Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Included as part of Office subscription
- Packed with templates
- Easy to switch styles
Cons
- Plenty of great alternatives now
Our Verdict
PowerPoint is still a fantastic way to build a presentation, and while there are new rivals to its throne, it remains surprisingly flexible and easy to use thanks to a robust feature set. It’ll be interesting to see if AI leads to additional features, too.
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From business presentations to high-school slideshows, PowerPoint is so famous it’s almost a verb in some circles. And, while Apple’s Keynote is a fantastic alternative, as with Microsoft Word there’s a good chance you’ve worked with Microsoft’s suite for so long it’d be harder to change.
That doesn’t mean there are plenty of regions to use PowerPoint on its own merit though. In fact, it’s a fantastic presentation builder that’s packed with templates for just about anything, has deep OneDrive integration and is likely to be supported for decades to come.
Interestingly, it doesn’t pack as many AI features as Keynote (at least not yet), but with the likes of Canva and Figma on its case, there’s every chance that could happen soon as Microsoft looks to keep competition at bay.
First Impressions
New from Template: There are plenty of ways to get started
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Booting up PowerPoint, you’re met with pretty much the same screen as you’ll get when firing up Word or Excel, too.
This lets you jump right into a recent file, check out presentations that have been shared with you, or open up one you’ve saved in OneDrive.
It’s really nice to be able to get started, and there’s a huge catalog of templates to pick from, too, ranging from project outlines, to colorful slideshows, to more fun and whimsical offerings. For someone as creatively challenged as myself, I appreciated finding a starting point was a simple process.
It is worth noting that, while it’ll be familiar to some, there are a lot of toolbars and icons for newcomers. I’m not against that, because presentations can be inherently personal, but it’s something to consider if you’re introducing someone that hasn’t used Office365 before.
Speaking of Office365, it’s the way PowerPoint feeds into the wide Microsoft app ecosystem that makes it as compelling as the likes of Google’s apps. For instance, you likely didn’t think to buy a presentation app piecemeal, but if you’ve got one included in your subscription then it’s worth using.
For $99.99 a year (or $9.99 per month) you get up to six licenses across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and more, which is a ton of value even if you’re putting a presentation together once in a blue moon.
For one user it’s $99.99/£84.99 a year ($9.99/£8.49 a month) for Microsoft 265 Personal, which includes up to six licenses across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and more, which is a ton of value even if you’re putting a presentation together once in a blue moon. Or for $129.99/£104.99 a year (or $12.99/£10.49 per month) you can get the Microsoft 365 Family edition with up to six licenses.
However, if you only want to buy PowerPoint you can do that too. Microsoft sells a lifetime license of Word for $179.99/£159.99 (one device). You can also buy a lifetime license to Office Home 2024 for one device, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for just $149.99/£119.99. Which is a bargain (if you forget that Apple gives it’s Office apps away for free).
Microsoft PowerPoint features
Change Styles: It’s easy to mix up styles in PowerPoint if you’re looking to freshen things up.
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Aside from a whole host of ways to get cracking with a presentation, I appreciate how simple it is to revise a presentation’s styling wholesale. Once you’ve built it, you can switch between styles as if it were as easy as changing a single element, and that’s ideal for anyone looking to produce multiple copies of a report for clients and needs a distinct style for each without changing the content wholesale.
Keynote is, in my mind, nicer to look at, but PowerPoint is plenty powerful and it’s easy enough to add images and assets from just about anywhere, including OneDrive (if you have the app installed on your Mac).
Templates: PowerPoint is packed with templates for you to use as a starting point.
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Copilot plays a sizeable role in the app these days with features like a speaker coach to practice your presentation, but there’s no generative AI image drop-in like you’ll find in Keynote with Apple Intelligence (at least not on Mac).
There is support for Apple’s ‘Writing Tools’, and you can drop a video recording directly onto your presentation with a ‘Cameo’ feature. It’s neat, letting you add a personal touch, but I’d wager you’ll have access to much more when working on a Windows PC.
You can share presentations for real-time collaboration via OneDrive, too, letting you work with a team member.
Microsoft PowerPoint annoyances
Transitions: The transitions you love are still here, you’ll be pleased to know
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My only complaint is that Microsoft’s toolbar-heavy UI means PowerPoint likely isn’t particularly beginner-friendly, but at least it’s relatively uniform across apps.
It’s also worth looking at what rivals in the space are doing. Google Sheets, Canva, and Figma all offer impressive suites of presentation tools at minimal cost to a user, and they’re starting to introduce additional AI-driven features — but I expect Microsoft is doing its own work in that area to maintain an advantage.
Should you buy PowerPoint 2024 for Mac?
PowerPoint is, well, a powerhouse. It’s packed to the gills with features, and if you’re on a Windows PC that’s only likely to be even more true. If you’re an Office365 user, you’ll find plenty of reasons to invest in it for your next presentation, but rivals are coming for the crown.
Also read: Microsoft Excel review: What’s new in Excel 2024? and Microsoft Word for Mac review: What’s new?
