Take my teaching tip, please!

Here are the steps presented as part of my Academy of Teaching Conference presentation on making the most of PowerPoint for sharing slides. Note that these instructions are for Microsoft 365 on Windows. These tricks aren’t available in PowerPoint for the web, but did you know you can access the desktop version of PowerPoint in your browser via the university’s virtual desktop?

Compress pictures

High resolution images, like those you can access through Ohio State’s unlimited Adobe Stock license, can add up to a very large PowerPoint file size. To make sharing slides faster and easier for recipients, you can compress images to reduce file size. Don’t worry, your slides will still look great and be easy to view.

Select an image

Mirror Lake in springtime with trees in bloom and two students walking up the steps toward the oval. A blue cursor icon hovers over the right side of the photo, and a a blue countdown number six is in the bottom right corner.

Select Picture Format

Screen shot of M365 PowerPoint ribbon with the Picture Format tab highlighted and a blue cursor pointing to Picture Format. A blue countdown number five is in the bottom right corner.

Select Compress Pictures

Uncheck Apply only to this picture

Select a Resolution

Screen shot of the pop up that asks the user to select compression options. The option to "apply only to this picture" is now unchecked, and there is an orange cursor pointing to the web resolution setting. An orange countdown number two is in the bottom right corner. — I find the “web” resolution works great for keeping images clear, while also reducing the file size such that it can be sent via email. Faculty and staff email attachments are capped at 20MB.

Click OK

Screen shot of the pop up that asks the user to select compression options. The option to "apply only to this picture" is now unchecked, and the resolution is set to web (150 ppi). There is a red cursor pointing to the option OK. A red countdown number one is in the bottom right corner.

Presentation Notes

Removing presentation notes is a great way to make space for your audience to put their own thoughts into the Notes section as they listen to your talk. Make sure you save a copy of your presentation with notes separately, so that you keep your presenter notes in your version! I always have two versions of my slides, one named “Title of Talk_PRESENT.pptx” that I keep my notes in, and one named “Title of Talk.pptx” to share.

Select File

Select Info

Screen shot of M365 PowerPoint file menu with a blue cursor pointing to the Info option. A blue countdown number five is in the bottom right corner.

Select Check for Issues

Screen shot of M365 PowerPoint file menu, Info sub menu. There is a teal cursor pointing to the option to check for issues. A teal countdown number four is in the bottom right corner.

Select Inspect Document

Screen shot of M365 PowerPoint check for issues drop down options. There is a yellow arrow pointing to the option to Inspect Document. A yellow countdown number three is in the bottom right corner.

Click Inspect

Document Inspector Pop Up window with an orange cursor pointing to the option to Inspect. An orange countdown number two is in the bottom right corner.

Scroll down and click Remove all

Document Inspector Pop Up window with a red cursor pointing to the option to Remove All Presentation Notes. A red countdown number one is in the bottom right corner.

Done! Your slides are ready to post to Carmen or email to the conference organizer, wherever you’re headed to share your expertise.

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