How to turn a PDF into PowerPoint slides

To turn a PDF into PowerPoint slides, open it in a PDF to PPT converter, let it place each page on its own slide, and save the .pptx file. You can then present it in any slide app, add speaker notes and insert new slides around it. It is the quickest way to present a document that only exists as a PDF.

When a PDF to PPT conversion is useful

You might need slides from a PDF when:

• a colleague sent a presentation as a PDF and you have to present it;
• you want to show a report, a poster or a brochure page by page in a meeting;
• a teacher shared lecture notes as a PDF and you want to add your own slides between them;
• you need to combine pages from a PDF with slides from an existing deck;
• the projector setup works with slide files but not with a PDF reader.

A slide file also lets you use presenter mode, with notes, a timer and the next slide shown on your screen.

How to convert PDF to PPT on your phone

1. Open the PDF to PowerPoint tool.
2. Choose your PDF.
3. Start the conversion. Each page becomes one slide.
4. Save the .pptx file with a clear name.
5. Open it in a slide app and flick through to check every page arrived.

If the PDF has pages you do not want to present, such as a blank back cover, delete them before converting. Our guide to reordering, rotating or deleting PDF pages shows how.

What the slides will look like

There are two broad ways a converter can build slides from a PDF:

• Page as a picture. Each page is placed on a slide as a full-size image. The slide looks identical to the PDF, but you cannot click into the text and change a word.
• Rebuilt content. The converter tries to recreate text boxes, shapes and images. You can edit the text, but layouts often shift, and fonts may change.

Neither is wrong. Picture-based slides are reliable and look exactly like the original, which is what you want when presenting someone else's document. Rebuilt slides are better if you plan heavy editing, but expect to fix layouts.

How to make picture-based slides editable

If your slides are pictures and you need to change something, you have options:

• Add text boxes on top. For small fixes, put a white box over the old text and type the new text on top.
• Use speaker notes. Add your talking points in the notes field instead of changing the slide.
• Insert new slides. Put your own slides before or after a PDF page to add context.
• Edit the source first. Convert the PDF to Word, make your changes, export back to PDF and then convert to slides. See the PDF to Word guide.

Page shape and slide shape

Most documents are tall pages, such as A4 or Letter in portrait. Most slides are wide. When a portrait page sits on a wide slide, there is empty space on both sides. A good converter sizes each slide to match the page, so nothing is stretched or cropped. If you combine these slides with a normal widescreen deck, they will look different, which is worth knowing before a meeting.

Tips for presenting a converted PDF

• Check readability. Dense document pages can be hard to read from the back of a room. Zoom in on key parts with a separate slide if needed.
• Hide page numbers that no longer make sense. If you have removed or reordered pages, the old numbers printed on them may confuse people.
• Keep file size in mind. Image-based slides from a long PDF can make a large file. Remove pages you will not show.
• Test on the presenting device. Open the file there before the meeting.

Other ways to show a PDF

If you only need to show one or two pages, converting the pages to images can be simpler. You can drop the images into any slide app. See how to turn PDF pages into JPG images.

Converting PDF to PowerPoint with PDF Burrow

The PDF to PowerPoint tool in PDF Burrow turns each page into a slide and gives you a ready-to-present .pptx. Each page is placed on its slide as a picture, so it looks exactly like the original, and the conversion runs on your phone without uploading the file. If you need to change the wording first, PDF to Word and the Word Editor let you edit the text before you convert.

Frequently asked questions

Can I edit the text after converting a PDF to PPT?

It depends on the converter. If each page becomes a picture, the text is not directly editable, but you can add text boxes on top or edit the source document first.

Will animations be added to my slides?

No. A PDF has no animations to carry over. You can add transitions or animations yourself in the slide app after converting.

Why do my slides have white bars on the sides?

The PDF pages are tall and the slide area is wide. Either keep the original page shape or accept the bars, rather than stretching the page.

Can I convert only some pages of the PDF?

Save just the pages you need as a new PDF first, then convert that file. You get a shorter deck with only the slides you will present.