The Best of PowerPoint Tips Weekly

Get simple PowerPoint tips to make your slide decks look better and help your audience stay more engaged.

You may already be familiar with the basics of Microsoft PowerPoint, but there's more to a great presentation than just bullets and text. Look back on the highlights from this popular series to find quick tips that can improve the look of your slide decks and better engage your audience. Staff instructors Garrick Chow, Nick Brazzi, and Jess Stratton focus on topics such as creating balance in your slides, formatting, working with photos and video, animating text and objects, and more. Plus, learn how to extend PowerPoint and connect to cloud accounts such as OneDrive and Google Drive. It doesn't matter whether you use PowerPoint for Windows, PowerPoint for Mac, or work exclusively with Office 365; these tips can help all users maximize their productivity and success with PowerPoint.

PowerPoint Tips

• Connect PowerPoint to your cloud accounts
• Play video over multiple slides
• Insert screenshots
• Set transparency options in PowerPoint
• Organize slides into sections
• Extract content from presentations
• Evenly align and distribute multiple objects
• Use slide masters to control the look of a presentation
• Create a photo slideshow in PowerPoint
• Format photos in PowerPoint
• Print handouts
• Insert and remove background images
• Use the new Icons feature
• Embed live websites with LiveSlides
• Insert online video into a PowerPoint slide
• Add annotations during a presentation
• Tips for reducing file size in PowerPoint
• Change themes in your PowerPoint presentation
• Export a presentation as a JPG or PDF
• Embed fonts
• Find and add additional themes
• Create a custom show for different audiences
• Instantly start a slideshow with a double click
• Presentation notes
• Use the Eyedropper tool to match colors
• Add action bullets to your presentation
• Use keyboard shortcuts when presenting
• Migrate from Keynote to PowerPoint
• Use Outline mode to edit text quickly
• Convert your presentation to a video
• Use the pointer or the pen during a presentation
• Add often-used tools to the ribbon
• Understand the video and audio file formats supported in PowerPoint
• Getting perfect alignment
• Use Designer to let PowerPoint do the work
• Change the size of your slides
• Rehearse a presentation
• Create links between separate PowerPoint presentations
• Streamline slide transitions
• Streamline animated builds
• Copy and paste formatting between objects
• Advanced animation builds for charts and graphs
• Record a voiceover for your slides
• Add a copyright or disclaimer to all slides
• Manage stacking objects with the Selection Pane
• Add a web link to PowerPoint slides
• Use language tools to translate your presentation
• Use PowerPoint add-ins
• Add a watermark to PowerPoint slides
• Use PowerPoint Designer to create great looking slides
• Turn dates and topics into timelines
• Use the experimental Translate add-in
• Use action buttons to trigger actions
• Record and embed your screen in a presentation
• The differences between Mac and Windows versions of PowerPoint
• Hide media playback controls during a presentation
• Focus on design
• Work with PowerPoint on mobile phones and tablets
• Embed a linked Excel file into PowerPoint
• Loop a file in PowerPoint
• Check for compatibility with older versions of PowerPoint
• Insert 3D objects
• Create a text message effect using animation
• Add PDFs to slides as objects
• Create a typewriter effect for text
• Use a Surface Pen stylus
• Use shapes to custom crop images
• Add one word at a time to a slide
• Insert icon graphics
• Add a live web viewer from the Microsoft Store
• Put shapes under text for readability
• Change the size, shape, or aspect ratio of slides
• Combine shapes
• Set a background image to text
• Review changes made by a collaborator
• Duplicate objects instead of pasting
• Use a video as a slide background
• Create a grid effect for photos
• Hide slides
• Compress media to reduce file size
• Use a photo as a background for an icon
• Apply multiple animations to an object
• Add a delay to video playback
• Use motion path animations
• Add animation to SmartArt graphics
• Add bookmarks to videos
• Create a donut chart from scratch
• Don't present in the edit mode
• Set the volume level of audio and video clips
• Use Zoom to create animation
• Add placeholder text to a slide
• Quickly create animations with the Morph transition
• Use hyperlinks and action buttons with custom shows
• Use icon graphics from applications or files
• Organize your deck in Slide Sorter view
• Add the Recording tab to PowerPoint
• Set a default theme
• Select a poster frame for a video
• Add effects to background images
• Search for new themes
• Insert and arrange photos in a slideshow
• Add music and transitions to a photo slideshow
• Set timing and looping on a photo slideshow
• Export a video from your photo slideshow
• Use SmartArt diagrams to create a picture hierarchy
• Create eye-catching timelines with SmartArt diagrams
• Convert boring bullets to professional diagrams with SmartArt
• Swap, add, and work with shapes in a SmartArt diagram
• Use slide masters to set up custom layouts
• Save your custom layout design as a theme
• Back up your themes and move to another computer
• Reuse content by creating templates
• Auto-rewind video clips
• Crop video
• Trim the edges of slides
• Use Continuity Camera to import pictures from an iPhone (Mac only)
• Play a video inside an irregular shape
• Show and hide grouped objects
• Customize the Quick Access Toolbar
• Trigger audio or video with objects
• Use images instead of words
• Use draw tools to storyboard or create sketches
• Play audio in an external media player
• Use the think-cell add-in to create charts
• Use the help tools in PowerPoint
• Create a 3D pop-out with your photos