Build a presentation
Build a slide deck with a consistent look, add transitions between slides, rehearse in presenter mode, then export it as a file you can hand off or open elsewhere.
Before you start
You need to be signed in with a workspace open. This tutorial builds a short deck from scratch, but you can start from a saved template instead at step 1.
Step 1: Start the deck
Hover the + button in the page tabs and choose Slide, or open the Templates tab (Alt+1), switch its mode to Slide, and pick Blank Deck, Title Slide, or Split Layout to start from a layout instead of an empty canvas. A new slide part defaults to a 1600 x 900 canvas and opens with one blank slide. See Slide decks.
Step 2: Build the title slide
Design your first slide like any canvas: add your title and subtitle with the text tool, place a logo or hero image, and set colors from your brand kit if you have one. A deck's background stays a consistent dark background across every slide by default, so use a full-bleed shape or image on the slide itself if you want a different look for that one.
Step 3: Add content slides
Click the + button in the filmstrip toolbar to add a slide after the current one. Design each one with the same tools, text, shapes, images, and the properties panel, then use the filmstrip to keep the deck organized:
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Reorder | Drag a card to a new position |
| Duplicate | Hover a card and click its duplicate icon |
| Delete | Hover a card and click its delete icon |
| Select several | Shift-click cards, then use the floating toolbar that appears |
| List view | Click the Layers button for a floating panel of every slide |
Step 4: Set a transition
Click the transition icon on a slide's card to open the Transitions panel.
- Pick a preset. Basic covers None, Dissolve, and Slide; Advanced adds Circle Wipe, Color Wipe, Line Wipe, Match & Move, Flow, Stack, and Slice for a more distinctive moment.
- Set the duration, from 0.2 to 3 seconds.
- Click Apply to all slides to give the whole deck the same transition, instead of setting each one individually.
Each slide's transition plays as you arrive at it, so you can still give one specific slide a different transition afterward if you want a particular moment to stand out.
Step 5: Rehearse in presenter mode
Press Ctrl+Alt+P, or click the eye button in the filmstrip, to open presenter mode: a clean, full-window view of your slides with no editor chrome. Presenter mode shows only the slides themselves, there are no speaker notes or an on-screen timer, so keep your talking points in a separate document or memorized alongside the deck.
| Shortcut | Action (in presenter mode) |
|---|---|
Right Arrow / Space | Next slide |
Left Arrow | Previous slide |
Esc | Close presenter mode |
Run through the whole deck at least once before the real thing, both to check every transition looks right at full size and to time yourself against your talking points.
Step 6: Export the deck
Open the export dialog and choose a format:
| Format | Result |
|---|---|
| PPTX | One PowerPoint slide per slide in the deck, editable outside the app |
| One PDF page per slide, a rasterized handout | |
| PNG / JPG | The current slide only, export each one you need individually |
See PDF and PSD export and Export a page for the full set of options.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+Alt+P | Open presenter mode |
Right Arrow / Space | Next slide (in presenter mode) |
Left Arrow | Previous slide (in presenter mode) |
Esc | Close presenter mode |
Ctrl+Shift+S | Open the export dialog |
Moving between slides while you are still editing is click-only, there is no dedicated shortcut for it outside presenter mode.
Common tasks
| Goal | Do this |
|---|---|
| Reorganize a long deck | Open the filmstrip's list view (the Layers button) instead of scrolling the strip |
| Give one slide a moment of its own | Set a different transition on just that slide after applying one to the rest of the deck |
| Reuse a slide layout elsewhere in the project | Duplicate the slide, then drag the copy's tab, or convert it to a page if it no longer needs to live in the deck |
| Hand the deck to someone without the app | Export to PPTX so they can open it in PowerPoint or a compatible viewer |
Tips
Consistency first, exceptions second
Apply one transition to the whole deck first with Apply to all slides, then go back and change just the slide or two where a different transition earns its keep.
Convert a slide back to a page
If one slide idea grows into something that no longer needs the rest of the deck, convert it into an ordinary page instead of rebuilding the layout from scratch.
Use the list view for a long deck
Once a deck grows past a handful of slides, the floating list view from the Layers button is faster to scan and reorder from than scrolling the filmstrip.