How to use Microsoft PowerPoint: Get started creating and customizing multimedia presentations and slide decks

• Microsoft PowerPoint is a program that lets you create presentations and slide decks.
• PowerPoint is part of Microsoft 365's suite of productivity applications.
• Learn how to create a new presentation, and add text, images, videos, audio, and more.

Microsoft PowerPoint is a program designed to help you make interactive, multimedia decks consisting of multiple pages called slides. First created by a software company named Forethought Inc. in 1987, PowerPoint was acquired by Microsoft and released in 1990 in a format similar to the one you know now.

PowerPoint has been continually updated and improved over the years, and today it is a powerful tool that can be used for meetings and presentations, to create collaborative, dynamic documents, to create digital signage, and much more.

What is Microsoft PowerPoint best used for?

PowerPoint is an excellent tool for transmitting ideas. Because the program can use text, sounds, and media such as photos and videos, it is ideal for business presentations heavy on data, for educators to share facts and concepts, for realtors to use in showcasing properties, for marketers to use to introduce new products, and much more.

Anytime you have information to transmit in a multimedia format, PowerPoint is a great program to use. You can arrange PowerPoint slides based on chronology, scale, to tell a story, or however else will best serve your purposes.

Can you get Microsoft PowerPoint for free?

There are a few ways to get Microsoft PowerPoint for free, though they tend to have limitations. You can use PowerPoint for free online when you use a Microsoft 365 account online, which is free but does require creating an account. You have to use PowerPoint in a web browser if you try this technique.

You can also get a free Microsoft 365 app on a smartphone or tablet and use PowerPoint within that app, though using the program on a smaller touchscreen device can be frustrating.

To get the full range of functionality of PowerPoint, you need to need to pay, though. To buy the standalone program for a one-time purchase price, you'll pay $179.99, or you can pay for the full Microsoft 365 suite of programs, which includes Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and other useful software. A yearly subscription to Microsoft 365 costs $69.99, or you can do a one-time purchase for $149.99.

What are some alternatives to Microsoft PowerPoint?

PowerPoint is not alone in the interactive multimedia presentation creation software game. Its competitors include Apple Keynote and Google Slides. Which is better among PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides is largely a matter of personal preference.

If you are more comfortable with the Mac OS than with Windows, for instance, Keynote will be your best bet. In a similar vein, if ease-of-use is critical for you, Apple Keynote is generally considered less overwhelming to learn and use than PowerPoint or Google Slides.

If collaboration with coworkers, students, or friends and family is critical for you, Google Slides is the best choice, as it allows multiple users to edit and comment simultaneously. PowerPoint's cloud integration allows for real-time co-authoring and sharing through OneDrive, but it's not as seamless as Google Slides. And Keynote's collaborative features are limited compared to PowerPoint and Google Slides.

However, if creating a richly-composed multimedia deck is paramount, go with PowerPoint. PowerPoint has features such as a graphic designer that put a high degree of control into its users' hands.

How to make a PowerPoint Presentation

The basic steps to making a PowerPoint presentation are quite approachable, though admittedly it can get complicated at a highly involved level. Here are some simple steps to get you started, though.

Create a presentation

1. Open PowerPoint.
2. In the left pane, select New.
3. Select an option: to create a presentation from scratch, select Blank Presentation. To use a prepared design, select one of the templates. Either way, hit Create.

Add text to your slides

1. Add a slide by clicking the thumbnails on the left pane and selecting the slide type you want your new slide to follow or in the Home tab, select New Slide. Now, you have a single-slide deck made.
2. In the Slides section, click Layout, and then select the layout you want from the menu, in this case a text box.
3. Place the cursor inside the text box, and then write something.
4. Select the text, and then hit one or more options from the Font section of the Home tab, such as bold, italic, underline, and so forth.

Add images, videos, audio, or tables

1. Click the to the Insert tab, then select Pictures.
2. Select the source you want. (Your desktop, for example)
3. Browse for the picture you want, select it, and then select Insert.

You can follow these same steps to insert tables, videos, audio clips, and more.

You can even use Microsoft's Copilot AI tool to help you along the way — users can now add a Microsoft Copilot Pro subscription to use AI features in all Microsoft 365 apps, including PowerPoint, for $20 per month.

With Copilot, you can type instructions to have the AI tool create and edit slides for you, and even generate speaker notes or merge content from other Microsoft 365 files, like a Word doc or Excel sheet.