PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is the presentation application in the Microsoft 365 Office apps. It runs on Windows, macOS, the web, iOS, and Android, and its .pptx files are the de-facto standard for business presentations. PowerPoint supports slide masters, animations, transitions, embedded video, speaker notes, and presenter view, plus newer additions like Designer for auto-laying-out slides and Cameo for embedding a live camera feed. Real-time co-authoring works in shared decks stored in OneDrive or SharePoint. Microsoft 365 Copilot in PowerPoint can generate an initial deck from a Word document or a prompt, then re-theme and refine it.

Worked example

A sales manager needs a client-ready deck the night before a pitch. Rather than building slides from scratch, they ask Copilot in PowerPoint to generate a first draft from an existing Word proposal document; Copilot produces a structured set of slides with a suggested layout, which the manager then re-themes with the company's approved template and tightens by hand. Designer suggests layout variants as content is added to each slide, and Presenter View — visible only to the presenter — shows speaker notes, a timer, and the next slide, so the audience only ever sees the current one. Real-time co-authoring lets a colleague fix a typo on slide 12 while the manager is still working on slide 4, both changes landing in the same file.

Common pitfalls

Treating Copilot's first draft as a finished deck rather than a starting point is the most common misstep — it produces a reasonable structure and rough content, not final client-ready copy or verified figures. Embedding video or large images without checking file size can bloat a .pptx file to the point where it's slow to open and painful to email, which is itself a sign the file should be shared as a link from OneDrive or SharePoint instead of as an attachment. And presenting directly from a laptop with no rehearsal of Presenter View is a common last-minute problem — Presenter View, speaker notes, and the timer are only useful if the presenter has actually opened them before walking on stage.