerPoint works with all commonly used browsers and their variants, including Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Opera, and others.

From Office.com, you can create new PowerPoint presentations from scratch or via a template, upload new ones, or open an existing one saved to OneDrive. 

Create a New Presentation with PowerPoint for the Web

Click Create or use a PowerPoint template from the options to create a new PowerPoint presentation. You can start with a specific theme or use a blank template. You can also browse through themes via Office.com to find one that best suits your needs.

Upload a PowerPoint Presentation

To upload a PowerPoint presentation, click Upload after logging into Office.com and select a file from your device.

Open an Existing PowerPoint Presentation Online

All PowerPoint presentations saved from a device are automatically uploaded to OneDrive and can be accessed via PowerPoint’s online version. As mentioned earlier, you can upload and save presentations and access them anytime.

Adjusting the Ribbon Menu Layout

You can toggle between the classic and single-line ribbon interface to suit your preferences. The Ribbon menu can also be adjusted to stay available or hidden periodically. 

Naming Your Presentation

It is best to name your presentation to ensure it is easy to search and open later via OneDrive. Otherwise, a generic name will be assigned to the presentation (e.g., Presentation 1). To name your presentation, click on the generic name at the top and type in the new name.

Formatting and Design

As you start formatting your slides, the Designer feature will provide you with options to create layouts for your slides. You can optionally use this feature to get started with the basic design for your slides or use the Design tab to select design elements.

Like the desktop app, the Design tab in PowerPoint Online provides access to themes, background and slide size adjustment options, and theme variants to help you design your slides.

Adding Content

The Insert tab provides all the necessary options to add new slides, tables, pictures, shapes, icons, SmartArt, text boxes, audio, video, cameo to insert Live camera feed, and other options. 

Formatting Pictures

Like the desktop version of PowerPoint, pictures can be added from your device, stock images, or via Bing search. The Picture tab can be used to format added pictures after selecting them. Various options in this tab allow you to crop, add a picture frame, and adjust the picture on the slide.

You can also access Format Options via the right-click menu.

This will open a sidebar providing options to adjust the selected image’s width, height, angle, shadow, reflection, and text margins.

Formatting Videos

PowerPoint for the web allows formatting videos via the Shape tab and Format Options via the right-click menu. The Shape tab can give a frame or shape to the video, adjust the outline, manage how it is displayed on the slide, and adjust the size of the video. Sometimes, the Shape tab might be replaced with the Video tab to show editing options. This change is particularly visible if the user is not logged in and is editing the presentation as a Guest user. The Format Options enable editing the video’s width, height, angle, text margins, shadow, and reflection.

Formatting Audio

Two major options for formatting added audio clips include the Playback tab and Audio Format tab. The Playback tab can adjust the volume, playback trigger, and other related options.

The Audio Format tab includes picture styles for the audio icon, border stylizing, rotation, and other formatting options to adjust how the audio clip appears on the slide.

Annotation Options

The Draw tab gives various tools like pens and highlighters to annotate slides or draw on the screen. Other tools include an eraser, lasso, draw with touch, and stencil.

Transitions and Animations

Like the desktop version of PowerPoint, the Transitions tab for the web version gives transitions to use for your slides. You can adjust the effects of added transitions and duration once you have added a transition for a slide.

The Animations tab can be used to apply standard transitions and adjust effects, triggers, and duration for the animations according to need.

SlideShow, Review, and View

The SlideShow tab is used to start the SlideShow from the beginning of the current slide or to initiate a Live presentation with a QR code and link for viewing the presentation Live. You can also use Rehearse with Coach, use subtitles, and edit subtitle settings. You can also learn more about some of these features from our post about how to present a PowerPoint Online .

If you are searching for the features to check spelling and grammar, comments, changes, and accessibility options, head to the Review tab.

Most PowerPoint users know that the viewing options are available at the bottom of the PowerPoint interface. However, you can also access them from the View tab in PowerPoint. The same features are available for PowerPoint for the web. This includes options like switching between Slide Sorter, Immersive Reader, and Normal View and access to Notes, Zoom, and Fit to Window options.

To share your PowerPoint presentation, click Share from the top left corner of PowerPoint Online. You can create a sharing link according to specific settings, copy the existing link, link to a slide, or view and manage access to the presentation.

Collaborators can be invited via email or link by adjusting whether a user has view-only or editing privileges.

Once the settings have been configured, a link can be generated to copy and share with users. When configuring settings, you can also directly send the link with a message to an end user.

Users collaborating on the slide deck with their names are shown at the top. A generic name is assigned to the collaborator if it’s a guest.

You can see the comments added by collaborators on the presentation by going to Comments.

Next to the Comments button is the Catch-up button that tracks and shows the changes made by real-time collaborators as you work on the presentation.

You can also access sharing options via File -> Share . You can open sharing options or generate an embed code for the presentation from here.

When generating an embed code, you can adjust the width, height, and slide advancement options and generate a code for a website.

To switch between viewing modes, you can change to view only and editing options as you collaborate or open the presentation in the desktop app. These options can be helpful for you to adjust how you wish to work or review the presentation.

To save your presentation, go to File -> SaveAs to save a copy to OneDrive, download a copy of the PowerPoint presentation, rename the file, or download the file in an alternative format such as PDF, ODP, or image.

When saving a copy of the presentation on OneDrive, you can select an existing folder or create a new one to select the file location.

You can consider the tips below to create visually appealing slides with PowerPoint Online.

Focus on Design Consistency

Use a consistent design with a color scheme, fonts, alignment, and graphics tailored to a specific format. Don’t use too many changes that might make the content appear muddled.  

Avoid Heavy Multimedia

Since PowerPoint for the Web is an online platform, not everyone might have the required Internet bandwidth or hardware to run heavy presentations smoothly. Using multimedia content in moderation can help avoid such issues.

Uncluttered Slides

Cluttered slides on an online interface will likely cause compatibility issues for some viewers or the slides might not appear properly on some browsers and devices. To avoid this, try to create uncluttered slides. Using minimalist slides might just be the best way to go.

Even the Distribution of Slide Elements

By evenly distributing slide elements with proper alignment, you should be able to create online slides that are easy for the eyes to follow.

Choose Imagery Carefully

When selecting icons, graphical elements, and pictures, try not to use imagery that is too flashy and might cause issues when opened across different browsers and devices. You can use icons from the built-in icons library in PowerPoint and select pictures that don’t visually overpower the viewer.

Get Design Ideas

You can get design ideas using PowerPoint Designer to adjust your design for visual appeal and design consistency.

Productivity Shortcuts

PowerPoint for the web primarily provides most of the features in the desktop app. Below are some tips and tricks for productivity when using the web version of PowerPoint. For some shortcuts listed below, PC users must use CTRL, whereas Mac users will use Command.

• Insert New Slide using CTRL+M hotkey (Command+M for Mac)
• Use F5 to start the slideshow and Esc to end the slideshow
• CTRL+D duplicates the slide (Command+D for Mac)
• CTRL+Shift+D deletes the slide (Command+Shift+D for Mac)
• Use CTRL+S to save slide (Command+S for Mac)
• Use CTRL+W to close the presentation (Command+W for Mac)
• To open printing options, use CTRL+P (Command+P for Mac)
• Zoom in with CTRL+Plus button (Command+Plus button for Mac)
• Zoom out with CTRL+Minus button (Command+Minus button for Mac)
• Insert a table with CTRL+T (Command+T for Mac)
• Insert a hyperlink with CTRL+K (Command+K for Mac)
• Align text with CTRL+L for left, CTRL+E for center, and CTRL+R for right (Replace CTRL with Command for Mac)

Screen Freezes When Working with PowerPoint for the Web

If your screen freezes while you’re working, the web version of PowerPoint is likely encountering an issue when saving the file, showing elements, or inserting content. You can wait a while, and the issue should be resolved. Also, check your Internet connection to see that you are connected. You might want to close additional tabs and review your system usage to see if your hardware is overwhelmed due to resource-intensive apps or multiple browser tabs.

Slide Elements Don’t Appear Properly

If your browser isn’t compatible or uses a browser plugin that blocks slide elements, you might encounter issues viewing slides. Use a compatible browser and turn off any plugins that might interfere with PowerPoint’s online interface.

File Upload or Download Issues

When you are unable to upload or download files, it is likely that your Internet connection is unstable or disconnected. Check your connection to resolve the issue.

Unable to Login

This is likely caused by incorrect credentials or a recent change in credentials, such as a password. If you cannot log in despite no apparent issues, try to clear your browser’s cache or switch to another browser to see if you can log in.

PowerPoint for the web provides most features available for the desktop version and some sharing and collaboration features that require uploading the file online for use. You will notice that some of these features are smoother when used with the online version compared to the desktop version. Furthermore, the online version of PowerPoint provides access regardless of whether you have PowerPoint installed on your device. If you are someone who does not have a Microsoft 365 subscription and needs to access a PowerPoint file, you can log in for free with a Microsoft account with limited features. Alternatively, if the online version is not an option for you, you can still learn how to create a PowerPoint presentation in the installed version of Office.

Like this article? Please share

Microsoft PowerPoint, PowerPoint Online Filed under PowerPoint Tutorials

Related Articles

Filed under Google Slides Tutorials , PowerPoint Tutorials • April 17th, 2024

Google Slides vs. PowerPoint: A Detailed Comparison

Contrast and pick with presentation software suits your best. Check our guide on how the Google Slides vs. PowerPoint eternal debate.

Filed under PowerPoint Tutorials • April 16th, 2024

How to Insert an Equation in PowerPoint

Learn how to create easy-to-understand science slides by mastering how to insert an equation in PowerPoint. Step-by-step guide.

Filed under PowerPoint Tutorials • April 9th, 2024

How to Remove Notes from PowerPoint

Make alternative versions of your presentation files by learning how to remove notes from PowerPoint. Step-by-step guide with screeshots.

Leave a Reply

Productivity

The PowerPoint Online Guide: How to Make and Present Slideshows Anywhere

Over the past thirty years, PowerPoint has become synonymous with presentations. Give a speech, present a new product, share finances in a board meeting—all are typically done with a PowerPoint presentation. That’s easy enough if you’re presenting from your laptop and have Microsoft Office installed.

Or it can be far more difficult. You might need to email your slide deck to the event organizer—and hope they have the same version of PowerPoint installed. Or you may carry your PowerPoint file around on a flash drive to open it on the presentation computer. Neither are great solutions, especially for all the times you need to make a last-minute change to your slides or if you don’t typically use Microsoft Office.

A Quick Guide to Office Online

It starts with Office Online . Launched in 2010 as Office Web Apps , Office Online today includes simplified, free versions of Microsoft Office’s most popular apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

If you’ve ever used the iPad or Android tablet versions of Office, Office Online will feel instantly familiar. The basics are the same. Each Office Online app includes an Office-style toolbar with Home , Insert , Design , and other tabs to organize core editing tools. Office Online apps don’t include all of their Windows features. They include instead a focused set of editing tools that, for most documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, are all you need.

The big difference is that the apps are online. Instead of emailing files back and forth, or syncing changes via OneDrive or Dropbox then sending messages to colleagues when something’s finished, changes happen automatically in Office Online. Your team can open files at the same time, make changes or add comments, and Office will save and sync it to all your OneDrive accounts automatically. Office Online apps also work everywhere. Open any browser, go to Office.com, and your work is ready to pick up where you left off.

Office Online is free for personal use—log into Office.com with a Microsoft account and fill up OneDrive’s free 5GB of storage with all your Office files. A business version is included with Office 365 for business and enterprise accounts as well.

The basics are the same. If you’ve used PowerPoint before, you’ll feel at home in PowerPoint online. Here are the things to keep in mind, the tips to help you work efficiently in your browser, and ways to work around Office Online’s limitations.

For your number crunching needs, check our Excel Online Guide to learn everything you need about Microsoft’s free Excel.

A Quick PowerPoint Online Tour

Ready to make a new presentation? Open PowerPoint Online at office.live.com/start/PowerPoint.aspx , and sign in with your Microsoft account (including Outlook.com, Xbox Live, and Office 365 accounts). You’ll then see the Office template picker with many of the presentation templates from desktop PowerPoint—with your recently opened presentations on the left sidebar.

Select a template or open an existing presentation to open it in PowerPoint Online. With a similar design to recent versions of PowerPoint for Mac and Windows, you’ll find the core text and design tools on the main Home tab, options to add images and embedded videos and tables in the Insert tab, slide and template options in the Design tab, animations in the Transitions and Animations tab, and so on. If you can’t find the feature you need, type what you need in the Tell me what you want to do box to search through PowerPoint’s features and documentation.

Need to edit a picture or tweak a SmartArt graph? Select it, and a new Format tab will appear with additional tools as in desktop PowerPoint.

You may not need to look through the toolbars for tools, though. Select text in a slide and PowerPoint shows quick formatting options in a pop-over to change the font, color, and more. Or right-click on most other elements to find their quick editing options. You can then double-click on the toolbar to hide it and increase your workspace, if you’d like, relying on the popover tools to work faster.

Add a new slide: Ctrl + M or CMD + M

Move slides up or down: Ctrl + arrow or CMD + arrow

Add a comment: Alt + N

Go to next slide in Slideshow view: N

Go to previous slide in Slideshow view: P

Go to a specific slide in Slideshow view: G , then type slide number

Exit Slideshow view: Esc

Check Microsoft PowerPoint Online keyboard shortcut list for more details.

How to Add Presentations to PowerPoint Online

PowerPoint Online is part of Microsoft’s OneDrive file storage. Open a PowerPoint file in OneDrive, and it’ll first show a preview with the option to edit it online.

But surprisingly, PowerPoint Online also works with Dropbox. That gives you another way to open your presentations online. You can save your presentations to either OneDrive or Dropbox, and then when you open PowerPoint Online, you can search through your presentations from both services. Either way, any change you make will automatically be saved to the original file.

The Dropbox integration only works for newer .pptx files. To open .ppt files, download them first, then upload them to PowerPoint Online or OneDrive. When you open them there, PowerPoint will automatically make a copy then convert the presentation to the new format so you can edit it online.

Or, if you have a PowerPoint file on your computer, open PowerPoint Online first, click the Upload a Presentation button, then select your presentation to upload it to OneDrive and open it for editing in PowerPoint Online at the same time.

How to Collaborate on PowerPoint Presentations

Want someone else to proofread your slides, or add their research to a team presentation? That’s easy in PowerPoint Online. From your presentation, click the Share button in the top right toolbar.

The default option is to email an invite link along with a message to your collaborators. You can choose to make the presentation editable or view only and can require a Microsoft account or not.

Or, you can copy a share link to send to anyone or share publicly online if you’d like. Select the Get a link tab to copy a link to your presentation—again, as a view-only presentation or with permission to edit. Here, if you make an editing link, anyone can tweak the presentation without signing into an account.

PowerPoint Online will show an icon beside the slide your collaborator is currently editing and will mark the section they’re working on in the same color. You can’t see the exact changes they make while they’re editing—changes take a few seconds to sync—so it’s best not to edit the same slide others are editing at the same time.

Want to chat with your collaborators? As long as everyone has a Skype account, you can open a Skype sidebar and talk with them in your PowerPoint presentation.

What’s Not In PowerPoint Online?

The core editing features are all here. You can add and edit text, photos, shapes, and SmartArt in PowerPoint online, add core transitions and animations to slides and elements, and present your presentation all from PowerPoint Online.

One of the main differences from PowerPoint’s desktop apps are the embedding options. In desktop versions of PowerPoint, you can embed video and audio from your computer, along with data from other Office apps and macros. In PowerPoint Online, you can embed online videos from YouTube—along with graphs and data from PowerBI and other add-ins in the Office Add-ins pane.

Animations are also more limited in PowerPoint Online. It includes only eight transitions, including Fade and Push , with animations that don’t require graphics acceleration. If you add a presentation that uses other animations from PowerPoint for Windows or Mac, you’ll need to select others or present without animations.

Fonts are another core difference. PowerPoint Online includes 18 fonts, including Arial, Comic Sans, Courier New, Garamond, Georgia, Rockwell, Tahoma, Times New Roman, and Verdana. You can’t install 3rd party fonts or choose fonts you have installed on your computer.

So, to make sure your PowerPoint presentations look great everywhere, stick with the fonts included with PowerPoint Online. That’s easy as they’re the only options in PowerPoint Online, but if you use another PowerPoint app, try using the Web fonts as they’re mainly fonts that work everywhere.

If you upload a presentation that uses a font not included in PowerPoint Online, you can still view the text in the correct font in PowerPoint Online on your computer or another computer with that font installed. If you don’t have the font installed, PowerPoint Online will replace that font with another similar font.

Beyond that, though, PowerPoint Online is surprisingly full-featured. It includes everything you need for making and showing presentations online—as long as you don’t need to use custom fonts, embed non-YouTube videos, or build advanced animations.

How to Present PowerPoint Presentations From Your Browser

Once you’ve finished creating your presentation, it’s time to present it. That’s as easy in PowerPoint Online as in the desktop apps. You can start the slideshow from the slide you’re currently editing via the Slide View button in the lower right-hand corner. Or, click the View tab and select to start the slideshow from the beginning or current slide.

PowerPoint Online will switch your browser to a full-screen preview mode. Click anywhere on the screen to go to the next slide, or tap your right and left arrows on your keyboard to navigate between slides. When finished, click again at the end of the presentation or press the Esc key to exit the slideshow and switch back to the windowed editor mode.

PowerPoint also includes controls on the lower left of the slideshow view, along with options in the right-click menu to switch slides or jump to a specific slide.

PowerPoint Online doesn’t include presenter view to show lecture notes on one screen while presenting your presentation on another—but there’s a workaround. While you’re giving your presentation full-screen, your browser with the original PowerPoint Online tab won’t show your slide content (Chrome hides the original window; Safari shows a Exit Full Screen placeholder). Instead, you can open a new tab or window and open your presentation there as well.

When you switch slides, move your mouse to your projection screen and click to advance—then move your mouse back to your laptop’s screen and select the next slide in your other PowerPoint Online window. Another option is to open your presentation in PowerPoint’s mobile apps and use your phone or tablet to view lecture notes while presenting from your laptop.

How to Convert PowerPoint Presentations Online

PowerPoint Online—unlike PowerPoint for Windows or Mac—can only open .pptx presentation files made with a newer version of PowerPoint. If you open an older .ppt file or a .odp presentation from another app, PowerPoint Online can convert the file to .pptx on the fly so you can edit the presentation.

But once you’ve opened the presentation, you can export it in 3 formats: PowerPoint, ODP (used with OpenOffice), or PDF. Click the File tab in the toolbar to open the core PowerPoint menu, select Download As , then choose the file format you want. PowerPoint Online will convert your presentation and save it to your computer so that you can share the original file with others.

The best option is to share the PowerPoint presentation directly in PowerPoint Online—but when you need a traditional presentation file, that’s a handy way to get it.

How to Save All Your Presentations to PowerPoint Online

There’s one trick to make PowerPoint Online the presentation app that’s always ready when you need it is: Save all your presentations to OneDrive or Dropbox. That way, whenever you need to present something, it’ll be a few clicks away inside PowerPoint Online.

If you already use OneDrive or Dropbox to sync your files, you’re halfway there. Save every new presentation there, every time. Whenever someone sends you a presentation, save it there also.

App automation tool Zapier can do that for you automatically. One of the most common ways to share presentations is through email—so Zapier can watch your Gmail or IMAP-powered email account for new presentation files. With Gmail, you can include a search to watch for presentation files. Use has:presentation to watch for any presentation—though note that this will also include Google Slides presentations which won’t work with PowerPoint Online. Or, use filename:pptx OR filename:ppt to watch for all PowerPoint attachments.

With IMAP email—or any other app where colleagues may send you presentations— add a Filter step to your Zap to watch the filename for .pptx or .ppt extensions.

Then, Zapier can save the presentation file to online storage to open and edit it in PowerPoint Online. The simplest is OneDrive since it’s PowerPoint Online’s core storage, though you could use Dropbox instead as it only takes a few extra clicks to open your presentations there.

You can save the presentation in any folder, and add a customized file name if you’d like. Then select the attachment from Gmail or your IMAP email and have Zapier copy that file to OneDrive or Dropbox. Next time you need to present something someone emailed you, don’t open your email app—instead, open PowerPoint Online and open the presentation there directly.

Ready to save any presentation you get emailed to PowerPoint Online? These Zaps will help you get started in a few clicks—remember to set up your search or filter to watch only for PowerPoint files:

Save new Gmail attachments to OneDrive

Save new email attachments to OneDrive

Save new attachments in Gmail to Dropbox

Back up new IMAP email attachments to Dropbox

That’s PowerPoint Online. It’s a handy way to tweak and present your presentation, even if you don’t have a copy of PowerPoint installed. And it just might be the new presentation app you need for a more focused, free way to make presentations anywhere.

Need more presentation tips and tools? Check out these other Zapier guides:

Want a different presentation app? Check out our roundup of the best PowerPoint alternatives for a dozen new ways to present your ideas.

Can’t figure out what to say? Here are tips to make every word count and nail your next presentation .

Once you’ve made a slide deck, here are the best ways to share your presentation online .

Then, get ready to present it with these 5 tips to overcome the fear of public speaking .

Auditorium photo by Nathan Dumlao via Unsplash .

Get productivity tips delivered straight to your inbox

We’ll email you 1-3 times per week—and never share your information.

Matthew Guay

Matthew Guay is an editor and writer in Bangkok. When he's not writing, he's likely reading a new book or exploring random streets in a new city. Follow Matthew at @maguay.

• Technology trends

Related articles

How to use DALL·E 3 to create AI images with ChatGPT

How to use DALL·E 3 to create AI images with...

How to use Midjourney to create AI-generated images

How to use Midjourney to create AI-generated...

How to mass delete emails on Gmail

How to block emails on Gmail

Improve your productivity automatically. Use Zapier to get your apps working together.

Presentations that move audiences

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content quicker than ever before.

Prezi is good for business

Keep teams engaged and customers asking for more

Prezi is smart for education

Make lessons more exciting and easier to remember

Millions of people — from students to CEOs — use Prezi to grab attention, stand out, and capture imaginations

The most engaging presentations happen on Prezi

Create with confidence

Professionally designed templates.

Choose from hundreds of modern, beautifully made templates.

Millions of reusable presentations

Focus on your own creativity and build off, remix, and reuse presentations from our extensive content library.

Real creative freedom

Open canvas.

Create, organize, and move freely on an open canvas. Create seamless presentations without the restrictions of linear slides.

Ready-made asset libraries

Choose from millions of images, stickers, GIFs, and icons from Unsplash and Giphy.

A presentation that works for you

Present in-person.

Have the confidence to deliver a memorable presentation with presenter notes and downloadable presentations.

Present over video conference

Keep your audience engaged by putting yourself in the center of your presentation.

Your own ideas, ready to present faster

Prezi AI is your new creative partner. Save time, amplify your ideas, and elevate your presentations.

The specialists on visual storytelling since 2009

From TED talks to classrooms. In every country across the world. Prezi has been a trusted presentation partner for over 15 years.

*independent Harvard study of Prezi vs. PowerPoint

See why our customers love us

Prezi is consistently awarded and ranks as the G2 leader across industries based on hundreds of glowing customer reviews.

Prezi powers the best presenters to do their best presentations

What’s it for?

Make interactive presentations

Create show-stopping presentations and clickable slide decks with Genially’s free online presentation builder. Leave boring behind and tell a story that’s interactive, animated, and beautifully engaging.

INTERACTIVE CONTENT

A presentation that works like a website

Engage your audience with interactive slides that they can click on and explore. Add music, video, hotspots, popup windows, quiz games and interactive data visualizations in a couple of clicks. No coding required!

NO-CODE ANIMATION

Make your slides pop with animation

Bring a touch of movie magic to the screen with incredible visual effects and animated page transitions. Add click-trigger and timed animations to make any topic easy to understand and captivating to watch.

INTEGRATIONS

Live from the world wide web

Embed online content directly in your slides for a media-rich interactive experience. From YouTube and Spotify to Google Maps and Sheets, Genially works seamlessly with over 100 popular apps and websites.

TEMPLATES & TOOLKIT

Genius design tools

With Genially, anyone can create a polished and professional presentation. Choose from over 2000 pre-built templates, or create your own design using the drag-and-drop resources, color palettes, icons, maps and vector graphics.

ONLINE PLATFORM

Safe and sound in the cloud

Because Genially is online, you can relax knowing that your slides are always up-to-date. There’s no risk of forgetting to save changes or accessing the wrong file. Log in from anywhere, collaborate with your team, and make edits in real time.

All-in-one interactive presentation maker

Real-time collaboration.

Co-edit slide decks with others in real time and organize all of your team projects in shared spaces.

Multi format

Present live, share the link, or download as an interactive PDF, MP4 video, JPG, HTML, or SCORM package.

Engagement Analytics

See how many people have viewed and clicked on your slides and keep tabs on learner progress with User Tracking.

Import from PPTX

Give your old decks a new lease of life by importing PowerPoint slides and transforming them with a little Genially magic.

Keep content on-brand with your logo, fonts, colors, brand assets, and team templates at your fingertips.

Quiz & Survey Builder

Use the Interactive Questions feature to add a fun quiz to your slides or gather feedback from your audience.

Beautiful templates

Make your next deck in a flash with Genially’s ready-to-use slides.

OKR Presentation

School Notebook Presentation

Animated Sketch Presentation

Minimal presentation

Land Of Magic Presentation

Onboarding presentation

Visual Presentation

Animated chalkboard presentation

Online Education Guide

Terrazzo presentation

Startup pitch

Historical presentation

THEMES FOR EVERYONE

Interactive presentation ideas

From classroom materials to business pitches, make an impact every day with Genially.

Education presentations

Pitch decks

Business presentations

Thesis defense

Share anywhere

Present live

From the front of the room or behind a screen, you’ll wow your audience with Genially. Heading off grid? Download in HTML to present dynamic slides without WiFi.

Share the link

Every Genially slide deck has its own unique url, just like a website! Share the link so that others can explore at their own pace, or download an MP4 video slideshow or PDF.

Post online

Embed the slides on your website or post them on social media. Upload to Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Moodle or any other platform.

The benefits of interactive slides

🗣️ Active participation An interactive slide deck gives your audience cool things to click on and discover, boosting learning and engagement.

👂 Multi-sensory experience Audio, video, animations, and mouse interactions make your content immersive, entertaining and accessible.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 People-friendly format Pop-ups and embeds condense more material into fewer slides so you can break information down into digestible chunks.


🎮 Gamification Games, quizzes and puzzles make information more memorable and enable you to gather feedback and check understanding.

How to make an interactive presentation

With Genially’s easy-to-use presentation platform, anyone can make incredible visual content in moments.

Choose a template or a blank canvas

Get stunning results in less time with a ready-made template. Feeling creative? Design your own slides from scratch.

Customize the design

Add animations and interactions

Resources to become a pro presentation creator

How to create an interactive presentation: Get started in Genially.

How to present data without sending your audience to sleep.

No-code animation: Bring your slides to life with cinematic visual effects.

The art of digital storytelling: Engage and thrill on screen.

Genially in a nutshell

How do I make a presentation interactive and how does Genially work? Find the answers to all of your slide-related questions here!

What’s an interactive presentation?

Interactive slides contain clickable hotspots, links, buttons, and animations that are activated at the touch of a button. Instead of reading or watching passively, your audience can actively interact with the content.  

Genially’s interaction presentation software allows you to combine text, photos, video clips, audio and other content in one deck. It’s a great way to condense more information into fewer slides. 

If you’re a teacher, you can share multiple materials in one single learning resource. Students can create their own projects using digital media and online maps. For business or training, try embedding spreadsheet data, PDFs, and online content directly in your slides. 

An interactive slide deck is more user-friendly than a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or Google Slides document. That’s because you can break information down into chunks with pop-ups, labels, voiceovers and annotated infographics.  

The other benefit of interactive content is increased engagement. It’s easier to keep your audience’s attention when they’re actively participating. Try Genially’s presentation software and free slideshow maker to see how it’s better than other presentation websites. You won’t go back to standard presentation apps!

How do you make a clickable slide?

The best way to make slides clickable is to use Genially’s free interactive presentation program. Design your slide then apply an interaction. In a couple of clicks, you can add popup windows, hyperlinks, close-up images, games, animations, multimedia and other content. 

Choose from the library of hotspot buttons and icons to show people what to click on. Go to Presenter View to get a preview and see how your content will appear to your audience.

How do I create presentations that look professional?

You’ve got a deadline looming and you’re staring at the screen with a blank presentation. We’ve all been there! Starting a presentation design from scratch is tricky, especially if you’re short on time. 

Genially’s free online presentation maker has over 2000 ready-to-use templates for professional slide presentations, photos slideshows, and more. Each slide design has been created by our team of top graphic designers. No need to worry about fonts, centering images, or designing a matching color scheme. It’s all done for you. 

Start by browsing our layouts and themes for education, business and then customize with your own text and images.

How do I share or download my slides?

Because Genially is a cloud based presentation software, you can simply share the link to your slides. Like other online presentation tools, there are no files to download or store on your computer. Everything is saved online.  

When you publish your slide deck, it gets its own unique url, just like a website. Share the link with others to let them explore the content in their own time. If you’re presenting live, just click the Present button. 

You can also embed your presentation on your website, company wiki, or social media. Genially is compatible with WordPress, Moodle, Google Classroom, and other platforms. If you use an LMS, you can also download your interactive design slides in SCORM format.

For slideshow videos and slideshows with music, share online or download as an MP4 video. Check out our free slideshow templates for ideas.

Can I make a free presentation in Genially?

You bet! Genially is an easy-to-use slide maker, with a free version and paid plans. The free plan allows you to create unlimited slides with interactions and animations. Subscribe to one of our paid plans for more advanced features.

Discover a world of interactive content

Join the 25 million people designing incredible interactive experiences with Genially.

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

Partner Center

Got any suggestions?

We want to hear from you! Send us a message and help improve Slidesgo

Top searches

Trending searches

49 templates

18 templates

40 templates

american football

16 templates

41 templates

tropical rainforest

29 templates

The best Google Slides and Powerpoint presentation templates

Here's a selection of the best free & premium google slides themes and powerpoint presentation templates from the previous month. these designs were the most popular among our users, so download them now, the best presentations from april.

Premium template

Unlock this template and gain unlimited access

World Environment Day

We know that taking care of the environment is of a paramount importance, and it is the perfect time of the year to encourage awareness and action for the protection of nature. Let’s teach our kids about the necessity of preserving nature with this cool template!

Minimalist Business Slides

Minimalism is an art style that frees the canvas and that lets the content stand out for itself. It’s a way of conveying modernism, simplicity and elegance and can be your best ally in your next presentation. With this new design from Slidesgo, your business presentations will be as professional...

Minimal Charm

Are you looking for a monochromatic theme that is interesting at the same time? How about using a simple and clean theme, along with black-and-white pictures, to convey business or corporate content in a professional way?

Minimalist Korean Aesthetic Pitch Deck

Templates based on a minimalist style are usually very useful in business presentations, as they make the audience focus on the content and not on the ornaments of the design. This minimalist style template that we propose here is perfect for a pitch deck to present your product or your...

School Assignments

Design some school assignments for your students so they can learn while they are having fun. Download this cool template now and make use of its resources. It looks like a sheet of a notebook and we have added drawings of stationery. Get your pencil!

Generation of '27

Generation of '27 is a group of avant-garde poets and artists who began to publish their work in the 20s of the 20th century. To help you explain this interesting part of Spanish literature to your students, we propose you this old-style brown template, with different illustrations of books, pens,...

World Mother Earth Day

It’s World Mother Earth Day, and everyone’s invited! If you’re in need of a template for this occasion, we have good news for you. This one right here is as good as it gets: with its design filled with shades of green and illustrations of vegetation, it’s super environmentally-conscious, and...

Elegant Bachelor Thesis

Present your Bachelor Thesis in style with this elegant presentation template. It's simple, minimalist design makes it perfect for any kind of academic presentation. With an array of features such as section dividers, images, infographics and more, you can easily create a professional and creative presentation that stands out from...

Human Rights Lesson

There are a series of norms that are fundamental, universal and, most importantly, egalitarian. It’s none other than human rights, and it’s essential that all the people know about them. Prepare a lesson with this cool presentation template by Slidesgo!

Papyrus History Lesson

History lessons tend to be boring for students, since they need to remember dates and a bunch of information. Make it entertaining by editing our free presentation template, whose backgrounds based on ancient papyrus rolls take it to the next level.

Futuristic Background

When you need to impress everybody and stay relevant, you must look ahead and aim to be the first. Take a peek into the future with this new template Slidesgo has just designed. It’s free and perfect for techie topics or just for giving your presentation a futuristic vibe!

Welcome to Middle School Class

Welcome, everyone! This is our middle school class, take a look! Our students, our teachers, our subjects, our schedules… We have written everything about it in this presentation! The cool waves of color flow amazingly with this design. Everything is super creative and colorful! Prepare for the back to school...

AI Tech Agency

It’s amazing how robots and computers are able to perform tasks that we thought only humans could do. If your agency is specialized in artificial intelligence, this free marketing presentation template can help you get your points across easily!

Notebook Lesson

These are the last days before the Summer break! We know that there are some pending lessons that you need to prepare for your students. As they may be thinking about their friends and their holidays, catch their attention with this cool template!

Research Project Proposal

Before embarking yourself on a new project, especially if it’s about research, you need to set out a proposal to explain its viability. Here at Slidesgo we’re offering this theme that you can actually use for any kind of project, regardless of the topic.

Depression Breakthrough

If your research led you to new discoveries on depression, you can share all the details with this presentation. It’s very cool and contains waves in the background. Explain your objectives, methodology, results analysis and edit its graphs and infographics.

Minimalist Aesthetic Slideshow

When you combine a minimalist design with abstract shapes and a palette composed of pastel colors, you get a successful result. This template has all of the aforementioned, plus an elegant typography and some icons of plants. It's quite unique and works for any topic, so give it a try!

Elegant Black & White Thesis Defense

Present your research findings with grace and assertiveness through this template. Available for Google Slides and PowerPoint, this design set offers minimalistic charm with its simple, gray scale elegance. The template not only provides a polished platform to showcase your thesis but also ensures seamless and efficient delivery of your...

• Page 1 of 1235

Register for free and start editing online

5 Free Alternatives To Microsoft PowerPoint

M icrosoft PowerPoint has always been the default choice for creating professional meeting briefs or fun little project demonstrations in schools. Its inclusion as a free service for students or working professionals makes it a no-brainer to use. However, for the general public, it can get quite expensive to pay for a subscription just to be able to create simple presentation slides. Although you can subscribe to Microsoft's Office Suite and get more bang for your buck, the pricing still doesn't hit the affordable range for most. 

Fortunately, completion has been growing, and a sea of strong contenders offer similar services to PowerPoint. After considering feature sets, here are five of the best free alternatives to Microsoft PowerPoint. At the end of the article, you can find a detailed explanation of why we've chosen the services, alongside useful comparisons that may help you make your decision easier.

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

When it comes to productivity apps, Zoho makes some of the better ones in the market. Zoho Sheet, for example, is one of the best Microsoft Excel alternatives out there  —  owing to its extensive product catalog, there is a great way to view and edit presentations. The aptly named Zoho Show lets you design and demonstrate professional-looking slides, all without having to download the program.

Zoho takes a minimal approach to most of its services, and its PowerPoint application is no different. You'll find that most menus are contextually aware of what tasks you're currently performing, which helps keep unnecessary tools out of the way and bring the important ones in focus. There is also a huge library of customizable templates you can choose from, making it easier to kickstart your presentation work. 

Zoho Show is completely free to use for individuals and offers unlimited cloud storage. No features are locked behind a paywall, and rest assured, you can fully rely on this online presentation-making tool for all your needs, be it for school or work. 

Canva is a service that can easily climb up to becoming everyone's favorite once they start using it. While most applaud it for its graphic designing prowess, there are many other things Canva can do that you probably aren't aware of . Among them is the ability to craft beautiful slides for your presentations and projects. 

By creating a free account, you can access thousands of templates on Canva. You can filter these by use case—maybe you need one for a professional business briefing or a casual one explaining why your pet dog is the best canine. There is a whole section of ready-to-use templates dedicated to mobile-friendly viewing as well, which is something you don't usually find to be as accessible with other tools. 

Like most presentation apps, Canva lets you collaborate with your team members and work across devices seamlessly. The Canva app for mobile also lets you control your slides remotely during your presentation. Some menus also feature AI-featured tools to add one-click enhancements to your slides -- unfortunately, these are locked behind premium subscription tiers. However, for the cent percent of the population, Canva can be used without spending a dime to meet a plethora of creative needs. 

Apple takes great pride in developing in-house solutions to meet every user requirement. While most of its products dominate the competition in popularity, the same cannot be said for Keynote , the company's version of Microsoft PowerPoint. The program was first released in 2003 with macOS Big Sur and has largely remained one of those icons you glance over and forget about. 

However, recent versions of Keynote have made it a compelling alternative to PowerPoint. Not only is it pre-installed on every Apple device, including your iPhone, but it also works best with the iPad touchscreen. Keynote has a largely clean and professional approach to the built-in templates, but nothing is stopping you from going creative. Animations are one of Keynote's strongest suits, allowing you to create near cinematic-looking presentations with just a few clicks. 

While you can still use Apple Keynote through iCloud on Windows devices, this alternative is clearly meant for people surrounded by the walled garden of Apple technology. It makes use of features like AirDrop, Live Photos, and VoiceOver  — all of which are technologies available across Apple devices. Using Apple Keynote is completely free, and the app has easy exporting tools that make working with Microsoft PowerPoint less of a hassle.

WPS Presentation

WPS Office makes some of the best solutions for creating and editing documents on smartphones , but their service offerings extend to Windows, macOS, and even Linux. WPS Presentation is perhaps the closest you'll get to Microsoft PowerPoint in terms of the user interface and how most tools are bundled in familiar locations.

This PowerPoint app offers real-time collaboration where you can invite your team members and work on the same document remotely. Like most collaboration tools, users can leave comments to suggest changes or add information for other people on the team.

WPS Presentation is not the only free product; you can utilize every app in the WPS Office suite. Unlike most competitors, you don't need to download or use a separate mini-app to make presentations. WPS Office has a document editor, PowerPoint creator, spreadsheet manager, and other tools all within its umbrella. Premium plans for this service exist, but they mostly cater to unlocking features for editing PDFs. 

Google Slides

As a netizen, you most likely already have a Google account. Not only is it required to make any meaningful use of your Android phone, but popular services that we take for granted, like Gmail and Drive, all fall under Google's umbrella. One such free service that the tech giant has at its disposal is Google Slides . While the barebones UI might seem lackluster at first, Slides has nearly the same level of functionality as Microsoft PowerPoint and can even be supercharged by add-ons. 

All of Google's workspace apps, such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides, provide an intuitive way to work in a team. You can add comments, use annotations, and share the presentation with limited access to others. You can use one of the many predesigned Google Slides templates for simple presentations , or browse for templates that cater to specific needs. Being part of a bigger service catalog has its obvious advantages, such as seamless integration with Google Meet, Gmail, and other products from Google that you already use. 

We recommend Google Slides to anyone who needs to create and edit PowerPoint presentations on the go and can't be bothered with working in a complicated environment. The service is also available as an app for Android and iOS, and you can export your presentations in a wide range of formats, including PPT, PDF, or PNG for individual slides. 

To Pay Or Not To Pay?

You'll notice that all the services we've mentioned on this list are free to use. In fact, you can use Office 365 apps online for free   — including PowerPoint, which makes purchasing a standalone subscription to the Microsoft PowerPoint app quite redundant. However, nearly every free alternative here short of Keynote also offers premium plans, but should you consider buying one?

For the vast majority of people who are looking for a robust software to create, edit, and share presentations with  —  these free options deliver exceptionally well in every aspect. Some apps like Google Slides and Apple Keynote let you work in smaller teams with the free tier as well. Apps like WPS Office and Canva tend to lock new and exciting features like AI tools behind a paywall, and while these are nice to have, you definitely can do without them. 

If you're looking for a presentation tool for a company with multiple people, you can scale up using any of the alternatives mentioned on this list. Both Google Workspace and Zoho offer reliable and enterprise-level plans you can upgrade to. For everyone else  — enjoy creating and demonstrating your PowerPoint presentations for free.

Read the original article on SlashGear .