How to View PowerPoint in a Browser

Publish your PowerPoint file to the Web for viewing in a browser.

PowerPoint is presentation software. It lets you create virtual slides that each contain their own content. Then you flip through the slides as you give a spoken presentation. The native format of a PowerPoint file requires that you use the PowerPoint software to display the presentation. However sometimes it is convenient to place a presentation on the Web so anyone can view it using a Web browser. You can do this easily in PowerPoint by converting the presentation to a browser-compatible HTML file. You will lose animations and graphical transitions between the slides, but instead, you will have a series of Web pages for the slides.

Instructions

1. Open the PowerPoint presentation you wish to view in a browser. Use the PowerPoint program installed on your computer. On most systems, you can simply double-click the PowerPoint file to open it.

2. Click the Office button in the program and select the "Save As" and "Other Formats" options. A pop-up window will appear with additional settings. Select the "Web Page" option in the "File Type" drop-down menu. In versions of PowerPoint prior to 2007, click the "File" menu instead and select the "Save as Web Page" option to see the pop-up window.

3. Click the "Change Title" button on the pop-up window if you want to change the text that appears in the title bar at the top of a browser when anyone views the PowerPoint presentation. Another pop-up window appears to prompt you for the new browser title. Click the "OK" button after you change the title.

4. Click the "Publish" button to continue with additional settings. In versions of PowerPoint prior to 2007, there is no "Publish" button. Instead, verify the file name and location before pressing the "Save" button which completes the process in those versions of the software.

5. Select options to customize your browser-compatible PowerPoint file. You can choose which browsers will open the file, or select an option to make it cross-platform compatible with all browsers, which increases the file size.

6. Click the "Publish" button to complete the conversion. PowerPoint creates a new version of the presentation that you can view in a browser.

Tips & Warnings

• Customize how the presentations displays in the browser by changing the "Web Option" in the Publish screen. This is an optional step that allows you to change colors and alter the navigation controls that appear on the Web pages inside the browser when viewing the PowerPoint presentation.

References

• University of Wisconsin: Online Presentations: Creating a Web Presentation
• Microsoft: Optimize a Web presentation for a specific browser