How to convert a PDF to PowerPoint
Updated
Contents
To convert a PDF to PowerPoint, open PDF to PowerPoint, add your PDF, press Export PPTX, and download the .pptx file. Each page becomes one slide, in page order, and the slides take the size and shape of the first page.
On each slide, a photo or screenshot from the page sits where the page shows it, as a picture of its own. Every line of selectable text becomes a text box at its place, in its size, weight and colour, set in a font matched to the PDF's. Lines, boxes, backgrounds and other drawing come across as pictures, stacked in the order the page paints them.
PDF to PowerPoint runs on a secure server rather than in your browser. Your PDF, up to 100 MB, travels over an encrypted connection, and our server deletes it when the job finishes. The download link stops working after 60 minutes.
Step by step
- 1Open the PDF to PowerPoint tool.
- 2Drop one PDF on the box, or browse for it. Files up to 100 MB are accepted, and Remove takes back a wrong pick.
- 3Press Export PPTX. Your PDF uploads over an encrypted connection to our secure server, and the button follows the job while the slides are assembled.
- 4When “Your PPTX file is ready.” appears, press Download. The link stops working after 60 minutes, so save the file right away.
- 5Open the .pptx and check it against the PDF, which is the reference for fonts and drawing.
What each slide holds
Pictures arrive as separate pictures where the page shows them, cut to the shape the page shows them through. Each line of text is its own text box, so a paragraph wrapped over five lines arrives as five boxes, and a page set in two columns keeps its columns apart.
Fonts are matched, not copied. A font that comes with Windows or Office keeps its name; others become a close standard font by style, so a line can run a little longer or shorter than on the page. Lines, boxes and backgrounds are pictures, not shapes, and links do not come across.
A page whose drawing is too intricate to stack in order becomes one picture of the page, with its text in invisible text boxes over it: you can select and search that text, but not see or restyle it.
Scanned pages
A scanned page holds a picture of its words, so its slide carries the page as a picture and those words are not text. Run OCR PDF on the scan first and convert the result: its slides then also carry the recognised words, in invisible text boxes over each picture. The note beside the download names any pages that had no selectable text.
What has been checked
Decks made by this tool's export code were opened read-only by PowerPoint for Windows and saved back to PDF, and every page matched its source closely. Opening a downloaded file with a double-click and editing the slides have not been tested, so keep the PDF beside you as the reference while you work on the deck.
Going the other way, PowerPoint to PDF turns a .pptx or .ppt into a PDF, one slide per page, on the same kind of secure server.
Common questions
Will the slides look like my PDF?
Closely, in layout and pictures: each picture sits where the page shows it and each line of text is a text box at its place. Fonts are matched rather than copied, so a line can come out a little wider or narrower, and lines, boxes and backgrounds arrive as pictures rather than shapes.
What happens to a scanned PDF?
It is converted, as pictures: each scanned page lands on its slide as a picture, and its words are not text. Run OCR PDF first and convert the OCR'd copy to have the recognised words in invisible text boxes over each picture.
Why is a paragraph split into separate text boxes?
Each line of the PDF becomes its own text box, placed where that line sits. That keeps the page's look, including columns, but it means a wrapped paragraph arrives as one box per line.
Does the conversion upload my PDF?
Yes. Your PDF is uploaded over an encrypted connection to a secure server, which deletes it when the job finishes. The .pptx can be fetched for 60 minutes; after that the link no longer works, and a daily storage rule erases the stored copy.
Can I convert a password-protected PDF?
Not while it asks for a password to open: the job stops with a message and a link to Unlock PDF. Remove the password there with the password you know, then convert the unlocked copy.