Microsoft Powerpoint has long been one of the best ways for you to create a presentation or slideshow. it has a lot of features and formatting options that let you create almost anything you could want.
But many schools and organizations have converted to the Google ecosystem, so you might find that you need a way to work on your Powerpoint files in Google Slides.
You can convert a Powerpoint presentation to the Google Slides format by going to Google Drive, clicking the New button, choosing File upload, then browsing to and selecting the file to convert.
Google Drive will then take care of the conversion, as it’s smart enough to realize that you are trying to work on a presentation because you have uploaded a .ppt or .pptx file.
Our tutorial continues below with additional information on converting from Powerpoint to Google, as well as more information on working with these two popular presentation software.
How to Convert Powerpoint to Google Slides
- Open Google Drive.
- Click New.
- Select the file and click Open.
Our guide continues below with additional information on converting a Powerpoint slideshow to the Google Slides format, including pictures of these steps.
Guide to Convert PPT to Google Slides (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article were performed in the desktop version of the Google Chrome Web browser, but will also work in other desktop Web browsers like Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge.
Step 1: Go to https://drive.google.com and sign in to your Google Account.
If you are already signed in then you should see a listing of your current Google Drive files.
Step 2: Click the New button at the top of the column on the left side of the window.
Step 3: Select the File upload option from the drop down menu.
Step 4: Browse to the Powerpoint file to convert, select it, then click the Open button.
The file should then upload and automatically convert to Google Slides. Once the upload is finished you can double-click the file to open it and you should be able to edit it just like any other Google Slides presentation.
Our tutorial continues below with additional discussion on doing Powerpoint to Slides conversions.
How to Convert Google Slides to Powerpoint
While this article has focused on what you need to do when you want to import slides from a Microsoft Powerpoint file to a Google Slides file, it’s entirely possible that you want to take an existing Google Slides presentation and put it into the Powerpoint format.
Luckily this conversion is possible as well, as Google Slides offers a handful of options that you can use to download presentations.
- Open your Google slides presentation.
- Click File at the top-left of the window.
- Choose the Download option.
- Select Microsoft Powerpoint (.pptx).
That file will then download to your default Downloads folder, where you can open it or share it as needed.
If you don’t have a file where you need to do this right now, you can always create a new presentation in Google Slides by clicking the New button at the top-left of the Google Drive window, then choosing the Google Slides option.
More Information on Editing a Microsoft Powerpoint Presentation in Google Slides
If you double-click on your uploaded Powerpoint file and it doesn’t open as a Google Slides presentation then you might need to change a Google Slides setting.
If you click the gear icon at the top-right corner of the Google drive window, you can click Settings.
You can then scroll down to the Convert uploads section, and check the box to the left of Convert uploaded files to the Google Docs editor format.
You can then click the Done button at the top-right of the Settings window to apply the change.
If you double-click the file again and it doesn’t open in Google Slides then try re-uploading it and the conversion should happen then.
One of the nice things about uploading your Powerpoint file to Google Slides is that it makes it very easy to use slides from that uploaded Powerpoint file or Powerpoint template in another existing or blank Google Slides presentation.
Simply click the File tab at the top of the window, then choose the Import slides option, which will open an Import Slides dialog box.
You can then browse through the existing Slides presentations and select the one with the slides that you want to use. This opens another Import slides window where you can find the Google slide that you want to import.
Once you have found the slide or slides that you want to use, simply click the Import slides button to begin importing slides from that presentation to the original one.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article has shown you how to convert presentations from Microsoft Powerpoint to Google Slides and vice versa, plus how you how use slides from existing presentations in a blank presentation or a new Google Slides presentation.
You also benefit when you import Powerpoint files to Google Slides on the Upload tab because you can take advantage of the conversion process to easily access Powerpoint presentations online from mobile and desktop devices, and download Powerpoint Slides to whatever file format you need them to be in.
Even though the File menu in Powerpoint provides you with ways to generate other file formats. accessing the slideshow directly from Google Drive is more convenient for a lot of people that are heavily invested in the Google ecosystem.
Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master’s degree in 2003. While he still does some consulting work, his primary focus now is on creating technology support content for SupportYourTech.com.
His work can be found on many websites and focuses on topics such as Microsoft Office, Apple devices, Android devices, Photoshop, and more.