When it comes to delivering engaging presentations, Microsoft PowerPoint is the number one choice for professionals, be they in Chicago, Tampa, or anywhere in the world. PowerPoint allows users to edit themes, layouts, and graphics so they can set the tone for the presentation and help the audience focus on what’s important. Slides can display key notes to remind presenters of important talking points and better manage the flow of their presentation. Plus, users can add life to their presentations with animations, slide transitions, and embedded videos.
With the global transition of collaboration to online/remote mediums, however, teams will need to take advantage of cloud technologies to continue collaborating on their important presentations. Here’s a guide to help you do just that.
Share the PowerPoint presentation
In order for your team to collaborate on a PowerPoint presentation, you have to share the file and enable access privileges. Open your PowerPoint presentation and click on the Share button in the top-right corner of the window. If your presentation is saved on your device, PowerPoint prompts you to store it in either SharePoint Online or OneDrive for Business. SharePoint Online is an enterprise content management platform for sharing business files, whereas OneDrive for Business is a cloud storage system that allows employees to share documents with coworkers.
Related reading: Check out the best tools remote teams can use to stay more connected
Whatever storage service you choose, you’ll be able to invite people to view or edit your presentation via two ways: email and/or URL link. If you choose to invite collaborators through email, you’ll need to do the following:
- Enter the email address of the people you’d like to collaborate with.
- Write a message for the recipient (optional).
- Set read-only or editing permissions.
- Determine whether non-Microsoft users can access the file.
- Click the Share button.
On the other hand, if you choose to invite people via a link, select Get Link in the Share window and assign access permissions to anyone who receives the link. Then, click on Create link to generate a link you can share with collaborators.
Check what people are working on
If other people are working on the presentation, their profile picture and name will appear in the top-right corner of the window. External users who are invited to view the presentation may also appear as Guests. What’s more, other users’ icons will appear next to the slide thumbnail and in the slide itself, so you know where people are in the presentation. Any changes you or other people make in the presentation are synced and saved instantly, allowing for a seamless collaborative experience.
Track changes and address conflicting edits
Whenever other Microsoft 365 users edit a shared presentation, PowerPoint will notify you of any changes both in real time and the next time you reopen the file. Slides with unread changes are highlighted in the slide thumbnail pane, including details on who made the edits and when they were made. This feature gives you better visibility over your team’s contributions and saves you from having to go through the entire presentation to check the new edits. Note that if privacy options in Microsoft Trust Center are turned on, personal details of the last editor are not recorded on the file or if the file itself is password-protected.
If any changes you’ve made on a presentation conflict with another person’s edits, PowerPoint will bring up a window displaying both changes side by side before saving the file. From there, you can review all conflicting changes in your presentation and select which version of the edits to keep by choosing either My Changes or Changes by Others and then clicking Done to finalize the edits. This feature is particularly useful for reviewing edits that can be easily overlooked like a deleted bullet point, changed animation, or a slightly altered chart.
Retrieve previous versions of a file
One of the benefits of cloud-based PowerPoint is that it automatically records previous versions of a file in case you need to undo editing mistakes or monitor file changes over time. In order to view old versions of a presentation, go to File > Info > Version history. A new pane on the right-hand side of the app will then appear where you can choose to open a previous version of the presentation as a read-only copy in a separate PowerPoint window.
Start a group chat
PowerPoint in Microsoft 365 allows you to chat with people working on the same document if it’s shared on OneDrive for Business or SharePoint. To do this, click on the co-author icon next to the Share button and select Join Group Chat to start talking with your colleagues. Group chats are a great place for discussing ideas quickly with the team and providing instant input for a project.
Keep in mind that PowerPoint doesn’t save chat histories, meaning you’ll start with a clean chat log after closing and reopening the file. New people invited to access the PowerPoint presentation can also participate in the chat, but they won’t see previous chat threads from before they opened the file.
Leave comments in the presentation
Making a comment on a presentation is much more effective for starting important discussion points and providing direct feedback on a presentation. Select the Review tab and click on New Comment to make a note on the current slide. Alternatively, the New Comment option will appear when you highlight specific words or slide elements.
Comments appear as speech bubble icons on the slide and can be dragged anywhere to draw attention to key elements of your presentation. Clicking on the icon will display the comment on the right-hand side of the window, including who made the comment and when it was made. Comment threads will also come with a text box, so anyone with access to the presentation can type a reply. You can then sift through all the comments in the presentation by clicking on either the Next or Previous comment buttons.
Leveraging PowerPoint in Microsoft 365 is a great way to create effective presentations with your team even if they’re literally miles apart. If you need first-rate IT support and solutions to help your business work more efficiently, call Dynamic Solutions Group today. Whether you need cloud services, cybersecurity, or managed IT services, we’ve got the tools and expertise to put your business ahead of the curve.
