Convert to PDF · guide
What PowerPoint to PDF does
PowerPoint to PDF turns a .pptx presentation into a PDF with one page per slide, keeping each slide's layout, the positions its template and master set, theme colours, tables and PNG or JPEG pictures. Each page is the size of the slide itself, not A4 or Letter. Text is re-typeset in a standard font, so a deck that depends on a particular typeface will not match exactly; slide backgrounds and the artwork a template repeats on every slide are not drawn yet, charts are not carried over, and video, audio and animation do not play in the PDF. The presentation is never uploaded.
How to convert PowerPoint to PDF in your browser
- Choose a .pptx file Select a presentation saved as .pptx. Older .ppt files are not supported: save them as .pptx in PowerPoint or LibreOffice first.
- Convert it Select Convert to PDF. Each slide becomes one page, with shapes and text placed where the slide, its layout and its master put them. Hidden slides are left out.
- Check and save Read the notes, which name charts, hidden slides, rotated text and pictures a PDF cannot embed, then look through every slide and save the PDF. The notes do not list everything that is left out.
Worked example
Send a slide deck as a printable reading copy.
- Starting point
- Choose a PPTX presentation and retain the original for presenting.
- What to do
- Convert and check slide order, tables, pictures and text in each PDF page.
- Result
- Expect static pages based on the slides rather than an interactive presentation.
If the result is not right
If text has moved or runs below its box, it was set again in Helvetica, which has different letter widths: widen the box or shorten the text in PowerPoint and convert again, or export to PDF from PowerPoint itself when the typeface must match. Pages are always the size of the slide itself, so a slide never sits in white margins here; anything placed past the edge of the slide is cut off.
Limits worth knowing
- Text is set again in Helvetica, so line breaks differ from PowerPoint. Every page has a white background, whatever the slide uses. Charts, SmartArt diagrams and artwork on the master or layout are not drawn, and video, audio and animation do not play.
Questions and answers
Will my slides look exactly like they do in PowerPoint?
Close, but not identical. Slide layout, positions, text colours, tables and PNG or JPEG pictures come across, but text is re-typeset in Helvetica. Slides currently come out on a white background, and pictures or shapes placed on the master or layout, such as a logo or a coloured band, are not drawn, so white text from a dark theme can disappear. Shapes keep their position but not their outline: a filled circle or arrow is drawn as a rectangle, a shape coloured only by the theme's shape style is left unfilled, connector lines are left out, and rotated shapes are drawn upright. Bullets and numbering that come from the template are not drawn, and numbering set on the slide itself shows as bullets. Charts, SmartArt diagrams and some objects that use newer PowerPoint features are left out. For an exact copy, export to PDF from PowerPoint itself.
Why has text moved or spilled out of its box?
Because it is set again in Helvetica rather than your deck's own font, so words are a different width and lines break in different places. A title that just fitted can wrap onto a second line, and since text is not clipped to its box, extra lines run on below it, over whatever sits there. A box that PowerPoint shrank with Shrink text on overflow keeps the same reduction, and text in a rotated box is drawn upright. Widen the box or shorten the text in PowerPoint, then convert again.
Will each slide fill the page, or end up with white margins?
Each slide fills its page exactly, because the page is made the size of the slide rather than A4 or Letter: a widescreen deck made in current PowerPoint gives pages of 13.33 × 7.5 inches and a 4:3 deck 10 × 7.5 inches, with nothing scaled or boxed in. To print on paper, choose Fit to page or Scale to fit in the print dialog. Each slide is one page; speaker notes and handout layouts are not produced.
Will text in Chinese, Greek or other alphabets show up?
Yes, as long as this device has a font for it. Characters the standard PDF fonts cannot encode, such as Chinese, Japanese, Greek or Cyrillic, are drawn with your device's own fonts and placed as small images in line with the rest, so they look right but cannot be selected or searched in the PDF. Right-to-left text such as Arabic or Hebrew needs checking: each word is drawn correctly, but the words of a line are placed left to right.
What happens to video, audio, animations and links?
None of them play or work in the PDF. A video or sound clip in a .pptx sits on a picture, and PowerPoint to PDF draws that picture when it is a PNG or JPEG, but the media file itself is not included or linked. Animations are not played: objects are drawn where they sit on the slide in the editor, so a build shows all its steps at once. Hyperlinked text is drawn, but not as a clickable link.
Which slides should I check before sending the PDF?
Start with titles and tightly fitted text boxes, since Helvetica wraps differently from the deck's own font, and any slide with a dark background or white text. Then read the result notes, which list charts left out, pictures in formats a PDF cannot embed, such as EMF or WMF, rotated text drawn upright and hidden slides skipped. The notes do not mention arrows, circles, connector lines, template artwork, bullets from the template or SmartArt diagrams, so look at slides that use them. Two things are drawn that you may not expect: objects you hid with PowerPoint's Selection Pane appear in the PDF, and a picture cropped in PowerPoint is drawn whole, squeezed into its frame, so the part you cropped off shows. Delete hidden objects and crop the picture file itself, in an image editor, before converting. Keep the original .pptx until the PDF has been checked.